1. Swans newsletter Autumn 2015 English This term we will be studying the book ‘The boy who swam with Piranhas’ by David Almond. We will be exploring the story and the effect of the language used by the author. We will use this to write our own entertaining story of the piranha tank show. Numeracy We will be building on the children’s previous knowledge in mathematics and further developing our mental and written strategies to help us solve mathematical problems. We will be focusing on place value, number facts, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, geometry and statistics. We will also be continuing to learn our number facts and times tables. Topic Our topic this half term is ‘our environment’ where we will be exploring where we live, our school environment and amenities of where we live. Next half term we will be learning about Mexico and exploring the traditions, art and food from the country. Science Our science topic this half term is plants. We will be exploring what plants need to grow well, identifying the functions of plants, how plants are pollinated and how they reproduce. Next half term we will be learning about healthy eating where we will look at the different food groups and what is needed for a balanced diet. PE This half term we are focusing on our balancing skills in gymnastic, creating a flower dance and developing our netball skills. Next half term we will be exploring sequences in gym, creative dance based on mythological creatures and New Age Kurling. Please make sure your PE kit is in school all week. ICT We will be developing our general ICT skills which will include logging on or off, and using the internet for research linked to our topic and science work. We will also be developing our word processing skills and learning to save our work, use the copy, cut or paste functions. Next half term we will be looking at programming. RE Our RE focus this term is ‘Creation’. We will be exploring what creation means, how different religions express their ideas about creation and what the children think creation means to themselves. PSHE Our PSHE topic this half term is ‘New beginnings’ and next half term we will be thinking about ‘getting on and falling out’. Art Our art this half term is painting. We will be developing our mixing and painting skills. We will also be painting landscape pictures using these skills linked to our topic work on the local environment. Next half term we will be making our own Mexican masks. Design and technology Our DT this half term is also linked to our topic and we will be designing and making our own park. Next half term we will be focusing on food and making healthy wraps. Homework and home learning Homework will be given out each Wednesday and must be returned to school each Monday. Spelling sentences and times tables to practise will be given out with the homework and the children will be tested on Mondays. You should be reading at home and bringing your reading folder to school every day. If anyone has an interest in any of our topics for this term or would like to help out please come and see me. We would love to have you in class. Music In music we will be focusing on composition and beats. French Our French this term will be introducing the language, learning greetings, questions and counting.