Sapphire

Summer 2

Topic

Our topic this half term is ‘How does your garden grow?’ During this topic the children will experience digging, planting and watering in the school garden. In class we will be investigating seeds, learning what they need to grow successfully, planting them and caring for them. The children will learn to identify and name key parts of a plant. We will be looking at what lives in the soil and how minibeasts are important in the garden.

ICT

In ICT Skills this half term our focus is on photography. The children will be learning to use the different settings on digital cameras and iPads to take pictures around the school grounds. The children will then edit and Photoshop a selection of their favourite images.

Literacy

This half term our fiction Literacy work is based around The Twits by Roald Dahl. Mr Twit is a foul and smelly man with bits of cornflake and sardine in his beard. Mrs Twit is a horrible old hag with a glass eye. Together they make the nastiest couple you could ever hope not to meet. Down in their garden, the Twits keep Muggle-Wump the monkey and his family locked in a cage. But not for much longer, because the monkeys are planning to trick the terrible Twits, once and for all . . .

We will also be doing a 2 week non-fiction section on minibeasts to link in with our topic theme.

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packaging and talked about the 3d shapes we had found. To link with our Town & Country topic, the 

children designed and made buildings from the different boxes and containers.

Sapphire Class - Summer 1

Literacy

This half term we will be reading and basing our Literacy work on Paddington Bear by Michael Bond.

The classic story of the bear from Darkest Peru who arrived at Paddington Station with nothing but a suitcase, a half-empty jar of marmalade and a label that read,

‘Please look after this bear. Thank you.’ Mr and Mrs Brown discovered him, named

him Paddington and welcomed him to their home, where he has lived ever since.

Topic

This half term our topic is Town & Country which has a Geography and History

focus. During the topic the class will explore their local surroundings and

experience the differences between our urban towns and rural countryside.

The children will identify familiar characteristics, landmarks and locations and also look at the differences between construction materials and styles of buildings.

ICT

Our ICT Skills focus this half term is ‘Creative’. The children are going to design and create different formats such as posters, leaflets, postcards and storyboards

using images and text. Some of this will link in with our Paddington Bear literacy

book.

In Topic ICT we will use some of the drawing and construction programmes to

design, draw and build houses.

Spring 2

This half term our Literacy book is George’s Marvellous Medicine

George is alone in the house with Grandma. The most horrid, grizzly old grunion of a grandma ever. She needs something stronger than her usual medicine to cure her chronic grouchiness. A special grandma medicine, a remedy for everything. And George knows just what to put into it. Grandma's in for the surprise of her life - and so is George, when he sees the results of his mixture! 

Our science and PHSE based topic this half term is Spellbound.  The children will experience and examine a range of different substances by mixing, melting, freezing, combining and blending. They will observe, explore and comment on the changes in state through looking, touching, smelling and tasting (when safe).

In ICT Skills this half term we are focusing on creating sounds and music using different programs such as Busy Things, 2Explore, 2Beat and Beat Box App.  

Our topic ICT will see the children create mixed up animals, potion bottles, insect symmetry and labelling owls.

Paul Klee

This week the children have learnt about the artist Paul Klee. They have used pastels, paint and pencil crayons to recreate some of his famous work - the Townscape, a Portrait and the Cat & Bird.

Literacy and Topic Photos

Literacy - In Literacy we are reading My Many Coloured Days by Dr Seuss, which links colours and feelings.  The children created a coloured collage background with an image of themselves in the middle, to show that we feel many different emotions.  They created a storyboard with captions using the key colours and animals from the book.

Spring 1

This half term our Literacy book is My Many Coloured Days by Dr Seuss, which explores feelings and colours.

Amazon: 'You'd be surprised how many ways I change on different coloured days.'  Maybe on some days you feel sort of brown, like a bear; you feel slow and low, low down. But then comes a yellow day and wheeeeeeeee! you feel like a busy, buzzy bee.  Dr. Seuss takes the reader on a journey through many different moods in this vibrant and highly original book.

Our art based topic this half term is Pictures, Paintings and Photographs.  The children will learn about different artists and their styles each week, allowing them to experience working with a variety of mediums.  In ICT the children will take pictures using cameras and iPads and then use programs to manipulate and change the images.  We hope to visit a photography exhibition at Stockwood Discovery Centre, which opens at the end of January.  Sapphire class will be learning about and creating work in the style of:

Sapphire Class Autumn 2

Literacy

This half term each year band focuses on a traditional tale and in Year 4 our story is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

A retelling of this classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm, recounting the story of a beautiful princess with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.  With 18 beautifully designed books in the first reader series, this well-loved traditional tale is specially adapted for beginner readers. Supports national literacy strategy with high frequency vocabulary and phonics.

Topic

This half term our topic is ‘Let there be Light!’  During this topic pupils will experience a variety of customs and practices associated with certain festivals and celebrations, such as Halloween, Bonfire Night, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Hanukkah and Christmas.

Maths

In maths we will be covering the areas of number, geometry and measure.  We will be focusing on subtraction, number formation, capacity, positional language and 3d shapes.  Keep looking at our webpage to see what we get up to.

Topic

This half term our topic is What a load of Junk! which focuses on recycling and the environment.  In class we’ll be looking at different materials and how they can be recycled or reused.   The class will take part with the rest of the year band in a project identifying and improving an area of the school.  We will be going on visits out to the local recycling bank and charity shops in the local town centre.

Literacy

Our main book for this half term is The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson and we will also be using non-fiction books linked to our topic.

Amazon Description:  George wished he wasn't the scruffiest giant in town. So when he sees a new shop selling giant-sized clothes, he decides it's time for a new look: smart trousers, smart shirt, stripy tie, shiny shoes. Now he's the smartest giant in town . . . until he bumps into some animals that desperately need his help - and his clothes!

All children will love The Smartest Giant in Town, a funny and warm-hearted tale from the unparalleled picture-book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo.

Numeracy

In maths we will be covering the areas of number, geometry and measure.  Keep looking at our webpage and reading the home school book to find out which strand we will be covering each week.