Author: Mrs Hogarth

It’s that time of year again where we vote for new members of the Junior Leadership Team. Do you fancy being the representative for your class? Can you listen well to other people’s ideas and opinions? Do you want to make a difference in our school? Then this is the role for you.

Make sure you take a look at this weeks homework – you will need to get writing a speech. It will need to convince others that you are the best candidate – there will be lots of competition! Make sure you mention your strengths, qualities, what you’d like to change in school and any other useful skills you might have.

Good luck!

Well done to all those children who are reading regularly at home – you are fantastic! We set the expectation that reading should be taking place on a daily basis and some of you have really risen to the challenge. Reading regularly helps improve knowledge, fluency and vocabulary so it’s well worth the investment.

Don’t forget that the children are all set a target page each week and a task for them to complete in their journals. These need to be returned to school every Friday. Thank you to all the parents who are supporting their children with reading at home and signing their journals – you’re making a real difference. If you need some help on how to support your child with their reading, please pop in for a chat and we will be happy to help.

Thanks again to all those avid readers!

This weeks science lesson focused on microbes. There are three different types of microbe – bacteria, viruses and fungi. These are micro-organisms – they can only be seen under a microscope. The children researched six different types and made notes on each one. This linked well with our note-taking lessons in writing last week. The children had to identify the important information and record this in note form using bullet points and sub-headings. They were able to identify which microbes were friendly and which posed as a threat to our health. Following their research, they’re going to create a classification key.

We have been reading some extracts from ‘Fireborn’, a children’s novel written by Aisling Fowler. This book is set in a snowy forest in a prehistoric world and we meet the character, Twelve. The children read the extracts and highlighted key points that they thought identified what the characters were like. What are their personalities like? How do we know? The children then focused on a character called Weaponmaster Victory – a fierce, strict character that we decided we wouldn’t really like to meet!

They commented in their books, their thoughts.

” I think she is scary because she is strict with her class and they are afraid that she will punish them.’

“I think she is scary and I wouldn’t like her teaching me!”

We are getting the exciting opportunity to meet Aisling Fowler later this term as part of an author interview on Zoom. We are really looking forward to this.

5/6 B have been working tremendously hard at home on their learning. We set the expectation that reading should be taking place at home on a daily basis. Some children have made sure that reading is a priority for them and have read regularly – well done. Their aim has been to make it onto the class podium – gold, silver or bronze position. If you check your child’s reading journal, you might spot a coloured star. This will tell you if they’ve made it onto the podium that week. One amazing child, Noah, read so much that I’ve put his name on the class ceiling as he aimed so high with his reading – he read  seven times last week.

Thank you to those parents who are supporting reading at home – it will really benefit your child. Please continue to get your child to complete the weekly task – this will be recorded in their journal every Friday along with a target page. Thanks again to the parents who are signing the journals too.

In the 5/6 phase, we have begun our new class novel – Secrets of the Sun King by Emma Carroll. This is a historical text that links well with our topic learning about Ancient Egypt. Emma Carroll is an author who the children will meet again later in the year when they learn about World War II and they read Letters from the Lighthouse.

This current book is set in 1922 when the world was waiting for news about the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt. Lil (the main character) finds a mysterious package on her grandad’s doorstep, just as he becomes very ill.

The parcel was sent by a famous Egytologist who has just been found dead. Ask your child about this part of the book! Lil decides, with the help of her new friends, that the only way to help her grandad is to return the package to its rightful resting place in Egypt. The children are already enjoying the twists and turns of this exciting adventure.