Class 5/6A News
Phew! What a week that has been. Not only have the pupils crammed in a huge amount of learning, we’ve also been cheering England and Wales to World Cup glory! Let’s catch up on the goings on in Mr. Robson’s class this week.
In Maths, Year 5 have been getting to grips with mixed numbers and improper fractions, and being able to convert one into the other. One of the key skills to success in this is sold times table knowledge, which we have reinforced this week with Times Table Rockstars sessions at every opportunity. Having that solid times table knowledge helps to unlock a whole host of mathematical understanding.
Ever wondered what it’s like to interview a snowman? Well we managed to put one in the hot seat this week along with their friend Lily. Our Reading focus has been on the heart-warming Christmas tale of “Lily and the Snowman”, where a snowman magically comes to life in Lily’s garden, the two build up a strong bond only for Lily to grow up and the pair drift apart (all while the snowman lived in Lily’s fridge). Our pupils took turns to be the main characters, whilst the rest of the class used their inference skills to ask questions about how they might have felt at certain parts of the story.
Water resistance was the focus of our Science experiments this week. Tasked with investigating how changing the shape of an object affected the amount of water resistance it was subjected to, the class took part in a competition to see who could create a shape which would reach the bottom of the tank the quickest. Some very creative designs were on show, but congratulations to Amelie whose effort reached the surface in 0.38 seconds.
The class have been under strict instructions to follow instructions this week, as creating a clear and concise set of instructions is our Writing focus at present. Eary in the week they got to grips with tying a necktie, drawing a house and creating origami. We will build on this further in the coming week and identify the key language and layout that makes a good set of instructions.
There’s just time to see who our lucky certificate winners were this week:
P.E – Sam Wilkinson: Always on task, gives 110% effort in every game.
Learning – Harry: A Strong week all round for Harry, but he has particularly shone on his fractions work in Maths.
Living & Learning: Millie – A mature, confident student who is always demonstrating the best version of herself.
Enjoy the weekend!
Mr. Robson
How to catch a star
This week, we’ve been reading the book How to catch a star by Oliver Jeffers.
We’ve been retelling the story in sequence and adding actions to our retelling.
Maths
In maths, we’ve been extending our understanding of the parts that make a whole, through number composition games. The children were introduced to the part-whole model, as a way of investigating the smaller numbers (parts) that make a whole number.
Three is a part, one is a part. Four is the whole number.
We watched the ‘Stampolines’ episode of Numberblocks, linked to this week’s learning. The children have represented different patterns of four, using multilink cubes and stamping paint squares.
Phonics
This week, we learnt the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) sh, th, ng, nk. These phonemes are some of the most challenging to learn and it’s really important that we pronounce them correctly (‘th’ even has two different pronunciations; voiced and unvoiced!) The children have been superstars working on this daily, both in our phonics sessions and at other times too.
To help your child with the correct pronunciation at home, the Little Wandle website has some fantastic resources for parents. This includes videos on how to say each phoneme. Click here to find out more.
We’ve also learnt three new tricky words this week: she, he, of.
A new ‘learn at home’ phonics sheet was sent home today. Please use this and previously issued sheets, for continued learning at home.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We’ll recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line.
This week’s poem is Mice
Ask your child to say the poem to you at home! The words were sent home with your child on Friday. Can they remember it?
Music/ Christmas Production Preparations!
The children are enjoying our Christmas production rehearsals; learning songs and getting to know their parts. We’re looking forward to rehearsing on the big stage next week. We’re sure many of you will have been treated to a few songs at home too! Everyone is doing brilliantly. Please continue to say lines at home if your child has a speaking part. This will give them that little extra confidence, when it’s their time to shine!
Take a look at more learning from this week!
Reminders
-Swimming Dates
Please send swimming kits on the following dates:
Autumn 2
Rainbow Class- 2 Nov, 16 Nov, 30 Nov
Sunshine Class- 9 Nov, 23 Nov, 7 Dec
There will be no swimming 14 Dec
Spring 1
Rainbow Class- 4 Jan, 18 Jan, 1 Feb
Sunshine Class- 11 Jan, 25 Jan, 8 Feb
-Reception Christmas performances. 08.12.22 10am, 09.12.22 1.30pm
Please return slips for tickets to our Christmas performance, if you haven’t done so already.
– Learning Journey Drop in.
- Monday 12.12.22, 9.00-9.30am
- Tuesday 13.12.22, 9.00-9.30am
- Thursday 15.12.22, 3.30-4.00pm
An invitation for parents/carers to come into the classroom and take a look at your child’s learning journey.
-Reception Christmas Party day. 16.12.22
Your child can come to school in party clothes on this day.
3,4B: writing
We’ve been enjoying our writing in 3,4B recently. During our history topic, we wrote some recounts. We imagined we were an Ancient Greek warrior returning to our homeland (Athens) after a long battle.
Check out these examples…
Throughout all our writing, we’ve been learning lots of grammar. In particular, we’ve been focussing on securing our knowledge of word classes.
We’ve learnt about lots of word classes:
nouns – a person, place or thing
proper nouns – the specific name of a person, place or thing
verbs – a doing or being word
adjectives – a word that describes a noun
It’s important to remember that the word class of a word can change. A word isn’t just a noun all of the time. It depends what it’s job is in that particular sentence.
In this sentence, walked (from the verb ‘to walk’) is a verb because it’s the action that’s been done by the dog.
The dog walked to the park.
In this sentence, walk is a noun because it’s the thing that’s being done. The verb would be ‘went’ coming from the verb ‘to be’.
The dog went for a walk.
Help at home by…
- asking your child about their writing learning
- asking them to spot nouns around the house
- practising their spellings
- reading with, and to, them (ideally, every day)
Nursery Rhyme Week
This week in literacy we have been reading the book Each Peach Pear Plum with a focus on rhyming words. We enjoyed spotting the characters on each page.
I spy the witch in the sky. Ellie
I spy Jill behind the tree. Hattie
I spy the man in the tree. Eddy
I spy Bo Peep on the hill. Lenny
Listen to the story. Can your child hear any rhyming words?
Tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Maths
This week, we have been exploring the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’. We investigated this using our own bodies and toys to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than it’s parts.
My legs are a part. My body is the whole.
My head is a part. My body is the whole.
Using the stem sentence, can your child say what parts make the whole?
The ____ is/are a part. The cat is the whole.
___ is a part. Three is the whole.
This week’s maths challenge was to explore one less using familiar nursery rhymes – 10 green bottles and 10 in a bed.
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt the phonemes z, qu, ch. (the sound a letter makes) . They’ve also been practicing writing the graphemes (the written letters). We have been challenging the children by asking them to spell words using the letters that they know. This week your child has been spelling the words; can, back, run, had and sun. Can your child tell you what phonemes (the sound a letter makes) they can hear in these words?
quick chip zip chop quit zap
This week, your child has learnt the tricky words; go no to and into. A tricky word is a word you cannot sound out – you just have to know it by sight!
Poetry Picnic
This week, Poetry Picnic was a little bit different as it was Nursery Rhyme week. Each day we have sung a new or familiar nursery rhyme.
Music
We were joined my Mr Nash and his guitar for some singing! Using our knowledge of rhyming words we sang lots of wonderful and funny songs.
Our favourite was Down By the Bay as it had lots of funny rhyming parts, such as a ghost eating toast.
Maths Stay and Play
Thank you for all the grown-up that were able to attended our stay and play on Thursday. It was wonderful to see the children proudly showing off their learning.
If you haven’t done so already, please remember to bring back your feedback form as this helps us to develop our sessions in the future.
Home link
As the weather has taken a turn, it is a great opportunity for your child to become more independent in their own self care by learning to zip their coat up and put on hats, gloves and scarves.
Please support your child to zip their own coat up independently if they are not able to do so yet.
Art: monoprint
Year 5/6 have been inspired by William Morris.
This week, we have been creating monoprints from a leaf template.
At home, look at the work of William Morris and discuss your favourite designs.
Lighting the way into Autumn 2!
We’ve whizzed into Autumn 2, with a super busy week! We’ve been learning about Diwali, Guy Fawkes; The Gunpowder Plot (linked to Bonfire Night) and fire safety.
Diwali
During half term, there was a very special celebration- Diwali! We watched a video of children celebrating the Hindu ‘Festival of Lights’ and read the story Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar, which tells the story of a child sharing the celebration with her class.
We’ve been exploring the Diwali interest table, making Rangoli patterns, designing and painting Mehndi on a friend’s hand and making diya lamps at the dough table.
What can your child tell you about the festival of Diwali?
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) ff, ll, ss and the phoneme j. They’ve also been practising writing the graphemes (the written letters)
Can your child tell you where you would find these digraphs (ff, ll, ss); the beginning, middle or end of a word?
You could challenge your child to write these words, by supporting them to segment the sounds that they can hear:
Maths
This week, we’ve been composing 5. We often use our fingers to represent numbers and to practise our subitising skills. Using a ‘high five’ hand, the children were introduced to an easy way to represent the number. We used hand images to make collections of 5, placing an object on each finger. We also used five frames, die frames and objects of different colours to explore which numbers can be added together to make 5.
“I have three green pom poms and two blue pom poms… that makes five!”
Light and shadows
We’ve been exploring how light can be used to create shadows! We made large models and projected a light across them, observing the shadows made on the whiteboard. Next week, we’ll be looking at light again, as we explore the differences between day and night.
Fire safety
On Thursday, we met some real life superheroes! As part of our whole school ‘Me and my community’ week, local firefighters came to talk to Reception. We were lucky enough to take a look at the fire appliance and the firefighters equipment and we even got to use the powerful hose (with a little help from the firefighters, of course!)
The children were keen to share their knowledge:
“I know about fire alarms…the smoke goes in them and it sets off an alarm for the fire”- Keira
“You save people in the water!”- Daniel
“Those are called ‘jaws of life’”- Jack
And they asked some questions about things they’d like to know:
“Have you got a mask for breathing?”- Alyzah
“Do you have a life boat?”- Bethany
“How do you get people out of water?”- Olivia S
The firefighters spoke to the children about fire alarms. We learnt that they should be tested every month.
We also spoke about fire safety on Bonfire Night. Can your child talk about some of the ways to keep safe?
You can find out more about how to keep safe this Bonfire Night, here
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line.
This week’s poem is Pointy Hat
Ask your child to tell you the poem at home! Can they remember it by heart?
Learn at home phonics sheet
Today, your child has come home with a ‘learn at home’ phonics sheet. The sheets link to our current learning in phonics and will be sent home each Friday. Please support your child by practising their new sounds and reading skills at home.
Home-link challenge
Following on from our maths learning this week, please support your child to make a collection of 5 at home.
Discuss what you can see- is it 5 of the same object? If not, how many are the same/ how many are different? Your collection of 5 could be made from objects of two different colours. What does your collection tell you about the numbers we can add together, to make 5?
Reminders
Early Maths- Supporting your child to become a confident mathematician 14.11.22, 6.00pm
Attendance via Zoom- a link will be sent next week.
Maths Stay and Play 17.11.22, 9.00-9.30am
Join your child in the classroom and explore some maths activities together.
Swimming Dates
Please send swimming kits on the following dates:
Rainbow Class- 2 Nov, 16 Nov, 30 Nov
Sunshine Class- 9 Nov, 23 Nov, 7 Dec
Autumn Days
Thank you for all your autumn walk collections! The children have really loved sharing these with the class.
We spoke about why we often find lots of items on the ground and who might pick them up.
Squirrels collect them, bury them and hibernate. Grace
It’s autumn so they (leaves) were on the floor. Jack
The leaves are red, orange and green. Millie
Phonics
This week, the children have reviewed all the phonemes from the half term. They’ve also been practicing writing the graphemes (the written letters). We have been challenging the children by asking them to spell words using the letters that they know. Can your child tell you what phonemes (the sound a letter makes) they can hear in these words?
| b-a-t | l-i-p | b-i-g | h-a-t | f-i-n |
Maths
This week, we have used language of comparison to describe sets of objects that we can see. Using the vocabulary ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’, we described how many objects were in each set.
Using these sentence stems, can your child compare these sets?
___ has more than___
___ has fewer than ___
Leaf Man
We have been listening to the story Leaf Man.
We enjoyed an autumn walk around our school field to explore signs of autumn. The children were inspired to create their own leaf man and artwork using leaves.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line.
This week’s poem is Five Little Pumpkins.
Ask your child to say the poem to you at home! The words were sent home with your child on Friday. Can they remember it?
Reading journal celebration
The year 5’s have really increased their enthusiasm for reading this week. They have made sure they’ve been reading as much as possible at home and they’re remembering to log this in their journals and get their parents to sign them – well done. The quality of work produced in the journals has also improved. It’s really clear that some children are taking great pride in completing their weekly home task. These ones in particular stood out this week – brilliant!
Make sure you continue to read daily and complete your tasks at home.
A little glimpse of our week
Week six has been and gone. The weeks have been flying especially because 3,4 are very impressive in their attitude towards learning. In science, we have all created our own classification key to identify different leaves. Perhaps if you go for an Autumn walk you can ask your child to identify the tree a leaf is from? Or encourage them to tell you you some facts about how to describe the leaf: lobes, teeth, veins or leaflets. In Maths, we have focused on number facts, place value and column addition. In our spelling lesson, we have looked at suffixes (different endings) that can be added to a root word (e.g. hope-hoping, hoped). The sun has continued to be on our side so we have been making the most of developing our basketball skills outside.
Class 5/6A News
Hard to believe that we only have two weeks of this half-term left! Let’s catch up on what Class 5/6A have been getting up to this week.
A big thank you to everyone who came to see us in our Watch Us While We Work session earlier this week. It was great to be able to welcome you into our classrooms, and we hope you came away from the session with some useful tools to support your child’s learning at home.
Ancient Egypt has been the focus for the majority of our learning this week. In Reading, we held a debate on whether Howard Carter (who discovered the intact tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922) was a positive figure in history. Our pupils used a variety of resources to build a case for their argument, and then practiced their debating, reasoning and listening skills to discuss the question.
In Topic, we have looked at how the Ancient Egyptians used the River Nile to survive and prosper, and wrote our names on papyrus in hieroglyphics. Science saw us delve into the murky world of bacteria and microbes, and building on our learning from earlier in the term, use Carl Linnaeus’ classification system to create a key for various microbes.
Good luck to all of our Year 6 pupils who will be competing in the cross-country competition at Brigshaw High School on Monday. We wish you the best of luck! Next Friday sees Class 5/6A hosting their class assembly. We look forward to welcoming the parents and families of Class 5/6A into school for our performance.
Just time to look back on our certificate winners for this week.
Living and Learning – Gene. Showing real maturity with his answers in class discussions, providing thoughtful responses and always showing respect to his classmates.
Sport – Bethany C. Gave 110% in our circuit training this week. Tackled every exercise with enthusiasm and a huge smile on her face.
Great learning – Amelia. Constantly produces well-presented work in all subjects, a willingness to learn and makes the right choice first time, every time!
Have a lovely weekend!