St Fred’s is in full swing. All the year 6 children have settled in really quickly and adapted well to their new timetables. They have shown amazing independence skills in preparing and being ready for all of their lessons, as they work through the wider curriculum. Also looking very smart in our new hoodies!

In English we have begun our new text called ‘The Explorer’, which is based in the Amazon rainforest.

Within our Maths lessons we have looked and discussed ways in which we can save money and what the word interest means.

During art we have looked at a number of notable artists to gain awareness of their style of art. 

In humanities, the children have been learning about Mount Everest. We have looked closely at the location of Mount Everest which is a part of a range of mountains called the Himalayas.

Be sure to ask your child about the different continents and the countries in which the Himalayan range is located. 

In Science we have looked at how light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eyes. We have understood that when a rainbow is formed this is known as a spectrum however, there are some parts of the spectrum which we can’t see. Be sure to ask your child which part this might be and why?

Today, we began working with Oxford Song and the children have shown great creativity and imagination for a film music composition project( more information to follow)

Year 5 have been completing assessments this week, for maths, reading and by writing our own story. As mathematicians, we have begun our focus on decimals, thinking about place value and using number facts that we already know to help us with calculations.

As geographers, we have been looking at Antarctica, finding out what it would be like if we visited, and looking at graphs of scientific research, studying how the climate has changed over thousands of years.

Next week:

In English the children will continue their sentence stacking and during Maths the children will begin the topic of Bakery. We will be looking at different recipes, comparing the quantities and converting units.

During Science we will plan a fair test for our investigations and form hypotheses about the results.

In humanities the children will continue to learn about Mount Everest and who the first people were to climb it.

On Friday all of the St Fred’s children will be going to Oxford University to visit the department of Chemistry. Throughout the day the children will explore and experience different science labs such as: Physics, Biology and material sciences. The children will be walking there and will all need to bring a packed lunch. We will be leaving school at 8.30am and will be aiming to be back for the end of the school day.  If there are any delays we will update you on school jotter. All children need to make sure they are wearing long trousers and have their hair tied up.

As historians we will be looking at the life of Ernest Shackleton, and his exploration to Antarctica. In English we will be using this information to create diary entries in sentence stacking, using the diary of Scott to help us.

As mathematicians we will be continuing to work on our use of decimals in a range of calculations.

On Tuesday year 5 will be going to Somerville College, where we learn all about further education and how universities work. We will be walking there and back so please make sure that your child is wearing appropriate footwear and has a waterproof coat. They will need a snack and their water bottles, however lunch is provided by the college, which is usually a fabulous treat. We will be leaving close to 8:30am and will be back before the end of the school day. If there are any delays we will update you on school jotter.

Homework:

Discovery:

30 minutes of Sumdog 

Reading 

Endeavour:

30 minutes of Sumdog

Darwin:

Spellings: practise spellings 50-60 on both year 3/4 and year 5/6

Reading: complete at least 3 reading sessions on reading plus

Maths: white rose book pages 100-102