Owl Termly Focus
Owl Termly Focus
Termly Focus - Spring Term 2022
charlottedowson on: Owl Termly Focus
Firstly, Happy New Year everyone, and I hope you all had a great Christmas.
Our topic last term was “All about me” and we participated in lots of exciting activities, including Firework experiments!
In Art we studied different artists, including Picasso and Andy Warhol, who used self-portraits in their work.
We collaborated with Senior 1 and investigated the different senses our body uses. This is something we will be continuing this term.
We had several trips out of school including a beach trip in October as well as a trip to the Forest School, in Wawne.
This term the focus is "Farm to folk". We will be looking at how different fruit and vegetables are grown all over the world. With Senior 1 we are going to hopefully going to take the students to a local farm for a visit. Also planned is our termly trip to Forrest School.
In Art we are looking at using fruit and vegetables to create pieces of art looking closely at the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
Music this term will have the focus on Graphic Scores, which Jess tells me will become much clearer once we start to participate in the lessons!!
Finally, in English and Maths we will continue to work on our own individual targets which include several different things: in Maths we are looking at number and counting as well as statistical analysis, and in Literacy we are concentrating on our reading, whether that is with Phonics, sensory stories, or guided reading.
As always, please feel free to approach me or any of the staff team with any questions or queries you may have.
Termly Focus - Autumn Term 2021
charlottedowson on: Owl Termly Focus
Our topic this term is “All about me” and we have lots of exciting activities planned.
In Art the topic is delivered through self-portraits. We will be studying different artists who used self-portraits in their work such as Picasso and Andy Warhol. Using their styles we will then create our own masterpieces - we can’t wait to show you how creative our class is!
Additionally, one lesson a week we are collaborating with Senior 1 and investigating the different senses our body uses. In turn, we will be creating sensory experiments, such as Lava Lamps and Puffy Paint to mimic the processes in our bodies. We are excited about the task of making a balloon powered lung system to illustrate how we breathe.
Furthermore, we have a beach trip booked in October as well as a trip to the Forest School, in Wawne. We are also looking to take advantage of fewer restrictions in place and are taking a weekly trip to different parts of our local community. These include café visits and local walks to help orientate our class in their local space.
During PE sessions we are developing teamwork and communication skills and we have also booked time in the rebound room on a Friday. We are also going to be taking part in Yoga sessions a couple of times a week to work on our mind, body and soul - after all, our topic is ‘All about me’!
Finally, in English and Maths we are working on our own individual targets which include a number of different things: in Maths we are looking at number and counting as well as statistical analysis, and in Literacy we are concentrating on our reading, whether that is with Phonics, sensory stories or guided reading.
As always, please feel free to approach me or any of the staff team with any questions or queries you may have.
Termly Focus - Summer Term 2021
charlottedowson on: Owl Termly Focus
This term during our “On The Move” topic we will be exploring a range of different vehicles and concepts that relate to travel and change.
During our numeracy sessions we will continue to focus on interpreting and creating different types of graphs. We will collect our own data, linked to transport, that we will then put into a graph allowing us to share our findings with others. The class will also be learning all about fractions, how to read and write them through the use of physical resources and practical activities. There will be ongoing projects for the class which will focus on life skills such as buying and paying for cars, purchasing train tickets and reading timetables. In addition to this, throughout the term we will also revisit the concepts of addition, subtraction and multiplication.
In literacy the whole class will be working to strengthen their current skills whilst learning new ones such as self-checking their work and using their initiative to find answers to their questions. There will also be a strong focus on using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops and the children will have self-check cards to ensure they have included all elements.
The literacy and thinking skills project that will run throughout the term will involve the whole class creating their own booklet all about different modes of transport, or their favourite type of transport. Some children will learn new skills on the Mac Chrome books to create certain pages and others will be using their phonic and signing knowledge to write text to match their illustrations.
Throughout all the remaining areas of the curriculum we will look at the history of transport, how and why different vehicles have adapted and changed. We will explore other countries and research the unusual types of transport that are used and why as well as identifying these places on a World map. Another area of interest to the children is ‘recycling’ so as a class we will learn about the journey of the different materials as they are reused or recycled, as well as watching videos showing the inner workings of a recycling plant.
In Art the children will spend a few weeks designing and creating their own hot air balloon and they will use their Science and D&T sessions to create their own shoebox vehicle.
It is a topic that has captured the interest of the whole class as they have always shown a love for transport, world maps and creating. I am confident that this will be yet another wonderful term with plenty of amazing pieces of work to share throughout.
Termly Focus - Spring Term 2021
charlottedowson on: Owl Termly Focus
Our topic this term is “Weather Around the World” and we have lots of exciting activities planned.
In our numeracy lessons we have already started to collect data about the weather which we will use in the coming weeks to create bar and line graphs. Each day we have been recording the temperature, wind speed, wind direction and weather condition in our own booklets and have used compasses and wind streamers to find the answers. Other areas that we will cover in numeracy this term are; months of the year, seasons, telling the time and money.
Across our literacy lessons we will be researching both fiction and non-fiction books allowing us to identify the key features for when we create our own. We will be learning how to write newspaper articles, information booklets, about animal habitats and different climates, as well as using our imagination to write our own fictional story about a crazy weather day. We have already started to use the story of ‘Noah’s Ark’ to influence our work and we will also look at ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ alongside a variety of non-fiction weather books.
The children will also be engaging in lots of sensory and exploration activities using different materials. They will have challenges set which will include, freeing plastic animals from ice to testing the durability of objects and seeing whether they are waterproof. We will also create shadow puppets when investigating night and day, design and create kites and write their own weather forecast which they will present to the class, amongst many other activities.
After speaking with the children we have chosen to place a strong focus on self help skills and learning to self-resource items they may need, to complete their tasks. Already in the few weeks we have been back we have seen some wonderful independent decision making so we will continue encouraging them to stretch and challenge themselves by providing them with roles and responsibilities in class.
It has been great to see that the children have already started the year working hard and applying themselves to all the tasks they have been given. Weather is a wonderful topic that allows for a broad scope of learning to take place and they have all shown lots of interest when learning about the different activities we have planned. I look forward to sharing their amazing work with you.
Termly Focus - Autumn Term 2020
charlottedowson on: Owl Termly Focus
Class 4
Science
class4 on: Class 4
Today we completed a science experiment looking at what plants need to grow. We planted sunflowers, however each sunflower was missing one of its basic needs. We look forward to seeing how and if they have grown next week.
Bake off
class4 on: Class 4
Today in Class 4 we have made cupcakes. We made chocolate and vanilla they looked really nice however we have yet to taste them. We are sure they will be yummy !
Half term
class4 on: Class 4
Our topic this term is 'Farm to Fork ' and Class 4 have been looking at the topic 'Grow it eat it ' . We have really enjoyed this half of the term. We hope you have a lovely half term.
Class 4
Bird food
class4 on: Class 4
Today in Class 4 we have been making bird food. We have looked into how important birds are to spreading seeds for plants then to grow. We created the bird food by combining Lard and Bird seed together. The children really enjoyed this activity.
We are going on a bear hunt.
class4 on: Class 4
In Science we explored the use of sound and how we hear things. We looked at the story ' We're going on a bear hunt' and used musical instruments to create our own musical story.