This month we have continued with our theme work on Belong.
‘The Celts – Read all about it.’
We have completed a rich task on the Celtic / Roman battle on Watling Street. We have learnt about the Celtic Queen Boudicca and how she fought against the Romans. We have learnt about how the Roman invasion changed the lives of Celtic people as well as analysing the battle from both sides. We have focussed on determining whether evidence is bias and the differences between facts, beliefs and opinions. We completed our rich task by writing a newspaper report on the battle of Watling Street from our chosen perspective.
World War II
We have been learning about World War II, how it started and how it affected the people of Swansea and Wales. We have explored the Three Night Blitz and how it destroyed much of Swansea town centre and the affects it had on the residents. We have drawn charcoal sketches using old photographs of the Swansea Blitz bomb sites and have written poems about what the people would have seen, heard and felt. We used the ipad app Typedraw to create a multimedia picture using our art work and our poem.
In addition, we have been learning about the use of parachutes in World War II. We have linked this learning to science and have been conducting investigations to determine whether the size of a parachute can affect the time it takes to land – using our understanding of air resistance and surface area. We have been discussing why some groups results did not reflect what the science says.
Maths and Numeracy
We have been learning about negative numbers, how to find temperature differences and how to add and subtract negative numbers on a number line. We have continued to consolidate our skills during our outdoor learning sessions by carrying out tasks linked to the average temperatures of different countries that the refugee character from our outdoor learning story ‘The boy at the back of the class,’ travelled through to get from Syria to the UK.
We have also been exploring a range of addition and subtraction strategies. We have been developing our quick mental recall of number facts and learning how different strategies can be used for addition and subtraction depending on the numbers. We have been practising drawing number lines, using physical resources, bar modelling and formal column methods to develop our understanding and skills fully. We have also been using Sumdog to help develop our recall of number facts.
Anti-bullying week
During anti bullying week we explored what bullying means and reasons why people get bullied. We used our class novel ‘Wonder,’ a series of films and the Autism Superheroes story to explore how people would feel when being bullied and how to help and support them. We have also looked at the different roles associated with bullying and how we can all play our part to Unite against bullying.
Relationships and self-image
We have been exploring community and the importance roles that family and friends play in our lives. We recognised that we can belong to many different communities and can play different roles in each one. We have created conceptual art linked to community and what it means.
We have looked at the positive roles that others play in our lives and how they can help us with our worries and stress. In addition, we have been exploring what is good about ourselves. We have used the story ‘Ruby and the rubbish bin,’ to identify what is good about us from our perspectives and our peers.
Welsh
We have been working hard to develop our understanding of 1st person descriptions with Mrs Martin, learning how to describe ourselves, our likes and dislikes and to give reasons for our opinions. We have also been watching the series ‘Y Pod Antur,’ ‘The adventure pod,’ and learning a range of new vocabulary by listening to the adventures that take place.
