Canaries Newsletter
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Autumn
Welcome back to Autumn Term 2. Canaries class had a brilliant first half-term and have settled well into the classroom, myself and Mrs Gosling are proud of every single one of the children and the progress they are making. It was great to meet you all at parents' evening and I look forward to working with you collaboratively over the school year. Moving into term 2 we will be covering the following:
Literacy - We will be focusing on the fiction novel called The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. This ties in nicely to the Christmas period. Lessons concentrate on the teaching of writing with a sharp focus on the craft and construction of sentences. Each sentence stacking lesson is organised into three learning chunks following The Write Stuff Fantastics, Boombastics and Grammaristic rainbow. Later in the unit, the children will write a diary entry, based on the experiences James had throughout the story.
Reading – Canaries will continue to read with an adult on a 1:1 basis throughout each week. Please could I encourage your child to read at least 3 times a week at home. This helps to strengthen their vocabulary, comprehension and confidence, helping them to become more successful and motivated learners.
Spelling – Spellings will be sent out each week on a Monday. This term the children will be tasked with learning 10 spellings per week, and our spelling test will take place on a Friday. Some children will continue in Mrs Gosling’s group learning high-frequency words. A spelling practice sheet will be sent home as normal.
Week 1 focuses on silent letters.
Week 2 focuses on silent letters.
Week 3 focuses on model verbs.
Week 4 focuses on words ending in ‘ment’.
Week 5 focuses on adverbs of possibility and frequency.
Week 6 focuses on statutory spelling challenge words.
Week 7 will be an assessment of the terms spellings.
Maths – This term, our year 5 children will be focusing on addition and subtraction following the White Rose Maths scheme, in line with the National curriculum. We will learn to add and subtract numbers with more than four digits using efficient written methods, such as column addition and subtraction as well as building their confidence with mental strategies too. They will also practice solving multi-step word problems in real life contexts, rounding numbers to check answers, comparing calculations and finding missing number calculations. Our focus is on helping children develop accuracy, fluency and reasoning skills so they can explain their mathematical thinking clearly and apply these methods independently.
Science – Canaries will be learning to compare and group together everyday materials based on their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets. Through hands-on learning and experimenting they will learn that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution and describe how to recover a substance from a solution. By using knowledge of solids, liquids and gases, they will decide how mixtures may be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating. The children will give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic. As well as demonstrating that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes.
Geography – During our spatial sense module, the children will use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied. We will be identifying the equator, prime meridian line, Northern Hemisphere, Eastern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere, longitude and latitude lines on a world map. The children will use the 8 points of a compass and grid references to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world.
Music – Canaries will be listening and appraising rock music and how rock music developed from the Beatles onwards. The unit is focused around one song: Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi. The material presents an integrated approach to music where games, the dimensions of music (pulse, rhythm, pitch etc), singing and playing instruments are all linked. As well as learning to sing, play using the glockenspiel, improvising and composing with this song, children will listen and appraise other classic rock songs.
R.E – This Christianity unit will teach the children about the true meaning of Christmas for Christians. The children will work creatively to enhance their learning experience. They will start by questioning the meaning of Christmas to them and then learn about the Christian meaning of Christmas. The children will question if the true meaning of Christmas is still present today and question if the meaning has changed for some. In order to do this the children will create a piece of art with 10 Christmas topic words on, role play to explain Christian acts of love at Christmas, create a poster explaining how people can help refugees, us template images to create a Christian Christmas card, analyse away in a manger and explain the meaning of the lyrics. We will also take part in a class debate about whether the true meaning of Christmas is lost.
P.E – This term the children will be doing gymnastics with Mr Callaby. P.E will take place on a Tuesday afternoon. Please ensure that your child comes into school wearing their P.E kit (black shorts or joggers, white t-shirt, black jacket/hoody) hair is tied back and any jewellery (earrings) are removed.
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mrs Bussey and Mrs Gosling.