Dinosaurs
Happy New Year!
Welcome back to school. Our topic this half term is all about dinosaurs. We have an exciting 6 weeks ahead of us. 
In English, we will be learning about non-fiction books and creating our own non-fiction book about dinosaurs. Then, we will be developing our non-fiction writing through a recount of our dinosaur day. Finally, we will be reading the 'Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaur' books and writing our own story. We will be continuing our Little Wandle journey, moving on to our first spelling unit. Our reading assessments will start the first week back.
Our topic lessons will help us to learn more about dinosaurs. We will be using our map skills to tell others where the dinosaur egg has been found in the school. We will need to know how to look after the dinosaur, by finding out what they eat, sorting dinosaurs into carnivore, herbivore and omnivore groups. Once we have found out about the different dinosaurs, we will then learn about the different dinosaur periods they lived in. Then, we will learn about Mary Anning and find out why she was significant. Finally, discover how dinosaurs became extinct.
In Art, we will be using lots of different skills to marble dinosaur eggs, using different media to create a dinosaur scene, using clay to create dinosaurs. Then, we will create a dinosaur habitat, for our clay dinosaur, making sure it is the correct dinosaur era. We will also use printing techniques to create dinosaur footprints. We will finally be using our sketch books to draw observation drawings of toy dinosaurs.
Have a look at our dinosaur topic overview to find out about our other subjects in this topic.
Lastly, I am really excited about our dinosaur day on the 28th January. Key Stage 1 will be taking part in a dinosaur workshop through the Education Group. Each class will take part in a Life Long Ago Workshop, which will bring prehistoric life into our school. The children will become palaeontologists. They will locate and identify fossils from some of the most iconic dinosaurs of the past. Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops and a few other surprises are all thrown in. The children will learn when each dinosaur lived, where they came from, what they ate and much more.
During the second part of the workshop, the children will have a visit from Sophie, a 7 year old animatronic T-Rex. This is a life-like full-body costume that is worked by a puppeteer. She has animatronic features and a realistic roar, making this the most dynamic interactive learning experience. Click here to be taken to YouTube to see Sophie the T-Rex at a school.