Welcome back.

The children have settled back into school after the  half term break and are very excited about their learning.

In Writing, the children have started to explore the book, 'Captain Cook' and followed the brief timeline of the explorer and his secret mission from the king.  They have used the book to help them write a diary entry in the role of Captain Cook. They described his excitement at reading the king's letter and his feelings during his exploration.  They planned the diary entry and tried to make sure it was written in past tense (words with the suffix ed)  and in the first person (I, we, me, my, our).

In Maths, the children have been using their 2, 5, and 10 times tables to help them work out multiplication calculations. They have thought about how many groups there are and how many there are in each group.  They have learnt how this can be represented by arrays.  An example of an array can be seen at the top of this page. Regular practice of counting in 2's, 5's and 10's will help all the children in their upcoming maths activities.

In Science, the children are starting their topic on Recycling. They have defined recycling and discussed why we need to recycle. They have recorded their ideas using flip to record a video explaining their ideas.

In History, as part of our Land Ahoy topic,  the children have looked at the life of Sir Francis Drake, the first Britain to circumnavigate the world. They thought about why he was a significant person in British history and where he would be placed on our class timeline.

In Design Technology, the children have begun their topic on making bread by identifying different types of bread and the key ingredients needed to make bread.

On Monday, the children participated in a workshop run by the NSPCC explaining how to keep safe and who are their trusted adults. The NSPCC gave the children an information leaflet and sticker to remind them of what they learnt.

In RE, we have begun a unit on Hinduism and have explored various gods and what each god represents. This week, we have  explored the festival of Diwali as part of our celebration week. We created mehndi patterns on paper hand outlines.

We will be expecting the children to complete the following homework each week:

• Home reading- to be recorded in their reading diaries. The children should be reading at home at least 3 times a week. Please make sure your child has their reading diary in school every day.

• Spelling sheets given out on Friday. Please return by the following Friday.

• Numbots - Children to complete at least 15 minutes on the Numbot programme. We have shown the children where to access Numbots and their log in details have been stuck into their reading diaries.