This Autumn half term our topic is ‘The Stone Age’. In our first couple of days back at school, we enjoyed looking at pictures of our summer holidays and recalling activities and things we had done during the holiday. This week, we introduced our main topic and found out a bit about what the Stone Age was and when in our history this occurred. We also took part in a comprehension activity, reading through some new textbooks about the Stone Age to find information and answer some questions about this period of time. In week 3, we will learn about how early humans lived and how they built their homes, looking at what materials they used and where they might have settled. In week 4, we will learn about what Stone Age people ate and how, in the latter part of the Stone Age, early humans turned to farming to help provide them with what they needed. In week 5, we will look at clothing that was used during this period and how they found/made the different items they wore and how they kept themselves warm. In week 6, we will look at early representations of human life on earth and how they made cave paintings to tell stories and represent their lives. In week 7, we will learn about Stone Age tools and weapons, the materials they used and how these were created using early tool making methods.

Our focus books for this half term are as follows:

Stone Soup by Annette Smith: A story/play about a man who makes a stone soup and adds different ingredients to improve the flavour.

Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura: The synopsis reads “One day a boy falls down a hole, and an amazing thing happens — when he wakes, he’s in a camp full of people wearing animal skins! Step back 15,000 years as a modern boy enters a Stone Age village and learns a few prehistoric tricks of the trade.”

This term our off-site activity is swimming. This will take place every Tuesday morning so please do  remember to send your child in on this day with a swim kit inside a named bag and should include swim clothes and a towel. You can also send in shower gel if you would like to. This week, all of the children coped well with changes to our usual swimming sessions, including the introduction of our special new swimming instructors!

For our White Rose Maths sessions, some of us will be learning about mass whilst others will be learning about fractions. Those learning about mass will explore comparing weights, measuring mass and capacity. Those following the fractions unit of work will develop their understanding of unit fractions and identifying  denominators and numerators as well as comparing non-unit fractions.

Our White Rose Science focus for this half term is Biology, and over the next few weeks, some of us will be learning about different types of animals (mammals, fish, reptiles etc.) and what they need to be able to survive in their environments, whilst some of us learn about skeletons and different bones within the human body as well as how some animals skeletons different to our own.

In our Jigsaw PSHE sessions, we will be focusing on our new topic ‘Being Me in My World’. We will learn about being part of a class team and as a member of the wider school community, whilst some of us will learn more about our own individual identities and how we are part of the wider world and our family groups.

Our ICT focus this half term is the Twinkl Scheme of work, Digital Painting. Over the course of this half term, some of the pupils in Monarch Class will learn the skills associated with painting pictures on a PC  device. We will explore changing brush styles, size and colours; drawing shapes and filling them; using tools to remove    mistakes and adding text. We will also have some pupils following the scheme of work Film Making. During these sessions, some of us will explore various aspects of film-making, choosing and using appropriate software in order to complete tasks such as writing a script, researching information, filming and editing.

Our R.E. focus this half term is Hinduism. We will be introducing the Hindu faith and exploring some of the key ideas and traditions that are central to this religion. Children will begin to learn about a range of Hindu beliefs and practices, including the importance of stories, symbols, and celebrations within the faith. We will also think about how these beliefs influence the daily lives of Hindus and what they can teach us about values such as   respect, kindness, and community.

If there is any other information you would like me to provide you with or if you have any questions, please do get in touch.

Nikki and the Monarch Class Team