Newsletter 4th April

The Year 5/6 team would just like to wish everyone a wonderful Easter! We are looking forward to seeing the children refreshed and ready for an exciting and action-packed summer term!

Friday Celebration Assembly:

·         Our next phase assembly will be on Friday 25^th April.  We look forward to seeing you there to show off the amazing learning from this half term! The new school captains will also receive their badges on this day too!

Home Learning:

The Year 5 children have all received some mental maths booklets to practice at home, at your leisure. There is a question booklet for parents to read from which also contains the answers. The children have also received a separate booklet in which to record their answers. This does not need to be handed back in to school; it is merely a resource to support with mental maths strategies.

We ask that the children continue to read at home over the holidays and record this into their planners, a minimum of 4 entries per week is recommended and the children will be rewarded stamps and stickers for the entries recorded for each week.

The Year 6 children were given their Splat the SAT packs early this half term to allow them longer to complete the packs. These are due in on Tuesday 22^nd April.

The year 6 children also have their Numeracy Study Guides and question books to complete at home too.  We encourage children to delve into aspects of Numeracy in this book which they feel they need extra support with. Although completing the pages is not compulsory, we are keen to reward your child’s effort.  You can support your child by marking the questions; you will find the answers in the back of the book.  Alternatively, your child can mark their own learning and make any amendments to their answers in pen so we can see the changes made.  After the Easter break, can we please ask that the children bring their study guide and question book into school, as we may refer to these during Numeracy sessions in the run up to SATs.

Year 6 – Rodillian.

Please note: Due to some confusion with regards to the Training Days at Rodillian, it has been requested that all parents of our Year 6 Rodillian starters visit their website: www.rodillianacademy.co.uk, go to New Students, Year 6 Induction Programme to indicate the days their children will be attending the academy. Thank you.
Thursday June 12th 4:30pm -7:30pm	Year 6 information Evening
Monday 14th July until Tuesday 22nd July inclusive (Please note: Although there are three training days at Rodillian, this does not apply to the new starters, Year 6 children will still attend during the three training days.	Year 6 induction

Core Subjects:

Numeracy:

This week in Numeracy, the children have been using and applying the Bus Stop and Chunking Method to divide by single and digit numbers!    

Literacy:                                      

This week pupils have been writing their own newspaper report about their own chosen theme, some of the themes chosen were: the environment, sport or world affairs. The children also chose their own target audience, making sure that their article was written to suit their audience.  

SPELLINGS: There are 19 spellings to learn over the holidays (an odd number, we know), however, these words are homophones that many of the children become confused with. The children will hear a sentence which contains one of these words in context. They are as follows: there, they’re, their, who’s, whose, peace, piece, aisle, isle, past, passed, steel, steal, allowed, aloud, herd, heard, threw and through. Your child has received a copy of these spelling and will be tested on Friday 25^th April. 

Other Areas of the Curriculum:

Art: The children have been very busy getting very creative and a little bit messy (really sorry parents) this half term. We have been making Koinobori flags, which are carp-shaped flags which represent strength and determination of children in Japan, which are flown to celebrate Children’s Day. We have also been adding beautiful Japanese decorations onto sections of a kimono which will be sewn together over the holidays. The children have also been designing plates using glass paints to replicate landscapes from traditional Japanese settings…. All of which are beautiful and professional outcomes which can be seen on our blog or at our Celebration Assembly.

PE: This half term, the children have been incredibly lucky to have been taught Judo by our specialist teachers. The children showed great discipline and an appreciation for martial arts and the children all received a certificate to celebrate their efforts – well done, guys!

Next half term, we will be practising the Big Dance in addition to our usual outdoor PE sessions. Visit our blog to have a sneaky preview of the Big Dance for 2014 and to get a little bit of extra practice in before we begin…