What we are learning in Lilac Class for the week beginning 28.9.26

In Maths this week in Lilac Class, we are rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 or 1,000.  We will be considering which place value column we should look at to round the number to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000.  We will then use this knowledge to be round numbers to 100,000 and 1,000,000. 

In English this week, we are reading a selection of poems about space, looking particularly at the work of Pie Corbett. We will be ‘Magpies’ where we are ‘stealing’ words and phrases from a selection of poems and then using them as a basis for our own poetry writing. We will be discussing the features of poetry writing and identifying examples of similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia and personification. 

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.  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, Father John will be leading the session about what the Bible says about God.  Lilac Class are exploring in depth texts from the Bible (A Psalm of David, Isaiah 6:1-6 and John 4:7-12) focusing on key vocabulary.  We will be thinking about what specific parts of the texts mean and are telling us about God. 

For our Time and Place we are examining a timeline of the Ancient Mayan Civilisation dating from 5,000BC to 900AD. We will be learning about the developments that took place starting from the Mayans being hunter-gatherers in the rainforests and volcanic mountains, through to their development of writing and then to the decline of their major cities.  

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 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 Sunrise? And ‘In which direction does the Sun set?’

For Music, Lilac Class are composing ‘Spacescapes’ 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. 

For our Spanish lesson this week, Lilac Class are continuing with learning greeting phrases and will be engaged in conversations about our names.  In talk partners, we will be asking and answering questions in the context of introducing yourself.