Dear Parents, We have made a positive start to the year and are eager to get involved in our learning topics. I will be teaching the classfor the majority of the week. Mrs. Johns will be teaching the classon the day when I am out of class to allow me to fulfil my deputy head jobs. I will, however, still be planning the sessions and will be interested in seeing what the children are doing! We are lucky to have Mrs. Dolman working with us, who is an expert in year 6! This year we also have Mr Willson who is completing a teacher training course.
We will continue to start the school day with physical activity; your child will need to ensure that they come to school prepared with a PEkit. There will also be weekly PEand Gameslessons. This half term we are developing our football and gymnastic skills.
During the daily literacy lessons the children will develop and extend their knowledge of different texts. We’ll be looking at how imagery is used within poetry as well as having a go at writing our own poems. We have produced some fantastic poems already so look out for these on the classBlog. Later in the term, the children will become familiar with a range of fiction genres exploring the style and structure of different story types before applying these ideas to help them write their own stories. Although your child is able to read independently it would be very beneficial to listen to them read or discussthe text they have read with them focussing on children’s opinions of texts, their ability to infer messagesin the text and understand characters in stories. Additionally children will need to continue to work on learning spellings and spelling patterns and developing neat and joined handwriting. Any practice of these skills at home would be really helpful.
In Numeracy the children will be working on developing mental and written methods to solve calculations including using decimal and whole numbers. They’ll be looking for patterns and sequencesin numbers investigating square and prime numbers. When learning about shape, the children will start identifying parallel and perpendicular edgesor faces on 2D and 3D shapeswhilst working on drawing shapesaccurately. When solving calculations it is very helpful to be able to recall quickly number facts such as times tables. Your child would benefit greatly from working on knowing all times table facts.
Much our learning will happen through our topic work this will combine subjects such as science, art, history and geography. We have started the year with a short topic on the way we see things
combining our literacy work with science and art. Later this term we’ll be learning about the Aborigines.
The laptops will be used regularly in all curriculum areas in school to support learning and help develop children’s skills in becoming more independent learners. Pleasesupport us with this by ensuring your child makes good use of the equipment. Many of you have already signed and completed the contracts.
Year 6 is an important year for your child; it is their last year at Blandford St Mary and a preparation time for the move to The Blandford School. It is also the end of Key Stage 2 which will involve assessing your child to see the achievements they have made during Key Stage 2. Despite these important factors my aim is to make your child’s year an enjoyable and successful year. If you do have any concerns or queries pleasedo get in contact by popping in at the start or end of day or leaving me a messagefor me to call you. Best wishes,
Lauren Houlston, Heather Dolman and the Year 6 Team!