Y5/6: Mrs Ashdown's Class 2020 - 2021

Mrs Ashdown

Welcome to the Autumn Term

Welcome back to school for this Autumn Term. We are excited to have you all back after such a long and unexpected break. We have some exciting topics to cover and lots of fun things to do to get you all back in the mood for learning!

What’s happening this term...

During this Autumn Term, we will be looking at our new topic: 'Earth and Space'. During this topic, we will be looking at the movement of the planets in Space, the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth, look at the day and night cycle and lots of other interesting facts! Where possible, we will look at questions raised by the children and investigate them scientifically.

Geography will run along side this topic, where we will be looking at "Britain and the Rest of the World". This is a map based unit where we will focus on the landmarks that make the cities unique, learn about the different counties and compare some of these to other countries.

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 the half term will be sent home and a copy has also been added to this page.

Class Rules

Health

~ Wash/Sanitise hand: after the toilet,

before and after breaks, sneezing or coughing.

~ Try and stay a safe distance from others.

~ Sneeze into tissue or arm.

~ Put the tissues in the 'catch it, bin it, kill it' bin.

~ If we are feeling unwell tell a teacher.

~ Keep to the one-way system.

~ 2 people in the toilet at one time.

Class

~ Put your hand up to answer or ask a question.

~ Treat others the way we would like to be treated.

~ Remember not to swing on the chairs.

~ Be polite to others.

~ Speak with respect at all times.

~ Try to always do your best.

~ Listen to others when they're talking.

~ Always try to help one another because we are a team.

~ Work hard to embrace the learning powers and be positive.

~ Take care of classroom resources.

Homework

Homework for now will be focused solely around spellings and no Literacy or Numeracy homework will be sent home with children until the school decides otherwise. Any parents wishing to complete additional learning at home are of course welcome to do so.

Timestable Rockstars & Spelling Shed are encouraged for the children to play as often as they can during the week.

Reading

At this time, pupils will only be able to choose books from the class libraries rather than from the school library. They will have to remain in class and will not be taken home. The children will be given lots of opportunities to read independently during the school day, as well as accessing lots of texts through lessons. This will be reviewed as the school term progresses.

The book we are currently studying for our Guided Reading sessions is R. J Palacio's Wonder. A heart warming story about a ten year old boy called August ("Auggie") who is learning to navigate his way through life with a severe facial abnormality. It is an uplifting story which underscores the importance of all the values being encouraged by the 'be kind' movement.

Below is a fantastic list of book recommendations that you may find your children enjoying just as much at home.

https://www.readbrightly.com/8-book-recommendations-kids-loved-wonder/

All children, no matter their age, benefit greatly from sharing a book with an adult (both accadmically and emotionally) and we are keen to encourage this outside of school as much as possible.

We are also reading The BFG in class, which was voted by the class, after our celebration of 'Roald Dahl Day'.

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.

PE will continue as normal, twice a week on a Tuesday and Thursday. Children will be expected to come in wearing the PE kit on these days rather than getting changed in school. They will remain in their PE kit all day. This will be further explained in a letter which will go home.

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.