What we are learning this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 6.10.25

In Maths this week in Lilac Class, we are 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 starting to plan a diary account of a Conquistador in 1519 trudging through the tropical rainforest of Mesoamerica in search of gold and glory.  Lilac Class will be writing about what they hear, see, smell and feel and describing their journey sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.  We will then be considering what questions are going through the mind of a Conquistador when they find the gigantic abandoned ruins. Before we start writing, we will be ‘Hot Seating’ talking about what our experience has been like. We will also in groups be acting out this experience in role play. 

For our Whole Class Guided Reading text The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis,  we are reading Chapter Six this week.  Lilac Class are going to be ‘word detectives’, working out what specific phrases mean in the text by looking carefully at the sentence they are in.  For example, ‘harbouring spies and fraternising with humans.’  In RE, we are examining what moral behaviour means and finding out why Christians believe that confessing their sins to God is important. Lilac Class will be thinking about how they feel when they say sorry and confess to someone that they have upset and how they feel when they forgive someone.  

For our Time and Place topic entitled ‘The Ancient Mayan Civilisation’ we are completing our study of photographs of ancient Mayan artefacts and will be writing down 10 facts we have discovered about the Mayans from our findings.  Lilac Class will then start to learn about how Mayan society was structured and the differences between an absolute and constitutional monarchy. 

For Science in Lilac Class, we are finding out about how day and night occur and why the Sun appears to move across the sky.  The questions we will be considering are: ‘Does the position of the Sun change over the course of the day?  How do we know this?’ What is happening to the Earth?  Is the Earth moving? In which direction does the Sun rise? And ‘In which direction does the Sun set?’

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.

In Art, Lilac Class will be making Mayan pottery based on original Mayan artefacts.  This week we will be sketching the shape of our pottery and what design it will be decorated with, examining real Mayan pottery for inspiration!