Month: January 2015

For the next few sessions, our Literacy lessons will be based around the poem ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes. It is our first opportunity to study one poem in-depth in Class 5 so it should be an exciting time. The poem is famous for its strong themes and its rich use of language.

You can read the poem here, whilst you’re reading it think about the following things:

1) What happens in the poem? Think about what happens in the beginning, the middle and the end.

2) What are the main themes within the poem? Can you think of any other poems or stories that are similar to The Highwayman?

3) Describe the main characters. How would you describe Bess, Tim the Ostler and The Highwayman?

4) Think about the language that Alfred Noyes used, try to pick up the rhythm of the poem. Can you find any examples of similes, metaphors or figurative language?

 

SOMEWHERE SPECIAL

We are excited to launch our new Spring Term Projects which will be geography-based this year. The title for the projects is ‘Somewhere Special’, and you should think of a place in the world that is special to you, that you would like to research in more depth, and that you can create a project about.

You might like to research a country where you have relatives.

You might like to research a place that you have visited on holiday that has special memories for you.

You might like to research a place that you know about, and has always interested you, but you’ve never visited.

You might like to research the area where you live in more detail.

The choice of location is up to you; you can research a city, a country, a mountain, a village, a lake or any other geographical location. In addition, you can decide how you would like to create and present your project; you could create a video guide, a poster, a diorama, a slideshow or anything else that shows what you’ve learnt.

 

Step 1 – Your teacher will give you a Project brief to fill in which should be returned on Wednesday 21st January.

Step 2 – Your teacher will advise you if the location you have chosen is suitable and then you can start working on the list of Questions to be answered when creating your project.

Step 3 – During the last week of this half-term, your teacher will collect in your project to review your progress and advise on how to improve your work.

Step 4 – On Tuesday 24th March 2015, we will hold a Project Exhibition in which you will show your projects to children in other classes (during school time) and to parents (at the end of the school day).

 

When you are creating your project, make sure that you try to refer to the following things:

1. Mapwork and Compass Directions;

2. the different features of the physical geography of your locality;

3. the different features of the human geography of your locality; and

4. Fieldwork and research.

 

Enjoy researching your special location and making your projects.

During our Extended Writing session in Sp1 Wk4 we will be writing a persuasive letter to follow on from our work on biography writing. We will be basing our writing on Charles Darwin again. You can remind yourself of Charles Darwin’s life story using the links at the bottom of the page.

Our persuasive letter will be addressed to David Cameron and it will be attempting to persuade him to create a new national holiday – Charles Darwin Day. When the country can celebrate his achievements as a scientist.

Your persuasive letter will need three paragraphs:

Paragraph 1 – you will introduce the subject and state your opinion (that we should have a new national holiday called Charles Darwin Day).

Paragraph 2 – you will give facts about his achievements as a scientist and you will use emotive language and a rhetorical question.

Paragraph 3 – you will restate what you want to happen and you will use flattery.

Charles Darwin’s biography:

1) His early life;

2) His voyage on the Beagle; and

3) His work on evolution.

In our R.E. sessions this half-term, we will be studying examples of communication within the Christian faith. To start with, we will be looking at communication in the Old Testament, therefore it is important that we all know the following five stories:

Story 1 – God communicating with Jacob in a dream;

Story 2 – God communicating with Moses through the burning bush;

Story 3 – God communicating with Jonah in the fish;

Story 4 – God communicating with Daniel in the den;

Story 5 – God communicating with Elijah in the brook.

Whilst you are reading these stories, think about the method God has chosen to communicate with people on Earth and how the different people in these stories would be thinking and feeling.

Information for families working with pupils in Class 5

Homework tasks in Class 5 this half-term will link to the key curriculum areas, and learning skills, that we will be focusing on during the school day. These are as follows:

1) Geography – studying earthquakes as a geographical event as well as learning about North America, and in particular the San Francisco area, as a case study;

2) Literacy (spelling) – finish learning any remaining words from the Year 5 target spelling words in addition to learning spelling patterns of words with silent letters and words with common prefixes (extension task);

3) Music and drama – practicing for our performance at the Menier Chocolate Factory;

4) Literacy (Spag)– continue to increase knowledge, and usage, of key Spag terminology;

5) Mathematics – mental maths skills as well as a focus on fractions, decimals and percentages (please note the children should be focusing on the activities with a 5 or 6 next to them as this refers to that activity’s target year group); and

6) Literacy – reading comprehension skills;

7) Art – learning about, and then creating, traditional Native American artwork.

These tasks are in addition to the usual recurring tasks of reading, times tables and spelling practice.

The usual structure for homework in Class 5 will be as follows (please note some weeks this usual structure may not apply due to special circumstances, e.g. preparing for/recounting a special event):

Monday – foundation subject links

The class will complete a task that enhances their learning in a foundation subject area – see blog links above for examples.

Tuesday – test preparation

The children will be set 10 new words to learn and write in a sentence (sentences should link to a piece of punctuation that the pupils are currently learning about). In addition, they will as be given a times table to revise. Tests will be sat on Friday with an expectation that the children score 100%.

Wednesday – Mathletics

Pupils are set a range of different tasks on the Mathletics website that relate to current curriculum areas. Once these tasks are complete the children can participate in the Mathletics Live feature which will hone mental maths skills. There is an expectation that the children will score 1,000 points per week (certificates for achieving 1,000 points are awarded by the website at midnight on Sunday).

Thursday – Literacy/Mathematics

The students will be given a task that links to current topics being covered in their Literacy/Mathematics lessons – see blog links above for examples.