Teaching and Learning in UKS2 – Spring 2
By Year UKS2 24/2/2025
Rose Blanche was the name of a group of young German citizens who, at their peril, protested against the war. Like them, Rose observes all the changes going on around her which others choose to ignore. She watches as the streets of her small German town fill with soldiers. One day she sees a little boy escaping from the back of a truck, only to be captured…
English
Our class text this half-term is Rose Blanche. This is a picture book based around WW2. ‘This story is told through the eyes of a young German girl, Rose Blanche, who is a witness to the immense changes occurring in Nazi Germany.’
Children will begin by exploring the book, one picture at a time. They will be exploring grammatical features of writing a narrative as well as creating dramatical freeze-frames to enhance their writing. The story will unfold a week at a time and the children will be re-telling Rose Blanche’s experience in their own way. We hope they will follow the various emotions with empathy and that this will reflect in their writing opportunities.
Maths:
Year 5
During this half-term, Year 5 will begin by securing their understanding of decimal place value and how to write and read them. They will then explore the relationship between fractions and decimals before using this to support them with adding and subtracting. After decimals, Year 5 will move onto percentages where they will explore how to write a percentage, the relationship between fractions, decimals and percentages. They will also begin to consider comparing quantities using percentages.
Year 6
In Maths this half-term, Year 6 will be working on applying our knowledge of geometry and strengthen our understanding of the different types of angles, drawing triangles and naming parts of a circle. This will be followed by position and movement where we will apply our understanding of co-ordinates and negative numbers to help us describe reflections and translations of shapes. We will also be focusing on algebra and alongside this, we will continue to work on our fundamental mathematical skills during our morning fluency activities.
History: World War2.
During this half term, children in Year 5 and 6 will learn when and why World War II began and find out about the key individuals and countries involved. In addition to this, they will discover all about evacuation; learn what it was like to live with food rationing and explore the contribution made by women to the war effort. There will also be opportunities for them to learn important facts about the Holocaust and investigate events that were key turning points in the war, such as the Battle of Britain. We are hoping to visit the Eden Camp so that children can learn outside the classroom in a hands-on environment. Studying WW2 will help children to develop their investigation and evaluation skills; learn to organise information chronologically and understand how past events have helped to shape the world we know today.
Science
We will be exploring the different environments where plants and animals live (habitats), how they are adapted to their specific surroundings, comparing life cycles of various organisms, and understanding basic food chains within those habitats, with a key emphasis on identifying how different living things depend on each other within their environment; students will also learn to distinguish between living, dead, and non-living things.
Religious Education:
Our R.E question is: What is the significance of Easter, Ascension and Pentecost?
Children will recall what they already know about Christianity and who Jesus was before describing and providing examples of some Christian beliefs about Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. Children will summarise Christian beliefs about Jesus’ kingship and the Kingdom of God and show understanding of these terms and weigh up what they mean for Christians. We will also learn how and why Pentecost is celebrated today.
Design Technology
We have already begun our new DT project, linked with our new history topic, WW2. The children have been exploring examples of Propaganda and have had the opportunity to re-create their own example, displaying a positive message relating to war. As the term proceeds, children will be exploring textiles and developing their sewing skills – something they are looking forward to!
PE/Swimming:
Our PE this half term will be focusing on the skills of Dodgeball and Tuesday’s year 6 will be focusing on Tennis skills. Swimming will continue as normal for the year 5 and some selected year 6 children.
