Week Beginning 17th March 2008

Hi everyone and welcome to the end of the second term!!


There are lots of events happening in school this week to celebrate Easter, we are really looking forward to it.
Tuesday afternoon sees our turn for fundraising and the children have organised their own stalls and ideas to raise money for Nugent Care. They are running the event but I'm sure they would like to go round and join in with other people's stalls so they will need some change on Tuesday.


There will be no homework this week so the children can spend their time making Easter gardens, we have been overwhelmed this year with the amount of activities Year 5/6 still get involved in, so don't let us down let's see some fantastic gardens.


While we are on the subject of homework we would like to thank those children who complete their homework and hand it in on time every week, this applies to the majority of children so well done. There are a few children that consistently do not complete homework, school policy is that the children receive a 'sad face' when homework has not been completed. We realise that the are the odd exceptions to this when it has not been possible for homework to be completed and we will assess each case individually. Home learning is essential for maximising your child's potential and is also important preparation for them moving up to the high school. If you have a problem with homework and getting it completed on time please see your child's teacher to discuss the matter and we are sure we can come up with some alternative arrangements.



Thank you to all those parents who attended the Year 6 SATs meeting on Tuesday, it is important to us to hear your opinions and thoughts, we hope that this helped you with some ideas on helping your child get through their SATs. If you would like any other information or advise please pop in and see your child's teacher or any member of the 5/6 team.

Have a look at this website about preparing your child for high school, it has some good information and ideas.



http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/foragegroup/7to11years/movingtosecondaryschool



We would like to thank you also for having a go at the literacy homework this week. We really do think that it is important for you to see all the things your child needs to included to achieve certain levels in writing. It is also important that you and your child are aware of their targets.

Through the diaries and conversations with parents we have received some excellent feedback on this task, we hope to do this more often but realise that it is not practical to do it every week, we would like to do it once every half term, this will help you and your child see whether their writing is progressing.



This weeks curriculum.......
As it is the last week of term this will be our assessment and review week.


Literacy
The Year 5's had great fun last week designing a persuasive advert for a new chocolate bar.
This week they will be planning a radio advert for a competition. They will be advirtising a new film called 'Kung Fu Panda'. As you can imagine the children are really excited about this.

http://www.filmeducation.org/kungfupanda/index.htm Have a look at the website.



Year 6's will continue with their revision programme, they are absolutely working their socks off in school and we are really proud of them, well done guys not long to go now.

At the SATs meeting we said we would but some spelling websites on the blogspot for children to practise on, here you go..
http://www.funbrain.com/spell/ pick the word that is spelt wrong and spell it correctly.
http://www.gamequarium.com/spelling.html lots of different games e.g. hang man
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html games and activities provided by Woodlands Junior School.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/spellits/ad_menu_flash.shtml bbc schools spellits, solve mysteries while having spelling practise on the way.
We also have a list of all the spellings that have appeared on previous SATs test which we will print out and send home. It will not help to learn this list but will give you an idea of the types of spellings that come up on the test.

Numeracy
Miss Wright's and Mrs Morgan's groups will be reviewing what they have learned this term, this includes:-
Probability, line graphs, dividing HTU by U, finding percentages, multiplying u.ths x u.
See previous blogspots for websites and remind yourselves of all the things we have covered.

Mrs Millington's and Mr Barker's groups will be continuing with their revision programme.

Science
Year 5's will be continuing with their topic of gases around us, this week
Children should learn:
that soils have air trapped within them
to measure volumes of water carefully
to recognise whether measurements need to be repeated
to use their results to compare the air trapped in different soils

Year 6's will be continuing with their revision programme.

Here I Am
This week will be spent on the true meaning of Easter and looking at the different things that happen in mass which stem from this celebration.
The children will work on dramas and readings which they will perform at the Easter Service. It will take place at 9am on Thursday Morning.
You are welcome to join us but please remember, as always space is limited.

So once again we have reached the end of a very hardworking term and we thank you for your support and the hard work from the children in school and at home.

Have a Happy and Holy Easter and we would also like to wish you Happy St Patrick's Day.

Year 5/6 Team.