Welcome to Year 5 and 6!

Welcome to Buzzard Class! 
 

Welcome back to the Autumn term!   

For some children, the move into Year 5/6 can feel huge but they all settle very quickly. Expectations rise necessarily and so they may feel as if they are being pushed more than before.  

Curriculum 

In the mornings our focus will be reading, writing and maths and in the afternoons we will cover the rest of the curriculum.  On a Monday, Mrs. Gammon will be teaching hockey in the afternoon (remember your gum shield, shin pads and boots); on Tuesdays  I will be teaching Bury Rangers  with Mr. Gatrell; on Thursdays Mr. Gatrell will be teaching  art and Mr. Mott will be teaching music. 

In English, we will be basing our work on the superb books The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson and The Wolves of Currumpaw by William Grill. Please don’t run out and buy them until we have finished the unit though – I need to keep them in suspense until the end! We will also dip into a lot of other books that support and supplement our whole class texts.  

Our spellings will be introduced on a Monday and we will focus on a pattern each week. The children will be asked to find it in their reading, use it in their writing  and look for the  root words and etymology (the history of the word and how it is made- for example if the word comes from Latin or Greek and what the prefixes and suffixes mean) to help learn them too.  We will continue to use the Sounds and Syllables scheme that was started earlier this year and will be having a daily spelling lesson. On a Friday, we will focus on the ‘statutory Y5/6 spellings’, which the children are required to know how to spell by the end of Year 6.   

Our key ‘home learning’ will be Times Tables Rock Stars for 5 minutes a day. The curriculum tells us that our children should know all (up to 12) of their times tables by the end of Year 4, and so we really want them to be confident and fast at recall of these. Please make sure your child plays on the ‘studio’ part of Times Tables Rock Stars several times a week – the more regularly they play, the better they will get.  Please hear your child read for at least 5 minutes a day too. We ask you to hear your child read 5 times a week. I know how difficult this is – but there are often little slots of time when they can read to you – while you are cooking/ironing/ washing up or of course snuggled on the sofa or in bed.  When children get to year 5 and 6, they often prefer to read to themselves, which of course we encourage, but reading to an adult helps them in so many ways. You can pick up incorrect pronunciation, question their understanding, discuss the story.  Every Friday we will send home some maths questions which will support the learning from that week: these will be due back on the following Tuesday. Homework can often be a bone of contention at home so please remember that it is NOT compulsory and it is your choice if your child completes it or not. There will not be any sanctions if your child does not complete the homework. It simply serves as another way for you to see what your child is learning in school and for them to practise the skills that they are learning. 

In maths we will continue to cover the year 5 and 6 curriculum and will be incorporating regular investigations and problem solving.  This term’s focus will be place value, calculation and fractions. 

Initially, we will be studying a unit called Brilliant Bury- our school. This will be a whole school unit with each class looking depth at the history of the school.   

We will be spending the rest of the term learning about : 

Geography - Should wolves be introduced to the South Downs National Park? 

Science- The Earth in space  (in Bury Rangers time)and electricity 

Bury Rangers – seasonal cooking on the fire. 

Art – designing maps and creating monotypes 

RE - What does it mean if God is loving and holy?  Was Jesus the Messiah? 

Computing - Computing systems and networks – Sharing information and creating media – Vector drawing 

PE – hockey – please ensure your child has a fitted gum shield in school every day 

Music – learning ‘What shall we do with a drunken sailor?’ and song writing 

Relationships and health education - Relationships and sex education: Body safety, changing feelings, dealing with strong feelings, relationships and conception, changes in relationships (when relationships go wrong). Digital and media literacy  - managing time online, identities online and influence, online profiles and age appropriateness    
 

Timetable 

On a Tuesday, the children will have Bury Rangers and will need to come to school wearing their Bury Rangers clothes.   

On a Monday and Wednesday the children will have outside PE and will need to come to school wearing PE kit including dark blue or black jogging bottoms or leggings and their school jumper or Bury Rangers hoody.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday 
 
 
 
 
 

PE - hockey 
 
 
 
 
 

Wear PE kit and bring gum shield and shin pads 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 
 
 
 
 

Bury Rangers 
 
 
 
 

Wear Bury Rangers' clothes 
 
 
 
 
 

Wedesnday 
 
 
 
 

PE 
 
 
 
 

Wear PE kit 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday 
 
 
 
 

Art and music 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Class organisation 

Please ensure that your child has a named water bottle in the classroom everyday – they are emptied at night, so don’t need to take them home until a Friday. They will need an additional water bottle in their lunchbox if they are having packed lunch.  

School starts at 8.40 - please bring your child to the big side gates by the hall to drop them off. At the end of the day, please wait by Buzzard class’ outside door at 3.15 and I will send the children to you. At each end of the day, please be prompt.   

Some children will take part in extra sessions with either Mrs. Cork or one of our TAs. These will take place in school and may be for only 1 or 2 sessions or may happen over a longer period. 

 

Behaviour 

We are continuing to use the Good to be Green behaviour system and Class Dojo to reward children for demonstrating both our school and Christian values.  In the Good to be Green system, if a child makes a wrong choice we will give 2 verbal warnings – being specific about which rule has been broken- then a yellow card. If a child receives a yellow card then they will have to miss some of the net playtime to complete a reflection sheet with an adult. If the child continues to break the rules or is violent, then a red card will be given. This means that the child will be spoken to be Mr. Moore and you will be called to discuss the behaviour.   

Year 6 children will be completing their SATs in May and we will be talking to you and them about preparing for these later in the year. If you would like to spend some extra time at home before then preparing for the tests, then the CGP books are really useful and can be bought cheaply on Amazon. There are both revision and work books.  

This term we will also be going on our residential trip to Hindleap Warren on the 25th September. 

As always, if you need to speak to me about anything, please either catch me before or after school or make an appointment with through Mrs. Clark in the office or email the class account at buzzards@bury.school.  It always best to sort out little niggles as soon as possible. 

 

The Knowledge Organisers for this term can be found here. They are to help children remember and revise the key information for each subject.