Kingfishers Class - Autumn Term Learning

Welcome back to a new school year and a new step in your child’s learning journey. This term in Kingfishers our topic is the exciting continent of Africa.

Geography: We will begin by learning how to use globes, atlases and maps with different scales to locate various countries and continents of our world. We will then focus on Africa itself, learning about where it is in relation to us and the other continents.

We will learn about the different geographical features of the continent; mountains, deserts, savannah, rivers, lakes and coasts. As we explore these areas we will learn about the animals and people who live there. We will then find out more about the problems they face including poaching, lack of basic needs for life and the struggles faced by the people in times of war.

Science: We start by focusing on healthy eating and teeth. We will look at what makes a healthy diet for ourselves and animals. We will then investigate teeth by thinking about how to care for them and about the different types of teeth and their functions. We will find out about the diets of different animals and why they have different teeth to us. After half term we will look at light and shadows. We will learn about different light sources, including the sun, and how the position and strength of these sources of light can affect the shadow cast by an object. We will devise our own experiments with different materials to find which leaves the darkest or largest shadow.

Art: We will use the inspiration of Africa. We will begin by looking closely at animal patterns and then concentrate on traditional African patterns found on fabrics. Using this knowledge we will make our own African patterns in a batik style.

DT: We will link our DT to our African topic by creating an African mask. We will learn about different types of masks by visiting the Art museum in Brighton and will then use this to inspire our own mask making. Each pupil will need a shoe box for their mask. Please take time to find one and keep it safe at home until your child is asked to bring it to school. (If you have more than one then please bring in spares as well when they are requested.)

ICT: Our initial focus is to learn how to save and retrieve our learning on the school server computer. We will then focus on improving our keyboard skills so that we can use them in presenting a range of learning across the curriculum. We will also improve our skills with ‘Paint’ and will create a range of pictures using the range of tools available.

PE: We will be learning a range of dance skills and how to improve our movements, making them relate to the music we hear. We hope to learn some African dance steps and create an African dance. We will also concentrate on improving our small apparatus skills and will learn some simple team game

Literacy: We will use our topic of Africa in our non fiction writing and story telling sessions. We will use traditional African stories and stories with an African theme to stimulate our writing. We will also focus on writing instructions linked to different curricular areas; brushing teeth in Science and making pizza and masks in DT. In our poetry writing we will look at a range of different styles of poetry including alliteration and shape poems.

In addition there will be daily Maths lessons, and we will be beginning regular French lessons, for which we will have the support of Monsieur Mathieu Verniol, a teacher from Downlands.
Of course, your support is a vital part of your child’s learning. I look forward to seeing you all soon at our first parent teacher meetings. If you have any concerns or need to talk to me then please come for a chat after school.