Spring Term

Welcome back and Happy New Year! We are looking forward to a busy and exciting Spring term with lots of fascinating learning opportunities. We believe that parents and teachers work best in partnership so please come and talk to us about what your child is learning and how you might like to be involved in any way.

English

This term, we continue with Talk for Writing to develop our skills in writing in different styles. Some of our writing will be topic-based. Writing styles will include fiction and non-fiction writing and non-chronological reports such as letters, newspaper articles, diary entries and play scripts. Our focus in grammar will include sentence types, sentence structure, and the correct use of punctuation for effect. Children will continue to learn spellings each week including commonly misspelt words from the Y5/6 list. In Destination Reader, we will be studying the novel ‘Oranges In No-Man’s Land’ by Elizabeth Laird as well as other texts.

History

Peasants, Princes and Pestilence. Through this cross-curricular topic, children will develop their knowledge of 14th century England including learning about the plague; health and hygiene. We will also learn about life in medieval times, including the effects and impact of the Black Death.

Geography

Our second topic will be ‘Allotments’ where we will learn about farms, where food comes from and write reports on worldwide produce. We will also be making our own tubs out of recyclable materials, growing our own produce and learning to prepare and cook nutritious dishes.

Science

In our Science topics, we will study:‘Forces’; where we will identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance, friction and gravity. We will also study the life cycles of plants, mammals, amphibians, insects and birds in our living things and habitats unit.

Maths

This term, we will be exploring multiplication and division in more depth including problem solving and reasoning. We will also learn about fractions using practical approaches, which will enable children to see how fractions apply in their every-day lives through manipulating objects, shapes and numbers. Do help your child at home by getting them to explain what they have been doing in class, practising multiplication and division facts to 12×12.

Trips and Visits

Science Museum –to explore Forces
London Museum –London during the Plague

P4C (Philosophy for Children)

Children will be further developing their Caring, Collaborative, Creative and Critical thinking skills through a variety of topic stimuli in our community of enquiry P4C sessions. Do ask your child what we have been discussing and what their opinions are on the topic of discussion. There is no right answer, just opening of the minds to explore concepts and ideas about a variety of possibilities –listening to and respecting each other’s views.

RE

We will be exploring: ‘How has the Christian Message survived for 2000 years?’ in order to study how the message spread after Jesus’ ascension; what the difficulties were and what a message needs in order to spread. Our other big question in Spring will be: ‘What happens in churches during Lent and at Easter?’ where we will study how church services, decorations and practices change through this period and why.

General Reminders<.h3>

• Please encourage your child to read at home each day and to talk to you about what they have read
• Spellings and Mathletics – please ensure children are regularly practising skills and completingsethomework
• PE continues on Wednesdays and Swimming on Thursdays
• Please make an appointment to see us if you would like to discuss your child’s learning
• MOBILE PHONES If your child needs a mobile phone it must be clearly labelled, switched off before they enter the school premises and handed into the Teacher for safekeeping during the day