What we are learning this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 7.7.25

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 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 Sir 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 will create diagrams showing 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.  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.  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.

In ICT, Lilac Class are explaining how selection directs the flow of a program.  We will be designing the flow of a program that contains ‘if…then…else…’ Lilac Class will be using the Scratch programming environment. In Spanish this week we are continuing our revision of greetings in Spanish and learning to write in Spanish the following: Hello, Goodbye, What is your name? Good morning, See you later, My name is …, Good night, See you tomorrow, How old are you? and I am …years old. 

The hard copy Homework that went out last Thursday will be the final piece of homework for the term.  However, I would like you to ensure that your child has finished reading the e-book Dark Waters that has been set on Purple Mash.  There is also the Summer Reading Challenge that The Amelia has organised for the holidays if your child would like to take part.