Welcome to Year 5 and 6: Shakespeare Class 

 Teacher: Miss Connearn 

Support Staff:  Mrs Hine 

                            Mrs Lucas  

                          Autumn 2 

   English 

In our English lessons we are enjoying the text The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. In Oscar Wilde's enchanting tale, "The Selfish Giant," we are transported to a world where love, compassion, and the magic of innocence unfold against the backdrop of a beautiful but isolated garden. This heartwarming story centers around a once-intimidating giant whose heart undergoes a profound transformation when touched by the pure smiles and laughter of young children.  "The Selfish Giant" is a timeless fable that reminds us of the enduring value of compassion and the joy that comes from opening our hearts to others.

We will be basing our written work around this text, focusing on vocabulary development and comprehension skills through short writes and independent writes.

Punctuation and grammar will be included in all our daily English lessons this year. We will focus on and embed a variety of Alan Peat sentence types into our writing throughout the year to upskill our work with a focus on the audience and the purpose of the writing.

Maths

In Maths we follow White Rose Maths. The scheme supports us in teaching for mastery and problem solving. Throughout this half term we will be focusing on fractions, decimals and percentages and area and perimeter. We will apply learning practically when answering reasoning questions.  

Arithmetic skills and mental maths are of great importance this year. Children will be expected to complete quick, accurate calculations when completing arithmetic activities. In class we complete a daily 'Tough Ten' which are questions based on the mathematical expectations for year 6. Please encourage your child to continue practicing their times tables to aid their ongoing development in maths.  

 Reading

Reading books will be sent home every day, this may be a free read library book or a banded book. Please encourage your child to read as much as possible. This will expose children to different genres, vocabulary and reading skills essential to develop them as competent readers. Stamina for reading is a particular development area in class, to ensure children read independently, at an appropriate speed whilst summarising key events.

In class we will be reading a variety of text types: fiction, non-fiction and poetry in guided reading. Everyday children will enjoy a class text at the end of the day. This text will be Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

https://www.booksfortopics.com/_files/ugd/df731a_40a7d01f518341828462ddcd7eaf81fa.pdf

                                        P.E

P.E is on Wednesday and Thursdays. Children will be required to come to school in full PE kits, white top, navy bottoms/ shorts, a school jumper and appropriate footwear. This half term we are focusing on gymnastics: counter balance and counter tension and invasion games: basketball.

Homework

Homework will be sent home on a Friday. This will include a reading comprehension, maths activity, grammar and spellings. This should be returned on the following Thursday. Homework is an important aspect of this year, not only does it encourage a sense of independence in preparation for high school, it also embeds new learning from the classroom.​ Spare homework will be available in class if this is needed. If your child needs any support with their homework, please let a member of staff know so we can put any support in place. Children can complete their homework at lunchtime and will have access to a school computer during this time if needed. Children will complete a spelling test each Friday based on the spelling list that week.

History

 This half term our History topic is based on the big question, 

'What is life like in the Alps?' 

• Pupils will explore and describe the key aspects of the human and physical geography of the Alps to answer the enquiry question. Pupils will be required to locate which continent the Alps are in. To know that Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps and describe the climate in the Alps. Pupils will learn that glaciers are large bodies of ice that form in the mountains and explain that climate change is causing glaciers to melt. Pupils will complete fieldwork and use a variety of data collection methods including completing a questionnaire, mapping and recording their findings in sketches or photographs.

Science  

 Our pupils will learn about Changes of Materials. The lessons are sequenced and designed to challenge children to recall previous knowledge and skills they have covered in the previous unit Properties of Materials. Pupils will

describe how evaporation can be used to get the salt back from salty water and identify methods for reversing a physical change. Pupils will name some irreversible changes and identify rusting as an irreversible change. They will identify the 3 factors a fire needs to burn. Children will work practically and conduct independent experiments.  

Religious Education

Following Questful R.E scheme of work, this unit is focused on Daniel. This unit will enable the children to realise that there is more to discover about Daniel than just his escape from the lion’s den!

The aim of the unit  is for our children to:

• Know there are clear dietary laws set out in Judaism
• Food for those of Jewish faith needs to be Kosher
• Explore the stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
• Explore Bible stories to reveal the nature of God
• Know there are people willing to remain faithful to God in any circumstances at any cost

Please see the curriculum overview for at the top of the page for all other subjects. 

If you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me at school through the office on 01254 702119 or on the playground after school.

Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Connearn