29th October 2007

Welcome back to an exciting (but very long) new term!
We hope you have had a good half term break, and have managed to renew your batteries (or maybe ran them out!!)

DON’T FORGET THAT WE HAVE AN INSET DAY FIRST MONDAY BACK (29TH) SO YOU ALL GET AN EXTRA DAY AT HOME!

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and we cannot believe we are into the second half of the term already. Christmas will be upon us really soon! (Too soon when you think of all the shopping that will need doing!)
This term will provide lots of fantastic opportunities for new learning, but will also emphasise lots of consolidation.

On Thursday of this week, we shall be having Mass at 9am in the hall for All Saints Day. Feel free to attend, however please be considerate about the amount of space we have available.

Please can you make sure that you continue to sign your child’s diary. We are aiming to have a 100% ‘signing’ rate every week, and although we are getting better with this, we are still some way off. We ask children to either open their diary on the correct week, and we mover around the tables to check them, or children bring their diaries to us. It is extremely embarrassing for children when their diary as not been signed, as they then feel they stand out. It is your child’s responsibility to show you their diary, however it is your responsibility to make sure it is signed and that there is a communication with school. We hate to lecture, but as we have said before the difference it makes to school standards is immense!

Thank you for making sure that homework is still brought into school on time. It is so important that children continue to foster these skills of independence, in preparation for learning at the High School.

TARGET SETTING:
You may find that during this week, and next, your child may be keen to talk to you about a new form of target setting we have introduced in School, particularly targeting Maths. We are focusing as a whole school on the areas of RAPID RECALL and PROBLEM SOLVING. Obviously these areas are inextricably linked, but they are Mathematical skills that provide the foundations for further learning. We are confident that if as a school we manage to CRACK these, children will be altogether more confident in every other area of Maths.
The targets are what we call LAYERED which means that they are suitable for every member of a class and that learning becomes more personalised. Your child may have told you that in lessons we give children the lesson objectives as a MUST, SHOULD and COULD. This means that all children MUST achieve a basic target, they SHOULD be able to achieve something slightly more difficult, and COULD push themselves to achieve a challenge objective.
We are hoping to achieve a similar approach with the new Maths targets, however the procedure is slightly different.
Every Half term your child will be given a different target/s which will be at a suitable level for them. It may be a MUST, SHOULD or COULD target. In school and at home our focus will be on ensuring that your child focuses on this target whenever possible. Here are the targets for both year 5 and year 6.

YEAR 5 Targets
MUST = I can add and subtract 2 digit numbers rapidly and accurately.
SHOULD = I can find doubles and halves of 2 digit numbers.
COULD = I can find doubles and halves of decimal numbers (to 2 decimal places.)

YEAR 6 Targets
MUST = I know all my multiplication facts to
10 x 10
SHOULD = I know all my multiplication facts to 10 x 10 and the corresponding division facts.
COULD = I can multiply and divide decimal numbers.

We will plan learning opportunities into lessons whenever possible to enable children to review the target, and would hope that parent’s will help by emphasising the target at home.
What is so brilliant about this type of target setting is that children have the opportunity to aspire and challenge themselves to reach a higher level target, and a developed learning ability. Your child may start on a MUST, but there is no reason they cannot aim for the COULD. If your child completes a target, then we will move them onto a new target. Please be assured, however that we will ensure that the targets are suitably challenging to be relevant for a half term.
The targets will be progressive throughout the whole school so that learning/targets in one year are built upon in the next year. All relevant targets are displayed in every classroom and your child will be made aware of their target. ASK THEM AT HOME, WHAT IT IS!
Focusing on one target ensures that deeper learning can take place, instead of surface learning of lots of different targets. We will review the targets as a school every half term and move on appropriately. We are really excited about this learning opportunity, and would really appreciate your support!

After all the complicated housekeeping we now move on to what we are learning this week…
Before half term we made some informal assessments of how the children have progressed so far this term, and we will continue with our assessment and review this first week back. Don’t worry! Your child will not realise they are really being assessed, and these review weeks are not TESTS as such.

LITERACY:
This week we will be completing our unit on significant authors. Hopefully children you have had the chance to read a Roald Dahl book over half term. We have really enjoyed the stories we have read together. By the end of the week we will…
Write a new story inspired by a favourite book or author. Include elements based on reading, for example an interesting story opening or language used to create a particular comic or dramatic effect. Vary the length of sentences to achieve particular effects.
Our objectives for this week are that we…

Must write a complete story with a sequence of events arranged into paragraphs (marking and feedback against agreed success criteria).
Should write a complete story with a sequence of events arranged into paragraphs, linked with a range of connectives (marking and feedback against agreed success criteria).
Could write a complete story with a sequence of events arranged into paragraphs, linked with a range of connectives and using varying sentence length (marking and feedback against agreed success criteria).

We have been planning activities using a new framework for Literacy introduced this year, and we are really pleased with how it is going. We feel it has given us the luxury of learning about a topic in greater depth, and therefore providing a better learning experience.

MATHS:
Mrs Millington’s group will start a new unit on being able to Use and convert between metric units of length and understanding imperial units of length. We will also focus on Using and converting between metric units of weight and understanding imperial units of weight.

Our objectives for this week are….

Use, read and write standard metric units of length: mm, cm, m, km

Convert from one smaller metric unit of length to another larger unit

Suggest suitable units and measuring equipment to estimate or measure length

Understand the relationship between imperial and metric units of length

Use, read and write standard metric units of weight: kg, g

Record estimates and readings from weighing scales

Suggest suitable units and measuring equipment to estimate or measure weight


We will still also be focusing on Multiplication and division facts as part of our new target system.

Mrs Morgan and Miss Wright’s Maths group will be spending the week looking at shape, and their targets will be ….

Rehearse the terms ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’.
Introduce the terms ‘parallel’ and ‘perpendicular’.
Identify ‘parallel’ and ‘perpendicular’ lines.
Rehearse names and properties of 2-d shapes, particularly focussing on the properties of rectangles.
Rehearse regular and irregular polygons.
Introduce diagonals of polygons.

Don’t forget to use the Maths websites published on previous blogs!!

Here I Am:
We continue with our topic of Signs and Symbols. This topic is brilliant preparation for the season of Advent that will soon be upon us!! Children continue to be reflective and thoughtful during our daily sessions, and really do try to be advocates of our mission statement ‘To love and serve as Jesus shows us’.

SCIENCE:
We will spend this week reviewing what we have learnt in our ‘Light and Shadows’ topic, and then we will move onto our brand new topic ‘The Earth and Beyond’. We always find that this is a really popular topic, and the children always surprise us with the facts that they find out at home and bring to lessons. This first week sees us concentrating on the solar system and by the end of the week we will be able ….

To know that the Earth is part of the Solar System

To know that the Solar System includes The Earth, The Sun and nine planets.

A useful way of remembering all the planets is by producing a Mnemonic. A useful one we use in school is
Many Vile Earthlings Make Jam Sandwiches Under Newspaper Piles!
See if you can come up with any better Mnemonics. The most interesting ones may even win Raffle Tickets.

Useful websites for this topic are….

http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/cyberhunts/solar_system/sosystem.htmKey Stage 2 –5E – Earth, Sun and Moon – A cyberhunt for children.
www.scienceyear.com/parents/school_pack/ks2.html
www.engineeringinteract.org/teachers5.htm
www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/teacher/science.html

TOPIC:

Our Lights, Camera Action topic focuses on a new theme of ‘Movie Magic’

Children will get the opportunity to Take a look behind the scenes of Star Wars III at http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/me3/8.html,
What did the chn see or hear? What were the people doing? What were their roles? Draw together the chn’s thoughts and observations on the f/c. What would the atmosphere behind the scenes be like? It’s something that movie watchers rarely see and experience! We will then Write an informal letter using the correct structure and style, explaining to someone back home about their movie experience.
We will also chat about how Successful Movies can make millions of pounds at the cinema, through DVD sales and merchandise like toys! The film Titanic has made nearly 2 billion dollars! Getting the right movie star can be important – Why this is? As a result, movie stars can earn HUGE amounts of money! You’d think they would be happy with that! Oh no! We will discuss the ‘sometimes bizarre’ requests of the rich and famous. Which seem most unusual? Unreasonable? Remember that stars make these requests as part of their contract, so no bendy straws no singing or acting!!!! Discuss Share some of the amusing, demanding or just plain bizarre requests. We will tell the children to imagine that they (the movie star!) have just arrived on the movie set and their requests have not been met! Time for a letter of complaint! This letter will be different than that written in the last session. Can childrenn explain why?

Websites to support this topic are….

Letter Writing

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/english/writing/13_act.shtml
An interactive activity from a trusted source dealing with the conventions of letter writing.

Behind the Scenes Tours

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/me3/8.html
Take a look behind the scenes of Star Wars III.

www.learner.org/exhibits/cinema/index.htm
An in-depth look at the key roles in movie production.

That’s it for this week. Hope it’s a good one!! Until next time, the year 5/6 Team.