English and Whole Class Reading

Our class text this term is 'Skellig' by David Almond. The children will develop their reading and writing skills through a range of activities inspired by the novel. They will:
- Write a biography of David Almond, learning how to structure and organise information.
- Create a short narrative with dialogue, focusing on the scene where Michael meets Skellig.

Throughout the unit, we will be practising a range of writing skills, including:

- Writing sentences that open with adverbials and phrases.

- Understanding how to organise ideas into paragraphs based on time, place and subject.

- Exploring more advanced grammar such as the active and passive voice, relative clauses and different sentence structures.

We will attempt to extend all of this further by looking at the use of multi-clause sentences, using semi-colons, structuring dialogue, and writing for mood and emphasis.

The children will continue to participate in weekly spelling tests with the expectation that they will practice their spellings at home. These will start from the second week of term and will continue throughout the school year.

Maths

In Maths, we will work on our place value skills, which will include reading, writing and comparing numbers and rounding. We will be developing our understanding of multiplication and division, as well as extending our knowledge of fractions and their decimal equivalents. We will also be looking at how we can convert between different units of metric measure and how we can apply what we have learnt to look at money. To tie this all together, as we work through, we will be applying everything we learn to word-based problems, which will help us develop our reasoning and deeper understanding of the concepts we cover. 

Children will participate in a weekly times table test with the expectation that they will practice their times tables at home. This will help with fluency and automatic recall when solving multiplication and division problems.

Art

In Art this term, we are diving into the Italian Renaissance. The children will explore masterpieces such as Raphael’s School of Athens, Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. They will learn that the Renaissance, meaning 'rebirth', marked an exciting revival of art and culture in Italy from the 1400s onwards.

We will compare Leonardo’s detailed anatomical drawings and paintings (such as the 'Mona Lisa' and 'The Last Supper') with Michelangelo’s dramatic murals, noticing the use of realism and linear perspective.

We will link our art history learning with some practical activities including making detailed observational drawings of our own hands, ears, and landscapes. We will also be experimenting with painting on plaster, inspired by Renaissance frescoes, and creating our own plaster discs with painted designs.

History

Our history topic takes us to the Rise of Islam and the city of Baghdad. The children will learn how Baghdad was founded in 762 CE by Caliph Al-Mansur and why its position on the Tigris River made it a centre of learning and trade.

Throughout the unit we will develop an understanding of the significance of Islam in shaping the empire while also exploring the layout and growth of Baghdad. We will learn about the famous House of Wisdom and the importance of books and translation in sharing knowledge across the world. We will finish our unit by looking at the eventual decline of Baghdad, including the Mongol invasion. Throughout all of this, we will be using historical sources and written accounts to make our own interpretations, just like real historians.

Science

In science, we are studying how the human body changes from birth to old age. Building on their prior knowledge of the human body, the children will learn about the stages of growth and development, including adolescence, puberty and old age. We will compare gestation periods across different animals and understand why human babies need care for many years. We will also consider how lifestyle choices can affect health, while recognising that aging is a natural process.

This unit will be taught sensitively, with plenty of opportunities for discussion, and links will be made with previous PSHE learning around puberty and relationships, although this will not be discussed in depth.

RE

Finally, in RE we will find out more about the different kinds of questions that can be asked about religious and non -religious worldviews. We will explore the skills and methods used by people who ask these kinds of questions. There will be a specific focus on the following three areas:

-What it means to be a theologian. Theologians are interested in asking questions about religious and non-religious worldviews so that they can understand more about the things that people believe and value. Theologians are particularly interested in finding out more about the things people believe from their stories.

-What it means to be a human and social scientist. Human and social scientists are interested in asking questions about religious and non-religious worldviews so that they can understand more about the ways in which people live their lives. Human and social scientists are particularly interested in finding out more about how context affects the ways in which people live out their worldviews.

-What it means to be a philosopher. Philosophers are interested in asking questions about religious and non-religious worldviews so that they can understand more about the ways in which people think about themselves and the world around them. Philosophers are particularly interested in finding out more about how people reason.