Class 4. Mrs Davidson Autumn 2020
Here is our Autumn Class Newsletter – Autumn Class Newsletter
Welcome our Class 4 page – we are delighted that you found some time to come and visit. Here you will be able to find out useful information about your child’s learning and life in school this term.
Our deputy head teacher- Mrs Davidson, and Mrs Cunningham (on a Wednesday) have the pleasure of teaching our class of 18 year- five pupils. We are delighted to welcome all pupils back safely after what has been a very difficult few months.
Autumn term always revolves around firmly embedding the skills we have learned so far and developing our stamina and perseverance in all tasks that we take on. This is an exceptional autumn term, as year five children have been out of school since the Covid 19 lockdown in March. Therefore, we have developed a ‘Recovery curriculum’, which addresses the impact of the five losses (routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom) which COVID may have had and continues to have on our children and our lives. This is not to dismiss the loss of learning – we want to maintain our standards and ensure all our children reach their full potential but in order to do that we need to prioritise our pastoral approach. Pupil’s mental health needs to have as much importance as Literacy and Numeracy.’
English: To start us of with our Recovery curriculum, and settle back into school life we are exploring the delightful text: ‘The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse’ by Charlie Mackesy. This beautifully illustrated text offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times. We will be doing lots of talking about its meaning in our own lives.
We are basing our shared reading and writing on a humorous text: ‘I’m Telling You They’re Aliens!’ by Jeremy Strong. Our exploration of this delightful text involves some lovely work on visualisation and discussing how the author has created the story; drama activities and children recognising and using specific vocabulary for effect. We are also working on some extended pieces of writing such as – story writing ‘in role’ as a character; and researching information in order to create our own non-fiction ‘explanation’ writing linked to our science topic.
Spellings: Spelling rules are taught on a Tuesday, when pupils are given words, which follow a particular rule, alongside some common exception words. Our test (using different words from that spelling pattern) will be on the following Tuesday. Our spellings are becoming much more complex so they must be practised even more often at home.
Reading: We have an ‘Accelerated Reader’ programme, whereby children take ‘Reading Practice’ quizzes – which asks questions that measure their comprehension of a book. Children are encouraged to take these levelled reading books home and to read for a minimum of ten minutes every day. We have a dedicated ‘Guided reading’ session in class each day and whenever possible, we have individual ‘one-to-one’ readers – but children do need much more. So please, please, please make some time to listen to your child reading. Working both at home and in school will help your child improve his/her reading skills immensely. Thank you in advance for all your support at home.
Maths: We are working on our understanding of place value and the four calculation methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This is followed by exploring ‘statistics’ and ‘measurement, (length & perimeter)’. We will be practising our arithmetic daily with ‘Fluent in Five’ – which involves working at speed to answer number/calculation questions. We are enjoying practising our ‘Rock Star’ tables; trying to improve our speed with our times tables. It is our aim to become more proficient / fluent at applying our maths skills in problem solving and mathematical reasoning. Please encourage your child to practise their times tables frequently (Rock Stars).
Science: This term as we are studying ‘Living things & their Habitats.’ This will be followed by designing our own investigations into the properties and changes of materials.
Art – Using sketchbooks to and developing a range of mark making techniques by using charcoal and natural materials.dge of mark making mark-making techniques, make and use their own textured stamps for printing
Geography: We’ve got it all! We will be exploring ‘Why is the North East special?’
History – we will explore ‘Our local history’: looking at the changing landscape
RE: Domestic Church – family –people; Judaism, Reconciliation –& Advent/Christmas – Loving: gift
PE: Developing the skills involved in ‘Invasion games’ & ‘Gymnastics’
MFL: Introduction to Spanish; Everyday Conversations & Greetings
Homework: is given weekly and should be returned on a Thursday. The work given always supports work done in class and will help children to consolidate learning. Please encourage children to complete homework on time each week.
As always, I would like to thank you for you continued support as your child progresses through this term. I have an open-door policy – so if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress, or their well-being, please contact me to discuss them.
Many thanks,
Mrs A. J. Davidson