The Colleton Curriculum Newsletter Autumn 2014

Transcription

1 The Colleton Curriculum Newsletter Autumn 2014 Foundation Stage In the Foundation Stage we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum. We cover all the areas of: Personal, Social and Emotional Development Physical development Communication and Language Literacy Mathematics Understanding the World Expressive Arts and Design This term we concentrate on enabling the children to become independent and confident in their new environment. We are following the topic of Books by Julia Donaldson so we are Gruffalo hunting, exploring snow and ice, finding out about dinosaurs and making magic spells to name but a few activities! Also we will be looking at Diwali and Christmas around the world. Good practice in Foundation is to go by the children s interests so our topic may take us through other avenues! For further information please refer to the Parent s coffee morning PowerPoint on the Learning Platform. Younger Team Yr 1 & Yr 2 Our topic this term is Sam Bear s World Adventures. One of our team bears, Sam, will travel to different countries to help develop the children s understanding of different geographical features, especially the weather, houses and homes. The children have already made a great start to helping Sam Bear by learning the continents and oceans of the world! Look out for Sam on the Learning Platform soon. As part of our topic, in science we will be examining different materials, looking at their properties and making lots of things out of them too! In music, the children will experience playing instruments and listening to pieces of music from Sam s travels, as they learn about long and short sounds. As part of our English learning, we will be writing our own traditional tales and rhymes as well as keeping a diary. We will be taking a look at houses and homes through history and also the events around the great fire of London, including the wonderful diaries of Samuel Pepys. As part of our art work we shall be looking at environmental patterns, eg. in brick work and wood. The children will be taking photographs of patterns in and around the school and using

2 these images as a stimulus for printmaking and drawing. The main artist this term will be Hundertwasser but we will also compare his work with that of the African artist Kibuthi and L S Lowry. In RE we are looking at creation stories and our computing learning will include programming Beebots and also coding. In PE we are exploring dance from different countries and ways of travelling in gymnastics as well as improving our catching and throwing skills in games. We will be having a special week of science and design and technology activities that will run from the 20 th October. We will be building houses, exploring how they could be made stronger, stiffer and more stable. If you think you could help with this week, please see a member of the Younger Team staff. What a lovely topic to look forward to, including our end of term play too! Please remember to look at our Learning Journal on the Learning Platform. This will be a review of our learning each week and will give areas that we will be covering the following week. It is a wonderful way for your child to share his/her school experiences and to deepen their understanding as they talk to you about what they have been learning. YT Specific home learning tasks: Spelling- Set Wednesdays for a spelling quiz the following Wednesday Reading- We encourage reading with and to your child every day. Please write a comment on your child s reading at least twice a week in their reading record (please see the guide in the record on types of comments or ask a member of staff if you are unsure). Thank you. Our main home learning project will be set later in the term more information to follow soon. Middle Team Yr 3 & 4 Our topic this term is Ancient Egypt. Firstly we will be discussing what we already know by studying pictures of artefacts and recording what we think these are and what we d like to know about them. We will then use various sources of information, including websites on the learning platform, to research questions about Ancient Egypt and especially King Tutankhamun. During this we will be practicing our skills of skimming and scanning and locating information efficiently using contents pages and the index for example. We will learn about the concept of power when focusing on the Pharaohs and we will include some geography by understanding the importance of the Nile and locating other deltas around the world. In order to make a Middle Team nonfiction book about Ancient Egypt we will produce a page of researched information on a given topic and write this including the English skills we have learnt including use of conjunctions, variety of pronouns and basic punctuation. During the second half of term our focus will change to narrative texts and Ancient Egyptian myths. We will learn about the features of a myth and then write and edit our own having first produced a story map. Later in the term there will be an Ancient Egypt day. In design technology, we will be learning about levers and linking this to the Egyptian s use of a shaduf. The children will understand how a lever works, the three elements of a lever and then

3 design and make their own shaduf considering the structure, frame and fulcrum. In art the children will be learning about the use of symbols and focusing on the work of Paul Klee. This will link to work on hieroglyphics and the children will produce a piece of art that represents a life journey using symbols and patterns. The link to our topic continues with dance when the children will create a composition exploring the importance of a Pharaoh. The children will also be doing football in PE which will include a focus on coordination and balance. The Year 4 children will be learning either the flute or clarinet in music with lessons provided by West Berkshire Maestros. The Year 3 children will be exploring notation to create a composition linked to Ancient Egypt. Our RE this term looks at the faiths of Islam and Christianity. We will spend a day broadening our understanding of what it means to be a Muslim, then later in the term we will look at the Christmas story in more detail and think about the question Has Christmas lost its true meaning? In science we are exploring forces, focusing on magnets and friction. We will develop our investigative skills to find out how strong a magnet is. We will start our computing this term by making sure we are all safe on-line, so we can use the internet to search safely for information about the Ancient Egyptians. We will use computers to write music, saving and editing our work. Using Excel, data will be presented in different ways. All in all another busy term packed full of learning! MT Specific Home Learning Spelling spellings sheet in, spelling test and new words given out on a Friday. The children will take home their marked spellings sheet with their test result on a Monday. Reading please listen to your child read as many times as possible and complete the pink reading record book. Maths the children will have a mental maths session on a Monday, including a times table test. The children will receive their test result on a Tuesday and take home their test sheet so you are aware of the tables they are learning. We would be grateful for your support in helping your child to learn their tables off by heart. PE reminder PE is timetabled as Tuesday (football) and Wednesday (dance/gym) but please can your child s kit be in school all week as this may be subject to change. Our main home learning opportunity will be set later this term. More details on this activity will follow in the coming weeks.

4 Older Team Yr 5 & 6 The Older Team have started the new academic year with a brand new topic called Tell Us A Story! This is based around the new National Curriculum which features a study of Ancient Islamic Civilization. The title of our topic is inspired by the tales from the story of Scheherazade, and the 1001 Arabian Nights, putting a strong emphasis on storytelling. The children have already been busy writing their own versions of this famous story, as well as practising their oral storytelling skills. In PE the children will be polishing up their football skills and also creating a dance based on the music from Rimsky Korsakov s classical piece, Scheherazade. This has also inspired learning in music, and the children will develop their understanding of written staff notation, composing their own melody to represent a character from the story of Scheherazade with the help of special music software. In art they are creating their own patterns based on the beautiful geometry of Islamic art, and have made intricate cut-out silhouettes of Islamic buildings. In RE the children have begun to learn about the Muslim faith and later this term we hope to visit a local mosque. Towards the end of term, we will be preparing to celebrate Christmas, and will revisit the story of the Nativity and the importance of this in Christianity. Whilst part of our theme is ancient, the children will be using a variety of very modern technology to help them with their learning in the new subject of Computing. They have already learnt about how the Internet works, and will be using safe search engines such as KidRex to research information about Ancient Islamic Civilization to contribute to a school Wiki on our Learning Platform. They will also be using spreadsheets to create mathematical models, and developing their programming skills to make 2D shape patterns and a Magic Carpet Ride game using the coding language of Scratch. Our science topics are Electricity and Forces and Motion and the children will have opportunities to take part in practical sessions and investigations. For our PSHE we are incredibly lucky to have had a visit from Paralympic silver and bronze medallist Ian Rose, and there will be several ongoing activities throughout the term inspired by his achievements as the children set their own goals and create their own Dream Books. OT Specific home learning Spelling - collected on Friday to return to school on Monday for a test. Times Tables Challenge collected on a Thursday for a test the following Wednesday. Reading please continue to hear your child read aloud at home as often as possible. The children have already been given information about their home learning task this term, which is designed to develop their confidence in speaking and listening through the medium of

5 oral storytelling. More details are available from the Older Team webpages on My Learning or from the Older Team staff. Parent Help As always, we very much welcome any contribution you can make to specific curriculum areas or through other ways you may support within school, including helping with reading activities etc. If you would like to participate in some way, please see your child s teacher. Thank you.