The Rissington School News

The Rissington School News

September 2016

Class 2

Animal Worlds

Unknown Journeys

Harrier & Tornado

Welcome back to a new school year, and a huge welcome to Upper Key Stage 2 - Harrier and Tornado Class! We hope you have all had a relaxing summer and are ready for a very busy term ahead.

The Curriculum

Our main focus this term will be “Unknown Journeys”. This engaging topic was chosen collaboratively with the children at the end of last term and we will spend a large proportion of the term investigating and interpreting the past. One of the big questions raised was “How can someone convince a Nation to follow them?” We will be looking at conflicts around the world – past and present and use the topic to build an overview of world history and understand chronology of events. The topic also allows us to consider other people’s points of view and how a person might inspire us, as well as reflecting on fallen heroes.

In English we will study extracts from a variety of texts about children in a world in conflict e.g.: The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, Carrie’s War and Goodnight Mr Tom. The texts will allow the children to write from different perspectives, write play-scripts and to use evidence from a text to map out events. We will be focusing on the use of inference and how we empathise with the characters or not. There will be a strong focus on improving accuracy of spelling, grammar and punctuation and the quality of handwriting. Reading and understanding the complexities of the different texts will also have a high priority throughout all our English lessons.

In Maths we begin by looking at place value and remembering those Roman Numerals before moving onto mental addition and subtraction of numbers and knowing multiplication and division facts to simplify fractions and find common multiples. Mental recall of all times tables up to 12x and the inverse, is essential and mental maths will play an important part of all our maths lessons.

Science: Physics will be our key strand this term. The children will build on their prior knowledge of how we see. They will work scientifically to plan their own enquiries and explain scientific ideas. We will explore how light travels and understand how we see. During the second part of the term we will focus on electricity and the impact it has on our lives. We will use standard symbols to represent electrical circuits and move onto understand the terms resistance and voltage.

Throughout the Autumn term, RE and PSHCE will involve a range of activities that focus on trying new things and making the most of opportunities. We will learn about “How Believers Live” in different cultures and consider what religions say. Our topic allows us to consider other people’s points of view and how a person might inspire us, as well as reflecting on fallen heroes. We will also be thinking about “New Beginnings” and participate in the usual Harvest celebrations. After the October half term our Y6 children will be off on their own Unknown Journey – their residential trip to Woodlands and we will, of course, move onto our Christmas Celebrations.

In Upper Key Stage 2, the children will participate in PE twice a week. It is important that your child has correct PE kit in school and that all items are clearly labelled. PE kit should comprise: blue t-shirt, shorts/skort, long socks and suitable outdoor training shoes. In addition it would be a good idea to bring tracksuit bottoms and a warmer top for outdoor activities in colder weather.

In Upper Key Stage 2 the aim is to support the children in becoming self-motivated and organised with their homework. The children are expected to read for at least half an hour each evening and make detailed entries in their reading journal, to be handed in during their guided reading session, each week. Spelling lists will be sent home at the start of each term and it is then up to the children to learn their spellings for that week, ready for a spelling test on a Friday.

In addition, each week your child will be issued subject specific homework for topic and Maths. This will usually be given on a Thursday to be brought back into school by the following Tuesday.

Bags

The cloakroom area for the children is VERY small. Please ensure that all bags brought into school are of a reasonable size and that all personal property is taken home on a Friday. The children are encouraged to be responsible for their own belongings however, it is still worth checking for letters or emails at the end of the day.

A Few Dates For Your Diary:

• Woodlands Residential Meeting for Parents - 5pm-6pm Tuesday 13th September
• UKS2 trip to Steam in Swindon – Thursday 22nd September
• UKS2 - KNEX workshop in school – Wednesday 12th October
• Y6 Residential trip – Monday 31st October to Friday 4th November

Further detailed information regarding all trips, events and visits will be sent separately. Make sure you check your email or the school website which will have more important school dates for your diary. In addition to these dates, check out the local Secondary School Open Evenings and take the opportunity to look around; remember Y6 children will need to make your final decision before 31st October 2016.

Additional Information

The children are able to drink water and may have access to a water bottle throughout the day. If your child has an inhaler, please could you make sure that it is clearly named and in date. Their inhaler should be in school to be accessed at all times. If your child requires any other medication please could you make both myself AND the office staff aware.

Social Media: Harrier and Tornado Class have their own twitter pages. Throughout the term we will post photographs and updates about our learning. Please follow us on @harrierclass and @Tornado_Class.

Formal parent evenings will be held in October to discuss settling in and your child’s progress. However, if you would like to discuss any aspect of your child’s education or have any concerns at any time throughout the term, please do not hesitate to make an appointment.

Kind regards,

Lisa Loxton and Emma Brearley

Harrier and Tornado Class Teachers

Phantom and Hercules

Here come the Vikings!

This term, we will be jumping in our time capsules and travelling back to explore the fascinating Nordic lands of the Vikings!

In English, we be discovering some exciting Norse mythology surrounding the gods Thor, Loki and Odin; the children will then have the opportunity to write their own. We will also be becoming Viking poets and writing our own Nordic poetry with a focus on different structures and rhyming patterns. Later on in the term, the children will be writing newspaper articles after some pesky Vikings manage to invade our school (uh oh!) before looking at writing diary entries based on a day in the life of a Viking child.

In Maths, we begin by focusing on number and place value. This will cover aspects such as adding, subtracting, rounding, and counting in multiples. We then move onto looking at shape, space and measures. Alongside this, the children will continue to work through their STOPs problem solving, and will continue to develop their mental maths and their times tables.

In Science, we will be focusing on the digestive system during which time the children will have the chance to make their own poo (yes you read correctly!). The children will be investigating different parts of the human body and how these parts help with digestion. Our focus then moves to teeth where we will look at different types of teeth and how to look after them, before then moving on to looking at our skeletons, different bones and our mighty muscles!

In computing, the children will be becoming film producers creating their own stop-motion animations based on Viking raids and battles. We will be designing and making our own ‘Marvel’-ous (see what we did there?!) Thor comics using the Comic Creator app and programming ‘Viking Beebots’ to navigate the open sea and raid the gold!

Art and DT will be action packed this term with us designing and creating our own Viking longboats, building Nordic shields with Papier Mache, cooking some traditional Viking food such as ‘flatbread’ and ‘oatcakes’, whilst practicing and developing our technical art skills with a range of activities involving charcoals, pastel and water colours – all Viking and Anglo-Saxon related!

History and Geography will be a major focus this term, concentrating on the life and achievements of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons. This is a fascinating period of history with people having very different beliefs to our own. Our maps will come out to chart the paths that the Vikings will have taken on their ships. We will be investigating how the Vikings used their lands and how this was different to ours, as well as looking in depth at the Nordic countries themselves such as Norway and Denmark.

This term, we shall be focusing on Islam as part of our religious education. We will cover the Qur’an and why it is important and also what stories from the life of Muhammad tell Muslims about Allah. Alongside this, the importance and symbolism behind the Harvest festival will also be looked at.

Mrs Winter and Mrs Erasmus – Phantom and Hercules

Animal Worlds – Spitfire and Vulcan

As children from Spitfire and Vulcan enter their new classrooms, they may well ask, ’Why do we have an animal hospital in here?’ and the next question will surely be , ‘Can we help them?’ Our reply will be a resounding ‘ Of course!’ as it just happens to be the theme for this term’s topic. We would like the children to learn all about different animals and their worlds, and to try to help them in whatever way is possible.

We will start by exploring the world of pets. How should we look after them? What do they need to live? What are their similarities and differences? We will be writing information leaflets to help others understand what to do to care for them and in our Science work, we will be identifying and classifying many of the different animals in the world, as well as finding out about their habitats. We will also be looking at what kind of homes animals have for sheltersand will have a go at building some to provide for their needs. As we look from domestic animals to wild ones, we will try to understand their different environments and needs and will be asking the question, ‘What do they need to live happily?’ Hopefully, a visit to, ‘The Cotswold Wildlife Park’ will help us to answer this question, but may also raise some others, such as, ‘ , Why are so many animals threatened and endangered and what does this mean? ‘ As the children investigate, their findings may lead to the now traditional adoption of some wild animals in an effort to help protect the species. We’ll see what the children decide!

The traffic between the human world and the animal one is not just one way- animals help us, too! We will be looking at examples of just which ones help us to work. We will be thinking of guide dogs for the blind, horses for the disabled and pets that help us to stay calm, fit and healthy.

Stories about animals can help humans to behave well; this seems to have been the intention of Aesop with some of his fables such as ‘The Boy who cried Wolf,’ and ‘The Hare and the Tortoise.’ We’ll investigate the intentions of moral fables and other animal stories.

We may also put our own musical accompaniments to the fables, after we’ve listened to composers such as Saint-Saens (Carnival of the Animals) and have made some ‘elementary’ progress with rhythm, duration, pitch, timbre, and tempo in our Music lessons.

Thinking about how animals move in their worlds, gives us plenty of opportunity to observe them and so in much of our art work we will be drawing, painting and sculpting our favourite ones. We will even be able to make our own fantasy animals with the help of the computer. We wonder what shapes and sizes they will be and what stories come with them! We can’t wait to find out!

To help us discover where some of thewonderful animals live, we will be going on a journey with ‘The Snail and the Whale,’ of Julia Donaldson fame. We will sail with the snail and the whale to different continents and countries and look at the variety of climates and conditions in which animals live and try to survive.

There is no doubt that on our travels we will discover a wonderful world, and children may well ask, ‘Who made it?’ In our RE, we will explore the way both Christianity and Judaism answer the question and try to find answers, as well as suggest provoking ones such as, ‘Should humans look after the world, and in what ways?’

Our topic theme of caring for the world and for animals also extends to ourselves. We will be delving into past times when people did not have the medical knowledge to look after themselves as well as we do today. One shining example from the past is the ‘Lady with the Lamp,’ herself, Florence Nightingale. In Victorian times, she took a team of nurses to care for the injured of the Crimean War, where more soldiers died because of infections and bad hygiene than on the battlefield. Florence Nightingale went on to lay down the foundations for the nursing standards of today, so we will be taking a look at her story and that of Mary Seacole.

We are all looking forward to holding the lamp up to the animal worlds and we think we’re in for an exciting time!

Best wishes, Mrs Grosvenor, Mrs Wilcock and Mrs Moore.

Hawk Class Topic Autumn 2016

We hope you have had an enjoyable summer holiday and your children are enjoying ‘Big School’. We have a very busy term with lots ahead of us and a great deal of fun too.

If you have any questions regarding your child or the Curriculum please come and see us. We are looking forward to working with you and your children over the forthcoming year. This letter provides a brief curriculum overview of what your child will be covering this term.

This term our topic will be focussed around the stories written by Julia Donaldson. The children will be enjoying lots of activities surrounding the stories of the ‘Gruffalo’, ‘The Scarecrows’ Wedding’, ‘Room on the Broom’ and ‘The Stickman’. Our role play area this term will be the Gruffalo’s cave.

Communication, Language and Literacy

This term we will be working on speaking and listening skills, both independently and as part of a group, talking about home life and family, as well as other significant events. Your children will have a daily phonics session and will begin daily writing activities focussing on fine and gross motor control. The children will start to use some of the sounds they have learnt, to write and read simple words.

We will be sequencing stories and describing the characters that appear in them. The children will also have opportunities to act out familiar stories and make up their own.

Later on in the term we will be writing to Father Christmas and exploring Christmas poetry and recipes.

Maths

For Maths we will be covering topics such as counting, recognition of numbers, 1 more, 1 less, addition, subtraction, number patterns, ordinal numbers, length, height, prepositions and will be exploring 2D shapes.

Expressive Arts and Design

The children will be making their very own clay Gruffalos and masks. We will be making scarecrows from ‘The Scarecrows’ Wedding’ and bats and witches from ‘Room on the Broom’. In music we will be learning a range of different traditional songs. The children will also be making their own Stick man family. Children will be learning Phonic songs, exploring and changing sounds using percussion instruments and joining in with familiar class songs. They will also be practising songs for the Harvest Festival and the Christmas Nativity Play. The children will be making crafts for Diwali, Bonfire Night, Remembrance Day and Christmas.

Understanding the World

The children will be learning about the similarities and differences between themselves and others and among families, communities and traditions.We will also be celebrating Diwali and will be making Diva lamps out of clay and decorating them using paint and glitter.We will be creating Rangoli patterns and having a Diwali party, tasting traditional Diwali celebration food. We will also be exploring the traditions surrounding Bonfire Night and Christmas.

Personal Social and Emotional Development

This term we will be developing the children’s social skills, confidence and self-esteem. We will be establishing classroom rules, routines and codes of behaviour. In the second term will be exploring what they are good at and what they would like to be better at. Together the children will find ways of helping each other to accomplish their goals.

Physical Development

We will be taking part in regular PE lessons so we would prefer that the children’s PE kit is always available in school. P.E kits will be returned at the end of the term for washing, unless you wish to wash them more regularly. Please help your child gain independence when dressing themselves e.g. fastening buttons and putting shoes on etc.