What we are learning this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 6.7.26

For Maths this week in Lilac Class, we are adding and subtracting decimals with the same number of decimal places.  We will then be moving onto adding and subtracting decimals with different numbers of decimal places, remembering the importance of lining up the decimal point to ensure that digits with the same place value are also aligned.  Lilac Class are then going to explore efficient strategies for adding and subtracting decimals.  When would you use a mental method?  When would you use an informal jotting such as a number line?

In English this week in Lilac Class, we are continuing with our drafting and levelling up of a dual narrative based on our reading of our supplementary text Ice Trap! Shackleton’s Incredible Expedition by Meredith Hooper.  The part of the text we are focusing on is where Endurance is trapped in the ice and is sinking.  We will then level up and improve our narratives, producing a final copy. 

For our Guided Reading text, Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill this week, we are reading pages 61-66. These are the last pages of the text.  In Lilac Class we are using our inference skills when considering why Ernest Shackleton and his crew chose to honour August 30^th for the rest of their lives and why it was against the odds to lose none of the crew.

For RE in Lilac Class, we are learning about Hajj and why pilgrimage is regarded as an important duty by Muslims? How does pilgrimage help many believers deepen their faith?  For Time and Place in Lilac Class, we are finding out about different natural resources in India. We will be thinking about what natural resources are and why India was colonised by the British in 1858.

In Science, we are examining diagrams that show the different stages of complete and incomplete metamorphosis and the differences between these processes.  We will also find out about other insects that go through these two processes in their life cycle.  We will then sort animals according to their life cycle and how they reproduce. In ICT, we are explaining how selection directs the flow of a programme.  We will be designing the flow of a programme that contains ‘if…then…else…’ Lilac Class will be using the Scratch programming environment.

In French, this week we are learning about France as a country (currency, where it is located, what is a traditional dish, for example) and studying a map of French.  For Design and the Arts, we are starting to create our seascapes (based on our plans) using a range of different materials to create a variety of effects and textures.  We are drawing on Arnold Bax’s Symphonic Poem ‘Tintagel’ for inspiration and examining the mixed media design ‘Colourful Fish Swirl’ by the artist Nikki B who lives in Tintagel in Cornwall.

There will be no Home Learning set for the last week of term. However, please ensure that your child has read all the chapters of Dark Waters set on Purple Mash.