Induction Time
The children all came back to school looking really smart in their new uniforms, eager and keen to start another school year. Thank you for ensuring that they all have the correct uniform and equipment for their learning. During the first week back after every term, we have an induction period across the whole school, where we talk about some of the issues that have an impact on their learning. Some of these include classroom organisation, care of possessions, golden rules, playground rules and care of the school and ourselves. Should there be any issues which we need to be aware of, please inform your child's classteacher as soon as possible. As always, drop-in evening is on Wednesday evenings after school, although we are available most evenings should you need to speak to us. Also, remember that the diary is another means of communication between home and school and we will reply to your comments as soon as we receive them.
Housekeeping!
This blogspot will be updated every weekend in preparation for the week ahead. We will include details of everything your child will be learning, ideas of how you can support your child and websites which can you can access at home to continue what has been learned at school. If there is anything which we haven't included and you feel would be useful, then please do let us know!
PE will be mainly on TUESDAYS for all year 5/6 classes and these will be taken by Mr. Michael McGreal. He will also be responsible for Mrs Millington's class on Wednesdays whilst she in undertaking outreach work as part of her AST role. Since all the teacher's plan and work very closely together, please be assured that all three classes will be receiving the same curriculum and lessons throughout the week.
It is really important that your child arrives on time for school each day, as we have activities for the children to complete as soon as they come in. It really is the best possible start to the day for your child.
The parents of children in Year 6 should have received a letter on Friday informing you of the change to the Conway Residential. The children will now be returning to school on the THURSDAY evening. This is because we have had to change the INSET day for staff to the Friday. The total cost of the residential has now been reduced to £200 to compensate for this. There will be meeting for year 6 parents on Thursday 21st September at 6.30pm in the school hall. Thank you for your understanding.
Curriculum
We will be starting some of new curriculum this week and we are looking forward to working with your child on some really exciting topics. Your child will be working in lots of different ways - individually, pairs, as a whole class, but one of the main ways in which we will be working, will be as part of a co-operative learning team. This means that no child will be working in isolation and that they will be able to develop and acquire new skills by working together with their peers. The children are used to working in this way and it produces some amazing results. Watch this space!
In numeracy, we will allocating the children into their groups,so that we may assess their skills and provide a suitable starting point for each individual. We would ask that as an on-going activity at home, that you work with your child to learn the times tables! It can be difficult, but it really does put your child at an advantage if they are able to have those facts to hand when they are working with numbers. A great website for ideas is http://math.about.com/cs/arithmetic/a/timestables.htm
It states that your child will be able to know all the times tables in 21 days! Even if it does take a little longer, it is a method well worth persevering with and a lifelong skill for your child.
In science, we will be investigating the topic of reversible and irreversible change. This is really good topic to investigate in the kitchen. Remind your child about the process by which the change took place - heating or cooling. Some ideas for this, can be found by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/rev_irrev_changes.shtml
We will also be looking at how evaporation fits into the water cycle. This will form the basis of the science homework which will be brought home this week. An online activity for this can be found at http://www.kidzone.ws/water/
We are also beginning our topic on the Aztecs. This is also known as the Indus Valley Civilisation. As we are just introducing the topic this week, it may be a good idea to begin some research on the topic at home. We will be using http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/indusvalley/ in school to begin with. If you come across any other useful sites during your research, then we would love to hear from you.
Homework
Homework will begin next week for Year 5/6. Each week, your child will receive a set of spellings, which they need to learn for a spelling test on Fridays. We would also like them to use these spellings, to create a series of sentences, to develop their vocabulary, punctuation and sentence structure. They will also bring home a piece of numeracy to be completed on a weekly basis. Literacy and Numeracy will be given out on MONDAYS to be returned on THURSDAYS. Science homework will be given out on WEDNESDAYS to be returned on TUESDAYS. We would ask that you sign and date your child's homework before they hand it in.
Finally, your child should bring home their diary EVERY day for you to read and sign. This blogspot is a means of communicating activities and news for all of year 5/6, but the diary is an individual way we can inform you of your child's progress. It can be difficult to get your child to read aloud at this age, but you can still check their understanding of the text, by asking them questions about what they have read. We love reading your comments in the diaries and it gives your child a real boost to know that you are helping them in their learning.
Thank you for all the positive comments we have received so far!
5/6 team.
