Week Beginning 3rd December 2007

Hi everyone and welcome to December!!


On Monday this week we will be travelling to the MEN to take part in the largest schools concert in the world. You should have recieved a letter with the details of what will be happening on Monday but just incase it didn't find it's way home here are a few key details.

The children will need their lunch and tea for Monday. If they have a packed lunch, they will need a packed lunch and a packed tea. If they have a hot dinner then they will have this as usual and they will also need a packed tea to eat when we are at the MEN.

You should have been given your t-shirts to wear on Monday and you need to bring it with you in a bag with your name on.

We will be travelling to the MEN in our uniforms. This is because there will be over 8000 children there and if we are all wearing white Young Voices t-shirts then we may well come home with the wrong children!!

It says on the letter to bring a dark pair of trousers or a skirt but the children can leave on their school trousers or skirt of they want to. This is the easier option as it will save lots of clothes getting lost.

The children will be travelling back to school on the coach with the teachers. There are simply too many children around therefore it is easier if we keep them all together and return to school together, at least then we know we have all the children together in one place. We will return to school at approx 10.30pm.

Last time we went to the Young Voices Concert at the MEN lots of parent were stuck in a traffic jam in the car park and we were back at school a lot earlier than they were. If this is the case again, we will wait with the children until they have all been picked up.

The downside to this is that some of the children will have a really late night and for that reason they will not be expected into school until 10.30am on Tuesday morning.

We do realise that some parents will have to bring their children in at normal time due to work commitments therefore the teachers will be in school at normal time, although we cannot promise that we won't be asleep in a corner somewhere!!!!

The Young Voices Concert is a truly remarkable experience and we are lucky to be taking part in it. We will have a fantastic time and if you are coming to the concert you will be amazed!

Now for the rest of the week.....

We mentioned last week that the children will be doing assessments in school and this week will be mostly filled with revision and the completion of the tests. We would usually do this in the last week but in the run up to Christmas and with so much going on we feel that it will be better to do them before things start to get too hectic.

Literacy

We have completed our assessed piece of writing on Myths and Legends and this week we will be using our editing skills to improve that writing. We will also be using peer and self assessment when looking at the writing.
Peer assessment is when we get a friend to look at our work and give 3 stars and a wish. That means that they have to make 3 positive points and something that can be improved.
Self assessment is when we look at descritions of levels, decide what we think our writing is and then set ourselves targets to improve.
The year 5's have completed their reading tests but the year 6's still need to do theirs so this will take place sometime this week.

Numeracy

Numeracy this week will be focused around revision. We will be reviewing what we have covered from September. So have a look through your homework books and on previous blogspots to remind you what sort of things we have been learning.

We will also be reviewing our targets, remember them? You should know them off by heart now but here's a quick reminder:-
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 to10 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 also have lots of children getting certificates for their tables. The children that have gained gold will now be completing a series of division questions to gain another certificate. Keep it up children we can see you are really trying hard with this.

Science

As we are nearing the end of our topic on 'The Earth and Beyond' we will be reviewing what we have learned so far and then we will begin the process of planning a lesson for the year 1/2 children.
This proved to be a very successful exercise last time we did it and all the children got something out of it.
The best way to ensure you have learned something really well is to teach it to someone else.
So get thinking children, I'm sure there are loads of exciting activities to come up with to do with Space.

Here I Am

We are still on our topic of visitors but this week a lot of Here I Am time will be spent looking at the Christmas Story and finding readings from the Bible to read at our Carol Service at Church on 21st December. We will also be practising carols for the serivce and are going to be very traditional this year. You could get the whole family round the piano for a sing-a-long in preparation!!

On Saturday this week it is time for our annual Christmas Fair, this is a time when the whole school community can get together and have some fun, it really is a fantastic day, so please come along and support our school.
The School Council still need any items you no longer have use for, for their bring and buy sale. Anything in a reasonable condition will be accepted.

As we are at the MEN on Monday no homework or spelling will be sent out on Monday. You could take this oppotunity to revise homework that has been done in previous weeks in order to prepare for the assessments. You could also use this time to come up with ideas and make resources for the science lesson for year 1/2.

That's all for this week, 3 weeks to go!!

Year 5/6 Team.