Hello everyone!
After enjoying a three day weekend, the students returned to school ready to work hard. I really enjoyed watching their presentations about significant leaders from the past and seeing the effort they put into their research.
Here is what we have been up to this week:
Maths
Year 5
| Perimeter and Area & Statistics |
| Spr.4.5 – Area of compound shapes |
| Spr.4.6 – Estimate area |
| End of unit assessment |
| Spr.5.1 – Draw line graphs |
Year 6
| Area, Perimeter and Volume |
| Spr.5.5 – Area of any triangle |
| Spr.5.6 – Area of a parallelogram |
| Spr.5.7 – Volume – counting cubes |
| Spr.5.8 – Volume of a cuboid |
| End of unit assessment |
Literacy
This week in Literacy we placed a strong focus on grammar and how it can be used to improve the flow and clarity of writing. The students learned about several different cohesive devices that help link ideas together and make writing easier for the reader to follow. In particular, we explored fronted adverbials, conjunctions and pronouns, as well as revising the use of simple past tense and learning how past perfect tense can be used to show the order of events.
Throughout the week, the students completed a range of activities to practise these grammar skills. They looked at example sentences, corrected sentences with mistakes, and experimented with adding cohesive devices to improve short pieces of writing. This gave them many opportunities to practise using the grammar in context rather than simply learning the rules.
Towards the end of the week, the students applied these skills in their own writing by creating a diary entry written from the perspective of Jemmy Button, a character from the book we read together the previous week. They worked hard to include the grammar features we had been studying and to show Jemmy’s thoughts and feelings through their writing.
Grammar is not always the most exciting topic, but the students approached the lessons with a very positive attitude and showed great perseverance while practising these new skills. I was very impressed with their effort and the care they put into improving their writing.
IPC
This week in IPC, the students completed their presentations about significant leaders from history and shared them with the class. This was the first time they had been given a strict time limit for their presentations, and I was very impressed with how well they managed this challenge. Every group stayed within the time limit, which showed that the students thought carefully about the most important information to include and how to present it clearly. They spoke confidently and showed great effort in explaining their research to their classmates.
After the presentations, the students were introduced to the idea that different countries are governed in different ways. We explored several types of government, including a republic, monarchy, constitutional monarchy, democracy, dictatorship and a totalitarian state. The students discussed the key features of each system and learned about some countries that follow these different forms of government. This helped them begin to understand how leadership and decision making can vary around the world.
The students then began researching these government types in more detail and started creating informative posters. Their task was to explain what each type of government means, identify countries that use these systems and consider the possible impact these systems may have on the people who live in those countries.
Sadly, I was absent on Friday, so I was not able to see how far the students progressed with their posters. However, I am very much looking forward to seeing their work on Monday and hearing more about what they have discovered through their research.
Important Information
Thank you all very much for signing and returning the permission slip for our class trip on Friday 13th March. I really appreciate how quickly these were returned, as it makes organising and preparing for the trip much easier.
We have asked the team at CRESTAR what the lunch menu will be on the day, but they will not be able to confirm this until next week. As soon as we receive the information, I will send an email to let you know. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to prepare a packed lunch just in case, but I am very hopeful we will be given this information as soon as possible.
Have a lovely weekend! ☺️
