In Autumn Term Owl Class topic is the UK, Italy and Peru. We will have a geographical focus up to half-term, exploring both human and physical features of each of these countries. We will be comparing similarities and differences and thinking about why those human and physical features are prevalent in the individual countries, considering climate as well as economy. 

After half-term we move to a history focus, and this will be our opportunity to conduct a local history study.  Focusing on all things Cheltenham, we will be finding out why Cheltenham is classed as a Spa Town, what makes Cheltenham unique and who has contributed to the growth and development of the town throughout the years. As this will be the Christmas term, we will also be looking at Christmas in Cheltenham throughout history, finding historical sources that can show how the town has looked and what activities took place during the festive period in the last 100 years.  

Writing

We will start the term with a focus on fundamental skills. Refreshing all our grammar, punctuation and spelling and creating a secure foundation for all our writing that will come throughout the year.  We will then move on to developing our diary writing skills.    This will be inspired by our class text, The Boy Who Biked the World by Alistair Humphries. We will look at different diaries, finding their key features and then writing our own diary entry as if we were the boy who was biking the world.  They will also have the opportunity to write a recount.  This will be based on our visit to the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

After half-term will be working on our narrative writing skills.  We will be looking at portal stories.  Starting at a significant historical site in Cheltenham and then finding a portal to take us to one of the places that our book has visited. We will be building on our descriptive writing skills, using MAPOS (Metaphors, Alliteration, Personification, Onomatopoeia, Similes) to help. Owls will also be developing our dialogue writing skills, remembering to use the correct punctuation within the inverted commas, as well as remember to start a new line with every new speaker.  All of these skills will help us to write a fantastic portal story.

Maths

Year 4

We start the year with our unit on place value, looking at numbers up to 10,000.  We then move onto addition and subtraction of 4-digit numbers as well as developing our estimating skills.  We do an introductory unit on measurement and area, then up to Christmas we focus on multiplication and division.  We look at the 3, 6, 9, 7, 11 and 12 times table.  We explore multiplying by 1 and 0.  We also develop our skills at multiplying 3 numbers.

Year 5

We also start the year with place value, looking at numbers up to 1,000,000.  We then move onto addition and subtraction, adding and subtracting whole numbers with more than 4 digits and understanding that the inverse operation can help with our calculations.  We move straight onto multiplication and division.  Finding common factors, squared and cubed numbers as well as prime numbers.  We also look at multiplying and dividing whole numbers by 10, 100 and 1000.  We finish the year starting work on fractions. Understanding the value of unit fractions, non-unit fractions and improper fractions.  We find equivalent fractions and order fractions according to their value.

Science 

Our first topic of the year is ‘Changes of Materials’.  This will look at evaporation, reversible and irreversible changes, rusting, burning and chemical reactions that come from acids and bicarbonate of soda.

After half-term our topic is ‘Animals including Humans’. This topic will look at the digestive system in humans, moving onto to human teeth. Then we will look at different animal food chains and food webs, which are a group of food chains within an eco-system.

RE 

To start the year our big question in RE is “What influence does believing in the Trinity have on Christians’ world views?”.  We will be looking at what Christians believe the trinity is and how this may impact what they believe about the world they live in.  We will be looking at case studies of different Christians around the world.  After half-term the big question is “How does the Hajj show what matters to Muslims in Britain?”. We will be finding out about this pilgrimage.  We will be looking at different Muslims’ views on the Hajj and why it is important to their faith.

PSHE

This term we are considering values.  Starting with our school values then moving onto British values. We will also be looking at growth mindset, what this is and how it can help improve our learning and our wellbeing. After half-term we will be looking at different types of families and relationships, including friends and what healthy friendships look like.  We will also be thinking about how we can build positive relationships.

DT & Art

This term we will be cooking! Exploring foods from the UK, Italy and Peru.  We will be developing lots of skills including chopping and weighing and measuring. We will be considering food hygiene as well as nutrition.  After half-term we will be looking at the artists David Hockney, Gisella Stapleton and Sir Frank Bowling.  We will be looking at some of their work and creating versions of our own both digitally and with paints.

Music

In music this term we will be developing our Glockenspiel skills.  We will also be looking at traditional music from both Italy and Peru.

Computing

In computing we will be looking at technology, developing our research skills using the internet and starting to understand how and why information and results are selected and ranked.

MFL

Owls will have the opportunity to continue learning Spanish. This term they will learn how to introduce themselves in Spanish and talk about their family.