What we are doing this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 31.3.25

For Maths this week in Lilac Class, we will be starting our new unit of learning ‘Perimeter and Area’. We will begin the unit by exploring the different methods of finding the perimeter of a rectangle. For example, adding all four sides separately, adding the length to the width and then doubling.  Lilac Class will then move onto calculating the perimeter of rectilinear shapes and finding out about the strategies that can be used to work out the perimeter.  We will be identifying why a shape is rectilinear and how you can use the labelled sides to find the unknown side.  We will then learn to find the perimeter of polygons (a closed 2-dimensional shape with straight sides).  Lilac Class are finding out that a regular shape has equal sides and angles. 

We are coming to the end of Street Child by Berlie Doherty. We will be using our inference skills when thinking about how Barnie (Dr Barnardo) was different from other teachers Jim had and why it was risky to tell Barnie about where all the street children sleep.  In English this week in Lilac Class, we are levelling up and writing a final draft of our a historical report about being a pupil during the Victorian period.  As a class we read You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Victorian Schoolchild! Lessons you’d rather not learn by John Malam. This text served as a basis for our writing.  We wrote about a pupil’s experience during a typical school day at St Barnabas School in 1897, the year the school was opened.  We will also be drawing on what we learnt from the talk Dave gave us last week about our school.  

For RE in Lilac Class, we are discussing how we can weigh up the value and impact of the ideas of sacrifice in our own lives and the world today.  We will also be re-visiting our ‘Big Question’ to see how much we have learnt and how our knowledge of salvation has developed this term. For Time and Place, in Lilac Class, we are writing up what we found out from the talk that Dave gave us about what St Barnabas School was like in 1897 from his reading of the Head Teacher’s log books.  We will also be finding out about how the railways changed people’s lives during the Victorian period.  Lilac Class will learn about Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  For Science in Lilac Class, we are conducting an experiment that shows an irreversible change.  We will be explaining that some changes result in the formation of new materials by adding vinegar to bicarbonate of soda in a bottle and putting a balloon over the top.  Lilac Class will also be making shortbread using Mrs Beeton’s recipe. 

In ICT, we are explaining that computer programs can be used to compare data visually and will be electing an appropriate chart to visually compare data and refining a chart by selecting a particular filter.

This term, the Modern Foreign Language (MFL) we are learning is Spanish. This week we are finishing our menus written in Spanish and writing shopping lists in Spanish. Drawing on our word bank of Spanish words for different food and drink.

For Design and the Arts, we are continuing with our ‘musical appreciation’.  We are listening to the Victorian composer Edward Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ from the orchestral piece Enigma Variations. Not only are Lilac Class drawing and labelling the instruments we hear, but we are also identifying the different dynamics in the piece of music.  We are exploring how the music made us feel and why. 

I have not set any homework over the Easter break. However, I have attached our Wider Curriculum Learning Matrix with optional activities, if your child would like to do any of them. Excellent examples of home learning from this matrix will again be put on our class blog for all to see!  Also, please ensure your child has finished our e-book ‘Ollie and the Great Stink’