English
We have begun our new narrative unit using Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion, a twist on the traditional Little Red Riding Hood. We started by making predictions and inferences about the story, using our knowledge of the traditional tale and carefully studying the front cover.
The children practised saying and writing reasoning sentences using the word because, sharing some fantastic ideas. They looked closely at the illustrations to infer the setting and explored characters’ personalities by noticing body language and key features.
After reading the story, we focused specifically on the character of Little Red. The children worked in groups to write descriptive sentences, using adjectives and explaining their ideas using because. They collaborated beautifully and shared thoughtful ideas.
Maths
We have started a new unit on multiplication, focusing on the early foundations. The children explored patterns in counting in 2s, 5s, and 10s, and learned to recognise equal and unequal groups.
They practised adding equal groups and describing them using sentences such as:
“There are ___ groups of ___.”
“There are ___ altogether.”
We discussed how groups are combined before representing this as an abstract number sentence, for example:
2+2+2=62 + 2 + 2 = 62+2+2=6
Any opportunity to practise counting in groups at home will help build confidence as we move on to more challenging concepts next week, such as arrays.
Phonics
This week we revised sounds the children already know, including those that may appear in the Phonics Screening Check:
- ea /e/ – father, head, bread, breakfast
- ir /ur/ – bird, skirt, girl, first
- ou /ow/ – cloud, sound, about, out
- oy /oi/ – boy, toy, enjoy, annoy
Tricky words: any, many, who
Topic Learning
Geography
The children learned about the equator, the Northern Hemisphere, and the Southern Hemisphere. We explored why countries closer to the equator are hotter and discussed the types of animals that live in these areas based on climate.
The children sorted animals and created colour‑coded world maps to show that it is warmer near the equator because of the sun.
Science
We compared a range of plants, including an apple tree, stinging nettles, cacti, roses, and grass. The children chose two plants to sketch and then made comparisons between them.
They did an excellent job identifying similarities and confidently describing differences using scientific language and key features.
Sports Day
Thank you to everyone who came to support Sports Day. We were incredibly proud of the children’s sportsmanship — they worked together, tried every activity with great effort, cheered one another on, and showed real resilience. They returned to class feeling very proud of themselves, as they should!
Reminder
With the weather changing so often, please ensure your child brings a coat to school each day.