Lewis Class

Mrs Jenkins and Mrs Grady

Support staff: Mrs Morgan, Mrs Gavin and Mrs Lucas

Welcome to the Lewis Class page. Our class is named after the very famous children's author, C.S Lewis, who wrote 'The Chronicles of Narnia'. 

The British writer C.S. Lewis is famous for writing a series of books called The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis wrote many other books, including poetry, science fiction, and books about Christianity.

Clive Staples Lewis was born on November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland. As a child, he missed a lot of school due to illness. In 1916 he went to University College in Oxford, England. He left school for a time to fight in World War I with the British Army. After college, he became a teacher.

                                                  Spring 2

English

This half term our English lessons will be based on Zeraffa Giraffa     

by Dianne Hofmeyr. This book is beautifully illustrated by Jane Ray. It is the astonishing true story of Zeraffa, a giraffe who was sent  as a gift from Egypt to France in 1827. A young boy takes care of Zeraffa on her epic journey to Paris and an unlikely friendship blossoms.

All our writing activities will be based around this picture book.

We will focus on persuasive writing The children will plan and write a persuasive guide for visiting Zeraffa at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Skills we will revise:

• Correct use of known punctuation
• Use of adverbs to express time, place and cause
• Group related ideas into paragraphs

Skills we will develop:

• Building an increasing range of sentence structures
• Using simple organisational devices
• Using present and past tenses correctly and consistently
• Using persuasive language e.g. alliteration, repetition
• Writing in logical order 
• Using 2nd person or 3rd person to talk directly to the reader

Children will also complete spellings using Spelling Frame, which is accessible online. We will send home children's login details so that all the activities can be completed at home too. The children will bring paper copies of their spelling lists home each Friday.

Maths

In Maths we follow the 'White Rose' scheme. This half term Year

will be focusing on Fractions and decimals whilst Year 3 will learn about fractions, mass and capacity. In lower key stage 2 it is particularly important that the children know all of their times tables off by heart. We will be sending home times tables for the children to practise and there is a link to some of the games that we play in class below so that you can keep learning at home.

https://www.timestables.co.uk/

https://www.purplemash.com/sch/holy-bb3#/

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables

Topic.

In topic this half term we will be studying Geography and our topic is Settlements. Our learning will be based on these key questions.                                                                               

Are all settlements the same?                                                     

What is the largest type of settlement?

What are the benefits of living in an urban area?                          

What are the benefits of living in a rural area?

Why residential land is used for houses and apartment blocks?

What human and physical features might be found in a city?

We used BBC bitesize to help us remember information about the UK.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4v3jhv

Science

Our Science lessons this half term are all about Electricity and in Design and Technology we will using this knowledge to design and create an electrical poster.

PE

PE will take place on Friday, with swimming lessons on Thursday. The children are expected to come to school in their PE kit on Friday only. This includes:

• Black/navy/dark grey jogging bottoms or tracksuit bottoms
• White T-shirt
• School cardigan/ Jumper
• black trainers

Please can we ask that all parents ensure PE kit and uniform all have names written in them so that they don’t get lost.

Swimming is Thursday. Children with long hair must wear a swimming hat; girls must wear a full costume; and boys wear swimming shorts or trunks.

Religious Education

This half term we will be reminding ourselves of the events of the Easter story and asking these questions about trust and forgiveness.

• What is trust?
• How do we show trust?
• Who do we trust? Why?
• Why is trust important?
• Why did Judas betray Jesus?
• What does it mean to betray someone?
• How does it feel to be betrayed?
• What is forgiveness?
• Have you ever forgiven someone?                                          Have you experienced being forgiven

Home Reading

Children should read regularly every day. This is the most important homework the children have. Listen to your child read for about ten minutes and then ask them questions about what they have just read. Please sign the bookmark that your child has with their book. These will be collected at the end of each week and new ones given out. It is also important that children experience a wide variety of reading books at home, as well as school. Books need to be returned to school every day as we will endeavour to hear your child read at least once a week and change the books when we do this. 

We love to read in Lewis class. We choose books for pleasure from our class library and the larger school library each week. The posters below some of the books that we have in school and give you some idea about books you could borrow from our fantastic local library in Darwen. If any of them appeal to you and you can't find them just ask Mrs Jenkins and she will find a copy for you to borrow. There is a link to the school reading list website at the bottom of this page. This half term we will spend time reading and enjoying The Queens Nose by Dick King Smith and poetry by Joseph Coelho. We will also be celebrating World Book Day. Follow the link below for more information.

https://www.worldbookday.com/

Homework

Homework will be sent out every Friday, and children will have until the following Friday to complete this. Homework will include online 'Spelling Frame' activities, times tables sheets and reading activities. We expect children to be reading with parents/guardians several times a week to practise their skills.

We encourage the children to bring a water bottle into school in case they are thirsty throughout the day. It is really important that they are kept hydrated, so it is so much easier if they have their own water bottle in school. This bottle should be transparent and only contain plain water.

As your child’s teachers, we are here if you ever need us so please don’t hesitate to contact the school on 01254 702119. Lines are open 8am-4.00pm. Please click on the curriculum map for Spring 2 to see additional information about our learning this half term.