Autumn Term 2

Writing

This term, the children will be using our set text, Darwin’s Dragons, as inspiration to write a non-chronological report about their choice of fantasy island. They will practice using parenthesis and conjunctive adverbs within their writing to create a cohesive and informative piece. The children will then use this to create a narrative opening where their character is shipwrecked on their deserted island using different forms of visual stimuli to influence their ideas and language choice.

 

Reading

Reading learning in fiction this term will explore our text driver, Darwin’s Dragons by Lindsay Galvin, starting off with inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words through considering the historical context and setting of the story. Then, children will revisit their knowledge of summarising a longer text by identifying the key events and details. The final step of this fiction journey will be identifying and discussing the themes and conventions that are explored in the novel.

After this, children will develop their knowledge of non-fiction texts through biographies of Charles Darwin and Mary Anning. They will retrieve information and will infer about each person’s character and the key events in their lives.

 

Maths

This term, children will be building upon their multiplication and division skills by learning how to multiply 4 digit by 2 digit numbers using formal long multiplication and divide 4 digit by 2 digit numbers using long division, while revisiting previously learned skills. They will also be identifying common factors, multiples and prime numbers.

 

As well as this, the children will be focusing on improving their fraction knowledge, by learning how to use common factors and multiples to simplify fractions and find equivalent fractions. With this knowledge, they will then be able to compare and order fractions, add and subtract fractions with different denominators and mixed numbers, multiple simple pairs of proper fractions and divide proper fractions by whole numbers.

 

Science

This term, children will continue with biology, and will begin to explore evolution and inheritance. To begin, they will observe fossils to learn about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago, and from this describe how living things have changed over time. After this, children will learn about inherited traits, recognising that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents. Finally, children will learn how plants and animals have adapted to suit their environment in different ways, and that adaptation can lead to evolution. Excitingly, we will be visiting the Natural History Museum in London in December, which will support our learning in science this term.

 

History

This term, the children will apply their knowledge of ancient Egypt, whilst retrieving their knowledge of the Roman Empire to make sense of change and the impact these eras have had on the present day. After finding out the key information they need, the children will take part in a debate arguing which civilisation had the greatest impact on the world.

 

Geography

In geography, the children will continue to explore North America with a focus on the position and significance of the Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night). The children can then apply this knowledge with a Christmas touch by planning Santa’s trip across North America using the different time zones to deliver all the presents by Christmas morning!

 

RE

This term, the children will be discussing the following question: what does interpretation mean in the birth narratives? They will be reading Matthew and Luke’s versions of the birth of Jesus and recognise the similarities and differences between their interpretations.

 

PE

In Real PE this term, the children will be developing their social skills by communicating, collaborating and competing with each other and developing an understanding of how to improve in an activity. They will be developing their knowledge and skills of dynamic and counter balancing.

In Real Gym, the children will apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement. Specifically they will be developing their knowledge of rotation, with and without apparatus.

 

PSHE

In PSHE, children will be building on their understanding of themselves and their close relationships, in order to allow them to look at people wider than their initial circle and how they can support and understand them. Children will first learn how to support others that might not be their friends. After that, they will learn how to identify prejudice, stereotypes and disrespectful behaviour.

 

Computing

Next, the children will be learning to design, create and evaluate an effective webpage. They will explore websites and learn how to draw a webpage layout that suits its purpose. They will retrieve their knowledge from last term when searching for images, understanding the importance of following copyright rules. As well as this, in e-safety this term, children will be learning to explain how others online can pretend to be someone else and why this might happen.

 

Spanish

During their Spanish lessons, the children will talk about where they live; exploring new vocabulary and revisiting previous knowledge to read, write, listen and speak about their local area. By the end of the unit, the children will be able to create their own town and label its features in Spanish, give opinions and adjectives to describe it.

 

Art

This half term, children will be mastering their skills in drawing, in the context of creating expressive self portraits. They will first explore the artwork of three artists known for their emotive portraits - Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Kehinde Wiley - which will also provide children with inspiration for their own work. Then, children will practise their skills in portrait drawing, including selecting different media and techniques for different effects, before finally creating their own final portrait that expresses their identity and emotions.

 

Music

By the end of this half term, the children will have played and performed in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression when playing calypso bass line, chords, melody, melodic ostinato, rhythmic improvisations. They will have improvised and composed music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music. They will have worked together to create their own version of Calypso Sparkles.

 

Design Technology

This term, the children will build upon their knowledge from Autumn 1 by continuing to develop their use of surveys, interviews and questionnaires using web-based resources to create a design specification. They will learn about diets from around the world- specifically, different countries’ traditional Christmas food. Using this research, they will create a product that demonstrates the knowledge they have acquired.