What we are learning this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 21.4.25

For Maths this week in Lilac Class, we will  continuing with our unit of learning entitled ‘Perimeter and Area’. We will be identifying why a shape is rectilinear and how you can use the labelled sides to find the unknown side.  Lilac Class are then moving on to finding the perimeter of polygons (a closed 2-dimensional shape with straight sides).  We are finding out that a regular shape has equal sides and angles. Lilac Class will then learn to find the area of rectangles using arrays to help to understand why they can multiply the length by the width to calculate the area of a rectangle.  We are then learning to calculate the area of compound shapes, finding the area of each rectangle first.  A compound shape can be split in different ways. However, the area of the compound shape will always be the same.  Our final lesson in the unit will involve estimating the area of a shape and giving an approximate measurement.  Our answers will not be exact.

Our new whole class guided reading text is Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill. This week we are reading pages 1-6 developing our retrieval and inference skills.  We will be explaining what Ernest Shackleton’s background was and locating in the text evidence that tells the reader that he did not enjoy school.  In preparing for his journey we will be thinking about why he found it difficult to raise money and why we think no women went on the journey. 

In English this week in Lilac Class, we are writing sea poetry for a class book to put in our reading area.  We will read a range of poetry, for example, selected poems from Under the Moon and Over the Sea edited by John Agard and Grace Nichols.  Lilac Class are going to analyse these poems, focusing on examples of personification (where the sea has taken on human characteristics). Lilac Class will be using the poems as stimulus for poetry writing. 

For RE in Lilac Class, our new unit of learning is Islam and our ‘Big Question’ is ‘What do Muslims believe about the way they should live their lives and why?’  Lilac Class will learn what the Five Pillars of Islam are and will be thinking about the ‘pillars’ that hold us up in our lives.  For Time and Place in Lilac Class, we are labelling a world atlas identifying significant positions of latitude and longitude as well as the seas and oceans of the world.  For Science in Lilac Class, we are learning about how flowering plants reproduce and the difference between insect and wind-pollinated plants.  We will be categorising a selection of plants based on their characteristics.

In ICT this term we are learning about Vector drawing.  This week Lilac Class are identifying that drawing tools can be used to produce different outcomes.  We will be recognising that vector drawings are made using shapes and we will be experimenting with the shape and line tools. In Spanish this week, we are finishing our menus written in Spanish and writing shopping lists in Spanish. Lilac Class are also learning the Spanish words for different colours.

For Design and the Arts, we are singing songs about the sea and accompanying them with pitched and unpitched percussion.  Lilac Class will be learning traditional musical notation, for example crotchets, quavers, minims and semibreves. 

Please see attached my letter to parents about what we are covering during the Summer Term and the Wider Curriculum Matrix with optional activities.  Mr Mackinnon will put exceptional work from the matrix onto our class blog!