English

In English this term, the children have been busy looking at our new text 'Survivors'. This text aligns with our new topic which looks at true stories about different explorers over the years. So far, the children have really enjoyed learning about the adventures of three explorers: Mertz, Mawson and Ninnis, who set out on their expedition of exploring the Antarctic in 1911. Boldly, the children have taken part in a debate within their classes to argue whether the explorers should or should not eat the dogs they are travelling with to survive.  When the children discovered that the explorers did shoot and eat the dogs to survive, they were even more curious to find out what followed for the three men. Next, the children were given the opportunity to write a letter in role to a family member. Here, the children had the freedom to showcase their skills and produced some fantastic letters, which included many techniques from fronted adverbials to parenthesis and relative clauses. 

Maths

In Maths for Year 4, the children have been extending their knowledge of multiplication and division by looking at the expanded and short method to multiply, and some informal methods to divide, such as partitioning and the use of part-whole models. As the term ends the children will be focusing closely on length and the differences between metres and kilometres. In Year 5, the children have worked really hard on deepening their knowledge of fractions, including multiplying proper fractions and mixed numbers by whole numbers.

Science

During science this term, the children have been learning about the topic of Electricity. Initially, the children were busy finding out facts about electricity and learnt when this was first discovered and by whom. Using timelines, the children mapped out the discovery of electricity throughout the years and looked at why these discoveries were significant.  After half term, the children will look at how to create a circuit to operate various appliances, such as a bulb and a buzzer.