Monday 30th October 2017

Class Nightingale Newsletter

Dear parents/carers,

Welcome back to the 2nd half of the Autumn term- where did the time go? I hope you managed some time to have fun as a family (and for yourself!).

Wow day

The wow day this term will take place on Monday 6th November where the children will be exploring ‘icebergs’ They will observe how the iceberg sits in water and how it changes over time and explore questions such as ‘What happens if you add salt to the iceberg? Why do you think there are air bubbles in your iceberg? Why do you think the ice moves as it melts? Is there anything else that you want to try out on your iceberg? Which part melts more quickly? The children will be recording their observations on Showbie using digital photography and voice notes.

Maths:

This half term, we will be focusing on fractions and decimals. This is an area of maths that a lot of children struggle with. It is vital that they have a good grasp of their times tables. The children have been revising their knowledge of their 6 and 7 times tables so far. I am encouraging them to not only know their times tables eg 8x7= 56 but also the inverse eg 56 ÷8= 7. To help with fractions (and previous topics) I have added some step by step guides and practise materials to Showbie. Please can you encourage them to explore these resources.

English:

In English, we are going to be theming our writing around our work on The Arctic and Antarctic. We are going to be starting with a chronological report where the children will be writing as an investigating engineering reporting on the sinking of the Titanic. We will then be writing a short narrative based on the book The Call of the Wild. Following this, the children will be writing diary entries using the explorer Robert Scott as their inspiration.

Topic

Our topic this half term is called Frozen Kingdom. Within this topic we will be looking at different aspects of the Arctic regions. Here are a few things we hope to cover:

  1. Drawing scaled maps of the Arctic regions.
  2. Comparing the animals and plant life in the Arctic and Antarctic.
  3. Looking at the timeline of the sinking of the Titanic and writing as survivors.
  4. Investigating icebergs
  5. Exploring living things and how they adapt to live in the harsh conditions.
  6. Creating clay sculptures of Arctic animals.
  7. Creating food chains.
  8. Debating whether it is right for animals to work.
  9. Working in teams to create a shelter.
  10. Looking at the different climate zones.
  11. Exploring the Northern Lights through music and art.
  12. The children will be presenting their work to parents in the week beginning 18th December. I will let you know a solid date and time closer to that week.

RE

This half term, year 6 will be continuing our focus on religion, family and community but comparing Christianity to the Muslim faith. We will then be moving onto Advent in December using the painting of Fernando Aritzti to start our discussions.

British Values

The words which will be the focus of our British Values assemblies and lessons this term are: respect and tolerance.

Homework

Thank you for your support with homework. The amount coming back to school has slowly been increasing. This is going to be our new class target- to ensure that everyone returns their homework on time. I will now be putting the homework on Showbie as well as sending home a paper version. I have had several children over the weeks say they have lost it. This ensures that you always have access to a copy. I run a homework club on Monday lunch time. Please encourage your child to attend if they are stuck or need additional help. I have also put step by step guides on Showbie to support the children at home. If you have any requests for a specific area of maths, please let me know and I can add some guidance on there.

PE kit:

I am pleased to report that the children have been consistently bringing in their PE kits- thank you! PE will now be on Monday’s and Wednesday’s with the two sports coaches.

Visits

We will be taking a short break from our topic on Thursday 9th November to reflect on Remembrance Day and what it means. As part of this, we have a visitor, Mr Thompson is coming into class who is going to share my grandad’s war diaries and artefacts from WWII. If you would like to see these diaries, please feel free to pop in at the end of the day and have a look. We also have a visit to St James’ Church on Wednesday 6th December for our Christingle celebration.

Showbie

As I have mentioned throughout, I have put a lot of information on Showbie for the half term ahead. In the first week back, the children will be logging on to their accounts and looking through the information on there. I have had to reset a lot of accounts as some children had multiple log ins. Their new passwords are in their reading diary. In the past, I have found it such a useful tool to use in the classroom as it allows the children to access material at home too. As I can only use the free version, unfortunately I cannot add you on as parents however I’m sure the children will let you look! You will see I have set up various folders such as ‘Homework’. If your child has a question about their homework, they can post a message to me- only I will see it, not the rest of the class. I am happy to support in anyway I can (although I won’t be replying to messages at midnight!). They should be able to leave me a voice note, written message or take a picture of what they are struggling with and send it to me,

I look forward to discussing your child’s progress at Parents Evening in November. If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate.

Mrs Sisson