Starlings Term 1:Autumn 2012 Passport to Rome Physical Development We will be focusing our learning in these areas: Games – children will use a range of equipment and skills to develop their passing techniques Gymnastics –stretching and curling, focusing on improving the quality of movements to develop greater flow when linking actions We will also begin to develop our swimming skills Knowledge & Understanding of the World We will be studying Italy, including Using our atlas skills to locate Italy as well as other major European countries and features Investigating Italian food, culture, climate, famous landmarks and also designing and creating our own pizzas We will begin finding out about the rise of the Roman Empire, why they invaded and what is was like to be a Roman soldier Our science this term is a study of Habitats, including: Investigating the characteristics of living and non-living things Investigating different habitats and the animals that might live there Looking at how animals adapt to their habitats Investigating food chains Using and creating scientific keys to sort animals Thinking about different ways of collecting and recording recording our results In ICT we will be looking at how data bases are used to store information and then creating our own database of habitats around the school As part of an environmental week we will be looking at reusing, reducing and recycling and will be carrying out some exciting workshops with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Communication, Literacy and Language We will be focusing on the following learning Exploring poetic form including prose, Haiku, Tanka, Cinquains Developing persuasive writing skills Investigating the Italian folk tale ‘Gifts at the bottom of the well’ using ‘story maker’ techniques. Planning and writing our own stories Spelling investigations Whole class and group reading activities Creative Development In Art we will be developing our mark making and observational drawing skills looking particularly at shading techniques We will be creating Italian collages., investigating 3d sculpture and creating our own Roman shields and helmets The children will continue to develop their music skills with our specialist music teacher Mrs Winning- Hart PSE Development (Personal and Social Emotional) SEAL unit – New beginnings making a class charter Exploring our special qualities Recognising our feelings and finding ways to deal with them In RE we will be exploring what makes someone an inspirational leader We will look at the life and works of Jesus as an inspiration to Christians; then and now Learning Developing lifelong learning skills is central to all that we do. This term we will be focusing on: Developing good listening skills Developing the ability to focus on tasks for longer periods of time and manage distractions Encouraging the children to ask questions to further their learning Mathematical development We will be focusing on the following learning: Place value including reading, writing, partitioning, ordering and rounding numbers to 1000 and beyond Investigating number patterns including negative numbers, multiplication tables, doubles and halves Consolidating addition and subtraction facts and using these skills to work mentally with larger numbers. Interpretation and creation of bar graph, pictograms and Venn diagrams Problem solving