ABBEY CLASS – SUMMER TERM 1 – LEARNING OUTLINE
‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’
Dear Parents,
I hope you have had a great Easter holidays and enjoyed the spring weather.
This term the children found it hard to think about what they know about recycle, which is a good place to start! This
however also made if difficult for them to plan what they did want to find out in their topic. We hope to add to our
topic planning as we go through this topic and find out more.
We start our topic with an exciting two day Forest school, building a shelter out of materials that we often throw
away- plastic bottles. This will link to our geography unit where we will learn about how people in a shanty town in
South America reuse much more than we do! We will also look at the environmental impact of not recycling. We will
look at our Carbon footprint, global warming, pollution, and the devastation caused by human’s use of the Earth’s
natural resources.
The children did think a lot about reusing, and have asked if they can use things that we would normally throw away
or recycle to make something. In Art we will explore artists who use waste materials and then create our own
sculptures. In D&T we will take a tin can... and turn it into something functional. To do this we will research, design,
and experiment with different materials and look at existing products.
In ICT we will create posters about rubbish and recycling, ensuring we are confident in skills we might need for
middle school. These skills include copying and pasting and manipulating images and text, typing, saving, and safe
searching.
In Science we will be studying plants. The children will find out how plants grow and how they feed themselves. They
will complete lots of experiments to find out what a plant needs to grow, and will finish the topic by looking at
composting, and how crop rotation can reduce the need for chemicals- more human pollution!
In RE we will be exploring Sikhism and how their beliefs affect their ways of life and the importance they place on
sharing.
If you would like any further information on what we will be covering this term then please visit the website where
you will find the topic mind map, or come and speak to me.
Learning Exposure
You are very welcome to join us on 14th May 2:45pm, when the children will be delighted to show you and talk about
their learning this half term.
Website
Please visit our school website www.cerneabbas.dorset.sch.uk to view all our information including individual class
blogs, which we update with news and photos. Do have a look at what the children have been learning!
Some dates for your diary.
20th-21st- Forest school capture day
22rd-24th April –Hooke court
5th May- Meeting for Yr 4 parents about DMS with Mrs Seymour (transition leader)
5th May- Send my friend to school day
8th May- Trees for Dorset trip to blue bell wood.
14th May- learning exposure
20th May- Maths day.
22nd May- Half term starts!
Additional information:
Children will be taking part in PE lessons on Fridays as well as Thursdays each week so will need their PE kits in
school on these days.
I will be setting more paper based Maths home learning this term. However, please keep encouraging your children
to use Mathletics. Having looked carefully at children’s progress in Maths against their use of Mathletics, I have
noted that the children who have made the most progress this academic year are the children that have completed
the most activities on Mathletics.
Family project for this half term:
Competition time!!! Plastic bottles, we use hundreds of them a year, in all shapes and sizes, and then we recycle
them. Can you reuse one instead? –What could you use a plastic bottle for? What could you turn it into?- Use your
imagination, a prize will be given to the family that come up with the most inventive reuse or most radical change to
a plastic bottle.
Rules:
-You must use a plastic bottle, However it can be any shape or size.
-You can change your bottle in any way.
-You can add anything you like to your bottle.
-Your bottle can have a purpose or be decorative.
-Use your imagination.... or look online!!!
Please do get in touch if you would like to know any more about our learning activities.
We look forward to our first half-term of summer term filled with a love of learning.
Thank you, Alice Mattison (Class teacher)