Term 1 Week 4

Another Fantastic Week in Owls Class!

What a week it has been in Owls Class! The children have been diving deep into their learning across all subjects and have impressed me yet again with their curiosity, effort, and creativity. I couldn’t be prouder of how hard they’ve worked and I’m so excited to share some highlights with you.

Mathematics: Rounding Like Pros

In Maths this week, we’ve been mastering the art of rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand.

We started by using number lines to visualise where a number sits between two tens, hundreds, or thousands. This helped the children see which way to round. Once they’d built that understanding, we moved on to rounding without the support of a number line using their knowledge of place value and reasoning skills to decide whether to round up or down.

A big focus this week has been on using the right mathematical vocabulary words like digit, place value, midpoint, nearest ten, nearest hundred, nearest thousand, round up, round down. The children are becoming increasingly confident in explaining why a number rounds the way it does, which is such an important skill for their future Maths learning.

A Rounding Challenge for Home:

Here’s a fun game you can play together:

Write down (or call out) any 3- or 4-digit number.
Challenge your child to round it to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand as fast as they can!
To make it more exciting, turn it into a ‘Beat the Clock’ game. Give them 10 seconds for each round.
You’ll be amazed at how quickly they pick it up with a little daily practice.

You can also try this online rounding game to make practising even more fun!

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/rocket-rounding

English: Publishing Our Setting Descriptions

In English, we have reached a real milestone this week. The children have been working hard on their editing skills, learning how to review their writing, spot areas for improvement and uplevel their work to make it as effective as possible.

They have focused on checking spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as thinking carefully about their word choices to make their descriptions more vivid and powerful. Editing is not just about correcting mistakes; it is about polishing ideas so they truly shine.

Now, the children have proudly published their setting descriptions in their neatest handwriting, ready for display. I cannot wait to share our 'Writing Showcase Wall' with you next week. It is going to be a celebration of their hard work, creativity and perseverance.

I am so incredibly proud of each and every one of them for their focus and determination during this process.

Science: Exploring Electricity

Science lessons have been positively buzzing this week, quite literally! Our topic for this term is Electricity, and the children are already showing great curiosity and enthusiasm for discovering how it works.

We began by exploring what electricity is and why it is so important in our daily lives. The children were fascinated to learn about common electrical appliances and to think about how circuits allow electricity to flow.

This week they were given a set of circuit components including batteries, bulbs, buzzers and motors, and worked together to build simple circuits. The excitement in the room was contagious the moment they lit up their bulbs for the first time.

They did not stop there. They experimented by adding buzzers and motors to see what would happen, learning how changes in the circuit could make the bulb dimmer or the buzzer louder. They then carefully drew out their circuits using the correct scientific symbols in their books.

It has been wonderful to see their teamwork, curiosity and problem-solving skills in action as they tested ideas, made predictions and figured out why some circuits did not work the first time. Their growing understanding of electricity is setting them up brilliantly for the rest of the topic.

Art: Roman Mosaics Come to Life

In Art, we have travelled back to the Roman era to explore the history of Roman mosaics, those stunning pictures made from thousands of tiny coloured tiles.

After learning about their history and purpose in Roman homes and public buildings, the children began creating their own mosaics this week. Instead of using real tiles, we have been using small pieces of coloured paper to recreate the effect of traditional mosaics. This has allowed the children to experiment with patterns and colours in a manageable and creative way.

It has been a wonderfully creative and meticulous process as they planned out their designs and carefully pieced them together. Their concentration and attention to detail have been impressive, and the classroom has been filled with a lovely, calm buzz of artistic focus. 

History: Discovering the Origins of the Roman Empire

In History this week, we began our new topic on the Romans by exploring where, when and how the Roman Empire began.

We started by talking about what the children already knew about the Romans and were fascinated by how much they could recall. We then looked at maps to discover that Rome is in modern-day Italy. The children loved using atlases to find Italy on the map, noticing that the country is shaped like a high-heeled boot, and then pinpointing the city of Rome about halfway down the western side of the boot.

To build a timeline of events, we learned that Rome was founded in 753 BC. Over the centuries, it grew from a small city to a powerful republic and eventually became one of the largest empires in history under leaders such as Emperor Augustus. The children enjoyed plotting these dates on a timeline to see how Rome’s influence expanded over time. A highlight of the lesson was watching the children work together to locate Rome on the map. 

It’s been an incredible week of learning - from sharpening our Maths skills to polishing our writing, from experimenting with electricity to creating mosaic masterpieces. I’m so proud of the Owls Class for the effort and enthusiasm they bring to their learning every day. They’re growing not only in knowledge but also in perseverance and creativity.

Stay tuned for next week’s showcase of our published writing and the progress of our mosaics. I know you’ll be just as amazed as I am!