Nearly half term!
The first half term has sped by; the children have worked hard and progressed well. Thank you so much for all the support with reading at home, you are making such a difference to your child when you support them with this.
Our learning next half-term all fits under this overarching question.
Topic Our next enquiry focus is Geography and understanding changes in our local area and then the wider world due to natural causes and human decisions. If you have any flood photo’s you would like to share, I would love to copy them for our classroom display.
Science I’m hoping the children are still pointing out condensation and referring to rain, snow and sleet as precipitation, however their conversation should now expand to cover how food is digested (hopefully not when you’re eating) and teeth! If anyone is able to defer passing any milk teeth to the Tooth Fairy, we’d love to see them in class first!
Reading Next term, we will start by exploring some of the Roman myths, identifying the themes within and between them. We will also try to develop how we add meaning by changing our tone when reading aloud, the art of performance. [If you haven’t yet been to our free local museum, do pop in – the class would love to see pictures of their peers in the Roman dressing up outfits – do email them to me please.] We ask that the children to read three times a week at home and will monitor this, obviously more is even better though!
Math’s This half-term has seen us consolidating our addition and subtraction skills using more place-value columns before meeting multiplication and division. We follow the White Rose Math’s plan for this and there are free resources on their website for parents. Their free app (White Rose Math’s 1 Minute Math’s) has great games if you spot your child counting on their fingers – it helps develop their fast recall of number facts such as 7 + 2.
Writing We will be producing informative, entertaining reports inspired by two books: The Clue is in the Poo and Other Things Too and The Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business! This scatological writing is intended to complement our Science learning.
Music After the pop of Abba we are changing genre and studying Classical Music. Radio stations such as Classic FM and Radio 3 play this if you can get them listening to as many different pieces as possible.
PSHE The first half term considered our sense of personal identity, now we will expand to celebrate all that is different between us. This builds on our weekly assemblies that also celebrate our social diversity.
RE Having met the Christian concept of trinity (three in one) the children will now develop an understanding of trimurti (one in three). This is through our study of Hinduism.
PE We’ve all really enjoyed learning to play hockey, half 
term, the children will walk on a Monday afternoon to Derwent Pool for swimming lessons. They will need sensible walking shoes, a warm waterproof coat as well as their swimming kit.
Homework Homework sheets come out weekly covering topics we’ve learnt in class, spellings and practising handwriting. Homework refreshes and consolidates learning the children have undertaken in class. It is issued on a Friday and due back the following Thursday. Participation and completion has been really impressive – thank you. I do return this marked should you wish to review it with your child.
Spellings It wouldn’t be primary school without weekly spellings tests and I appreciate the hard work that is being put in to achieve the 10/10s – again thank you.
Times Tables Thank you to everyone who is encouraging their child to play one game of TTRS a day. The class tests are starting to show some quick recall of these number facts.
School Uniform School uniform continues to be grey skirt/trousers, white skirt, green jumper, plain black/grey/white socks/tights or green gingham summer wear. Each child should wear a house or responsibility tie. Everyone needs a pair of indoor black shoes. Long hair should be tied up, earrings should be studs. For P.E. for swimming the children need a costume and towel, goggles if you have them – no talc please and trousers are a quicker change than tights after swimming if possible.
Indoor Shoes Children must have a pair of indoor of black indoor shoes. Changing their shoes helps keep their working environment as clean as possible.
Water bottles We ask that they always have a water bottle, it is not a single use bottle and only contains water.
Thank you to those of you who have taken a Volunteer Agreement, it’s a pleasure to have the children’s adults in the classroom for as much or as little time as you can spare, do please come and join me because your children are a treat to work with.
Please email with any queries or concerns (r.debney@maltonprimary.org) or catch me at the classroom door. I post regularly on the School’s Instagram account so that we can share classroom life – thanks for the likes!