Welcome to Venus Class!
SUMMER TERM
Let's go around the world in......one term!
In Venus class we are really enjoying our new topic which is inspired by Jules Verne's book Around the World in 80 Days.
In our topic work we have been exploring the amazing world around us.
First of all we found out about some of the landmarks that tourists like to visit around the world. We thought about which ones we would like to visit, if we were rich like Phileas Fogg.
Here are some of our bucket lists....
Where would you like to go?
We also thought about other places that we would like to visit. We learnt about the Natural Wonders of the World. Did you know that Paricutin Volcano is the newest volcano in the Northern Hemisphere?
Mrs Simpson would love to see the Northern Lights...which of these fantastic places would you like to go most?
Would you like to snorkel off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia?
Would you like to head towards the Arctic Circle to see the spectacular Northern Lights?
Or how about living dangersouly and seeing the mighty power of a volcano?
As well as finding out about places to visit, we also thought about our country.
The Union Jack is a well-known flag around the world. We have found out about the different flags - the flags of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland - that are incorporated into the Union Jack, and why there is no Welsh dragon.
We hope you find this information interesting...
Spring Term:
Venus class have been incredibly busy this half term already!
We performed our class assembly earlier this week, linked to the theme of Fair Trade (and Fair Trade chocolate, in particular). The children did an absolutely amazing job and made Mrs James and Mrs Simpson very proud. It was wonderful to see so many parents at the assembly, and we would like to thank you all for your support.
As part of our topic work, we have been looking at the history of chocolate right from when it was used as currency within the early Aztec and Mayan civilisations.
So that we understood the time line of chocolate better, we looked at a 'History of Britain' timeline and then thought about where the Aztecs featured within this. We really enjoyed talking about the different kings and queens of England. We particularly liked trying to sing along to the Horrible Histories Kings and Queens song! Phew - there's a lot of monarchs to remember!
We have also spent some time learning the story behind why the Aztecs settled where they did. We then wrote the story in our own words - here are examples of some of our first drafts. We are sure you'll all agree they are very good!
Autumn Term:
We have had a very busy start to the Autumn term, and it is lovely to see how quickly the children have settled into our new class.
Here are a few key facts which you may find useful:
* Children will have PE on Mondays and Wednesdays. They will need their kit (including warmer kit for the winter months) on these days.
* Maths homework is given out on a Wednesday and should be handed in the following Monday. There will also be a list of spellings stuck in the back of your child's maths homework book, and we would appreciate your support in helping your child to learn these in preparation for our SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) lessons on Tuesdays.
* At this age, reading with your child and talking about the books you read, is still very important in supporting development in this curriculum area. We ask children to read at home, to an adult, a minimum of three times a week. If your child forgets to bring their book home (they are reminded, but we know it happens from time to time!) they could find a different text to read from home; a book, magazine, recipe, etc. The key is that they are practising their reading.
Autumn Term - Under the Sea
In topic we are investigating life under the sea and have found out lots of facts and information.
We combined our art and topic skills to create some spectacular pictures showing the sea floor and how the ocean gets colder and colder the deeper down you go.
Alongside this we have looked at how thematic maps are used to show information in a visual way. After looking at the temperatures of the oceans and the seas around the world, we then looked at the temperatures of the sea around the United Kingdom.
We each created a thematic map showing the temperature of the waters around Britain. We all know where we'd like to paddle - what about you??
#IMAGES
This work linked into our work on looking at longitude and latitude - which we found quite difficult to understand.
We are all looking forward to our trip to The Deep on Wednesday 19th October - we wonder what else we'll learn about life 'under the sea'.
