What we are doing this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 15.5.23

For Maths this week in Lilac Class, we are finishing off our work about finding the area of rectangles and compound shapes asking the question ‘will multiplying the length by the width calculate the area of any shape?’  With regards to the latter, Lilac Class are investigating whether there is more than one way to split the shape and do you get a different total area if you split the shape differently.  We will then be moving onto estimating the area of shapes and thinking about which areas are easiest to estimate. 

In English this week in Lilac Class, we are continuing with our drafting of our newspaper article about the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.  We will be using our planning drawn from a range of information texts including actual newspapers articles written just after the Titanic sank.  We will be using the features of a newspaper report – Headline, Byline, Lead, Body, Picture and Caption and Tail.  This week we are focusing on writing about our eyewitness/survivor accounts of the tragedy. 

For our Guided Reading text, Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill this week, we are reading pages 25-30. We are focusing on inference answering such questions as ‘Why might spring bring better fortune?’, ‘Why do you think they took lots of scientific measurements?’ and ‘Why would it be important to keep morale high amongst the crew?’ We will also be exploring whether cliffhangers are generally found in non-fiction and why. 

For RE in Lilac Class, we are continuing with our learning about why Shahadah (the First Pillar of Islam) is important to Muslims.  We have been finding out what the Shahadah is and what it says. We are also exploring why the first words that a Muslim baby hears are the Shahadah and be answering the question ‘What would you whisper to a new born baby or shout from a tower?’  Lilac Class will then be reading the story of Bilal and thinking about what we would stand up for and why.  For Time and Place in Lilac Class, we are finishing off our work about the features of a river (e.g. meander, tributary, estuary, delta) and will be labelling a diagram that shows where the different features are located.  Lilac Class will be answering such questions as ‘What is a young river?’, ‘How does erosion cause meanders?’ and ‘What is a tributary?’  For Science in Lilac Class, we are comparing the life cycles of mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds.  We are thinking about the similarities and differences between these different animal groups.  We will also be growing beans and part of a geranium plant (artificial reproduction) in our classroom and observing what happens over the next few weeks!  For Design and the Arts, we are continuing with our seascapes using a range of different materials to create a variety of effects and textures.