Dear parents/carers,

Welcome back, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year! Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you for my lovely Christmas gifts.

English

To begin with, we will be studying the short film ‘The Little Shoemaker’ and writing persuasive adverts. We will then be focusing on performance poetry and will be studying ‘The Sound Collector’ by Roger McGough. We will then be studying the book ‘The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane’ which will lead to some narrative writing and an informal letter. Ensuring your child reads for at least 15 minutes a day will support our English work. It is just as important to read to your child regularly along with listening to audio books. We enjoy finding out about new vocabulary in class and have begun using a thesaurus to improve our writing – if you are able to, support your child with using a dictionary to check spelling & definition and thesaurus for improving word choices.

Maths

To begin the term, we will be focusing on multiplication and division. We will then be moving onto Fractions. Please continue to encourage your child to practise their times tables on Times Table Rockstars to support their class work. The children will also be developing their mathematical vocabulary to complete reasoning tasks. We will also be completing weekly arithmetic tests on a Friday to consolidate our number work from the Autumn term.

History and Geography

We begin the Spring term with a History topic where we will be exploring Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We will then move onto our Geography topic learning all about mountains.

Science

We will be moving onto Rocks and Fossils. This will give children the opportunity to find out about different rock types and how they are formed.

Computing

We will be continuing with our programming topic using Scratch to plan and create algorithms for an animated scene. We will be beginning a research unit about a chosen topic using laptops and Ipads. The children will then need to create a presentation to share their research. We are hoping to use a green screen and online software to then give the children a background for their final presentation.

Art and DT

In Art, we will be studying the artists Cezanne and Van Gough and focusing on their landscape paintings of mountains. We will be sketching our own mountain range/landscape scene and we will then paint it by focusing on colour mixing and also background washing. In DT we will be looking at designing, making and evaluating suitable packaging for an easter egg!

RE

In RE we will be continuing with Theology and looking at what is meant by the Holy Trinity. We will then be thinking about what is philosophy? And how do people make moral decisions?

PSHE

Our PSHE learning will continue to support children’s mental health along with the topic Living in the Wider World which supports ‘Belonging to a Community: The values of rules and law; rights, freedoms and responsibilities’ and ‘Money and Work: Different jobs and skills; job stereotypes; setting personal goals.

Music

In Music we will be having brass lessons with Mr Maalam.

PE

The children will have PE twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This half term we will be focusing on netball and fitness and after half term we will be learning tag rugby and dance.

French

Our French topics this term will revisit ‘Bonjour, ca va?’ and we will then move onto talking about activities and telling the time before finishing with classroom vocabulary.

Homework

Learning task- Each week your child will have a learning task. This is set on a Friday and should be returned the following Wednesday (to allow marking time!)

Spellings- These are being sent home on a half termly basis. Your child still must learn weekly words for a weekly test.

Times Tables- It is so important all children are practising their times tables. This should be done a minimum of 3 times a week. They should be valued in the same way as all homework activities. We will be recapping the 2, 5 and 10 times tables in class and over this term, the children will begin 3x, 4x and 8x.

Reading- Reading is still crucial, even once on a free reader! Books and reading journals MUST be in school every day as they use these whenever there is time for quiet reading.

If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please email us via the office and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

Miss Ullmann and Mrs Webb