In our yoga lessons we have been practising our breathing and engaging our core.  The poses we have been working on are increasing our flexibility and strength.  We feel very calm and relaxed after our lessons.

This term in DT, we built on our knowledge of designing and making freestanding structures but this time including a moving part. We reviewed our previous learning about axles and stability and looked at what is needed to make a strong moving ferris wheel. After some research and design time, we began our making process. Sometimes we needed to follow step by step instructions but we also had to problem solve along the way to fix things when they were not quite working. We had lots of fun, we worked well in pair showing good teamwork and were very proud of our final products. 

We researched freestanding structures and how they are made to be stable and strong. We designed and made Baby Bear's chair and then tested it to see if it could hold him. At the end we evaluated our work to discuss what we might do next time to improve our designs.

This week we have been learning about artificial intelligence and how machines are able to ‘learn’. To demonstrate this we used ‘Quick Draw’.  The children were all given drawing tasks too to complete on their whiteboards.  This allowed them to recognise that we are all ‘programmed’ to think in a similar way when given verbal cues or stimuli.  We had such fun!

In science today we have been preparing to carry out our investigation.  We are creating a choice chamber for wood lice.  We thought carefully about what we know about various micro habitats and their conditions. We will write up the reasons for our predictions prior to carrying out our investigation.

We will create our choice chamber next week based on these varied conditions to see which of them our wood lice prefer.  

Today we have welcomed Sunita from The Indian Experience who has shared with us the story of Diwali.  

Today we were lucky enough to have a visit from Zoolab.  They brought with them some wonderful animals and a wealth of knowledge they shared with the children. We got to see a millipede, a giant African land snail, a tree frog, a scorpion and a snake.  We learnt how a frog swallows it’s food, how many teeth a snail has and how long the snake will live as well as many other facts. If you want to know these wonderful facts just ask your child, I’m sure they’ll have great pleasure in telling you all about it. Favourite quote of the day “Miss…this is the best day at school ever!” Thank you Zoolab 

In our Art lessons, we have been exploring Maps as part of our craft and Design unit. We have looked at a few real ones and some that are imaginary and artistic. We talked about what we liked about them and what features usually appear on a Map. Then we planned and created out own Artist's maps using pastels, pencils and crayons. We tried to use shape, line and texture to make our maps interesting. We loved seeing how everyone's map was different. Some of our Marvellous Maps are now on display outside our classroom!

We have been learning about habitats and how animals are adapted to survive in them.  This week our focus was on world habitats. These included rainforest, Arctic, desert and ocean. 

During our science this week we went to explore our school garden to look at various microhabitats. We discovered many small animals in the garden including worms, woodlouse, snails and even a newt!

This week we have been rehearsing our class story Jack and the Beanstalk. Children are now confident reciting the story orally purely from the story map.   We are working on setting description adding adjectives to create more detailed stories.