Year 3
This term’s topic, Rock ‘n’ Roll, has a history focus and will be based around prehistoric Britain. We will be exploring The Stone Age and considering the changes that occurred during the Bronze and Iron Ages before the Romans invaded Britain.
We will learn how Stone Age people survived as hunter-gatherers and we will be studying Stonehenge as important historic sites from this period. We will consider the significance of historic artefacts in giving us clues about the past before the time of written language and will learn how to construct timelines to order events. We have a Stone Age day experience where the children will be making shelters, creating fires and gathering food.
Our art lessons will explore prehistoric cave art and the artist Picasso. As well as having fun making clay pots during our Stone Age experience day.
Science will focus on rocks and soil. We will study the three main types of rock and learn how to classify them using their different properties. We will find out about fossils and will learn about Mary Anning and her famous discoveries. We will also investigate magnetism: how magnets attract or repel each other; sort materials according to whether they are magnetic or not and learn to describe magnets as having two poles.
The children will love our class reader ‘The Ice Monster’ by David Walliams, as well as a selection of books by Dick King-Smith. We will also use the book ‘The Stone Age Boy’ as an inspiration for diary writing and ‘How to wash a Woolly Mammoth’ to underpin our instructional writing focus.
In DT, the children will learn a selection of sewing stitches to design and create a sewn bookmark and research the inventor of Velcro – George De Mestral.
All learning will be underpinned with our purple learning strategy and the school will be enjoying a whole school mental health fortnight.
Spellings
Year 4
This Summer Term, our Year 4 topic is Glorious Glevum. The children will be learning about the Romans with a specific focus on Gloucester and local history. We will also study how the Romans invaded and ruled over most of Europe. We will be reading ‘Twitch’ as our class reader, alongside other rich texts to enhance the vocabulary of the children and immerse them in the topic. In Science, we will be studying teeth, the digestive system and food chains. The children will enjoy a variety of enrichment experiences, such as a visit to Gloucester Museum for a Roman experience to consolidate historical and geographical learning from the year and the annual ‘Roman Day’.
Year 4 – Multiplication Test Information
Y4 Parent Overview The Romans 2023
Spellings
The children used the Atlases to find the countries and colonies that Queen Victoria ruled over in the British Empire, and their trade and export. They then located the countries on their map, found the capital city and coloured them in with a key.
Year 5
Year 5’s theme of learning for the Spring Term is Blast Off! The children will be learning about the world they live in, Space travel, and some of the key pioneer scientists, astronomers, mathematicians and inventors who have contributed to our understanding and exploration of our universe. As part of their Design and Technology studies the children will have an opportunity to design and make motorised moon buggies, with strong links to developing their understanding of the technological innovations which have been generated through Space travel. We had hoped to visit ‘We the Curious Museum’, however owing to a fire at the museum earlier this year, this will not be possible in the foreseeable future, therefore will be arranging some inhouse extra curricula Space activities. Also, the children will have the opportunity to carry out experiments on forces in a science laboratory when we visit Holmleigh Park School for a science lesson with one of the senior school science teachers. In English the children will be developing their story writing skills, thinking about character profiles, how to develop suspense and intrigue through to planning and writing their own Science Fiction stories. As part of their reading development, the children will be reading a variety of language rich texts including Science Fictional texts, such as Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen, to help them in their development as young writers. The children will also participate in our whole school mental health fortnight, which will be building upon previous work in earlier years. They will be working at an age appropriate level, through stories (such as Boy in the Tower) and discussions to develop their understanding of what mental health might mean for some, and that we all have mental health.
Spellings
Year 6
Our topic this term is largely science and PSHE based, as we explore the most incredible machine – the human body. We will start by learning about the organs of our body, our body systems and everything that we can do to keep our bodies working well. We will also be learning about how different substances effect our body and healthy choices that we can make. Later in the term we will discuss how our bodies change as we grow up and human reproduction. In a secondary topic, we will be travelling across the Severn Seas as we read the famous Treasure Island and start our Pirate Anthologies. Over the term, we will explore a range of writing genres, all with a pirate theme. This always proves to be an exciting topic and we look forward to reading the wonderful writing that our talented young authors produce.
Parent Overview Spring 2023
Spellings
Y6 Spellings Spring 1