Homework will be handed out on Friday and should be returned by the following
Thursday. Children should place completed homework in the homework tray.
Sometimes Purple Mash or other online platforms/computer based software will be
used to set homework. Should access to a suitable device/platforms/software to
enable completion of digital homework pose an issue, children may complete homework
on a device at school during lunchtime. Digital homework using computer based
software such as word, powerpoint, publisher etc. may be submitted via email or using a
memory stick.
Homework will differentiated/used to support the children’s learning as follows:
Subject
Reading
Spellings
Maths/
English
Topic/
Other
subjects
Requirement
Please encourage your child to read every night. Please feel free to
contact me for help or advice with reading if required. Your child’s
reading book will be selected from our school library stock and will be
changed when they finish reading the book, provided that they have
been listened to at home and a written record is made in their reading
record and they have completed a response to reading task. In
addition to individual reading books, your child will also join in with
weekly guided reading sessions in a group that support the
development of key knowledge, understanding and skills required to be
a year 5 reader. Children are able to choose additional individual
reading books from class library stock. Please ensure your child’s
reading book and record are brought into school every day as we
will listen to readers individually and within a group regularly
throughout the week. The reading record enables us to
communicate this to you.
Spellings will be changed weekly, a copy of these sent home on Friday
and practised daily in school. In addition to learning how to spell
words, your child will research word meanings and use these to write
sentences. Please ask your children the definitions of their spellings
and encourage them to place them within contextualised sentences.
Maths and/or English homework will also be given out on a Friday. This
will focus on consolidation/extension of in class learning and/or
research to support future learning.
From time to time there may be other topic related tasks and/or
projects or extra research and tasks for other subjects.
Children may also receive other tasks differentiated to meet individual
learning needs.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact me via email or make an
appointment to come and see me. Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Lisa Diment.
[email protected]
Brinkworth Earl Danby’s Primary School
Rowan Class Newsletter
Spring Terms 1 and 2, 2017
Our Locality
Individual Liberty
and Beliefs
Our topic for the Spring term is ‘Our Locality’.
Our British value focus is ‘Individual Liberty’ and we will consider this in relation
to our personal and/or religious beliefs.
I am delighted to say that it continues to be a pleasure to teach all children in Rowan
class, who work hard to make the most of their learning opportunities. It is a lovely
time of year as a teacher, as I really get to see children applying their new learning
from year 5 in lots of different ways. The current year 5 children are certainly doing
this!
Mrs Slade continues to be our teaching assistant every morning of the week. Mrs
Quaile also continues to cover my PPA on a Tuesday afternoon.
I continue to be available after school on Monday and Thursday (unless other duties
prevent this) for a quick informal chat. I am on bus duty Wednesday and Friday so am
available after 3:40pm; on a Tuesday afternoon I am contactable by email as this is
when I take my PPA time and Mrs Quaile covers my absence from class. Please
consider making an appointment should you wish to talk at greater length. You may also
continue to contact me using the class email address too @
[email protected]
This remainder of this newsletter is to inform you of what will be happening in Rowan
class during Spring terms 1 and 2.
Best wishes, Mrs Lisa Diment.
Geography/History
Children continue to learn about human and physical geography how this applies to the UK.
In history, we will consider the roles of Alfred the Great and Athelstan in the struggle for the Kingdom of England, until we meet finally with Edward the confessor.
English
There is much to cover in English leading up to the Christmas break. All is
explained hereafter.
During the first spring term, we will explore the mystery genre through the short
stories of Kevin Crossley-Holland. Children will learn to use commas and semi-colons,
direct speech, adverbials to link sentences and paragraphs and language of description,
culminating in children writing their own mystery story. We will move on to study
argument and debate where we will consider such questions as ‘Should there be CCTV in
school?’ and children will take part organised argument and debate. Finally we will look
at narrative and oral poetry focusing on ‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’ by Charles
Causley and Lochinvar by Sir Walter Scott. We will spend time considering descriptive
language in greater depth to aid poetry writing.
As we enter the second spring term, we will delve in to the works of William
Shakespeare and consider how he used direct and reported speech and formal and
informal speech. We will move on to a focus on journalistic writing and look at different
ways of writing speech – playscripts, speech bubbles, direct & reported speech. We will
compare formal & informal writing including considering the use of passive voice and
children will write newspaper reports. Finally we will look at poetic style through
Michael Rosen and Roger McGough. We will read and listen to a variety of poems from
the two authors and consider how language is used to imply deeper meaning. Children will
write their own free verse poems inspired by their learning.
PSHE
Looking Forward- Children will learn:

to explain how people manage their money within a budget

the skills and attributes of a successful learner

to have thought about how to save up for an item they want, and how they might
restrict my other spending to do so
Friends and Family-Children will learn:

some things to do when they feel embarrassed that will not make things worse

to describe some of the physical changes of puberty

to have thought about how their body will change during puberty, how they may
feel, and what to do about these feelings
I will also continue to offer additional PSHE approaches in response to emerging social,
emotional and other learning needs.
Science
We will explore properties and their materials
with some experiments focused on thermal
and electrical conductivity and making new
materials.
We will then explore the human timeline.
Computing
The children will continue to
explore cross curricular uses
of computers to support
learning and will continue to
learn how to code.
PE
We will focus on gymnastics and rounder
initially, followed by cricket and dance.
Maths
In the first Spring term children will learn to: read, write and order 6 digit numbers, place them on a line and
understand place value of digits; solve place-value + and – -s; understand place value in decimal numbers; x and ÷ by
10/100/1000 using a place-value grid; place decimal numbers on a line; round two-place decimal numbers to nearest tenth
and whole number; say the number a tenth or a hundredth more; rehearse mental + strategies for decimals and whole
numbers; use counting on as a strategy to perform mental + of 2-place decimals to the next whole number; solve missing
number sentences; use mental strategies to solve multi-step word problems; use counting up as a strategy to perform
written - (Frog); use divisibility rules to discover if numbers are divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10; identity prime numbers;
revise finding factors of numbers; find squares and square roots of square numbers; finding patterns and making and
testing rules; use mental x and ÷ strategies; relate mental ÷strategies to multiples of ten of the divisor; know properties
of equilateral, isosceles, scalene and right-angled triangles; find that angles in a triangle have a total of 180°; sort
triangles according to their properties; use scales to weigh amounts to the nearest half interval; convert from grams to
kilograms and vice versa, from mm to litres and vice versa, and from metres to km and vice versa; read scales to the
nearest half ÷; understand that we measure distance in kilometres and miles; use ready reckoning to give approximate
values of miles in kilometres and vice versa; draw line conversion graphs; use a written column method to + amounts of
money in pounds and pence; 9 2-place decimals using written column +; subtract decimal numbers using counting up (Frog)
In the second Spring term children we will learn to: use a written method (grid) to x pairs of 2-digit numbers; use short
÷ to ÷ 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers, including those which leave a remainder; find unit fractions and non-unit
fractions of 3-digit numbers; use short x to x 3-digit and 4-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers; understand what a polygon
is; draw polygons using dotted square and isometric paper; revise terms obtuse, acute and reflex angles, perpendicular
and parallel sides; recognise quadrilaterals as polygons and identify their properties; classify quadrilaterals; draw
regular polygons and explore their properties; revise metric units of weight, capacity and length; understand that we can
measure in imperial units and relate these to their instances in daily life; place mixed numbers on lines; count up in
fractions using equivalence; convert improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa; write improper fractions as
mixed numbers and vice versa; x proper fractions by whole numbers; solve - of 4-digit numbers using written column (decomposition); + several numbers using written column +; use column to solve problems
Our Locality
Individual Liberty
and Beliefs
Music
Art and DT
Children will explore
techniques such as patchwork
and weaving with materials.
Freestanding structures will
be the focus in DT.
Children will listen
to/compare/contrast classical music,
noting responses in a diary. Children
will compose using the treble clef,
musical notation in 4/4 time by using
the C Major scale.
MFL
Children will continue to learn French. Learning
will include: colours, body parts, French
translation, zoo animals, verb ‘to be’, receptive
vocabulary and family in Spring term 1. During
Spring term 2, children will learn about: how to
follow a story, pets, dictionary skills and hobbies.
RE
Children will explore religious symbols through
art, architecture and poetry and consider how
this can show religious belief. Children will make
their own symbols, deciding what they represent
and assign them their own personal meaning.