Rainforest Base Dear Parents, Welcome back! I hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing Easter. As you will be well aware this is a very important term for your child; they are about to take their SATs tests. It’s the last term at BSM and a busy, exciting and possibly daunting time preparing for the transfer to Secondary school. I hope that your child makes the most of their last term and it is an enjoyable one. We do have some special events to make it memorable such as the trip to the Isle of Wight, Arts week and Sports Day.
This half term our topic is ‘localities’ which focuses on map work, comparing locations and using atlases. We have already looked at comparing Blandford to other parts of the world. The children have enjoyed learning about their own area and those around the world!
In literacy we have just finished a topic on fiction writing where the children have wirtten in many different styles, including mystery and advenrture. Their work has not only shown a great improvement in their writing styles but also their enthusiasm and excitement for the subject! We are now moving on to non-fiction writing – looking at report writing. We have already written reports using the film ‘Monsters Inc’ as a stimulus and again the children have been eager to imorove and develop their skills. In numeracy the children will continue to develop problem solving skills choosing from the range of strategies they’ve learnt this year to calculate the answers. They’ll be building on work they’ve done on shape and measures becoming more confident with a wider range of 3D shapes as well as looking into the different methods of measuring weight, length and capacity. Also the children will learn about probability being able to explain and predict outcomes. Many of the children have commented over the year on one area in maths they’re not so confident with. Do remember that they have access to Education City on their laptops which have many games and teaching tools to support this and there are many links on our class Blog under the ‘Morning Challenges’ tab.
As ever, we’ll be getting into the seasonal sports. The children will be developing cricket and athletics skills. Children must ensure that they have a P.E kit in school throughout the week in preparation for PE lessons. Please make sure they have trainers that are to be used for sports and not worn as school shoes throughout the day.
As the term progresses there will be opportunities for the children to prepare for the transfer to secondary school. We are sent activities and work from the Blandford School which will help the children make links between both schools and understand the sort of work they’ll be doing. There will be other activities such as Transfer day and sporting events for the children to attend. To support this time of change the PSHE work will reflect the changes that children will be experiencing over this time allowing opportunities to reflect and discuss concerns and future hopes.
Best wishes,
Mrs Dolman
Miss O’Sullivan