This half-term, we have journeyed beyond the Earth’s atmosphere to explore the galaxy for our theme ‘To Space and back.’ We started off with a Discover and Do session with mini problem solving activities to explore our new theme. We have researched facts about the Solar System by looking at books and using the internet, and have made some impressive displays with all the information we’ve found. The children asked a range of questions at the start of our topic and we have been answering them through our theme lessons.

During Science and Technology we have looked at different materials and how much light they let through. We sorted materials into opaque, translucent and transparent. We explored how different foods change when they are heated and cooled. One of the things we wanted to find out was how a rocket works and how astronauts get to space. So we researched the parts of a rocket and labelled one. We had lots of fun exploring how the Earth moves around the sun and made our own stop-motion animation to explain how we have day and night. We were astronauts for the day and tasted real Space ice-cream and decided that it tasted really good and actually very much like real ice-cream. We had a wonderful experience where we went into the Planetarium at school to look at the planets and the stars. We listened to a story about ‘The Little Star.’

During Humanities sessions we found it very interesting researching a range of female astronauts. We looked at Google Earth and what the Earth looks like from Space. We read a story about Neil Armstrong and completed a timeline of his life.

For Expressive Arts we have been listening to Holst’s ‘The Planets’ and comparing different movements listening to dynamics, tempo and timbre. We have been looking at Mark Garlick’s ‘Space Art’ and have created our own space art using pastels, paints and water colours. We looked at Andy Goldsworthy during our Seize the Season session and made our own transient art using natural objects.

During our Languages, Literacy and Communication we have thoroughly enjoyed reading and retelling Whatever Next! and Alien Invasion! We innovated the story Alien Invasion! and made our own story by changing the ending and the aliens. We visited the library to take out a book to read during our guided reading sessions.

During Mathematics and Numeracy we have been recognising numbers within 100, sequencing numbers within 100, place value and adding and subtracting.

For Health and Well-being we have built up to playing a game of tennis in a group of four. We learnt early tennis skills like balancing the ball on the racket, bouncing the ball, holding the racket correctly and serving. We learnt how to be light on our feet and keep our eyes on the ball. We looked at a healthy meal for an astronaut because we know they need to eat the right food to stay healthy and strong in Space. We sorted different food into the food groups.

We have had a wonderful half term and can’t wait for next half term.