Summer 1 Paws, Claws and Whiskers

Week Commencing 15th April 2024

This week, we started a new topic called ‘Paws, Claws and Whiskers.’ We spoke about all of the animals that the children could name. We explored how some can live with us as pets and some are not suitable for this. We spoke about wild animals and animals in captivity. We also spoke about what animals need in order to survive. In English, we read a poetry book called ‘Perfectly Peculiar Pets’ by Anja Boretzki. We then had a go at making up our own animal combinations and writing these in poetry form E.g. It has eyes like a tiger. It has a tail like a rabbit. It has a shell like a turtle etc. In maths, we learned all about capacity and volume. We explored the fact that capacity is the maximum amount that something can hold inside it whereas volume is the amount of something actually inside a container. In art and design, we explored using pencils to sketch different animals. We thought about how to use pencils to draw fur, feathers, scales etc. We used different pencil pressures. In art, we also had a go at looking at artwork and discussing what we liked and disliked as well as the techniques used. We then had a go at recreating the artwork. In science, we learned all about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.

• Switchzoo - design your own animal

Week Commencing 22nd April 2024

This week, we read some traditional tales. We focussed on Goldilocks and the three bears and also the three little pigs. We explored how there are different versions with slightly different events but the main events always stay the same. We had a go at using different voices to read them out loud and then we tried retelling them through writing. In maths, we started to learn about multiplication. We worked on counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. We explored the patterns these made when we put them onto a 100 square. We then moved onto making equal groups ready for repeated addition such as 5+5+5+5=20. In DT, we started our new project to design, make and evaluate an animal shelter or house model (product) for an animal (user) for shelter (purpose). In science, we thought about big cats and humans. We looked at what body parts were the same and what were different. We then did an experiment all about camouflage. We explored butterflies and moths and how they did this. After this, we explored how to collect data about our classmates using tally charts and bar charts and we also explored similarities and differences between lots of animals. On Wednesday, we had a visit from some farm animals. We got a chance to learn all about them as well as touch them with supervision.

Week Commencing 6^th May

This week, we learned all about non-fiction. We read lots of animal books and wrote lots of facts. We then learned how to present our work as a non-chronological report. We ended the week by making a class book. In maths, we started to learn about division. We learned how to divide by grouping and we also explored dividing by sharing things out equally. In geography, we learned all bout the 7 continents and 5 oceans. In DT, we designed and made our animal structures and houses. In music, we had a go at composing for chime bars.

Week Commencing 9^th May 2022

This week we read some books about Percy the park keeper by Nick Butterworth. We thought about how we had met this author before when we read Q Pootle 5 during Moon Zoom. We also had a think about all the animals in the books. We read lots of non-fiction books and had a go at writing some animal reports. In maths, we explored more about multiplication and division. We explored doubling, making equal groups by grouping and making equal groups by sharing. In DT, we designed our animal structures and wrote some design criteria to match. We then had a go at making our structures. In geography, we learned about maps and had a go at making up our own imaginary zoo map. We also learned about the 7 continents and 5 oceans.

Week Commencing 16th  May 2022

This week we read some more books about Percy the park keeper by Nick Butterworth and we also read ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell. We thought about all the animals in the books and researched information about them. We then worked on presenting this information clearly. We also worked really hard on our phonic skills in readiness for the year one phonic screen test after half term. In maths, we explored fractions. We learned about whole, half and quarter. We explored using practical equipment, shapes and pictures. In DT, we evaluated our animal structures to say what went well and what we would do differently another time. In history, we learned about some famous people who learned/are learning lots about animals such as David Attenborough and Beatrix Potter. In science, we made up our own animal by mixing lots of animal parts together. We then thought about what our animal would eat and if it was an omnivore, herbivore or carnivore. We also wrote a fact file all about our animal.

Week Commencing 23rd May 2022

This week we read another traditional tale. We read Little Red Riding Hood. We explored the main features of a traditional tale, we described the main characters and the settings and we also retold the story using our own words.  In maths, we learned more about fractions. We explored how a quarter is one out of four equal parts and three quarters is three out of four equal parts. In art, we thought about our favourite animals and made artwork inspired by this. We explored mixing the primary colours red, yellow and blue to make the secondary colours orange, purple and green. In science, we sorted animals into mammals, bird, fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians. We also learned all about seasonal change and had a special focus on summer. In computing, we finished off our audio book by combining our sound effects with our voice recording of the story. To finish off our topic, we did some animal quizzes to test our knowledge and made pictures of our famous animals. On Wednesday, we went on a local area walk to explore the road signs and learn all about road safety. On Friday, we had a special jubilee morning and a whole school picnic.