Remember, remember, the fifth of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot!

 Hello Squirrels one and all, 

Half term already feels like a long time ago. We've been very busy in and outside of the classroom, so here come some updates. 

Remember, remember, the fifth of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot! 

I see no reason why such gunpowder treason should ever be forgot! 

For our mantle this term, Squirrels have become historians. They stepped into our story and back in time to London, 1604. King James the first had been crowned the previous year and some had hoped life under his rule would be better, but sadly it was not for all. The children were dismayed to discover the levels of  discrimination against Catholic Christians happening at the time, as King James was a Protestant king. 

They heard rumours that some men were going to do something about the unfair situation and went along to find out what the plan was. It was then that the children discovered a plot... A plot to kill the king! Some children chose to join the plotters and work towards a more equal and fair life for Catholic and Protestant Christians. Others chose to stay well away from such a plot. 

As our mantle story progressed, the children discovered it was Sir Francis Tresham who foiled the plot and some felt it was quite unfair for Guy Fawkes to be so severely punished, especially when he was not the lead plotter but simply guarding the gunpowder at the time. 

Our mantle has allowed the children to debate equality, discrimination and the 17th century justice system. Classroom activities have included charcoal artwork, chronology work, plenty of courtroom drama and debate, code cracking and newspaper report writing. Hopefully this is not a historical event that they will forget in a hurry! 

Remembrance and Diwali 

This term we have also learnt about Remembrance Day and Diwali. The children were hugely invested in talking about poppies and their importance. We read a story called 'The Great War and the Little Hen' which helped us to understand the impact of World War One, then we went on to talk about World War Two and more recent wars and conflicts. Bruce and Henry H knew an awful lot about Remembrance and everyone engaged in very thoughtful discussions. 

For Diwali, Mrs Wright dressed up in her beautiful sari, told the story of Rama and Sita and explained all about the Festival of Light. We made pop up 3D Diva lamps, danced to Bollywood music and read a story all about how one family celebrates Diwali. 

Maths

Our maths has progressed from subtraction of two 2-digit or 3-digit numbers with carrying to multiplication. Year 2 are learning the 2, 5 and 10 times tables whilst Year 3 are learning 3, 4 and 8. Learning their times tables facts at home has really helped the children to feel confident in their learning. It also frees their thinking time up to focus on patterns and making deductions. Please continue to practise:

• Your child's relevant times tables. Ideally, they should be able to answer any of their times tables within 3 seconds by recall, as well as knowing how to solve problems involving groups. 
• The principle of commutativity (multiplication number sentences can be written in any order. E.g. 2x5=10 and 5x2=10). 
• Arrays. 
• Multiplication word problems. 

Writing / SPAG

We have been busy doing all types of writing related to our history mantle, including diary entries, letters to King James I and coded letters. In SPAG, we have learnt about and applied subordinating and co-ordinating conjunctions, adverbs and adjectives, plurals, determiners and adding the -ed suffix correctly to show past tense. 

Please write as much as possible at home for a variety of reasons. Encourage your child to read their work aloud to check it makes sense, spot any missing punctuation and check their sounds and spellings. Ask them to always check their writing for any of their spelling words and polish if needed. You can also celebrate their writing by talking about '2 stars' for what they've done well or feel proud of, and 'one wish' for something to improve next time. 

We are now getting ready for the school nativity production and Christmas! Stay tuned for more Squirrel news soon.