Year 5/6: Clover Class Mrs Batey

CLOVER CLASS 2019-2020

Welcome to the world of books!

This term our learning takes us on a journey of discovery, exploring the world of humans and animals.

Our ‘main’ class text is

‘The Island at the End of Everything’, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave,

where we will learn about the realities faced on a leper colony in the Philippines. It will cause us to question whether segregating people was the right thing to do.  We will also explore the symbolism of the butterfly with the text, visiting ‘Tropical Butterfly World’ in Sheffield to experience the beauty of the butterfly first-hand.

We will examine this book in whole-class reading, looking at the ways that characters are portrayed and at the kinds of vocabulary used to engage the reader.

We also look at the discoveries of Charles Darwin, John James Audubon and Rosalind Franklin though the texts:

learning about adaptation and evolution. We travel with Darwin to the Galapagos Islands, looking at the features of the landscape, such as volcanoes, which have helped created environments for living things

Art takes its inspiration from the text: ‘The Lost Words’ and the artist Jackie Morris. We will explore a range of painting techniques inspired by the text, developing our skills in our sketch books and then creating our own version of the book, which will incorporate writing as well as art.

Visits and experiences this term will include:

• Y6 Construction Day- a day where we learn about the variety of jobs in the world of work
• K’NEX Challenge- where we will use construction materials to create our own car

Reading Logs

In Clover class, we read independently, but it's nice if you will let us read to you at home too. We like to discuss what we have read, looking closely at how an author gives clues about the characters in the book.

In our reading logs, we record:

• book title and author
• vocabulary and phrases which we can use in our independent writing
• thoughts about the characters and how they act- we can find quotes to back this up and record those.

The expectation is that we read every night.

Spelling logs.

Our spelling logs have 3 main areas of focus.

1. We will be working on a particular letter string and so there will be lists of words which we are expected to learn independently. We can use Spelling Shed to support us with learning these words- there will always be an assignment set using that letter pattern
2. Personal words- these are words which individual pupils spell incorrectly and so need to practise further. There may be a personal list on Spelling Shed set up to practise these words further
3. Y3/4 and Y5/6 lists. These words are examples of the kinds of words which the government recommends that pupils should be able to spell. They are words which we are expected to use in our independent writing.

We learn spelling in different ways so you will see us trying out different techniques such as mnemonics and  colours for letter strings. We will always use joined handwriting for our spellings and write them starting with a small letter.

Time Tables Practice

We use Times Tables Rock Stars to practice our multiplication tables.

Multiplication tables are linked to so many area of mathematical learning such as fractions, percentages and ratio, so it is crucial we know all of our tables as well as their related division fact.

• PE Day for Clover is Friday
• Swimming starts on Monday 9 September 2019.  Our final swim is on Monday 14 October 2019
• Always ensure your child brings their PE kit on Monday and leaves it at school until Friday when it can be taken home to be washed. Thank you.
• Children should bring their reading book(s) everyday into school and do please ask your child’s teacher if your child requires additional books to read. Although the child may have a reading record book, there is no expectation that these are completed by the class teacher or teaching assistants. They are provided to enable communication about the child’s reading between parent/carer and class teacher if needed. Do not feel the need to comment yourself daily.
• Homework is now limited to reading, spelling and times tables. Homework should be completed in short focused bursts – we know that it can become stressful and if we can support you in any way, please let your child’s class teacher know. In addition, if you have any problems accessing TTRockStars or SpellingShed do contact us.