This half term we have been learning about The Great Fire of London.  We have been learning to write in the past tense and improve our sentences by using adjectives and a range of conjunctions.  We kept a diary about the main events, just like Samuel Pepysdid in 1666!  We learnt about where and how the fire started by taking on the role of Thomas Farriner.  The children followed instructions, measured ingredients and worked hard to knead the bread.

They then realised how tired and hot he must have felt after working in his bakery.   We learnt about the different methods used to try to stop the fire and even recreated the bucket chain and also watched the effect of using a fire hook to pull down houses to create a fire break. 

When The Great Fire of London ended, we became architects and designed a new London and wrote rules to prevent another fire happening e.g. houses not being built close together or not to be made of wood.  

The children have been loving their new reading sessions. On the first day decoding is the focus, with prosody on the second day and comprehension on the third day.  We have also been following Little Wandle for our phonics sessions which the children are enjoying.

We used our scale reading skills to measure the ingredients we needed to make our bread and we have also been learning about money.  We can make the same amount in at least three different ways and add different amounts of money and calculate change.  We ended the half term by learning about multiplication and how it links to repeated addition.

In science we have been learning about materials and their properties.  We explored objects to investigate if they could change shape by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching, depending on the material they are made from.  We had fun debating whether it would be a good idea or a bad idea for all objects to be transparent and investigated which material would be the best for Santa’s elves parachutes!

In art we have been learning about the artist Dennis Creffield who used charcoal to create his work.   The children investigated how to use charcoal and how it reacts on different types of paper.   Then the children completed an observational sketch of a tudor house using pencil before creating their own St Paul's Cathedral picture using charcoal.

We have been continuing our learning about online safety.  The children learnt what ‘digital footprint’ means and how to use keywords to search efficiently for information online.  They also learnt how to recognise whether a website is appropriate for children and then rated different websites by explaining what they liked and disliked. They learnt about how to identify kind and unkind behaviour online and what to do if they think someone is being unkind online.

PE is always a popular lesson and this half term we have been focussing on gymnastics and dance.  In gymnastics we have performed three gymnastic shapes as jumps and have travelled at different levels and inclines.  We have also been learning  about different rolls including an egg roll, a log roll and a forward roll.  In dance the children have had fun creating dance phrases to different feelings using music as stimuli.

We completed the half term by learning the blanket sewing stitch to create our own Christmas decoration.  We are very proud of them!

It has been really lovely to be able to invite parents back into school again.  We loved having you back in the classroom for your child to share their hard work with you. The children also enjoyed performing their Christmas Concert to you.

Thank you as always for your continued support. We have appreciated all your donations on Mufti Days, Children in Need Day and at our School Fair. 

We hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday, and wish you all the best for 2022!