Topcliffe C of E (VC) Primary School Head teacher: Mrs Abigail Clay BA Hons, P.G.C.E, AST, NPQH
School Lane,
Topcliffe, Thirsk,
North Yorkshire email:
YO7 3RG
(01845) 577412 Reg charity no: 1053631
Growing, believing, achieving together
9th September 2016
Dear Parents and Carers,
Mrs Weightman and I hope that you all had a brilliant summer and that you have enjoyed spending time with the children and putting your feet up! I am looking forward to seeing you all again during the term but if you have any queries, please feel free to drop in and see me whenever.
As always in Class 4, we have an extremely busy half term and I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you some of the things we will be learning over the next few weeks. Our topic for the first half of term will be Ancient Greece, in English we will be writing letters to persuade someone to live in either Athens or Sparta. In history we will be studying the possible causes of the Peloponnesian war and the conflict between Athens and Sparta.
In science we will be looking at living things and their habitats. This will involve learning about the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird and describing the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals. After the half term break we will move on to study properties and changes of materials. We are continually taking opportunities to work scientifically throughout all topics.
PE will be on a Monday and Tuesday afternoon. We will be starting with some team building activities and we will move on to looking at specific netball and hockey skills and tactics over the weeks. I would be most grateful if you could make sure that the children have both indoor and outdoor PE kits in school for the whole week.
In RE we will be joining the whole school to visit a Mosque in Middlesbrough which will help us see and understand how Muslims practise their religion and how they use their worship space.
Another exciting addition to our timetable this term is that every child in class 4 will be learning the ukulele. All the ukuleles will be provided for each child and they will be encouraged to take these home to practise with in between lessons. Lessons will start next week on Friday 1-2pm.
In the second half of term, our English will be based on the novel Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver and we will be writing non chronological reports, recounts and stories based on the themes in the novel. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support you give to your child’s learning at home. I would be delighted to see anything the children would like to share about the topics above.
Homework
Reading: Please read with your child every day, even if it is for a short while. It’s important that even those that are fluent, independent readers still read out loud regularly. This will support their skills of expression as well as their ability to understand and read punctuation and grammar accurately. Please continue to ask your child questions about what they are reading to improve their skills in comprehension and inference. There is a section in the link books to keep a log of the reading you do at home and to write down any comments you think would be useful. I have asked the children for their comments in these sections so please continue to encourage them to do this. Reading diaries are a great way to keep in contact but please pass any important messages to me directly. Reading diaries are also your child’s reading record so any reading done at school and at home should be recorded in these.
Spellings: The children will have 10 spellings to learn each week. These will be handed out on a Friday to be tested on the following Friday, in a short dictation.
Maths: Maths homework will be either a Fun Key Fact or a homework on My Maths or RM Easimaths. This will be related to the topic we are learning in class. The Fun Key Facts come with instructions and examples of activities. They are based on essential skills that the children need to practise for maths. These may last a few weeks, depending on the nature of the topic. There is no deadline for this work but I would love to see what you have been doing.
Creative task: To give the children an opportunity for more creative work or to carry out some independent research, I will give them a few short project based homeworks each half term. The children can complete these projects over several weeks. I will send home full instructions and timescales with each piece of homework.
I am really looking forward to getting the term underway and I can’t wait to spend time further getting to know the children. If I can be of further help in any way, or you would like more information about something in particular, please do not hesitate to contact me, either via the link books or in school.
Yours sincerely
Miss Stanwix
Class 4 Teacher