Skip to content ↓

Curie Class

This Spring term our project is called ‘Extreme Environments’ with our question being; ‘Where is the most inhabitable place in the world?’

We will start the term off with our ‘Superb Starter’, which will be a visit from a scientist to inspire us about electricity, how it works and do some fun experiments. Our ‘Mix it up Middle’ will be a music performance, showing off our ukulele skills! Finally, for our ‘Enthralling Ending' we will be using recycled materials to create a shelter that would withstand extreme environments. We will be looking at key aspects of constructing sturdy structures and materials that affect temperature. 

Our classroom environment will be themed around climates. One side of the classroom will have a frozen climate, including an igloo reading den, icicles hanging from the ceiling and a snowy backdrop. The other half of the classroom will have a desert theme, which will include a large cactus and the backdrop of the Sahara Desert and a camel's head. Our classroom environment is used to inspire the children throughout the term and provide stimulus for writing, as well as having key vocabulary around the room to encourage the children to use this. To further enhance the theme, we will have class reading books which will include ‘sky song’, ‘Race to the Frozen North’ and ‘The Brockenspectre.’ We will have many opportunities to improve our writing skills through further exploring language that can be used to capture the imagination of the reader and create meaningful pieces of writing, focussing on using simple organisational features to structure non-narrative writing. We will also be perfecting our ability to infer and identify key pieces of information from a text by reading a variety of non-fiction texts. In maths, we will continue to focus on our recall speed of timetables – this will play an important role when it comes to fractions this term. During our science lessons, we will be exploring the classification of living things and how they can be grouped in different ways. We will also be developing our understanding of how changes in the environment impact living things and how they adapt and survive in specific environments. As well as this, we will be looking in depth at electricity: understanding what a conductor and insulator are and creating our own circuits. Our music lessons will be focussing on creating music to sound like a volcanic eruption. Children will look at well-known composers such as Alan Hovhaness and Igor Stravinsky. Children will be given the chance to explore different ways of creating sound with instruments and exploring synthetic sounds too. We will also be learning how to play the ukulele this term. Our art lessons focus on form and perspective; using lines and a vanishing point to create images that show this. We will also be exploring the works of Esher. In French, the children will be recapping numbers and learning about months of the year. The children will also be able to give opinions on food and order food. In PE we will be delving into multiple games, such as Netball, Boccia, Handball and Goalball, as well as archery. Our geographical focus will be looking at different environmental regions in Europe and understanding what causes this. We will also have a deeper look into Oymyakon to help us understand what makes it such an inhabitable place. In our Computing lessons we will focus on creating a short film about an area of the world with extreme environments. Inspired by David Attenborough, the children will conduct research, create props to create an informative and creative video, looking at the skills of editing and sequencing. Design and Technology this term will allow children to explore mechanical elements of making objects move, such as gears, levers, and pulleys.. In RE, we will be looking at Sikhism and understanding how joining the Khalsa makes Sikhs better people. We will also be asking why Sikhs believe that it is important to share. In addition to this, we will be studying Buddhism and asking if it is possible for everyone to be happy, what Buddhists do to make the world a better place and how they lead a good life.