Welcome to Summer Term 2 in the Fox Class. We have lots of exciting learning taking place this term. Our Enquiry question is ‘how dark are the shadows?’  In preparation for answering our enquiry question we will be learning about light and shadows in Science and then applying this in our DT lessons where we will be making a light box.
 

Blackfriars Class Trip 

We visited our local theatre to discover how a performance is made. We learnt about how light and shadows are used at the theatre for effect. We thoroughly enjoyed making our own shadows and making the lights change. 

Parent event - shadow play 

We had an amazing turn out at our final parent event of the year. We loved the opportunity to share our learning with our parents as we performed a shadow play using our published play scripts and light boxes. Thank you to all that attended! 

Enquiry - how dark are the shadows? 

We learnt how light works. To do this, we conducted an experiment in which we had to create a dark area and shine a light source onto an object. We learnt that we can see as light rays hit an object and reflect off into our eyes. 

Today, we learnt how the shininess/dullness of an object effects the amount of light that is reflected off of it. We created a fair test and our results showed that shiny surfaces reflect more light than dull surfaces. We know that this is because dull surfaces absorb more of the light. 

Our a science learning continued as we learnt about how different mirrors work. We experimented and recorded our findings of what happened to our reflections when we look into concave, convex and plane mirrors. We had lots of fun and we were surprised to find out that our image was flipped when we looked into the concave mirror. 

More experiments this week as we began to answer our question ‘how dark are the shadows?’ We learnt how the movement of a light source effects the size and shape of a shadow. From conducting our fair experiment, we found that when we moved the torch closer to the glue stick, the shadow became shorter and wider. 

English

Our writing genre this term to playscripts. We will be working through our writing cycle to learn about the features and grammar of a playscript, before planning, drafting, editing and publishing our own. We will showcase these at our parent event whereby we will perform our own shadow play using the light boxes we make in D.T.

As part of our exploration of the format and features of a playsvripy, weread and acted out the play ‘Jack and the beanstalk’. 

Maths 

As our learning of shapes continued, we created our own 3D shape using a net. We applied our previous learning to identify its shape name and properties. 

Design and technology

This term in D.T., we are making our own light boxes as we learn about structures and supports. Our light boxes will be used to showcase our shadow play at our parent event. 

Today we created a prototype of our light box, using a saw to make struts and cardboard to make gussets to create supports for our boxes. 

Create 

As we had now constructed our prototypes, we began creating our final version of our light boxes. We used our plans for measurements and applied our learning of using a saw to cut the wood needed for our light boxes. We showed great teamwork as we took it in turns to measure and cut. 

Following on from our previous lesson, we continued with the construction of our light boxes by adding supports through the use of struts and gussets. We also created our puppets in preparation for our shadow play to our parents at our parent event. 

PSHE

As part of our PSHE, we learnt about the zone of regulation and how they can be used as a way of describing how we are feeling. We explored what each zone meant and which emotions went into each zone. We had a healthy discussion around how we feel when we are in each zone and how we can help each other when they are in that zone. Some comments included ‘I know when…is in the yellow zone, I can help them by writing a story with them because they enjoy doing that’ and ‘when…is in the red zone, we should give them space because they don’t want to talk to anyone.’ 
 

I have been delighted with how the children have used this terminology in their day to day school life since learning about the zones of regulations. It has really helped us to understand how one another are feeling. 

French 

In French this term, we have been learning about how to say food related words in French. We learnt the words for different healthy foods and applied this to asking and answering questions about which foods we like or don’t like. 

P.E. 
 

This term we are learning how to play rounders. 

Today, we learnt how to throw the ball over arm. We know that the fielders throw the ball over arm for long distances. 

We applied our previous learning of the skills needed to a game of rounders.