Week Beginning 8th September 2008

Hi everyone and welcome to a new school year!

We would like to start this week by thanking all the children for coming back to school looking so smart and with with fantastic attitudes and behaviour. We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday getting used to school routines and getting to know each other.
This week will be spent assessing the children so that we have a clearer idea of what each child's targets are and how we can plan work so that the children achieve their full potential.
There will also be a lot of other activities going on this week.

Housekeeping!
This blogspot will be updated every weekend in preparation for the week ahead. We will include details of everything your child will be learning, ideas of how you can support your child and websites which can you can access at home to continue what has been learned at school.
If there is anything which we haven't included and you feel would be useful, then please do let us know!

Please ensure your child brings a coat to school, we have had a number of children with no coats last week and with the weather being so bad they really do need one. Thank you.

PE
PE in Year 5/6 this year will take place on a Thursday and Friday, please ensure that your child's PE kit is in school this week as we will be starting. Thursday's PE session will be taken by Mrs Morgan and Friday's PE session will be taken by your child's class teacher.

Conway
There are still some outstanding medical forms for the Conway trip. We really can't stress how important it is for these to be sent in, we need to send them off to the centre as soon as possible so they can prepare themselves for our arrival.
On Thursday 18th September at 3.30pm somebody from the Conway Centre will be holding a meeting in school about your child's trip. This is your opportunity to find out what they will be doing while there and also to ask any questions about the centre.
Teachers will also be at the meeting, so if you need to ask any questions or are worried about anything then please do not hesitate to speak to them.

Homework
Homework will begin next week for Year 5/6, although spellings will be sent out this week. Each week, your child will receive a set of spellings, which they need to learn for a spelling test on Fridays. We would also like them to use these spellings, to create a series of sentences, to develop their vocabulary, punctuation and sentence structure.
They will also bring home a piece of numeracy and literacy to be completed on a weekly basis. Literacy and Numeracy will be given out on MONDAYS to be returned on THURSDAYS.
Science homework will be given out on WEDNESDAYS to be returned on TUESDAYS. We would ask that you sign and date your child's homework before they hand it in.
A research homework sheet did go home this week. We sent this home in preparation for starting our topic of the Greeks. This is not a formal, assessed piece of homework we just though it would be better if the children have a bit of background information before we start the topic. There are suggested websites on the sheet for you to have a look at this week.

Induction meeting
We will be holding our annual induction meetings on Tuesday 16th at 3.15pm for Year 5 parents and Wednesday 17th at 3.15pm for Year 6 parents. We have decided to spilt the induction meetings this year as we need to address different issues in Year 5 and Year 6. We will be discussing all the issues that are important throughout the year, as well as giving you the opportunity to ask us anything that can help to support your child's learning. We look forward to seeing you there.

Finally, your child should bring home their diary EVERY day for you to read and sign. This blogspot is a means of communicating activities and news for all of year 5/6, but the diary is an individual way we can inform you of your child's progress. It can be difficult to get your child to read aloud at this age, but you can still check their understanding of the text by asking them questions about what they have read. We love reading your comments in the diaries and it gives your child a real boost to know that you are helping them in their learning.

Here's to happy week!

Year 5/6 Team.