Y5/6: Mr Dewdney's Class 2021 - 2022

 We are really looking forward to this new year with you all :-) 

What’s happening this term...

During this term, our topic is 'Do we see our drinking water again?" and so looking at these main enquiry skills:

1) Where does the journey of water begin? (Recapping on the water cycle)

2) How is water used by people and where do we find it?

3) How is water treated and where does it go from there?

4) What rivers are found all over the world and how they have changed over time?

5) What are the key aspects of rivers? Studying namely our local River Dee in particular for fieldwork, map work and observations.

Tying in with our Geography topic, we will be studying collages in order to make one based around rivers. We shall be thinking about the fore, middle and background of our pieces and shall create layers using a variety of materials in order to make it tactile and express mood. 

Spellings will be focusing on specific patterns, words from the statutory spelling lists and also some WOW words to expand vocabulary. These will be introduced each week on a Monday and the children will be tested on a Friday. A letter containing the spellings for each half term will be sent home and a copy will be added to this page. 

A spelling test will be carried out on Fridays. 

Our Class Promise:

1. Always show respect eg. When somebody is talking or if you don’t agree with them.
2. Use our manners and do what is asked first time.
3. Include others.
4. Look after our things and help others too.
5. Talk to others if you are worried.
6. Remembering to social distance and to follow the new changes as best we can.
7. Keep hands to yourself.
8. Ask if you are unsure and encourage others around you.
9. Don’t worry about making mistakes AT ALL. It’s how we learn. Just try your best.
10. Speak positively to yourself.

Remember, all of these are about treating others how you want to be treated.

Is to be taken home on a Thursday and returned on Mondays.

In addition to spellings:

• Mental maths homework
• Grammar / comprehension sheets
• Reading is expected at least 3 times a week (one of which - at least - ideally to be read aloud with an adult for discussion purposes in addition to intonation practice). Any appropriate reading material (stories, information pages from e.g the internet, song lyrics, non-fiction books/info pages etc.) so long as it is enjoyable :-) 
• Timestable and division practise is to be completed weekly using Timestable Rockstars in order to maintain quickfire recall (which is essential for a whole range of numeracy topics such as fractions and measurements).

Homework diaries will be given out and expected to be back in school every day. (Getting you ready for high school!

At this time, every Friday all Year 5&6 pupils have the opportunity to change their book for home using our main library. Pupils will be able to access our class libraries during the week for independent reading as well as accessing lots of texts through lessons. 

During Guided Reading Y6 will focus upon a whole variety of fiction and non-fiction texts in addition to an array of poems. 

Year 5 will be studying Brightstorm (A fast-paced, sky-ship adventure!) by Vashti Hardy (shortlisted for both a Blue Peter and Waterstone's book award). It centres around a brother and sister who's father (a famous explorer) dies unexpectedly and with a disgraced reputation. It's up to these twins - Arthur and Maudie Brightstorm - to try and complete their father's expedition and restore their family's good name. But will they succeed? 

If your child loves this book, there are parts 2 and 3 of this advernture in addition to a whole host of Vashti Hardy books such as Wildspark and The Puffin Portal. 

All children, no matter their age, benefit greatly from sharing a book with an adult (both accedmically and emotionally) and we are keen to encourage this outside of school as much as possible. To encourage a love of reading, this term we shall be sampling various books from our library (in order to promote a whole range of material) in addition to sharing songs and looking at key parts of their lyrics. 

For more book ideas for a range of ages / genres please take a look at https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/  where you can sample sizeable extracts. 

For the first two week period we will be studying poetry (leading up to our poetry festival!) and we will be taking inspiration from this inspired collection of poems centred around well-being and expressing our feelings. We be namely focusing upon figurative language and repetition. 

Following on from this we will be honing our narrative writing skills using the below text to inspire our creativity. 

Year 5 will be covering: 1) multiplication and division 2) Area and perimter 3) Decimal fractions. 

Year 6 will begin the term by looking at geometry and how we describe position and rotation. They will then move onto developing their knowledge of percentages and their equivalence to fractions and decimals. Following this the children will learn the rudiments of algebra and will then develop their knowledge of units of measurement.

In science the children will be taking a practical approach to learning about the properties of materials. They will investigate concepts such as hardness, conductivity  and transparancy. They also will learn about some of the scientists involved in the development of new materials.

PE will take place twice a week. On Monday the children will be going swimming and will be working with House of Dance on Thursdays. 

Children will be expected to bring in their PE kit on a Monday morning and it will be taken home on a Friday to be washed.

As always, children not in the correct PE kit will not be allowed to take part in the lesson. Any children not taking part in PE for other reasons will need to bring a letter in from home - we cannot accept a verbal explanation from the children, nor should they be expected to give one.

Please ensure that children have appropriate clothes now that the colder weather will be returning. 

https://www.spellingshed.com/

https://ttrockstars.com/

https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/ 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

https://www.ducksters.com/study.php