30th January 2006

This week, David Horner will be in school to work with the children on writing poetry. This is part of our Book Week activities. Look out for some of the best poetry on our main school website in the next few weeks! Remember to visit the bookfair each night, as there are a number of books, in a variety of genres, suitable for year 5 and 6. The children have been asked to dress up as a character from a book on Friday of this week. If they choose not to dress up, then they have to wear school uniform.
In science this week, we will be looking at micro-organisms, so mould will be visible in all the classrooms!! Also, we are looking at the different phases of the moon, so please encourage your child to track the changes in the shape of the moon over the course of the next few weeks.
Many thanks to all parents who continue to sign the diaries each week. Teachers use this as another way of communicating with you about your child's progress, and to give individual targets.

23rd January 2006

This week, we will be continuing with our work on non-chronological reports and we will be writing our own reports. The children will be using digital and video cameras to create a bank of images for a marketing project for the school, as well as writing the script! In science, we will be investigating shadows and the movement of the sun in the sky at different times of the day. If any of you have a sundial in your gardens, you could see if you can 'set the time' on your sun dial. In art, we will be sketching groups of interesting objects, looking at how shadows are created with different lights. In geography, the children will be using atlases and the internet, to research information about different holiday destinations. If you are able to spare any photographs of holiday destinations for display, we would be very grateful - the more exotic the better!
Year 6 will be visiting the Peace Centre on Friday morning for the Young Citizen project. Please ensure that you have returned your permission slips. Year 5 will be continuing their preparations for Reconciliation in school. Details of meetings for parents will be sent home this week.

16th January 2005

This week in Literacy, we are looking at making notes from a piece of text and how to write answers to questions in your own words. We are also using thesaurus' to find antonyms and synonyms of words. For our writing, we will be looking at how a non-chronological report is written. How many examples can you find on the internet or at the library?
In numeracy, we shall be testing times tables and seeing if you know all the division facts for them too!!
In science, we are continuing with looking at the Earth, Sun and moon topic, but we shall also be investigating forces and seeing if changes are reversible or not. Year 6 are continuing with their drama work on Tuesday with St Gregs and Yoga on Thursday. It would be helpful if year 5 children could bring their outdoor PE kits for this term, as we cannot rely on good weather!
Remember that extra-curricular activities start on Tuesday from 3.15 to 3.45.
Please remember to sign your child's diaries each week, as staff include targets for your child.

9th January 2006

This week, we will be assessing the children in reading, writing, numeracy and science. It will enable the staff to give your child individual targets and objectives for their revision program.
In addition to this, the children will be looking at writing a non-chronological report in Literacy, and beginning our new science topic of Earth, Sun and Moon.
In order to help in the preparation for this, you could visit
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/astroadventure/astroadventurelink.htm
which is and excellent adventure site for this topic.
Year 6 will also be commencing our link program with St.Gregs on Tuesday afternoon, when they begin a series of drama sessions, led by staff from the high school. They will also be continuing with Yoga on Thursday afternoon.

2nd January 2006

This is the first week back after the Christmas holidays. We shall be doing an assessment week, where we will be checking literacy, numeracy and science. Each child will undertake a series of short tasks, under tests conditions, in order for us to create a revision program suitable for each child.
There will be a series of 'booster' classes, available to children in year 6. These classes have been run for a number of years and have proved to be very successful. The staff in Year 5/6 will notify you, if we feel that your child may benefit from these sessions.
If you would like to begin your own revision program at home, then www.bbc.co.uk.schools/revisewise/ is an excellent starting point.