Curriculum in Bluebells Class
At Tarporley, our hope is that all our children flourish so they can 'live life in all its fullness'. John 10:10
In order that all learners grow and reach their full potential, we want our curriculum to:
Demonstrate BRAVERY – we want our teachers to be ambitious when planning our curriculum with high expectations of all learners. We want our learners to be brave, willing to take risks and get things wrong, and show resilience alongside a strong desire to learn and grow
Be OUTWARD-FACING – our curriculum will look beyond our school to our local community and will encourage children to see themselves as part of the wider national and global community. They will learn from other countries, faiths and cultures and we will celebrate differences while recognising that all life on Earth is precious. Our children will understand they have the power to affect change through courageous advocacy and both ask and answer Big Questions
Create memorable OPPORTUNITIES – we want our children’s time at Tarporley to be filled with happy memories that spark their curiosity, motivate them to reach their full potential, ensure learning is ‘sticky’ and instil in them a life-long love of learning. Our broad and ambitious curriculum will embrace learning outside the classroom, and will recognise the importance of cultural capital in preparing our children for life and learning beyond our school
Develop KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS – we recognise that knowledge is key. Our coherently planned and sequenced curriculum ensures all children can achieve, make sense of the world and make informed judgements and decisions. Vocabulary development will be at the heart of this. Our children will leave us with the skills they need to thrive in the next stage of their learning
Nurture SPIRITUALITY – led by our Christian Values, staff will nurture the whole child by developing their social, moral, cultural and spiritual well-being. We recognise spirituality as ways of being with God and the ways God is with us
…while always having high-quality BOOKS and reading at the heart of our teaching and learning!
Below is an overview of our learning for the summer term and what we will be focussing on:
English
We have a books-based approach to the teaching of writing and we choose books that will inspire, entertain and excite our children. We ask that you don’t read these books in advance as it’s lovely to discover them together. It’s also important that we can develop their prediction skills which is difficult if they already know the book!
Core text for summer 1: Amazing Rivers by Julie Vosburgh Agnone which we’ll use to develop our persuasive writing skills
Core text for summer 2: Zeraffa Giraffa by Dianne Hofmeyr which we’ll use to develop our persuasive writing skills
In Guided Reading, we'll be exploring the nonfiction text Amazing Rivers, and in the second half of the summer term, we’ll read the fantasy story Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo.
Maths
Decimals
Money
Measurement
Statistics
Time
Religious Education – Christianity
Answering the Big Questions How did Jesus teach about God and values through parables? and what is my point of view of God and why do people have faith? will be the focus of our learning this term.
Science – Animals including humans – food, skeleton and muscles (Summer 1)
We'll learn about the types and amount of nutrition that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
Science – Plants (Summer 2)
In this unit of work, we will be learning about the different parts of the flowering plant, investigating how water is transported within plants and explore the life cycle of plants.
Geography
Our theme this term is What are rivers and how are they used? We’ll focus on physical geography of the UK and use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of rivers and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment on our trip to Anderton Boat Lift!
History
Our theme this term is What did the Ancient Egyptians believe? We’ll be focusing on the achievements of the earliest civilizations and the legacy of Greek culture.
Art and Design
Our artwork will be focusing on Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination. We will use a variety of drawing materials to make experimental drawings based upon observation.
Design and Technology
Levers will be our focus this term. We will explore different types of levers and how they work. Our final outcome will be to then design and make our very own levers.
Computing
Pupils will be developing their coding skills this term and then looking at graphs, linked to maths.
How you can support at home…
- While we request that you avoid the core English texts (so we don’t get any spoilers!), any reading or further research you can support your child with, which we call pre-learning, will be of huge benefit. We’d almost always favour the local library over online research, but any additional learning linked to any of our topics would be great.
- Supporting your child with their quick recall of multiplication and related division facts will make so many areas of maths easier and will stand them in good stead for the next stage of their learning. Pupils have to know all facts to 12x12 by the end of Year 4. There are links to games and activities on our class pages to support with this.
- All the activities on the optional homework menu (which you can download from our class pages) link with the learning taking place during the autumn term. We’d recommend encouraging your child to choose from the menu – the activities can be done in any order and at any point during the term – so they have opportunities to deepen their understanding and practise their skills.
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour. Psalm 25:5
