What we are learning this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 29.9.25

As a result of our Baseline Assessment last week, some of our coverage was affected.

In Maths this week in Lilac Class, we are rounding numbers within 1,000,000. We are then starting our new unit of learning entitled ‘Addition and Subtraction’.  Lilac Class are using mental strategies to solve addition and subtraction calculations drawing on our knowledge of number bonds and counting backwards and forwards in powers of 10.  We will then be adding and subtracting four-digit numbers using column method and applying the inverse operation to solve calculations using bar models and part-whole models.   

In English this week, we are levelling up and improving our Space Poems inspired by the work of Pie Corbett and Brian Moses. We are checking that we have examples of features of poetry writing such as similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia and personification in our poems.

For our Whole Class Guided Reading, our text is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and we are reading Chapter Five this week.  Lilac Class are again developing inference skills, looking beyond the actual text, and we are also thinking about our own reaction to the text as readers by answering such questions as ‘What impression do you get of the Professor in this chapter?’ ‘Why do you think Edmund chose to make Lucy look like a fool?’  ‘How did this make you feel?’ 

In RE this week, Lilac Class are drawing on the ideas we considered during our discussion with Father John of texts from the Bible about God.  We will be looking again at our key vocabulary and what extracts from these texts are about these particular words. 

For our Time and Place topic entitled ‘The Ancient Mayan Civilisation’, Lilac Class are examining photographs of artefacts that were found in the ancient Mayan ruins.  We will be thinking about what these may be and what they could have been used for and who may have used them. Lilac Class are taking on the role of archaeologists.

For ICT, we are describing how search engines select results.  Lilac Class will be explaining why we need tools to find things online and recognising the role of web crawlers in creating an index.  As a hard copy, Lilac Class are completing an index of the classroom and creating an index of our school website.

For Science in Lilac Class, we are describing the movement of the planets relative to the Sun.  Lilac Class are finding out what planets are in the Solar System, how large they are and their position in relation to the Sun.  For Music, Lilac Class are composing ‘Moonscapes’ inspired by Gustav Holst’s The Planet’s Suite.  We will be working in groups and will record our ideas in the form of a graphic score.  Lilac Class will be using a range of dynamics that we heard when listening to 'Venus' and 'Mars'. We will be performing our compositions to one another and as a class we will be discussing the structure and dynamics used.