Please find the details of our intended learning experience for the next weeks: ‘Operation Dynamo: Victory in Defeat'. During this Learning Experience, children will explore what it means to have a ‘Dunkirk Spirit’ and link it to their own understanding of having a Growth Mindset. They will explore, in depth, the events of the Dunkirk evacuation and the geography of the region that we will be focusing on. As an outcome, children will design their own vessel for transporting troops to safety and take it to Preston Sands to test it.

Maths

During this half term, in ability-based sets, the children will continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of place value (including fractions, decimals and percentages) and effective calculation strategies involving all the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). The children will be expected to use their prior understanding of mathematical concepts to assist them in solving a range of mathematical problems. The children will be challenged to become more fluent with their skills, which include multiplication tables and related number facts. There will be a particular focus on ensuring the children reason with their responses (asking themselves if the answer given is appropriate).

Literacy

Through the 6 week learning experience, the children will be expected to write a narrative about the events of Dunkirk and a newspaper article. They will explore, in detail, the grammatical features of both genres to ensure they produce a high quality outcome. The children will continue to be encouraged to read a range of quality texts as these experiences broaden their vocabulary and develop their awareness of more complex punctuation and sentence structures.

Home Learning

During this learning experience, we would like the children to design their own civilian boat that could be used to transport troops to safety. Weekly spelling and maths tasks to be completed in their home learning books and on My Maths/Sumdog. For reading homework this year, we are trialing a new online software called ‘Read Theory’ each child in Unit 4 has a login and is asked to complete a task every two week cycle.

Science

This term will see the children continue to explore Earth and Space. Children will explore how the Earth and Moon move within our Solar System in relation to each other and the Sun. Children will look in depth at how the Sun appears to move in the sky and its effects on our planet. Finally, children will explore how seasons, days and years are influenced by the way in which our planet moves in relation to other objects in our Solar System.

PE / Art / Spanish / RE

In PE this half term, our focus will be Tag Rugby. Eagles (Monday/Friday), Kestrels (Monday/Wednesday) and Hawks (Monday/Thursday).

In Spanish, this half term, the children will be continue to explore basic conversations.

In RE this half-term, children will continue exploring Judaism and the signs and symbols of the faith.

Our School Value Focus: Teamwork

Throughout all our work this half-term, children will use and apply the value of Teamwork.

Dates for your diary

Thursday 15^th March – Eagles sports festival

Thursday 29^th March – Unit 4 outcome on Preston Sands.