Friday 11th February

Good afternoon everybody - Happy Friday!
 Another action packed week - full to the brim with learning!
This week, we have been working hard in English and have written, our invent task based on our English text: The Day the Crayons Quit, which looks at persuasive writing.   We have also been working on our spelling, grammar and handwriting skills.  We have worked hard in Maths, on our unit Area and Perimeter, this week we have completed the unit and have shown good progress in our end of unit assessments.   In Science, we have focused on Magnetism, looking particularly at magnetic materials. On Monday, we enjoyed another fun-filled French session with Madame Jordan, thinking about months of the year, numbers and how to say our birthdays. The children have had their Music session with Miss Boyce, based on Electro-Pop and RE with Miss Penny, this week exploring the birth of Jesus and writing in role as a journalist, reporting on the birth.

 We finished the week off with a double PE whammy, swimming on Thursday afternoon, where it is really pleasing to see the progress that the children are making with their swimming, both in confidence and technique, and finally, our session with our Saints Southwest PE coach Mrs Edwards, in which we played Unihoc for the final time this year. next week we will focus on physical health and fitness.
 
Spellings are on Dojo for the groups and I have been impressed with how many people are reading every night, keep it up!  The new Wider Curriculum home learning is on the website and on Dojo and the children have had a paper copy, I have had some great examples in so far (see photos), including some great Electro-pop tracks and some very Picasso-esque Cubist interpretations of the staff!   Pieces are due in by next Thursday 17th February and I will expect at least 3 completed tasks, more if you want to - rise to the challenge!
 
  In terms of home learning, can I remind everybody that the expectation is that children read for at least 10 minutes at home every day, this can be magazines, newspapers, manuals, cookery books, as well as their reading books, as it is all reading. This is to promote reading for pleasure as there is nothing better than a good book. Remember, that you are your child’s greatest role model, so if they see you enjoying a good book, it really promotes good learning habits.  I will ask that reading is recorded in their new reading journals and that these come in every day so that I can monitor their reading.
  I would also like children to spend time working on their times tables, which are vital in so many areas of the Maths curriculum.  They can do this through Times Tables Rock Stars, I have also posted a list of great websites to practise on.
Next week, we will be completing work on our History topic area of The Middle East, exploring the conflict in the Middle East and the reasons for it.  We will also work further on our Science area of Magnetism. We will be working on our Wider Curriculum essay writing for English and will work on our new Maths topic of Multiplication and Division, focusing on formal methods.
 
Have a great weekend, get outside, be active, read and enjoy family time.
 
See you on Monday.
 
Mr F