This week in Explorers:

As writers, Beagle have completed their own playscripts, and begun to look at persuasive language to be able to create our own adverts, encouraging people to see the play we’ve written. Discovery have been writing a fact file based on the life of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. We have been looking at the structure and layout of a fact file whilst using subheadings, paragraphs, and a range of punctuation. Endeavour have been developing their vocabulary, use of adjectives, and metaphors while sentence stacking parts of Kensuke Kingdom.

As mathematicians, in Beagle we have been developing our division skills, halving 2d numbers quickly and solving division of up to 4 digit numbers by 1 digit using the bus stop method, including when using remainders. In Endeavour we have been finalising our work on Multiplication and division by using a range of methods, including: partitioning, factors, chunking, and bus stop. Discovery has now completed their unit on  Fractions  where we have been subtracting fractions from two mixed numbers and have moved  onto decimals and percentages. 

As scientists, year 5 have been looking at electricity, exploring circuits and what happens when you change elements. We have also developed our use of symbols and creation of circuit diagrams. 

As geographers, Discovery has continued looking at the effects of tsunamis, for both people and the environment whilst thinking about the humanitarian aid that is given after natural disasters. In particular we looked at the support given by the Red Cross after the Japanese tsunami in 2012 as well as ways in which Japan is better prepared for natural disasters.

Endeavour’s spelling focus this week has been the suffix -fer, and in Beagle we have focused on words beginning with sp and spr. These focuses have been sent home for home work this week. Please see the information below for ways in which you can support your child with this. 

Next week:

Swimming and sailing will be taking place on Monday.

On Wednesday, we have our exciting Roaming Robots workshop. Each class will have their own workshop throughout the day. To find out more about the team coming, this is their website: http://roamingrobots.co.uk/about 

Reminders:

Thank you to those who have returned their permission slips, and made payments, for the roaming robots workshop (5th Feb) and the Botanic Gardens trip (5th March). Please can all slips be returned and payments made this week. Thank you. 

We are an outdoor/indoor school. This means that we use the outside space in all weathers. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately to be outside, particularly on a Monday, when they walk to swimming, go sailing, or have PE outside. All children should have a spare pair of shoes/slippers/wellingtons so that they can change their footwear before or after being outside. Thank you.

Spellings:

At St Frideswide we use a structured spelling course called Nelson Spelling. As with reading, spelling can be supported at home. With your support, children can be further encouraged to learn and to become more accurate.

Spelling needs to be tackled in a systematic and organised way. There are two main ways in which we all learn to spell. One is by studying the ways words are structured, such as sound patterns (phonics), word beginnings, word endings and so on. The other is by developing memory skills. Nelson Spelling gives practice in both approaches 

Each unit of Nelson Spelling has selected spelling lists. If your child brings a list of words home it would be helpful if you can support their learning. Point out letter patterns that may aid memory and understanding. Encourage the writing of the words, just a few at a time. Your child will no doubt explain the look, say. cover, write, check method that we use. Help them by using this method of learning. 

There are other ways in which you can be of help in an ongoing way. 

These include: 

• calling attention to other words that have a similar letter String to those recently practised - especially words found on packets or elsewhere in everyday situations 
• always being available to write down a word needed in the course of other written work at home then testing it using the look say, cover, write, check method 
• praising good effort in spelling, especially if the error is a ‘reasonable’ attempt, before correcting any mistake 
• playing spelling games, such as finding small words within longer words and collecting as many words as possible with a given letter string 

If you have any queries about any of these matters please feel free to ask at school for more information.

Home learning:

Beagle:

• Spellings
• Sumdog tasks
• Daily reading

Endeavour:

•   Spellings
•   White Rose pages 51-53
•   Reading plus

Discovery:

•   Reading Plus 
•   Sumdog Fraction challenge 
•   Spellings pgs 12-13