Thelwall Community Junior School

I hope you all had a wonderful summer break with your families. Our Class 5/6 students have returned to school filled with enthusiasm and a genuine eagerness to learn. It has been a pleasure to chat with each of them and share the array of exciting and engaging activities we have planned throughout the year. Both Mrs Mainwaring and I are looking forward to fostering a love for learning whilst creating memorable experiences that are both enjoyable and academically rewarding for all the class. Below you will find information about the topics we will be covering this half term.

Maths: In our math lessons, we will not only enhance your children’s current skillset, but also introduce them to new mathematical concepts. Our goal is to build a strong foundation in various mathematical ideas, enabling them to apply their knowledge effectively in different situations throughout the year. This term, maths lessons will focus on developing understanding of the number system of numbers up to 1,000,000 (year 5) and 10,000,000 (year 6).

The children will continue to receive a regular input of both problem solving/reasoning questions, as well as mental arithmetic strategies as we continue to work through our ‘Daily Arithmetic’ and ‘Problem of the Day’ questions in class.

Also, please take every opportunity to revise and refine times tables (including related division facts) and simple addition/subtraction questions, which underpins a large proportion of the maths we learn in year 5 and 6.

English: Our first English book is Greta and the Giants, by Zoë Tucker and Zoe Persico. This is a brilliant book, that tells the inspiring story of a young girl named Greta who becomes a hero by standing up for the environment. Greta shows us that even a small person can make a big difference by speaking up and taking action to protect our planet, using courage, determination, and the power of one person's voice to change the world for the better. Throughout this unit, your children will craft engaging narratives whilst also developing their grammatical skills. We will explore the art of creating rich and vivid descriptions by using imagery and structuring our sentences to include relative clauses. Additionally, we will emphasise the use of expanded noun phrases. Our journey through this unit will also involve mastering punctuation techniques such as the use of dashes to indicate parenthesis and inverted commas for speech.

Reading: In class 5/6, children are expected to read at least 3 times a week to support them with expanding their vocabulary through exposure to a variety of text genres such as stories, plays, poetry, non-fiction and textbooks. Like we do at school, please try to encourage children to read books and other writing that they have not come across before – hearing and learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures, and discussing this with them will greatly improve their reading (and writing!) skills. Our class book for this half term is Malamander by Thomas Taylor.

Science:  In the first half term, our science lessons will focus on Earth and Space. Children will learn about the movement of Earth and other planets in our solar system, as well as the Moon's movement relative to Earth. They'll also understand the spherical nature of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, and how Earth's rotation creates day and night.

In the second half term, we'll explore Light. Children will discover how light enables us to see and how objects reflect it. They'll explore concepts like angles of incidence and reflection, refraction, and how prisms reveal the visible spectrum. We'll also discuss how colors result from light reflection and explore the formation and size changes of shadows.

PE:  Class 5/6 will have PE on a Monday and a Friday. Each session on a Monday will focus on the fundamental skills of REAL PE, and on Friday the focus will be on invasion games.  

Art and DT: In Art, the children will look at a range of architectures such as Gaudi and his major artworks, focusing on Barcelona architecture.  They will use pencil and charcoal to create different dimensions.  In DT, the children will carry out research and design a frame structure.  They will use finishing and decorative techniques suitable for their product and will carry out a detailed evaluation at the end.

Computing: This term we will begin with online safety looking at ways to develop safe habits online, including the importance of protecting personal information, how to respect online privacy boundaries for themselves and others as well as ways to seek or ask for help if they or others feel unsafe online. We shall also be using 'Scratch' to build upon prior learning and progress programming skills.

History and Geography: This term, our topic is The Maya. We will learn how the Mayan civilization grew so strong when the odds against it were so huge. Pupils will explore the characteristics and features of the Mayan society and comparing it with the state of Britain at the same time i.e. about AD1100. We will discuss and learn what life was like for the Maya a thousand years ago, also contemplating why the Mayan civilization came to such an abrupt end.

Music: This term, our music will link in with our science topic as we will focus on ‘The Planet Suite’ by Gustav Holst. Children will learn musical motifs from the music and use them in their own compositions. They will record their compositions using graphic scores.

Homework: Homework will be set on a Friday and is due the following Friday. Children are asked to read three times a week, which they can log on Go Read (Boom Reader) and complete an activity on Spag.com or Maths.co.uk each week for their homework. Children also need to practise their spellings which have been sent home in preparation for their test.

I have also created a Google Classroom for Class 5/6, where you'll find our half-term spelling lists. Additionally, our Google Classroom offers optional homework opportunities, including comprehension, grammar, writing, and maths activities, which students are welcome to complete at their discretion. On here, I have also provided helpful resources and guides for various aspects of the Year 5/6 curriculum, which children are able to use to support their learning over the course of the year. I have sent out a Ping with the login details, but if you require the code again, please let me know.

I really hope your child has a wonderful year in class 5/6, learning fantastic, new things, and making some great memories. If you have any questions, queries or want to chat over the course of the year, I would be happy to discuss via email, or on the phone at a mutually convenient time.

My email address is still the same:

ecritchley@thelwalljunior.co.uk

Mrs Mainwaring and I are looking forward to the rest of the year and all the exciting things ahead with your children.