Autumn Term – The Victorians

Welcome to the Emerald class page. We are looking forward to starting the Autumn term and welcoming the children back to our school.

History
Our topic
for the Autumn term will be The Victorians with the question focus 'what did the Victorians ever do for us?'. We will be discovering what life
was like in Victorian Britain and will find out how the Industrial Revolution
changed society including what benefits came from the introduction of the railways. We
will have a particular focus on how Crewe changed during this period and how
the railways affected the town. We will also learn about what life was like for
children during this period and about important historical figures who worked
to improve children’s lives. To enrich our learning, we will also have the opportunity of visiting Quarry
Bank Mill.

Geography
This term, the children will be investigating the geographical differences and similarities between Cheshire and Brittany France. We will then continue to draw on our term focus of the Victorian era through comparison of the commonwealth during Victorian times to modern day with the aim to describe changes and consistencies between the two periods.

English
Throughout autumn, we will be
reading the books ‘Gorilla’ by Anthony Browne which is a fictional text to create the outcome of a fantasy story. We will also be reading 'Leon and the Place
Between,' by Grahame Baker-Smith which is a recount text in form of a diary. In grammar, the children will
learn how to improve their descriptions by choosing their nouns and pronouns
carefully and adding detail to make them more engaging. They
will learn about different ways to open their sentences and how to organise
paragraphs around a theme. The children will also learn how to use commas and
speech marks. Alongside these skills, we shall also continue to work on our handwriting and spelling.

Maths
In our maths work we will be concentrating on number. We shall
spend the first four weeks understanding more about place value in numbers to
10,000. This will include comparing numbers, partitioning them, rounding to the
nearest 10, 100 and 1000, and will include looking at Roman numerals. We will
then learn more about calculation (addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division) and then look at measuring area. We shall also be assessing which
times tables facts we know and work towards learning all our tables to 12 x 12.

Science
This term the class will be looking at two areas: electricity
and sound. In the unit about electricity,
the children will learn about common electrical appliances and how to construct
simple series circuits. The children will learn about cells, wires, bulbs and
buzzers and about the different types of switches. The children will also learn
about conductors and insulators and know that metals are very good electrical
conductors. In the unit on sound, the children will learn about how sounds are
made, associating them with something vibrating and understand how they travel
to the ear. They will also learn about what affects pitch and volume.

Computing
In Computing, the children will begin to understand selection
in computing programs using ‘IF’ and ‘IF/ELSE’ statements. They will explore
variables and coordinates in coding. The children will also learn about
online safety including phishing, malware, plagiarism and will consider the
positive and negative influences of technology on health and the environment.

PE
This term, we shall be learning hockey on Mondays and begin our swimming at Nantwich baths that will take place weekly on Wednesday afternoons W/B 09/09/25.

Art
In Art, we shall first learn about how to create light and
dark, shades and tints using paint and mixed media. We will then move onto
drawing still-life while thinking about composition and proportion.

Design & Technology

In Design & Technology, we will first learn how to make our own torches, linking this to our Science learning.

Music
This year, the children will learn how to play the clarinet and to read musical notation by a Music teacher on Monday mornings.

RE
In RE, we shall be exploring some important parables told by
Jesus about love and forgiveness and will look at how the Bible is used by
Christians today. We shall also look at the Holy Trinity and learn about what
different religions believe about God.

School trips and workshops
This term, the children will be visiting Quarry Bank Mill and will take part in a Victorian day in school. The children will be asked to dress up and spend the day in the life of a Victorian child.