Sycamore Class – Year 5/6

Welcome to Sycamore Class!

Welcome to Sycamore class! We have such an exciting year ahead of us. Here is what we are learning about in Term 3.

In our writing lessons, we will keep reminding children of our ‘think, say, write, check’ approach to ensure that they are consistently using full stops and capital letters accurately. We will read our sentences aloud to check if our writing is clear and use a thesaurus to ensure we are using ambitious vocabulary and we will include Y5/6 writing features (see the table below). This term we will write a debate in preparation for the MNSP Speak Out Competition, character descriptions and an adventure story

Please see the table below for a breakdown of this term’s targets:

Punctuation and grammar

Composition

Stamina

Spelling

Handwriting

To use relative clauses with support.

To use modal verbs with support.

To indicate parenthesis with support.

To use commas to clarify meaning with support

To create cohesion within a paragraph.

To link ideas across paragraphs with support.

To note and develop initial ideas with support.

To identify the audience and purpose with support.

To edit work to make simple improvements.

To manage writing time independently.

To convert nouns or adjectives into verbs.

To use a thesaurus.

To choose the writing implement best suited for a task

To show the difference between formal and informal speech.

To use passive voice with support.

To use the subjunctive form with support.

To mark the boundary between independent clauses.

To punctuate bullet points with support.

To use hyphens to avoid ambiguity.

To link ideas across paragraphs using a range of devices.

To consider how authors develop characters and settings.

To propose changes to enhance effects and clarify meaning.

To write a suitable amount for the text type and the time given.

Independently apply most taught spelling rules

To write confidently, consistently and legibly with appropriate speed.

In our Reading lessons, children will study a number of short extracts, answering a range of both retrieval and inference questions. Children will read aloud every lesson, practising expression and intonation. We will have a special themed week in Week 2 based on Anti-Bullying Week.

In Maths we are learning about decimals and building on our place value knowledge by multiplying and dividing decimals by 10,100 and 1000 and rounding decimals. We will also learn about percentages as fractions and as decimals and find percentages of an amount. It is essential that children are fluent with their times table and division facts to help them access this learning. Please practice at home.

We have a History focus this term as we learn about The British Monarchy. In Science, we will learn about Electricity, building on our understanding from Y3/4. This term we will learn about the artist Gustav Klimt in our Art lessons.

Our RE big question is ‘What do Christians believe about the gospel?’. In Music lessons we will learn about Disco music. In Computing we will learn about coding. Our PSHE theme is ‘Dreams and Goals’. In French lessons, our topic is ‘In the Classroom’. In PE lessons on Tuesday we will learn how to play hockey and in PE on Thursday we will learn our dance for our Dance Umbrella performance in March.

PE lessons will be on Tuesday and Thursday. Please send your child to school wearing their PE kit.

Children need to have in school every day a spare pair of shoes or wellies for our Adventure Play and Paddock area.
It is important that children always have a coat in school as we will be outside as much as possible in all weathers.

Weekly Home Learning Tasks

Your child’s reading record and levelled scheme reading book needs to come into school every day.

Please ensure your child is:

Reading every day and noting this in their reading record. Please ensure you listen to your child read aloud a minimum of 3 times a week and sign the reading record.

Y5 – Completing tasks on Doodle Maths weekly OR if your child is not yet secure with their times tables then please continue using TTRS to embed these.

Y6 – Weekly homework task set on Monday and returned on Friday. This could be a worksheet or might be a set assignment on Doodle Maths (children will note it down in their homework book).

Login information for Doodle Maths and TTRS has been stuck into the inside cover of your child’s reading record.

Reading, Spellings and Times tables

Your child will have two reading books that they use at school. One will be a levelled scheme reading book that will go home and be brought into school every day. The other will be a reading for pleasure book. Your child will be assessed on their book level by the class teacher and teaching assistants at regular intervals throughout the term.

We have updated our approach to Spelling in KS2 and have created a scheme that uses phonics to teach the required skills and knowledge.

All children receive discrete spelling lessons five times a week. Each week focuses on a specific phoneme and its associated graphemes. Very occasionally it will focus on a spelling pattern or rule.

You may have noticed Spellings are not part of our home learning expectations. However, we understand that many families like to complete additional work at home by practising the week’s spelling focus. Therefore, every week we will share a spelling overview on our Class Dojo page.