Autumn 2024

And here we are again!  We hope you enjoyed a restful and relaxing Summer - or what was supposed to be - and are ready for some funfilled learning and experiences in the new school year.

This half term our Geography topic will be The Alps, and we will be learning all about what life is like there.  I'm hoping to share some of my experiences of The Alps as it is a place close to my heart - I spent two weeks of this Summer's holiday there this year.

You will all be able to shed some 'Light' in our Science lessons and we will even be trying our hand with a needle in our DT lessons.

Welcome back everyone, here's to a fantastic Autumn Term.  Watch this space to see what we enjoy.

In Maths, we have been consolidating our understanding of Place Value.  Base ten, place value counters and place value charts have helped us with this.  Why not ask your child about a Gattegno Chart?  It certainly got our brains thinking!

In Computing, we looked at how we should all try to limit our screen time before bed.  We discussed the best ways to 'wind down' after a day at school and give our brains a rest from screens.  Children were very sensible during discussions.  We even practised some calm, relaxation techniques.

In Science, we have started our unit on 'Light'.  Children from year 4 investigated darkness as an absence of light and identified that we really do need a source of light to see.  Year 5 looked into how we actually see.  We used string to show how the ray of light bounces off the object and into  our eyes. 
Did you know that light travels in straight lines?
Did you know that light travels in waves?

We looked at artificial and natural sources of light before discussing misconceptions about the moon!

In English, we are continuing our work on 'The Tempest'
Caliban- man or monster?  The children used evidence from the text to justify their own opinion.

In Science, we spent some time preparing our own Scientific Enquiry question.  We have made puppets using different coloured acetate and will be testing out predictions next lesson.  One key Enquiry Question was:  How far away should the light source be to display the clearest image?  One of our year 5 children suggested that the angle of the torch would also make a difference.  Keep checking back to see how we get on!

In Geography, we have been getting deeper into our topic of the Alps, looking more into specific areas - Innsbruck, Austria.  We have been comparing similarities and differences of our local area and an Alpine area.  Before we could do this, we investigated our local area.  We studied several different maps of our local area and looked at recreational use of the land to allow us to understand what there is in our local area (Carlisle).  We were then able to complete Venn diagrams for comparison.

We are trying our hands at sewing in DT, making stuffed toys.  This week, we were practising and/or learning and trying for the first time blanket stitch.  Some of us were little wizards!

We continued our learning on computer systems and networks this week and were looking at digital systems.  We found it really interesting learning about pedestrian crossings and how they are timed or work on sensors.  Looking at online catalogue stores followed on from last week's learning about smart lockers - helping us to really put our learning into the context of real life.

In French, we are building little conversations nicely, and our pronunication is absolutely fabulous.  We can say hello, ask what is your name, how are you and even how old are you?  We can also reply to all the questions too, why not ask your child to ask you some of the questions, or tell you their replies in French to showcase their skills!

Learning to write a non-chronological report in our current unit of English as seen us study rainforests.  Our sentence structure is developing nicely and some children have mastered using relative clauses with commas to boot!  There has also been some lovely technical vocabulary choices making reading the writing very interesting.

RE Week 
We have been incredibly lucky to begin our RE Week with a visit from Rachel Gleave (NISCU) .  Our focus for RE Week is the seven 'I am' statements for Jesus.  Rachel focussed on ' I am the bread of life'  Children then used bread dough to create their own symbol for Jesus.  We had a variety of images with children justifying their reasons why.  Ideas included: a dove, a door, a heart, a star and the cross.  We were very impressed with the children's knowledge and understanding and are looking forward to celebrating our learning with two other local schools at the end of the week.  Thank you Rachel!
We began the day with Whole School Collective Worship - time to reflect was given as we shared the focus of RE Week. 

Year 4/5 shared their song with Rachel- I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

Children enjoyed making their symbols with the bread dough.