Welcome back! I hope you all had a relaxing half term break and managed to recharge those batteries. Hopefully the extra hour on Sunday will have helped too!
We have a really busy half term ahead of us, and every day will be full of exciting, but challenging activities for us to do. In Year 5/6, we don't perform a Christmas production, but we do prepare the Christmas Carol Service on the last day of term before Christmas. You will be more than welcome to attend this and we will send details out nearer the time. Years 5/6 will be performing something fantastic and memorable at the end of the year...we are still humming the tunes from 'Joseph' from last summer!
Literacy
This half term, begins with an introduction to Classical poetry. We will be looking at the work of some established authors and attempting to emulate their styles in our own poetry.
They will also be investigating some writing effects such as personification and the correct use of similes.
The children will be encouraged to work in their teams to discuss the literature and suggest some possible improvements. Some of the vocabulary which they will come across, will be very challenging, so please don't worry if they tell you that their work is 'hard' at the moment - that is the case for everyone and this unit will run for a couple of weeks. By the end of it, as is our experience, the children will be looking for their own examples of classical poetry to 'translate' !
http://www.poemhunter.com/classics/
This site will be really useful when the children discover some of the favourite authors. It is also great as a resource to help practice their handwriting at speed.
http://www.manythings.org/proverbs/
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/reference/house.htm
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/index.htm This is an American site, but the activities are still well worth a look.
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/my_monster/index.htm This is just for fun poetry!
http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/caterpillar/caterpillar.html Can you put this poem back in the right order? Just drap and drop the sentences onto the notepaper
http://www.rhymezone.com/ this is really useful when trying to think of a word that rhymes with...? It also is a really useful tool when looking for similes, homophones and phrases to use in a poem. We will be using this is school this week!
Numeracy
There's no getting away from it...we all need to know our times tables, inside out, back to front. upside down and standing on our heads!! Virtually everything that we do in years 5 and 6 needs the knowledge of times tables. If the children have these facts to hand, then lots of other things in numeracy will suddenly become so much clearer.
So, we are having a really big push on learning them once again. Even if your child USED TO KNOW them, if they are not used on a regular basis, they will very quickly lose that knowledge. Some of the children in my maths group actually test ME, so I have to practice too!!
I have put lots of links on this blog over the last few months, but here are just a few more to keep those skills sharp...(and just in case your children start to test you too!!)
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/testtest.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/mental/flash2.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/mental/flash4.shtml
http://www.deltamicro.co.uk/primary_online/tablechant.html Remember to add in the tables that you want to practice. The changes are really quick, so if you can keep up, then you are well on your way to knowing them reliably!
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Toolkit/Toolkit.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/index.html There are lots of ideas for times tables on this site. Start with the tables that your child already knows in order to help them build their confidence. Then move on to just one table per week. That way, in 12 weeks, they will know them all!
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/interactive.htm These are the games that we play on the interactive whiteboard as warm-ups to our numeracy lessons. Expect some giggles, especially with 'Moon Maths'!
Science
We will be investigating forces this half term. The children will be expected to know about the gravitational pull of the Earth on objects and be able to tell which forces are balanced and unbalanced. They will be using a piece of equipment called a 'forcemeter' or it is sometimes known as a 'newtonmeter'. They should also be able to tell you that a force is measured in Newtons.
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/parkworldplot/flash/concepts/balancedandun.htm This is a brilliant game for children, which test all aspects of this unit. Beware though - it does take around 30 minutes to complete the whole game!
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/parkworldplot/flash/concepts/friction.htm Again, the same as the last link, but this is based on the topic of friction.
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/parkworldplot/flash/concepts/allaboutforces.htm We will be using this in school on Monday, so if you think your child might benefit from a head start, then have fun!
http://www.edheads.org/activities/odd_machine/index.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/forces_action_fs.shtml
Geography
We are beginning our topic about Mountain environments. It would be great if you could collect some photographs or pictures showing different mountain ranges from across the world.
http://www.globaleye.org.uk/primary/focuson/index.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
http://www.lgfl.net/lgfl/leas/haringey/web/teachers%20section/KS2/Geography/Staffroom/Unit%2015%20The%20mountain%20environment/
Technology
This term, the children will have to design and make their own slippers. This is always a fun activity for the children and many choose to wear them in school! In order to help us with this, the children will need to 'take apart' an exisiting pair of slippers to see how they are manufactured. If you are able to provide an OLD pair of slippers, then that would be fantastic.
As you can see, we have a very busy week ahead of us. On top of all this, the children will be starting gymnastics for their PE lessons. The Year 5 children, will be continuing their dance sessions on Tuesdays and the Year 6 children will be carrying on with the drama sessions from St. Greg's next Tuesday.
There have been a number of children who haven't had a PE kit in school for a number of weeks and have had to 'borrow' kit from other children. Although PE sessions normally happen on Tuesdays, we also have sessions on Wednesday, so please ensure that your child is prepared with their kit EVERY day.
Have a great week!
5/6 team.
