What we are doing this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 3.7.23

For Maths this week in Lilac Class, we are solving problems with coordinates where we will be working out the missing coordinates. We will then be translating a shape thinking about such questions as: What does it mean to translate a shape?  How does a shape change when it is translated and how does it stay the same? We are then translating with coordinates.  When a point is translated to the left or right, the y-coordinate remains the same and the x-coordinate changes and when it is translated up or down the x-coordinate remains the same and the y-coordinate changes.  Lilac Class will then start a new unit of learning entitled ‘Decimals’.  We will begin with using our knowledge of number bonds to 10, 100 or 1,000 to find complements to 1 for numbers with up to 3 decimal places.  We will be adding and subtracting decimals using our knowledge of partitioning and part-whole models.

In English this week in Lilac Class, we are planning a ‘Conscience Alley’.  With a partner we are forming an opinion about whether or not Ernest Shackleton made the right decision when he left many of his men at Elephant Island to seek help.  From the role of Shackleton, we are exploring two sides of the argument based on these scenarios: ‘We should go as we will not survive here’ or ‘It is madness to go as the life boats will be crushed by the ice’. 

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 Sawm, the Fourth Pillar of Islam.  We will be learning about Ramadan and Eid al Fitr and thinking about what it is like to give up something for a length of time.  For Time and Place in Lilac Class, we are continuing with our learning about how different types of mountains are formed: fold mountains, fault-block mountains, volcanic mountains, dome mountains and plateau mountains.  We are exploring a map of India to find the location of different mountain ranges. For Science in Lilac Class, we are learning about the work of the famous naturalists Jane Goodhall and Sir David Attenborough and the contributions they have made to knowledge.  For Design and the Arts, we are continuing with using charcoal as a new medium to work with. We are focusing on close observation drawing of the cross section of cauliflowers and cabbages.