Autumn 1 

General Information

Reading 

Max and the Millions by Ross Montgomery

When a school caretaker mysteriously disappears, leaving behind a small pile of sand, a student is drawn into an extraordinary adventure. Ten-year-old Max feels like an outsider at St Goliath’s. He is deaf, and while this doesn’t need to be a problem, the unlikable head ensures that it is, singling him out with a special seat in assembly and showing him off like an exhibit to visitors. He’s also clearly neglected to ensure Max’s peers understand how to foster normal, meaningful relationships with someone who happens to be deaf. 

Norse Myths by Katie Ponder 

Journey into the mythical world of Nordic folklore! Children can explore the stories of mythical figures like Thor, the god of thunder who disguised himself as a bride to seek revenge and retrieve his powerful hammer, Mjölnir, and how Sif, the goddess of fertility, had her long golden hair cut off by Loki, the trickster god.

Writing 

In our first unit the children will be using Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold to explore the theme of ‘freedom’ and do so by creating their own story, written as a play script. They will also create retellings, book reviews, character descriptions and dialogue as part of the unit. 

Synopsis of Text:

Ringgold recounts the dream adventure of eight-year-old Cassie Louise Lightfoot, who flies above her apartment-building rooftop, the 'tar beach' of the title, looking down on 1939 Harlem. Part autobiographical, part fictional, this allegorical tale sparkles with symbolic and historical references central to African-American culture. The spectacular artwork resonates with colour and texture. Children will delight in the universal dream of mastering one's world by flying over it. A practical and stunningly beautiful book.

Maths 

Place Value 

This half term, pupils will learn to count in multiples of 25, 100 and 1000 in order to count larger numbers comprehensively. They will learn about the relative size of numbers and complete number sequences within 10 000. Pupils will learn about place value to 4 digits and they will link numbers in numerals and in words. They will compare numbers using language such as 'greater', 'smaller', 'less' and 'more', using the mathematical symbols >, < and =. They will use their knowledge of number and place value to help complete number patterns. They will also learn about rounding numbers to the nearest 1000, 100 and 10; children will apply this knowledge to approximate, total and find the difference.

You can find a more detailed overview on our maths curriculum page by following the link below. 

Learning Challenge 

Irritating Invaders

Our topic this term is all about 'Irritating Invaders'! We will be learning about the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons in History and about cities and villages in Geography. We kick started our topic by making our very own Viking helmets and took some pretty terrifying photos. 

In our Geography lessons, we have been discussing the difference between cities and villages and focusing on physical and human features. We have been thinking about the positives and negatives of living in cities and villages. 

RHE 

Created and loved by God

In this unit, children will learn to celebrate similarities and differences, and to appreciate and look after their bodies as gifts from God. 

We started the unit by creating some self portraits using natural materials found on our playground! 

Computing 

Computing systems and networks- the internet 

Learners will apply their knowledge and understanding of networks, to appreciate the internet as a network of networks which need to be kept secure. They will learn that the World Wide Web is part of the internet, and will be given opportunities to explore the World Wide Web for themselves in order to learn about who owns content and what they can access, add, and create. Finally, they will evaluate online content to decide how honest, accurate, or reliable it is, and understand the consequences of false information.

R.E.

CARITAS: Season of Creation

We designed a poster that illustrated quotes about how God sees and values each person he has created. We drew pictures and symbols that represented God’s love and wrote explanations about the importance of God loving us all equally. We also thought about the ways we can use God’s words of love in our daily lives.