Hello everyone,

We are here to let you know what we’ve been learning across the last week or two, since returning from our well-deserved Easter break! We all seem to have had a wonderful holiday, whether abroad or at home; it was so lovely to hear all of our news and catch up with one another! We are ready and raring to go for Term 3, and have already made a brilliant start.

So, let’s begin! Last week, we took time to reflect on our future and identify what we would like to work towards by creating a ‘Future Me’ mind-map. We also started learning about the Galapagos Islands, by looking at its location within South America, its formation, landscape, climate and wildlife; we are thoroughly enjoying this topic so far. Alongside this, we have been learning new vocabulary, such as ‘archipelago’ and ‘biodiversity’, and facts (Did you know that 13 different islands make up the Galapagos, and around 120 islets?), to deepen our understanding. We were amazed by the vast size of the Galapagos tortoise! Soon, we are going to move on to learn about Charles Darwin, natural selection and evolution. We are beginning to draw comparisons between the South American island landscape and Scottish landscapes that we are more familiar with.

In Numeracy, we have been working hard to develop our level of skill and confidence when solving long multiplication and division calculations; at first, it was tricky to maintain our growth mindsets as we tackled the calculations, but using the strategy consistently and perseverance has really supported us. The Maths concept that we are focusing on at the moment is budgeting and financial education. We have been working with different budgets to select items and plan experiences, whilst determining affordability.

Our Sustainable Development Goal learning has continued this term; we really are shaping up to be highly effective global citizens! We are focusing on SDG 8, – exploring workers’ rights, child labour, and supply chains. Thus far, through our See, Think, Wonder routine, we have been able to make connections and examine what we already know about products, as well as the ways in which people live and make money.

We spent a special morning at  Greenbank Gardens last Friday; what a perfect way to celebrate Earth Day 2022! The gardens were beautiful and we participated in lots of activities with Operation Play Outdoors – group tasks, a craft (Woodland Eyes), and a quiz all about the environment.

We are very excited to be experiencing Mandarin this term with Mrs Cao. So far, we have learned vocabulary to introduce ourselves and our family members. We also practised writing some characters. Please ask us at home to speak a little Mandarin, to share our learning as we go!