Autumn 1 2025

Croeso i'r Ddosbarth 4 a 5 - yr Polar Bears!

What a busy and exciting start to the Autumn Term we have had in the Polar bears class .

We started our topic 'Misty Mountain Sierra' with a visit to Penwyllt in the Brecon Beacons. We had a great time with our very own Mountain Rescue guide . We climbed the mountain and found ourselves in the clouds , we explored and looked for fossils .We cooked pot noodles and toasted marshmallows.  We even found  the entrance to a trolls cave. It really was a great day!

  

Literacy

This term we have started our novel 'The Explorer' by Catherine Rundell

We have been introduced to the characters who have crashed on an aeroplane in the Amazon rainforest. We have used our forest school area to replicate our own shelter , just like the children in the story.

We have written our own narrative stories and learnt lots of literacy techniques like similes, powerful adjectives and personification to enhance our writing.

Maths

Our mathematics topics this term have been place value and addition and subtraction. We have learnt how the place of a digit changes it's value and calculated reasoning and problem solving using real life scenarios, and  using RUCSAC to help us. We have used our skills to work out how many people were on the Windrush during our lessons on Black History and calculated the percentage of skilled workers that travelled to England.

Humanities

Our topic 'Misty Mountain Sierra' has a Geography focus. We have  researched about the largest mountains in the world, the continents and features of mountains. We have located these on a map and atlas and created fact files. In RVE we have been learning about Hinduism and Judaism. In Hinduism, we explored Janmashtami and learned about what Krishna teaches us. In Judaism, we looked at Shabbat and created colourful posters to show what it means and how it is celebrated. We've enjoyed learning about different beliefs and traditions from around the world.

Expressive Arts

We have enjoyed creating paint palettes and mixing colours , and created our own colours like candy cane pink and icey igloo white , we have used these to create our mountain landscapes using water colours. We have learnt some new techniques like stippling and hatching.

Physical Education

This term we have learnt lots of hockey skills , like dribbling, dodging and pushing. We have engaged in team competitions within our class. We continue with our cross country practise and are working to improve  our running style and stamina. We are looking forward to the cross country competition against the other schools in the area.

For Well-being week we had a mini sports afternoon and had lots of fun improving our athletics skills and competing in our House colours for our teams.

 

Autumn 2

This term we have enjoyed lots of festive activities, as well as working hard in class, of course! We visited the cinema to see Dog Man. Raised money for Children In Need, celebrated Elf Day and sang at our community event for the over 65's. Not forgetting our Christmas Quiz. We are now looking forward to a restful but exciting Christmas with our families.

Literacy

'The Explorer' continues to provide us with excitement and intrigue. We have completed many literacy tasks using this as a stimulus. We used Fred's character to build a character profile and used extracts from the novel based on pivotal events. We created a diary extract and found definitions for new words. We created a narrative using new vocabulary and story settings.

Maths

This term we have been progressing our skills in multiplication and division. We have learnt lots of new skills,  like solving square numbers, cubed numbers, arrays and, of course, multiplication and division facts. We were able to use our knowledge to help us solve numeracy reasoning and problem-solving tasks.

Humanities

Do you know what a fold, fault-block, dome and plateau is? We do!

We have learnt about the Water Cycle and have continued to explore and research different mountain types and where they are located. We have used Adobe Express and improved our ICT skills to create a fact file about volcanoes. We have also planned our own mountain expedition on a budget. We organised our resources like food and equipment, planned our routes and learnt how to read maps and use four-figure grid references. There are lots of sports you can try on mountains and one of our parents kindly came to school to teach us about skiing, mountain boarding and ski resorts.

 

Science

This term we have been investigating States of Matter. Finding out what solids, liquids and gasses are, if we are able to change their state and if changing them can be reversible.

We carried out our investigations fairly. We explored the melting point of various materials and the rate of evaporation.

 

Expressive Arts

We are very proud of our mountain landscapes. We used our paint palettes to help us with colour and tone. We were able to colour mix and have created realistic landscapes. This term we had a music and meditation session with Father Tim and loved playing the drums.        

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical Education

Our focus this term has been gymnastics. We have used the large apparatus to skill up our creative movements. Using the ropes, we could forward and flip backwards. We could roll forward and work with our partners to create compositions. We used the box to vault, practising star jumps, 360 degree jumps. Box jumps and front flips using our heads and hand stands. Very impressive!