What we are doing this week in Lilac Class for the week beginning 13.5.24

For Maths this week in Lilac Class, we will be learning to calculate lengths and angles in shapes by exploring the different strategies for working out missing lengths and angles.  We will be recapping on how to find the perimeter of missing lengths.  Lilac Class will be investigating regular and irregular polygons and how they are different and this will be followed by us recognising the properties of 3-D shapes. We will be exploring such questions as: What is the mathematical name for this 3-D shape?  How many faces/edges/vertices are there on this 3-D shape? 

In English this week in Lilac Class, we are continuing with our drafting of our newspaper article about the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.  We will be using our planning, drawn from a range of information texts including actual newspaper articles written just after the Titanic sank.  We will be using the features of a newspaper report – Headline, Byline, Lead, Body, Picture and Caption and Tail.  This week we are focusing on writing about our eyewitness/survivor accounts of the tragedy. 

For our Guided Reading text, Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill this week, we are reading pages 25-30. Lilac Class are focusing on inference, answering such questions as ‘Why might spring bring better fortune?’, ‘Why do you think they took lots of scientific measurements?’ and ‘Why would it be important to keep morale high amongst the crew?’ We will also be exploring whether cliffhangers are generally found in non-fiction and why. 

For RE in Lilac Class, we are continuing with our learning about why Shahadah (the First Pillar of Islam) is important to Muslims.  We have been finding out what the Shahadah is and what it says. We are also exploring why the first words that a Muslim baby hears are the Shahadah and be answering the question ‘What would you whisper to a newborn baby or shout from a tower?’  Lilac Class will then be reading the story of Bilal and thinking about what we would stand up for and why.  For Time and Place , we are finishing off our work about the features of a river (e.g. meander, tributary, estuary, delta) and will be labelling a diagram that shows where the different features are located.  Lilac Class will be answering such questions as ‘What is a young river?’, ‘How does erosion cause meanders?’ and ‘What is a tributary?’  For Science in Lilac Class, we are comparing the life cycles of mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds.  We are thinking about the similarities and differences between these different animal groups.  We will also be growing beans and part of a geranium plant (artificial reproduction) in our classroom and observing what happens over the next few weeks! We are also growing potatoes!

For Design and the Arts, we are using our sketches of the school garden as a basis for painting using the techniques of the artist Annie Soudain.  In ICT, we are learning about Vector Drawing and will be using the zoom tool to design drawings and modifying objects to create a new image.  This week we are creating a vector drawing by combining shapes.  Lilac Class will also be practising songs for the Tunbridge Wells Singing Festival that will take place at the Assembly Halls on Monday 10^th June. 

Please see attached information about '50 recommended reads' to help you decide the books that you could choose for your child to read.  I have also attached the lyrics for our individual item that Years 5 and 6 will be singing at the festival entitled ‘To the Sky’ by Carl Strommen.