Summer 2 - Splash

Next half term we will be learning about the oceans and seas. We will be becoming Geographers who will explore the oceans to see which creatures live there. We will be identifying the 5 different layers of the ocean, as well as naming the world's oceans. We will also have a look into what dangers and threats the oceans and creatures are facing, and how these problems can be avoided. In our PE sessions we will be playing scatterball to improve our striking and fielding skills. In Art we will exploring collages to create our own underwater scenes. We will also be spending lots of time rehearsing for our KS1 summer performance of 'Rock Pool', so we will be doing lots of singing and acting!

Summer 1 - Fit For Life

This half term our topic was all about healthy living. We started the term by having an 'active day' to launch our topic, where we completed a variety of sporting activities throughout the day to get us thinking about why we need to exercise and why exercise is good for us. As this was a Science driven topic, we looked into lots of different aspects of what 'healthy living' is, such as eating a balanced diet, the importance of exercise and why we need to keep clean. We conducted an experiment to see what would happen to a piece of bread that we touched with our dirty hands compared to our clean hands - lots of mould grew on the first piece due to all of the bacteria and germs! Our focus in Music this half term was making, learning and performing compositions on glockenspiels. We developed our ball skills this term in our football sessions, and we also took part in some cricket sessions run by the company Chance2Shine cricket. As part of our DT learning, we designed a healthy snack fit for an athlete by ensuring we had sources of protein, carbohydrates and a portion of fruit or vegetables in our sandwiches or wraps.

Active Day and Pound Fit!

To launch our topic of 'Fit for Life' we had an active day and took part in a range of sporting activities. We completed a circuit on the MUGA, which meant we had to do a lot of different exercises - we found the plank very hard, but we loved having a go! We also did some active maths outside and played some number games. Our favourite game was trying to make numbers on the floor out of our bodies. We also had a really exciting visit from Jenna, who is a Pound Fit instructor. She held a 30 minute session for each class - we all loved using the weighted sticks to dance with and make noise! Finally, to finish the day off we ran the golden mile and did a very long stretching session to make sure our muscles didn't get sore.

Spring 2 - Castles and Dragons 

This half term our topic was all about Castles and Dragons. As this is was a History driven topic, we answered a key question each week within our lessons to become better historians. Our focus in Geography this half term was a local study of different places in Hampshire, focusing on Portchester. We also did lots of outdoor learning through our Science lessons which involved studying plants and the different seasons - we had the chance to grow our own bean plants at home too. In our DT sessions, we looked at 'strong' and 'stable' structures, and then used this learning to make a strong and stable throne, suitable for a king in a castle! In our PE sessions, we worked on our running and jumping skills through our fundamentals sessions, and also did an introduction to tennis. We wrote some lovely dragon poetry in our English lessons, and even wrote our own stories based on the book 'The Knight and the Dragon'.

Portchester Castle!

As part of our 'Castles and Dragons' topic in Spring 2, we visited Portchester Castle to help us to identify key castle features, and analyse how certain features worked and why they were built. The children did a variety of activities such as a sketch of the castle, a fact finding hunt and an adult led castle features trail. We all had a fantastic day and learned lots of new information about castles!

Spring 1 - The Secret Life of Animals

This term, we looked at animal lifecycles and how different animals change as they grow within our Science lessons. We compared the similarities and differences between lifecycles and learnt the basic needs for animal survival. This knowledge helped us to write our own instructions on how to care for a pet in English. In Art, we used our hands and tools to create snails sculptures from clay. We then painted them by colour mixing. In DT, we learnt to sew using the overstitch to design and make our own hat for Barnaby Bear on his travels. In Maths, we have looked at shape and fractions. We have explored yoga through our PE sessions this term, with a big focus on mindfulness and thinking about how our bodies feel. We also did an athletics topic to develop our throwing, catching and running skills.

Miller's Ark!

In KS1, we were very lucky to have the animals from Miller's Ark come to visit us for the morning. We really enjoyed learning about what the animals eat, where they sleep and what they get up to during the day. This helped us with our 'The Secret Life of Animals' topic.