Understanding the World Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

Understanding the World ELG: Past and Present (History)

 Children at the expected level of development will: 

- Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.

 - Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

 - Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling. 

ELG: People, Culture and Communities (Geography /RE)

People Culture and Communities ELG Children at the expected level of development will: 

- Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.

- Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

- Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps.

ELG: The Natural World (Science)

Children at the expected level of development will: 

- Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.

 - Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

- Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter. 

Term 5 -Come Outside/Growing

R.E - Reconciliation

The children looked at a picture of Jesus with his friends, the disciples. We talked about what makes a good friend. Then, the children used an IPad to take selfies of their friends and explain why their friends were so special, just like Jesus' disciples. 

Gardening - Plants you can grow to eat.

May, is the Month we celebrate Mary.

Thank you for sending in a flower. All the children took one flower to church and sang beautifully. It really was a lovely service. 

Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter

We looked at the different objects and matched them to the correct season. Then we dressed our bear to show which type of clothing he should wear.

Why do farmers need scarecrows? 

"Farmers make scarecrows to stop the birds eating the seeds." - Harley -Rose

Geography: Why do we need to know what the weather is like?

The children have been learning about the changes in weather. We watched the forecast and started our own weather chart. 

Which days did it rain?

How many days was it sunny?

What was the coldest temperature?

Which day  was the warmest?

Our trip to the farm

Our trip to WhitePost Farm linked to our topic on animals and growing.

We learnt about different animals and their young,  their habitats and what it is like to work on a farm.

We enjoyed feeding the animals too!

Science - Growing /Labelling parts of a flower

R.E - Pentecost

This week, we have been talking about how we share 'Good News'.  

Class Worship

Term 4

Science /Non-Fiction -The Life Cycle of a Butterfly - egg, larva/larvae, caterpillar, pupa, chrysalis, cocoon, metamorphosis and butterfly

Our caterpillars arrived last week and they have grown much bigger! We are hoping to watch them turning into a chrysalis next week. 

The children have been observing the changes and learning about life cycles. We sorted the pictures into a cycle. Does your child remember the order? Can they use this weeks vocabulary?

R.E - Growing/Lent

The children are learning how we must grow to be like Jesus. We have started to make our Easter Gardens and a purple cross to remember that Jesus died for us.

Term 3 

Shrove Tuesday/Ash Wednesday

R.E :Valentines Day _- Love Monster

Science - Magnetic and Non Magnetic

The children had fun experimenting with different materials to find out more about magnets. Some children wrote down their findings too!

R.E - Celebrations/Gathering & CAFOD Visitor

What do your children remember about our topic celebrations and our gathering topic?

The children talked about what celebrations they enjoy and how they gather in church for Mass , weddings and a Baptisim. 

What did our CAFOD visitor teach us about being Musa being special?

We are teaching the children to celebrate being different because God made us all special and unique.

Changing Seasons & Months of the year

Science  - Floating & Sinking

The Mad Scientist came to our class to teach all the children about why some objects float but some sink. First, we looked at the object and felt it, so we could make a prediction. Then, we tested the object in a tray of water. Finally, we explained using the key vocabulary why we thought the object floated or sank. Most children are now all using the vocabulary - float, floated, light,  air, less dense or sink, sank, heavy and more dense.

Term 2

Christmas Calendars

The children used the Green Screen as part of our learning about ICT and technology. We had fun learning about seasons and some children now understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter. We hope you enjoy using your calendars next year!

Christmas - Santa in School - Buddy Time!

R.E - The Nativity

R.E - The Advent Wreath

Advent means -to prepare. Each week we light a different candle to prepare for Christmas. 

The children learnt about the wreath and each candle. Then, they made an Advent Wreath. 

R.E - Advent - Birthdays

We prepare to celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas day.

History (Understanding the World) 

Can I identify differences between the past and present

Vocabulary - kettle past/present , electricity, stove/range/fire

We learnt the song -Polly put the Kettle on and looked at different kettles.  What can your child remember about the past?

Learning objectives

·         – Children can make valid distinctions between the past and the present

·         – They can identify aspects of the past in a picture of a familiar rhyme

·         – They can speculate as to how the old kettle was heated

·         – They learn about staying safe when dealing with heated objects

During RE, we are talking about how we are welcomed into God's family through Baptism. The children looked at a real Baptismal candle and made their own. We light the candle to show that God is with us. He is the light of the world. 

The children talked about how the seasons are changing and it is now darker and getting colder. We watched a story about Guy Fawkes. They shared their experiences of going to a bonfire and watching fireworks. They enjoyed writing about the colours and pictures in the Curiosity Cube and using glitter and paint to create firework pictures.

Term 1

This week we have talked about the changing seasons. We have learnt lots of facts about the changes of the natural world during Autumn. Look out for changes when you go for a walk. 

Can your child remember a fact about Autumn?

To link with our theme 'All About Me' we listened to the story of 'God Made Me.' God has made us all different and perfect!

The children have learnt they they are all precious. They showed their understanding by bringing in an item that was precious to them. 

R.E - Welcome

God welcomes us into his family through Baptism.

" My grandparents live in France." - Katarina

R.E - Myself

God loves me and knows my name!

During R.E, we have talked about how special we are because God made us all. We also talked about how Mary was told to name her baby Jesus and our parents give us a special name too.  The children had fun making a paper plate face and writing their special name.  Then, we talked about the different people in our family. The children made pebble families and drew pictures. 

Today, the children listened to  learn more about the 'Joy of Me!' They found out lots of facts about me and my family and what I like to do. They had fun looking at Domino the dog and having a go at my favourite hobby, paddle boarding. We practised our balancing on logs and then on my board. Over the next few weeks the children will be asked about the joy of them. Please could you add some photographs to your bear book so the children can share facts about their family, what they enjoy doing or eating too!

During our story session of the Owl Babies, the children shared their knowledge of the story and talked about their families. We discussed the setting, characters and why it is important to care and  look after each other.  Can they tell you all about the story?