Year 5

A Letter to Year Six-to-be!                                 Friday 3^rd July 2020

Dear Year Five (Download Full Letter Here),

As you’re going to be asked to write a letter to me this weekend, I thought I should compose something for you so that you can get to know me a little better.

It’s a strange situation. I feel as if I know some of you well as I have taught you most afternoons up until March 20^th. However, I feel I know those of you who weren’t with me much less well.

It’s been a very strange time for us all. I have been so happy to see my class again, and I think they were glad to be back too. I hope you’re all safe and well, and hopefully raring to go in September. Fingers crossed, we’ll all be back.

I am the only male teacher at this school! I sometimes wish I wasn’t on my own. I have been here exactly 26 years, which is a very long time in one school. You will be my 27^th class.

You have ‘big shoes to fill’. This means that I have really enjoyed my last few classes, all of whom have been excellent to teach and fun to be with. I am hoping you will be the same.

My favourite subjects to teach are English and PE. I really enjoy poetry, and I think I can make this genre of writing fun and accessible to you all.

I think I am a very fair person. I also think that you and I will get along very well as long as you try your best with your behaviour and attitude to work. How intelligent you are is of no importance to me. All I ask is that you always try your best and respect my decisions.

When I was at school, I wanted to be either a teacher or a journalist (I liked writing). My mum was a teacher. My mum’s sister was a teacher. My grandma was a head-teacher. My dad did some lecturing, so I guess teaching runs in the family.

When I am not at work, I enjoy playing sport. Unfortunately, much of the sport I enjoy has not been possible for a few months. I love playing badminton, table-tennis, golf, pool, darts and occasionally squash. I also like swimming and going for long walks. I enjoy watching cricket on the television. I also love taking photographs of wildlife, particularly birds and butterflies. Perhaps one day you would like to see some of the photographs I have taken.

I have a guilty sin… Pepsi. I know it is bad for me, but I do not drink alcohol at all. I limit the amount I drink, and I try and ensure I drink plenty of water too.

I hate, hate, hate wasps. If there is one in the classroom, prepare to quickly evacuate the room! I need someone in the class who will calmly deal with it. I am not sure how someone who is six-foot-three can be so scared of something so tiny, but I am!

I expect you to work hard for me, and I will certainly work hard for you. I have high expectations, but I do think that children enjoy being taught by me.

I wish you all a lovely summer. I have no idea what I’m doing- it all depends on the situation with the virus. I definitely want to get lots of fresh air and be outside as much as possible.

Take care all of you, and have a lovely, safe summer. I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Mr. C.      

7^th September, 2018

Dear Parents,

As your child is one of the older children from Year 5, I am teaching your son / daughter during the afternoons this academic year. I thought I should take the opportunity to inform you of some of the work we will be covering this term.

In the afternoons, pupils will be covering work in history, geography, RE, PE, computing, French, technology, music, art and PCSHE.

Our history topic is World War Two. We have already started this, and the children are gripped by it. We have found out about how the war started. Soon, we will learn about evacuation, the ‘Phoney War’, The Blitz, Anne Frank, concentration camps (at an appropriate level), rationing, the Battle of Britain and D-Day. We’ll examine the impact locally of the war.

In Geography, we will be learning about co-ordinates and maps, along with finding key locations in the world.

Judaism is our topic in RE. The children will be comparing Judaism to Christianity.

In our afternoon PE session, we will play a range of games. The children will complete Key Steps 3 gymnastics.

Learning how to code is a focus of computing. We will also be learning some spreadsheet skills and some more advanced word processing skills. Crucially, pupils will do a block of work on keeping safe online and with technology in general.

Topics in French this term are ‘Our Town’ and ‘My Home’.

Mrs. Newton will complete a block of work in technology in the second half of the term. This will link with our World War Two topic. The children will be designing and making Anderson shelters.

Mrs. Coates has already started music, and the children enjoyed doing some samba yesterday!

In art, we will complete some Blitz pastel pictures. Children will design propaganda posters. We will also learn about abstract art.

PCSHE involves us looking at British Values. One area of focus will again link to the war and the idea of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.’

I look forward to teaching your child this year. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you.

Best Wishes,

Mr. Cairns

September 2018

Dear Parents / Guardians,

A warm welcome to our new Year 5 class!

This is just to send you some information about the class, some of the things we will be studying this term and other things that you may need to know:

Staff:

Miss Merritt will be teaching the class every morning, and Mrs Parrington will be working with us to support individuals and groups each morning.

In the afternoon we will split into 2 different classes:

• Our mixed Year 4&5 ‘Helvellyn’ class will be taught by Miss Merritt (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and Mrs Newton (Tuesday and Thursday).
• Mr Cairns will teach the mixed Year 5&6 ‘Scafell’ class, with Mrs Coates doing PPA cover on Thursday afternoon.
• Mrs Coates (teaching Music) and Mrs Newton (teaching DT) will swap every half term  between the two classes.

PE / swimming:

This term, one PE lesson will be swimming as a whole class and the second will be with the mixed afternoon class. Swimming will be on Thursday morning as usual, beginning next week. (A separate letter will be sent out regarding swimming).

Homework:

• Homework is given out on a Friday and is to be returned by the following Wednesday.
• Spellings will be given out each week and these will focus on a mix of spelling patterns and high frequency words.
• Children will also have a set of times tables facts (both multiplication and division) to learn and these will be tested on Thursday mornings. www.timestables.me.uk  is a website I would highly recommend to support times tables homework. Children are able to choose specific sets of facts to focus on and how many questions to answer, as they work to improve their recall times. Mathletics is also a useful resource.
• On alternate weeks, Maths (linked to work units studied in class) or Literacy (SPaG) based homework will be sent out and there will be Speaking & Listening / talk homework approximately every half term.
• The times tables tests will take place Thursday mornings, and the spelling tests on Friday mornings. Tests will be done in homework books to allow parents to see how children have done.

• Occasionally, a special piece of homework may be given out over a longer time period (e.g. preparing a talk or a longer project).

**Please be aware that children who do not hand homework in on time on Wednesday will be expected to miss playtimes in order to complete it within school (in line with KS2 policy). We very much appreciate your support regarding homework.

Reading:

As we move through school, reading continues to be a vital skill where the focus is on reading for meaning and understanding. Ideally, this comes through a varied range of books and print media (to include, for example; information books, poetry, magazines and newspapers, classic texts, stories from other cultures) whilst also enabling children to develop their reading speed and stamina.

Children will have opportunities for individual reading within school where they will be encouraged to try a variety of different text types. In Key Stage 2, most ‘teaching’ of reading takes place through adult-led Group Reading sessions. We are sending out Home – School Reading Records and would gratefully appreciate your support with filling in / signing these to encourage your child to read at home.

Children should aim to read at home a minimum of 4-5 times a week. For different children this could range anywhere from a few pages to a whole chapter of a book. Some children may still benefit from reading aloud to an adult, whilst for others it may be beneficial to talk about their reading (events and characters, make predictions etc.). Children are able to borrow books from school if they wish or to choose for themselves at home. Staff will not usually write in Reading Records other than to record when a Group Reading session has taken place. Our ‘Reading Stars’ reward system is in place once again, where children are able to work towards a series of rewards over the year.

English:

English work this term will begin with a block to revise SPaG concepts and introduce new Year 5 objectives. For the rest of the Autumn term, work will be based on ’Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo which we will be reading as a class in school. A range of comprehension and writing based tasks will be linked to it (e.g. diary / logbook, letters, poetry, newspaper reports, playscripts).

Year 5&6 have a new list of High Frequency words that will start to be included in Spellings homework.  Most children will be working on these, although some will continue with the earlier Year 3&4 list of spelling words also.

Maths:

Maths topic areas this term will be taught in the following order:

• Number and place value, calculation methods (addition and subtraction), statistics, multiplication and division, perimeter and area, fractions, decimals & percentages.

Children will continue to work in differentiated groups for CLIC to develop rapid recall of number facts and key calculation skills.

Science: This term’s topic will be ‘Properties and changes of materials’

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or queries. I am usually available to talk on the phone after school, or else an appointment can be made for a mutually convenient time.

Yours,

Miss A. Merritt

7^th September, 2018

Dear Parents,

As your child is one of the older children from Year 5, I am teaching your son / daughter during the afternoons this academic year. I thought I should take the opportunity to inform you of some of the work we will be covering this term.

In the afternoons, pupils will be covering work in history, geography, RE, PE, computing, French, technology, music, art and PCSHE.

Our history topic is World War Two. We have already started this, and the children are gripped by it. We have found out about how the war started. Soon, we will learn about evacuation, the ‘Phoney War’, The Blitz, Anne Frank, concentration camps (at an appropriate level), rationing, the Battle of Britain and D-Day. We’ll examine the impact locally of the war.

In Geography, we will be learning about co-ordinates and maps, along with finding key locations in the world.

Judaism is our topic in RE. The children will be comparing Judaism to Christianity.

In our afternoon PE session, we will play a range of games. The children will complete Key Steps 3 gymnastics.

Learning how to code is a focus of computing. We will also be learning some spreadsheet skills and some more advanced word processing skills. Crucially, pupils will do a block of work on keeping safe online and with technology in general.

Topics in French this term are ‘Our Town’ and ‘My Home’.

Mrs. Newton will complete a block of work in technology in the second half of the term. This will link with our World War Two topic. The children will be designing and making Anderson shelters.

Mrs. Coates has already started music, and the children enjoyed doing some samba yesterday!

In art, we will complete some Blitz pastel pictures. Children will design propaganda posters. We will also learn about abstract art.

PCSHE involves us looking at British Values. One area of focus will again link to the war and the idea of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.’

I look forward to teaching your child this year. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you.

Best Wishes,

Mr. Cairns