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What If...? (Spring 1)

Our topic this half-term encouraged us to ask questions and think about the alternative - What if the Big, Bad Wolf was kind, What if princesses were grumpy, What if Red Riding Hood was mean?

In English, with a focus on traditional tales with a twist, we used Jan Fearnley's story of Mr Wolf and the Three Bears as our key text. We started our unit by reading and writing riddles for traditional tale characters. Our end point was to use our key text as a model for our own twisted tales. We also wrote instructions as well as character descriptions and recounts.

In maths, we looked at place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, money and measurement.

Our science area of learning was all about living things and their habitats. We compared things that are living and dead with things that have never been alive and became confident at identifying them around our school. We classified animals into different groups and learned about mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians. We also grouped animals according to their diets (herbivores, carnivores and omnivores) and created food chains to show how living things get their energy.

In computing, the children used their digital literacy skills to create an E-book about the Loch Ness Monster. They researched the legend at home and found out lots of facts to help them in their lessons. They had to decide if they thought that the Loch Ness Monster was real or not, giving them an awareness that not everything that they see or read on a computer is true, and that they have to make up their own minds.

In music, the children played instruments and sang the Charanga song, 'I Wanna Play in a Band.' We are thankful to Mrs Brunton for helping us so much with our music lessons this half-term.

In geography, we looked at maps and different geographical features. We created our own map symbols to put onto our own tradition tale maps. When we had finished our maps, we used them to practise describing the location of features using compass points and the routes taken by different characters.

In art, we looked at William Morris who was famous for his repeating patterns and designs. We used his work to inspire our own printing process. First, we sketched feathers and drew them onto foam 'stampers.' We then practised making repeating designs using our stampers before printing onto boxes to make our own wrapping paper.

We used our forest school to create sculptures of living things linked to our science learning.

In RE, we looked at Hinduism and how their deities are represented with various items and linked this to how we can all have multiple roles in our lives.

Our PE area of learning was gymnastics. We practised lots of different ways of travelling on the floor and over apparatus, a range of balances and the correct techniques for dismounting any equipment. The children created their own sequences, performing them for each other.