This term we are looking at the themes of rainforest and survival.

We began our topic with our very own 'I'm a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here' 'Bush-tucker Trial'!  The children had to guess what our topic was from what they felt in some covered up boxes.  In our geography lessons, we will be looking at rainforest locations and climates, discovering the make up of rainforests, and how this creates slightly different habitats.  In both geography and art, we will explore the different types of animals that live in the different sections of the rainforest, producing sketches, paintings, pottery and fact files.  Finally bringing the project together with a diorama (3D scene) of key learning and our artwork.

We will be reading and writing around the book The Explorer by Katherine Rundell, a story about children who find themselves stranded in the Amazon Rainforest and trying to survive.  We will be focusing on story writing (narrative) including elements of fear and danger, and will also have a go at writing a letter home, trying to make it seem as though all is okay.

In and around the Amazon Rainforest, ruins from the Maya Civilisation are still being discovered and investigated.  The children will work like archaeologists looking at artefacts and making observations about them and the civilisation they belonged to.  Also, carrying our research on key aspects to learn about even more.  They will be able to make links to the previous civilisations they have covered in other year groups, for example the Ancient Egyptians in Year 3, and will compare to British history when we cover the Vikings in the Spring term (who were in Britain whilst the Maya were in Central America).