Blackgates

Autumn 1

Our topic this half term has been focusing on the ‘Why do people choose to live in the places they do?'. Vikings and Anglo Saxons is our historical focus. The children explore the similarities and differences between them; understand the reason they invaded and settled here and what their communities achieved. Then an exciting trip to the Jorvik Centre immerses the children deeper into the Viking world and solidifies that knowledge. Throughout reading and writing, the children are exposed to more Viking and Anglo Saxon books. In writing the children write their own historical legend based around 'Beowulf' and a diary entry linked to 'I was there... Step back into the fight for York. A Viking Invasion.'

In maths, the children begin their journey with place value - understanding and representing numbers with hundreds, tens and ones. The children use a range of strategies to understand these in detail, such as: number lines, flexible partitioning, ordering and comparing numbers. Next the children move onto addition and subtraction, where they use plenty of practical resources such as base 10 and place value counters to support them.

Autumn 2

The second half term topic is 'What makes us super human?' During this topic, we study the brilliant and influential Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.  As well as examining the impact of their actions for both America and South Africa, we also examine the similarities and differences between their approaches. To immerse the children even further, they are exposed to these fabulous books: 'Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom' and 'Martin Luther King'  a Doreen Rappaport biography. To demonstrate their understanding, the children research specific facts about Rosa Parks, as well as using their knowledge from History to write their own biography.