Our topic for the next 6 weeks is ‘The United Kingdom’. This week, we introduced our topic and started by looking at different countries that make up the UK, identifying their flags and touching on popular things each country is famous for. In week 2, we will learn about some of our famous landmarks such as The London Eye, Big Ben, Snowdonia National Park and Loch Ness.  In week 3, we will learn about UK coasts, coastal features and, more specifically, the Jurassic Coast and World Heritage Sites. In week 4, we will learn about famous people in the UK including politicians, actors and athletes. In week 5, we will look back in history and learn about British inventors and some their inventions. In week 6, we will learn about British music and listen to some popular songs and artists from recent history. Our focus books for this half-term are ‘Dolphin Boy’ by Michael Morpurgo, ‘The Big Book of the UK: Facts, Folklore and Fascinations from Around the United Kingdom’ by Imogen Russell Williams and ‘A Kind of Spark’ by Ellie McNicoll.

Our off-site physical activity this term will be Tennis at Ebbisham Sports Centre. For this activity, your child will need trainers, a P.E. top and some tracksuit bottoms in a named bag that can be kept at school for the duration of the term. As the weather is very cold, it would also be helpful if you could please provide some warm clothing such as a hat, scarf and gloves for your child to use this half-term. 

For our White Rose Maths sessions, we will be moving on to our new modules, introducing the mathematical operations multiplication and division, whilst others move on to building their understanding of fractions. 

In our White Rose Science sessions, we will be moving to our chemistry modules and focusing on materials, identifying different materials and their functions/uses, whilst others move to learning about rocks, identifying different types of rocks based on their appearance and testing rocks using a variety of methods to determine their properties. 

In our Jigsaw PSHE sessions, we will be focusing on our new topic ‘Dreams and Goals’. During these sessions we will think about long and short-term goals and objectives we would like to achieve and identify how we might take steps to making these dreams achievable. 

Our ICT focus this half-term is the Twinkl Scheme of work, ‘Online Safety’. Over the next few weeks, we will learn more about some of the potential dangers in the online world and what basic steps we all need to take in order to have positive digital experiences and keep ourselves safe when engaging online.

In our cooking sessions, we will be learning to make a range of healthy meals and snacks based on the theme ‘healthy winter warmers’ including winter veggie pies, warm winter wraps and healthy apple crumple cups.

For our outdoor learning sessions, we will base our sessions around the theme ‘winter landscapes’ and will participate in a range of activities such as mapping & orienteering, winter sun and water & ice experiments.

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