This term's topic question is 'How could the Giant have protected his Castle?' through the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. 

History:

Children will be learning who the first people were to build castles in the United Kingdom. We will recap the countries and capital cities in the UK and understand why castles were built and what features the Normans made to protect them and defend themselves. 

Writing:

Children will retell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk using the Talk for Writing method. Children will then change parts of the story to make it their own. We will be looking at the actions and consequences in the story and focus on the Giant's point-of-view. Children will then create a story retelling it from the Giant's perspective. We will create an oversized giant book with illustrations and ask the local library to display it to the public. 

Science:

We will be planting our own Beanstalks and conduct an experiment to find out what plants need to grow healthily. We will observe what happens when we give plants sun, but no water, water, but no sunlight, sunlight but no soil etc. Children will make their own predictions and understand what the vocabulary 'fair test' and 'variables' mean. Children will complete an observational diary and measure how the plant grows each week and draw it's progress. 

Art:

Children will explore different types of sculpture in Art with Miss Kelsey and develop skills throughout the half term in order to design and create their own beanstalk sculptures out of clay and wire. They will explore texture and learn about the artist 'Claes Oldenburg.

Maths:

Number sequencing 

example:  3, 6, __. 12, __     or      22, 24, 26 __ , __

Missing number sentences

example: 12 + __ = 19     or      45 - __ = 41

Calculating the difference

example: what is the difference between 20 and 60

Odd and even numbers

3D shapes and their properties