Autumn Term

Welcome back and we hope that you all had a wonderful Summer holiday! It is really lovely to have the children back at school and they have already made a great start. We are looking forward to a busy and exciting term with lots of fascinating learn ing opportunities. We believe that parents and teachers work best in partnership so please come and talk to us if there is anything that you would like to discuss.

English

This will be taught on a daily basis and in addition we will have a short grammar session. We will also be working on spelling and h andwriting. At first we will be revising our sentence structure and learning about different word classes. After that, we will be writing traditional tales, instructional texts, stories with historical settings and poetry.

Reading

We teach read ing daily and there will be an emphasis on comprehension and reading skills, so please encourage your child to talk to you about what they have read and ask them questions about the books they read at home with you. We will read a class book during our English lessons, a guided reading book during guided reading sessions and the children will also be encouraged to take a book from the class library as often as they would like. So lots of reading!

Topics

Our topic this term is The Romans. We have lots of exciting and interesting activities and learning planned. We will be learning about the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain, making our own mosaics and visiting the Museum of London to find out what life was like during Roman times.

Maths

This will be taught on a daily basis. We will be covering place value of numbers up to 100,000, the four number operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will also be learning about time, l ength and perimeter. There will be a big focus on the children developing deep conceptual understanding. We will use a wide range of practical resources to support and strengthen their understanding. Please practise times tables, telling the time and using money at home as this will really help.

Science

In science we will be learning about sound and hearing, moving and growing and about teeth. These will be very interesting subjects and we will enjoy carrying out lots of investigations.

Please support your child at home by asking them to show you what they have been learning at school and by making sure that they have a quiet, calm time to read and do their homework each evening. We will be participating in the Multiplication tables check test pilot in June. A letter will be sent to you once we have confirmed the date. Please test your child each evening so that they are able to confidently recall their times tables in and out of order.

Science

In science, we will continue learning about ‘moving & growing’. We will then be learning about circuits, insulators and conductors. We will continue to carry out experiments to improve the children’s scientific skills. The children will also cover SRE this term but a letter will be sent to you prior to this.

R.E.

Our R.E. units this term will be:
‘What does it mean to be a Hindu?’
‘What do Christians mean by peace at Christmas?’

General Reminders

• PLEASE NAME all sweaters, coats, gloves, hats, plimsolls etc.
• Please ensure your child has the correct PE kit in school at all times otherwise they will not be able to participate due to health and safety reasons. The children will be doing PE on Thursdays and Fridays.
• Please make sure that your children check their school bags regularly and give you any letters that they receive.
• We expect each child to read at home with an adult every evening to develop their passion for reading.
• Please ensure that your child brings the book that they are reading to school every day.
• Spellings will be given out on Fridays and tested on the following Friday.
• Homework will be given out on Fridays and should be returned on the following Tuesday.
• It would be really helpful if you could send in tissues and water bottles for the class.
• We welcome parent volunteers so please let us know if you are willing to help on a trip or in class.