Summer Term 2025

Week commencing 30^th June

In English this week we have begun to explore the season of winter. We considered how animals find shelter when the weather begins to get colder and we enjoyed our experience day, watching Percy the Park Keeper – one snowy night. Next week we will explore animals that hibernate before getting ready to write our own information text.

In maths this week, we have all completed our money learning and have moved on to time. We are reviewing the days of the week and the months of the year, ensuring that the children understand the concept of today, yesterday and tomorrow. Next week we will begin to tell the time to the hour and the half hour.

Week commencing 23^rd June

In English this week we have been exploring the season of Autumn. We have learned how foxes adapt in anticipation of winter, growing a thicker coat and a bushier, fluffy tail. We also learned about echolocation in bats, and wrote imaginative sentences to suggest what the bats were saying to each other. We have learned about the habitats and diets of bats and foxes to help us to write more informative sentences.

In maths this week we have continued our money learning, converting pounds and pence, adding money and subtracting money. All of the children are becoming more confident in recognising the coins and understanding their values.

Week commencing 16^th June

In English this week we have been exploring the season of summer. We enjoyed gathering information to help us to write sentences about squirrels who begin to gather their nuts in the summer in preparation for summer. We enjoyed learning more about squirrels and even got to observe some squirrels in the playground during out writing.

In maths this week, both groups have completed their previous learning and have moved on to money. We have had all of the resources out this week, learning to recognise coins and notes. We have identified their values and have begun to add coins and notes. We have been practising this skill with a fantastic game on the topmarks website - https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money - which the children may like to access at home to continue their practice.

Week commencing 9^th June

In English this week we have been exploring the season of spring. We had an experience day in which we gathered information about the sycamore moth caterpillar, primroses and blackbirds. We wrote fact sentences using adjectives to describe these in the spring time, focusing on their appearance and habitats. We also wrote simile sentences, comparing the yellow primrose to a variety of yellow objects.

In maths this week, one group of children have continued their fractions learning. We have practiced partitioning the whole, then moved on to finding unit fractions and non unit fractions of amounts. The second group have continued their place value within a hundred learning. We have partitioned numbers into tens and ones and found one more and one less of any given number. This groups number sense is really improving and it is lovely to see the progress they have made this year.

Week commencing 2nd June 2025

It was lovely to welcome the children back to class this week, full of energy after their lovely half term. In English we have begun a new non-fiction unit based on the book “Seasons” by Hannah Pang. Our learning will enable the children to write a report, using non-fiction writing features. We have learned to identify headings and subheadings and the importance of an introduction in writing. The children have begun to write their own introduction, based on the text.

In maths, one group of children have now finished their volume and capacity learning and are now learning about fractions. They did exceptionally well adding fractions, and everybody remembered that we never add the denominator! The second maths group are now counting up to 100. We have used base ten to support the children’s understanding of partitioning two digit numbers.

Week commencing 12th May 2025

This week the children have worked hard to plan and write their independent story based on the story, The Storm Whale. The children have showcased their imaginations this week, and their finished stories are excellent. Well done!
In maths, one group of children have been learning about volume and capacity. We have spent lots of time practising reading the scales of containers and this has really supported the children with their independent work. The second maths group have been learning about position and direction. They are now confident with positional language and could demonstrate this in their independent learning.

Week commencing 5^th May 2025

In English this week we have continued writing sentences around our story, The Storm Whale. Our main character, Noi, and his dad are returning the whale to the sea and they have endured a vicious storm with waves as tall as skyscrapers. We will begin to plan our independent writing around this story next week.

In maths, the first group of children have completed their learning around shape. We enjoyed a practical lesson on Friday, making 3D shapes out of cubes, straws and blu-tack. The children are now more confident in naming 3D shapes and their properties. Next week we will begin our mass and capacity unit.

The second maths groups have continued their learning around fractions, finding and recognising quarters of a shape. Next week, we will move on to finding and recognisiong quarters of a quantity.

Week commencing 28^th April 2025

We have had another extremely productive week in the Everest room. In English we have been writing sentences that include prepositions and adverbs to make them more interesting. The children practiced a variety of prepositional phrases – across the sand, in the distance, near the shore – to use in their writing and also used synonyms for the word “saw”. Their completed work was lovely, and it is wonderful to see all of the children making progress with their writing. We also enjoyed another experience day, playing hide and seek! We had to practice squashing and squeeing ourselves into tight spaces to help us to describe Noi hiding the whale in the bath tub. It was great fun and the children’s vocabulary really benefited from talking about the experience. 

In maths, the first group have been working hard in our shape unit. We have been learning about horizontal and vertical lines, parallel and perpendicular lines, acute angles and obtuse angle.  We are getting better at identifying angles without measuring them. Next week we will move on to recognising 2d and 3d shapes.

The second group of children have been working hard in their fractions learning. This week they have made use of the outside area to begin to understand half of an object, before then making halves and recognising half of a quantity. We have a few more fractions lessons ahead of us, before we move onto place value learning.

Week commencing 21st April

How lovely it has been to see the children again after our Easter break. In English, we are beginning our new story - the Storm Whale. We have begun our learning by using prepositions of time and alliteration to describe our character's feelings. We enjoyed an experience day where we explored what it feels like to say goodbye to someone we love. We watched the scene in Toy Story when Andy says goodbye to his toys and then practiced saying goodbye to each other. Some of us managed to be extremely dramatic!

In maths, our first group have finished their fractions learning and have now moved on to shape. We found turns and angles a little tricky, so we consolidated our learning by playing a maze game where our characters had to make clockwise and anticlockwise turns to escape. We then moved onto identifying right angles and we learned that there is definitely,  no such thing as a left angle!

Our second group have continued their multiplication and division learning by grouping and sharing objects. Now the sun is shining we have been able to take our learning outdoors and use the outside space to represent our multiplications and arrays. It has been really useful to get all of the materials out to support our understanding.