Welcome to Maple Class

Class teacher: Miss Harrop
Teaching Assistant: Mr Dawson

 

 

This page is for our parents and pupils to see what learning we have achieved, for updates, key dates and helpful websites. 

If you wish to contact Miss Harrop directly, please email at

chloe.harrop@brookfieldjunioracademy.org

 

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Spring 1

English

The book that we are reading this half-term is 'The Velveteen Rabbit' by Margery Williams.

This six-week unit is a study of the children’s classic, 'The Velveteen Rabbit' by Margery Williams, written in 1920. 

This sequence of learning will develop children’s understanding of the story, characters, themes and language. The unit teaches reading, including fluency, vocabulary and comprehension and meaningful writing, for a range of forms, purpose and audience. The children will be taught to apply what they have learnt to their own writing, making choices to affect their reader’s thoughts and feelings. All learning culminates in a final piece of writing, where the childrenwill apply all that they have learned about this story to create an original story of their own, drawing on the writing style of Margery Williams, and language and sentence structures from the 1920s. This story will give the children an opportunity to write in a very formal style!

We will be using this text to create:

• A presentation on toys of the 1920s – to inform adults
• Rabbit’s internal monologue – to explore characters for themselves as Rabbit
• To write the next part of the story – to entertain other children
• A class poem about love – to create emotion for other children
• Advice sheet about scarlet fever – to advise adults
• Free writing the next part of the story – to entertain other children
• A story of their own – to entertain other children

As you can see, we will be very busy!

For more information about how we teach English at BJA, please visit our Writing page.

 

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Spelling Shed

The pupils will be provided with 10 weekly spellings as part of their homework. The pupils will be tested on their spelling knowledge every Friday. The pupils can practice their spellings by clicking on the link below which will direct them to Spelling Shed, our spelling scheme. Pupils logins are located on page 11 of their planners. Please speak to Miss Harrop if you have any queries. 

Please see the long term plan for spellings below:

 

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Reading/Phonics

In Key Stage 2, daily reading sessions are planned to maintain a love for reading and develop skills as outlined in the National Curriculum: 

• Vocabulary 
• Fluency 
• Summarising  
• Inference 
• Predication 
• Explain 
• Retrieval  

We teach reading daily, with a different focus/genre each day.

Any pupils who have not yet completed the Read Write Inc. phonics programme will continue to attend daily phonic sessions to develop their fluency and confidence with reading. There will be extra tuition for target pupils.  The pupils will complete a ‘Read and Repeat’ cycle. This means each week each child will take home:

• 1 taught ditty/Story book
• 1 book bag book
• 1 ‘reading for pleasure’ book for their parents/ carers to read to them to develop a love of reading  

Below is a link to access Ruth Miskin's RWI portal videos to help you support your child's reading at home:

RWI Parent Films

Home School Reading

We encourage parents/carers to listen to their child read regularly at home. We aim for every child to read at least 4 times a week at home. When teachers and support staff listen to pupils read, this is recorded in their planners.

 Each week each child will take home –

• One reading book from the book band  to read to their parents/ carers.
• One ‘reading for pleasure’ book for their parents/ carers to read to/with them to develop a love of reading

Each half-term your child will receive a reading award if they read 4+ times or more a week at home. .
 

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Maths

At BJA, we follow the White Rose Maths scheme of learning which underpins the values behind the mastery approach to teaching mathematics.There are many elements to the teaching and learning of Maths: it is not only the ability to calculate (being mathematically fluent) but also the ability to apply these skills to real life scenarios (solve problems and investigate) and also to talk knowledgeably about mathematical working (reasoning).

This term we will be covering the following units:

• Multiplication and Division- Recap 2s. 5s and 10s. Learn 3s, 4s and 8s
• Statistics- bar charts, pictograms and tables
• Money- recognise pounds and pence, coins and notes, add/subtract money and give change
• Shape- 2D/3D shapes, recognise lines of symmetry and spot patterns

Please click on the links below to view our Long Term Plan and Curriculum Intent. For more information on how we teach maths at BJA, please see our Mathematics page.

Maths Curriculum Intent

Below you will see a number of different websites to support your child with their mathematical learning. Please look on page 11 of your child's planner for their TTRS login.

Please speak to Miss Harrop if you require assistance. 

Times Tables Rock Stars

Topmarks

 

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Science​​​​​

In science this half-term we are studying Plants. This unit builds on the work the children did in Y2 when they looked at the life cycle of plants.  In this unit we will be looking more closely, and developing our understanding that scientists know things because they investigate them.  They will find things out about plants by exploring them themselves to develop their scientific skills. This unit is structured around seven science enquiries:

• How has our local environment changed?
• What do the different parts of plants do?
• What does a plant need to stay alive?
• How can a plant be like Goldilocks? 
• How are new plants made? 
• How does a plant ‘leave home’?
• Can you draw the life cycle of a plant?

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Geography

In Geography, our theme is 'Record Breakers', We will develop locational knowledge of countries in the UK alongside looking at other major counties in each continent in the world.  It is about ‘record breaker’ features such as longest rivers, tallest mountains and tallest building.  Comparisons are made between the UK and countries from each continent.  This unit allows for comparison between the UK and other countries in the world.

This unit is structured around the following geographical enquiries:

• Locating countries and their capital cities in the UK.
• Locating continents and identifying their largest country and its capital city
• Locating the longest rivers and the tallest mountains in each of the countries in the UK
• Locating the longest rivers and the tallest mountains in each of the continents
• Locating and identifying the tallest buildings in each of the countries in the UK
• Locating and identifying the tallest buildings in each of the continents

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Computing

For computing, our learning will be based around programming and sequencing sounds. This unit explores the concept of sequencing in programming through Scratch. It begins with an introduction to the programming environment, which will be new to many learners. They will be introduced to a selection of motion, sound, and event blocks which they will use to create their own programs, featuring sequences. The final project is to make a representation of a piano. The unit is paced to focus on all aspects of sequences, and make sure that knowledge is built in a structured manner. Learners also apply stages of program design through this unit.

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Religious Education (RE)

Our RE unit focuses on the stories of Creation and the Fall as two parts of the ‘Big Story’ of the Bible. Pupils will familiarise themselves with the first Creation story from Genesis and key messages within it for many Christians about the world being good and how Christians are called to look after God’s world. They move on to think about the  story of Adam and Eve and how the Fall fits into the ‘Big
Story’ of the Bible.

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P.E.

Please can Elm and Maple classes bring P.E. kit every Monday this half term.

 

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Art

In Art this half-term, we will be studying the artist Van Gogh. We will focus on developing the following skills:

• Using precise cutting skills to prepare materials.
• Overlapping and layering for effect.
• Experimenting with limiting the colour palette and the striking effect this can have.
• Using paper coils to create patterns or shapes.
• Using mosaic and montage 

  

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Religious Education (RE)

In RE this half-term, pupils will be answering the question 'How do festivals and worship show what matters to a Muslim?' Within this unit, pupils will identify some beliefs about God in Islam, expressed in Surah 1. They will also make clear links between beliefs about God and ibadah (worship) and how this links to prayer, fasting, celebrating and the intention to live out the five pillars of Islam. They will have opportunities to ask questions and suggest answers about the value of submission and self-control to Muslims, and whether there are benefits of these for all people.

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RSHE

In RSHE this half term, we will be focusing on the following units:

M1 How do I manage my feelings?

• Recogise different emotions in myself and others
• Identify how these emotions feel
• How to respond appropriately to emotions and discover strategies and coping mechanisms

P1 How do I keep my body healthy?

• Recognise what being healthy is
• How to maintain healthy habits and stay active

P2 How do I get a healthy diet?

• Identify the main food groups within the Eatwell plate
• Identify how much of each food group should be eaten in order to maintain a healthy balanced diet