Class Five Newsletter Spring Term
Class 5 Newsletter Spring 2019
Welcome back! We hope you have enjoyed your holidays and are looking forward to a good 2019. We outline below the curriculum areas to be covered this term.
English
In English this term, we will be comparing modern with classic literature and discussing similarities and variations in themes, style and language choices. In our own writing we will be developing our ability to vary sentence structures and to write at length with increasing cohesion and impact. We will be linking with our topic learning to put our explanation and report writing into practise and in poetry we will be extending our use of figurative writing. Our word focus will continue to develop the children’s understanding of etymology, identifying word roots and adding prefixes and suffixes to alter meaning. Self- and peer-assessment remain important areas for development and we will be using a range of approaches to improve the children’s ability to assess and improve their own written work. Our reading groups will support the children to explore their understanding of and responses to texts and we encourage the children to read as widely as possible both within school and at home.
Maths
We will start this term by looking at place value involving 6-digit numbers and the children will use negative numbers, calculating differences between temperatures and rises and falls in temperature. They will use mental addition and subtraction involving money and will calculate the addition of decimals, using rounding and estimating to help. The children will continue to practise their times tables daily and will also be multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. They will use mental strategies to multiply and divide by 5, 20, 6, 4 and 8 and will use the short multiplication and division methods to multiply and divide. We will revise comparing fractions with related denominators, find unit and non-unit fractions of amounts and learn decimal equivalents for halves, quarters, fifths, tenths and hundredths. The children will work out perimeter, area and volume and use co-ordinates and line graphs. We will regularly set the children problem solving investigations to develop their problem solving and reasoning skills.
History and Geography
This term our topic focus will be physical geography, learning about the formation of river and coastal features and identifying changes to our landscape over time. We will compare a local river with a major river, using a range of sources, including maps, satellite images and photographs to inform our learning. Our studies will also include a visit to Daws Hall where we will carry out field work activities, including measuring and recording river flow rates and looking at the impact of these in the Stour river valley. We will develop our understanding of maps, looking in particular at contour lines and the changing contours of the landscape at different stages of the life of a river.
Science
This term we will continue to learn about forces, discussing what gravity and resistance are and identifying the effects of friction and water resistance. We will then learn about Earth and Space. The children will describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system and they will describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth. The children will use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky. The children will have lots of opportunities to work scientifically, planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions. They will take measurements, use a range of scientific equipment, record results using scientific diagrams and labels, and report and present their findings using conclusions and scientific explanations.
Computing
The children will learn about programming; they will be introduced to flowcharts and how they are used to program and control devices. The children will be taught to build sequences of instructions, control multiple outputs and structure algorithms with decisions and inputs. The children will also be using word processing to present their work.
Art and DT
Our Art and DT will link with our geography topic this term; we will be studying the paintings of Monet, Turner and Maggi Hambling, comparing and assessing their work as a reflection of their times and experimenting with our use of paint and other media to produce our own images of rivers and seas.
In DT, we will reflect our learning about the contours of the landscape, creating 3d representations of a river basin. We will also link to our healthy lifestyles work in PSHE to design and make our own healthy meals.
RE and PSHE
In RE, we will be studying Hinduism and will be reading and comparing Hindu and Christian creation myths.
Our PSHE this term will focus on healthy lifestyles and how we can keep ourselves healthy, both physically and mentally. We will be introducing the children to Paws b, a curriculum designed to develop the children’s understanding of how their brains and minds work and to equip them with simple exercises in mindfulness to improve focus and clarity of thought. The emphasis of the project is on curiosity and kindness, providing a constant and easily-accessible, internal resource for the children to access in all aspects of their lives.
Music
We will be exploring our responses to music this term, including samba music at Carnival time to build upon our learning last term and exploration of ‘space’ music, linking with our science topic. We will extend our vocabulary for describing music to express our responses verbally as well as visually.
PE
For the first half term, PE will be taught on a Wednesday and Friday afternoon. In the second half term, PE will be on a Wednesday and Thursday. The children will be partaking in tag rugby, indoor athletics, hockey and netball.
French
We will be continuing to practice our spoken French and our numbers to 50 and will be broadening our vocabulary to be able to describe members of the family and their appearance. We are beginning to recognize the use of agreement in French and to apply this in our own sentence making.
Homework
The children will continue to be asked to complete 3 pieces of homework each week; these will include spellings and one piece each of English and maths homework, each taking approximately 40 minutes to complete. As previously, homework should build upon work in class and it should be clear to your child what is required of them. Please limit your support to ensuring that they have the opportunity to complete their work in time and that they present their work neatly and to the best of their ability. If they have any questions, we are always happy to answer them.
As ever, please encourage your child in their reading, giving them the opportunity where possible to sample a wide range of text types and support their interest in reading by discussing what they have read and by continuing to share texts together when possible. They should read daily at home, completing reading challenges regularly as they wish.
If you have any concerns or issues you would like to discuss regarding your child, please don’t hesitate to ask us any questions either at the door at the end of the day or via the office if you would like to arrange a more formal meeting.
Mrs Rudkin and Miss Sabin