Areas of Learning

1
Planet Earth Natural Disasters
Areas of Learning As part of our topic this
term, we will be exploring Natural Disasters
within our world, looking at the causes of these
disasters and the effect they have upon
communities and ultimately the world. We will
consider whether humans have an effect on the
regularity of disasters occurring. We will study
maps to find places on the earth that are most
affected by volcanic eruptions, floods, tornadoes
and hurricanes. We will read and interpret
weather equipment, whilst also performing and
filming our own weather reports. We will find
and locate well-known areas such as Tornado Alley
and weak fault lines in the Earths crust and
consider how it would be to live in those places.
We will look at and design our own clothing and
buildings that could protect us from earthquakes
and fires and study the work of the Disasters
Emergency Committee. We will study disasters from
the past, including that at Pompeii, and we will
be finding out about some of the biggest storms
throughout history.
Year 4/5 Autumn Term Mr Haws
Global Citizens We will consider our place within
this ever changing world and how we, as citizens
of a developed nation, can help and offer refuge
to others.
Creativity and a Love of Learning In the
class, we will endeavour to ensure that we
explore a wide range of opportunities to bring
our learning to life, through interactive
lessons, class trips and using a range of
different media to help support all that do.
The Whole Child- Spiritual, Moral
Personal Relationships We will be thinking about
special relationships we have with family and
friends, thinking about how relationships change,
how our actions affect relationships and how we
can mend friendships with one another. We will
develop our role within school and set good
examples to others.
Skills for Life As well as our studies within
Literacy, Numeracy and Science, which undoubtedly
contribute greatly to our life skills, we will
also look at building our resilience in our
relationships and work, recognising how our
decisions effect others and build stamina and
strength through our PE opportunities.
2

• Communication, Language Literacy
• We will read a variety of non chronological
  reports from weather books on different
  phenomenon before writing our own reports using
  the features we have recognised based on Natural
  Disasters.
• We will be reading newspaper articles and then
  writing then on the events of the 1987 hurricane
  after watching the programmes and news reports on
  the event. The children will use speech from
  interviews with their
• classmates/parents/teachers as quotes.
• As the term progresses we will be writing stories
  about a natural disaster using planning story
  boards to plan and ensure our story has a good
  structure.
• We will write instructions and explanations of
  our designs in DT.
• Religious Education
• In our Religious Education we will be exploring a
  number of topics as we work through the term. We
  are currently thinking about Ourselves, being
  made in the image of God. We will think about
  Life Choices as we find our place and vocation
  within the church as well as the Hope that we
  will experience in our waiting for Jesus during
  Advent.
• Mathematics
• Over the next term, maths will include learning
  about
• Addition and subtraction
• Place value
• Number sequences
• Multiplication and Division
• Shape and Space
• Mental calculations
• Relationships between fractions and decimals
• Solving multi-step word problems/problem solving

Learning Thinking Skills The children in the
class will be challenged regularly with a series
of challenges, brain teasers and puzzles to help
develop problem solving and determination. Social
Skills We will work on our interactions with each
other, learning about how our words and actions
influence peoples behaviour towards ourselves.
Geographical Understanding We will find out about
different parts of the world through looking at
areas of drought and flood, extreme weather and
the incredible force of nature. D T Skills We
will plan and design suitable clothing for an
emergency worker dealing with natural disasters.
We will design and build a structures that can
withstand earth trembles and quakes. Science
Skills We will develop our knowledge of the Earth
and Space through our own investigations, finding
out about the Solar System that we live in and
our closest cosmic neighbours. We will also
explain that unsupported objects fall towards the
Earth because of the force of gravity acting
between the Earth and the falling object. We
will identify the effects of air resistance,
water resistance and friction, that act between
moving surfaces recognise that some mechanisms
including levers, pulleys and gears allow a
smaller force to have a greater effect
Art Children will be learning about creating
colours and shades within their art lessons.
They will use this knowledge and understadning to
create a model Physical Education We will be
learning the skills essential for net and wall
games in our PE lessons, looking particularly at
tennis. We will continue to build on previous
skills learnt in gymnastics and work towards more
dynamic movements. We will explore shape and
space in our study of dance.