Welcome back everyone!

We hope that you have had a wonderful week at home with your families. 

This half term our learning will take place around the topic of animals. We will be exploring a range of texts based on animals and use these to inspire our narrative and non-fiction writing in English. Following on from our learning about the human body last half term, in Science we will learning about different animal groups and classifying a range of animals according to whether they are mammals, birds, fish and reptiles, carnivores, omnivores or herbivores.

Our core text for Autumn 2 is 'Wanted: The Perfect Pet' by Fiona Roberton.

To immerse the children in our new topic we have enjoyed a trip to Blackpool Zoo where the children saw many amazing animals and have learnt a lot about what they eat, how they live and what they look like.  

In our Science Learning Zones we have been describing and comparing a variety of common animals and identifying whether they are mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish or birds. 

We have also used loose parts to make an animal picture and labelled its body parts afterwards. 

In Geography this half term we will be learning about the four countries of the United Kingdom. We started this unit of learning by revisiting our previous learning about our local area and talked about Nelson being a town in the country of England. We explored landmarks around England in our Construction Learning Zone. 

In Maths we have been learning about Fractions. We explored splitting everyday whole items into equal parts. 

As part of our Science topic we have enjoyed a visit from local scientist Steven Lewis Neille. We explored signs of Autumn and then carried out simple investigations to find out more about animal habitats and diets. 

In Design and Technology this half term we are going to design, make and evaluate an animal sliding mechanism which we'll use to create a picture of zoo animals where several animals are able to move by sliding or on a lever. 

To begin this project, we looked at a range of books that have moving parts. We explored how we could make each part move and discussed how each mechanism worked. 

We then practised the skills needed to make a slot and slider and lever mechanisms. 

Finally, we designed, made and evaluated our final product.

In Art we are learning about the life and work of the French artist Henri Matisse.

This week we looked closely at one of Matisse's most famous pieces 'Goldfish' which he painted in 1912. 

We found out that Matisse painted goldfish in the background of several of his works. We looked closely at the different goldfish and carefully sketched the lines and shapes we could see. 

In preparation for our non-fiction focused writing of a setting description of a tortoise habitat, Mrs Willan brought her pet tortoise Tango in to visit us. We really enjoyed learning all about his diet, habitat and how he hibernates during winter.

We then carried out further research into what a tortoise needs in a habitat and used this knowledge to design a new habitat for Tango. 

In Art this week we looked at a selection of Matisse’s artwork and talked about the bright colours he liked to use. We then used a range of media to match the colours we could see in Matisse's 'Goldfish'. 

In Maths this week we have been learning all about capacity. The children have been measuring different amounts of water using measuring equipment. 

As a school we are responsible for our pet rabbits Honey and Lola.

With this in mind we carried out research in groups to find out what rabbits need to keep them happy and healthy. 

We then wrote instructions for looking after Honey and Lola.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our parents' Christmas craft afternoon. It was wonderful to welcome so many parents into our classroom!

We had a very special visitor at our Christmas party!

Our Autumn 2 Learning Journey