It's so fantastic to see all the children back from their holidays and ready to start a new school year! I must say I was very impressed by the quality of the holiday homework and the enthusiasm the children have shown for the new challenges ahead in Form IV! Here's a short overview of the main learning for this term:
In Literacy we will start the term by looking at different forms of poetry and in particular the expressive language used by poets. Hopefully the children will feel confident enough about their own poems to enter the Ted Hughes Young Poets Competition, which closes in a couple of weeks. We will then move on to cover non-fiction recounts by looking at newspaper articles and designing our own newpaper reports. Just before half-term we will then cover fiction in the form of historical novels.
In the second part of this term, we will study playscripts, non-fiction (instructions) and then poetry in different forms (looking closely at shape poems).
Pupils will complete ongoing weekly spelling tests (on a Monday) and we will have lots of time in class to work on development in speaking and listening, focussing especially on presentation skills and responding appropriately to the contributions of others. Pupils will also be asked to spend some time on independent self-evaluation, looking at ways of improving their own work.
In Mathematics, pupils will start by focussing on addition and subtraction, considering mental strategies to help improve their skills. This will be followed by work on measures (including word problems), shape and space and properties of numbers. Those all-important times tables will be revisited during the term, focussing on the trickier tables. After half term, we will concentrate more on multiplication and division and extend our learning about money, telling the time and fractions. A varied diet!
Pupils will continue to focus on improving their mental calculations and workings by completing weekly mental arithmetic tests in order to monitor their children's speed, accuracy, progress and understanding. These tests take place on Tuesdays.
In Science pupils will be focussing on how humans move and grow, looking at muscles and the human skeleton. After half term, we will cover one of the topics in the chemistry strand of our work- solids and liquids.
In Design Technology we will be learning different techniques with materials to produce usable and well-designed money containers.
In I.C.T pupils will build on their existing knowledge and skills of working with 'Word' and spend time using the internet to research various topics. They will then move on to look at paint techniques.
In R.E. we are learning more about Christianity and commitment, which includes teaching children about what it means to belong to a church and covers baptism and marriage amongst other aspects of church life. After half term, we will cover the story of Christmas.
In P.S.H.E, pupils will be engaged in class discussion and activities to support their emotional development. This will include topics such as dealing with peer pressure, bullying and other issues around making and keeping friends. We will also cover current affairs from time to time and play games designed to improve thinking skills and problem-solving.
And finally:
If you are in upper school over the next few weeks, have a look at our work on the display board outside the classroom and see if you can guess who each piece of work belongs to!
