Our classroom is situated within the original school building and is over 600 years old! In fact, it is the oldest classroom in the whole of the UK which is still in use! We are really fortunate to have a large, open work space as well as a mezzanine library!

This term, our topic is Our region and the Western USA! We are going to be recapping the human and physical features of the South East region before discovering the different countries and capital cities of North America and then focusing specifically on the Western United States. We will learn about the biomes, climate zones and vegetation belts of the area, as well as understanding natural disasters that have occurred involving volcanoes and earthquakes. Finally, we will learn about the physical processes of rivers, mountains and the water cycle before applying this to our region and Western USA.

To begin the term in English, we will be focusing on the different types of figurative language used by poets to entice and engage their reader. We will practise writing poetry including these language features and apply our learning to poetry based on a short animated film. Following this, we will be planning, drafting, editing and publishing non-chronological reports about Yellow-Spotted Lizards which feature in our whole-class text, ‘Holes’.

In Maths, we will be starting the year by recapping and extending our knowledge and understanding of number and place value, including recognising, comparing, ordering and rounding numbers up to 10,000,000 on number lines. Additionally, we will be learning about negative numbers and Roman numerals and applying this learning to real-life contextual word problems. We will then move on to revise and learn mental and written calculation methods involving the four operations before revisiting fractions, decimals and percentages. We will be practising our arithmetic skills every Friday in class and, later in the year, will be challenging ourselves to improve our scores on weekly arithmetic challenges.

In Art, our unit is ‘Cityscapes’! We will be learning new art techniques – including 3D pop art, palette knife artwork and using ink pens – and will discover ways to combine these techniques to create our own original pieces of art work inspired by well-known artists.

In Computing, we will be designing and creating interactive quizzes, databases and our own 3D maze adventure games.

In RE, we will be answering the question ‘What do Christians believe about the death of Jesus?’ including discussing how Jesus predicted his death and considering how he understood it.

In Music, we will be commencing weekly guitar lessons with Dr. Aguera on Friday 12th September.

In PE, we will be learning football and tag rugby skills with Mrs. Seymour on Monday afternoons and will be swimming at Didcot Wave Leisure Centre every Thursday morning from 11th September.

In PSHE, we will be continuing to follow the Jigsaw curriculum and will be focusing on how to be respectful global citizens.

In French, we will initially be recapping greetings before learning how to describe our classroom and school as well as discuss and write about our families using correctly-pronunciated vocabulary. 

Homework:

All children in De La Pole will be set 3x games to complete on Spelling Shed (they will each be provided with log-in details for this) to practise the weeks’ spellings, as well as handed a linked task sheet to complete.

The children will be asked to complete homework in homework books which need to be handed in every Thursday. New homework (a maths task and a SPaG or reading task, or a special topic-based project) is then handed out every Friday.