Week Beginning 27th November 2007

Hi everyone, nearly the 1st of December, doesn't time fly when you're having fun?


We had a really busy week last week and in the run upto Christmas things seem to be speeding up rather than slowing down!!

The children got very muddy when doing orienteering with Mr McGreal and as a result a lot of them will have brought home their outdoor PE kits to be washed. Please ensure that they are back in school this week, year 5's will need them on Monday for Rugby Training.

On Friday Father Richard came into school to speak to the children about signs and symbols. This was very interesting and the children asked some interesting questions resulting in some deep discussion. We would like to thank Father for taking time out of his busy timetable to come and speak to us.


Literacy


Last week we had a great time reading and responding to myths and legends and also telling ones of our own.

We completed phase 1 of our literacy unit, having a lot of fun and are now ready to move onto phase 2.

In phase 2 the children will continue familiarisation with the text-type. Discuss and investigate the effect of different techniques used by the author. Work in a group to explore and empathise with characters through drama activities. Children use a reading journal to record inferences and demonstrate understanding of characters by writing in the first person

By the end of this week they:-
must begin to identify different features of legends and identify and comment on narrative viewpoints; (teacher observation, response partners).
Should identify different features of legends and identify and comment on narrative viewpoints; (teacher observation, response partners).
Could identify different features of legends and identify and comment on narrative viewpoints; compose and manipulate more complex sentences within a given context as part of shared and guided writing (teacher observation, response partners).

See last weeks blog for the websites we will be using including the website where you can create your myths and legends, I'm sure we can do much better than the ones that are on there.

Numeracy

This week Miss Wright and Mrs Morgan's groups will be continuing with their work on Fractions. We did start this last week but feel that the children need more time to work on this as it is a difficult concept to get their heads around.
Especially changing mixed numbers into improper fractions and vice versa.

Mrs Millington's group will be continuing their revision on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, focusing especially on long multiplication and division.
They will be going through all the different method of doing this and choosing the one that suits them the most.

As we are continuing with last weeks work then please look at last weeks blog for websites.

Science

This week in science we will be looking at 'The Changing Position of the Sun'.
The children should learn that the Sun appears to move across the sky over the course of a day and evidence may be interpreted in more than one way.
We will be asking the children about where the Sun shines into the school (or their homes) at different times of day. Reminding them of earlier work on shadows and ask them to suggest what this evidence shows. Observing the length and position of the shadow of a stick set up in the playground at different times of day over successive days.
By the end this week the children:-
must be able to describe how the apparent position of the Sun changes over the course of a day.
Should be able to clarify that this does not mean that the Sun is moving.
Could explain how we know that the Sun is not moving and how we can prove this.

Again please see last weeks blog for websites.

Here I Am
We continue our topic of Visitors this week, looking at the RELATE section. The children will
learn that their own exploration of VISITORS is enriched by learning about preparations made during the four weeks of Advent to welcome Jesus at Christmas.

As we are going to the MEN Arena a week on Monday a lot of our topic time this week will be spent singing the songs without the words, as we are not allowed to have the words when performing the concenrt.
We will also have to start learning some Christmas Carols for our Carol Concert in Church on the last day of term.

On Friday we will be lucky enough to watch the infants dress rehersal, we cannot wait as we have heard the songs floating around school and we are really excited to see it in action!

The School Council would like to make a plea for any old games, books and other stuff for their bring and buy stall at the Christmas Fair on Saturday 8th December.
This is the ideal time for the children to sort through all their old toys and things to make way for the new things they will get for Christmas.
Please ensure that if you do bring anything in it is a good working condition.
Please support the Christmas Fair by coming along and joining in. It really is a lovely day with a great sense of St Vincent's School Community coming together and having fun.

Assessments
Over the next week or so, your child may come home telling you they have done some ‘tests’. We need to see how much the children have progressed since September and also form judgements about how we can move our planning forward in the new year.

Finally, I know some parents and children are starting to think about SATs already. For those of you who want to make an early start on getting yourselves used to the format of the test the following website will be useful.

http://www.st-josephs-pickering.n-yorks.sch.uk/past_test_papers.htm you can downloads SATs papers from recent years in all 3 subjects, you can also download the mark schemes.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/Science/index.html past SATs questions and also some great revision games.

http://www.sparkisland.com/public/articles/howto_sats_parents/ this site offers some handy hints for the tests and also some papers to download.

http://www.parentsintouch.co.uk/fulltimeschool/introductiontosats.htm?gclid=CNj_17bn9Y8CFSiWEgodPBMWNA help and advise for parents of children in year 6.

http://www.grumbles.me.uk/ test questions organised in areas.

Have a great week and remember to wrap up warm.

Year 5/6 Team.