Maple Class Newsletter - Autumn 2008

Homework

Welcome back after the Summer break. The children have settled really well and are working hard and taking on the responsibilities of being the oldest class in the school, which in itself can be quite daunting.

The Autumn Term is generally a busy term.

In literacy the focus is on improving writing skills with children working on their own personal learning goals. Reading skills are also vital, so is the enjoyment of books, which I encourage by reading to the class and discussing texts. The majority can read well, but support in understanding and making inferences from more difficult texts will continue through comprehension exercises and guided reading work. Our class reader is ‘The Secret Garden’, and later on we will watch the video and compare the media version with the book.

In mathematics, mental skills continue to be developed. I will be speaking to the class about the need to know the times tables, not just be able to count in 4’s or 3’s etc. To this end as a class we will work on one table each week (this should be recorded in their work diary) starting next week. For those who are really fluent with their tables SELBATs can be learnt

eg 45 divided by 9 = 5. A key area of study in numeracy will be the development of problem solving skills.

Literacy and numeracy occur across the curriculum, e.g. drawing graphs to record results in science, reading and making notes for our History project. Our major project is a study of the Victorians, which offers plenty of opportunities for the children to research independently areas of interest to them. I hope to include a visit to Radstock after half-term, more news on that later on. A study of India is included as a shorter geography topic this term, this links well with Empire and our class reader. We have been lucky enough to secure seats at the Colston Hall for a music concert given by Wells Cathedral School on 14^th October, so look out for the letter with more information shortly.

            We will continue with our specialist teaching afternoon, where Miss Rowe teaches Maple for one gymnastics lesson while I teach Beech music. I will continue to teach outdoor games on Fridays. Please can you ensure that the children have suitable clothing for outdoor P.E. lessons. Mrs Roost teaches Maple Class on Wednesdays, while I carry out my duties as SENCO and have PPA time. This term Mrs Roost will be teaching Art, the topics are on Pattern and People in Action,  R.E. looking at the lives of famous people such as Martin Luther King, and aspects of writing, initially poetry. 

            There is a lot of science in the first 2 terms of year 6 and our first topic is ‘Forces’. I like to include practical work as often as possible in our science lessons. Mrs Pritchard takes small groups for French each Tuesday morning and has been very impressed with the children so far.

            I encourage the children to use their work diaries to record their weekly spellings, keep a personal reading record and write down any homework tasks I set. Homework is also posted on the school web-site in the ‘Our Classes’ section. Hard copy of work sheets is always provided for the children. I set homework on Fridays and collect it in on the following Friday. This helps me keep track of my marking! Please encourage the children to come and see me if they have any problems with any of the work I give them. Don’t let them fret and worry, problems can usually be sorted.

I look forward to seeing you at the November parents evening.

Lois Barlow