LITERACY /ENGLISH
Spelling
Spellings are set on Wednesday for testing the following Wednesday. A practice test at the weekend would help to identify any words needing further practice.
Writing
Throughout the year the children will learn to write in a variety of way: e.g. Reports, letters, discussion, information leaflets as well as poetry and creative stories. Sentences will need to be grammatically correct and punctuation and capital letters need to be consistent.
At Home
Please encourage your child to read through their homework aloud on completion, checking for simple spelling and punctuation errors.
Reading
We have asked the children to read at home at least three times a week building up to a focused 15 minutes. Reading together with you is often rewarding particularly for less confident readers. They will need to be familiar with a variety of texts, including newspaper articles and information books.
Handwriting
At this age children are expected to write legibly using joined, consistently sized letters.
Library
Year 6 will visit Bourne Hall fortnightly. They should be reading a wide range including fiction and non-fiction.
NUMERACY /MATHEMATICS
The Scheme
We will be working on targets set out by the Numeracy Strategy. Much of our work will be investigative so that children can develop their reasoning skills and mathematical vocabulary.
Tables
It is expected that children are already familiar with all their times tables up to 12. The main emphasis this year is on speed of recall.
Problem Solving
This is an important area which can cause difficulties for some children. Tasks include:
• being able to read and use a train or bus timetable
• deal with money –calculating the cost of tickets and discounts, giving change.
• altering recipes to give different quantities.
• converting between metric and imperial measurements.
During homework sessions, there may be some practical tasks where your child may need to work with you. We would appreciate your cooperation in this.
DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
The children will be required to design and make mini theatres following the technological process. Skills such as sawing and joining will be learnt as well as learning about 3D sketches, magnetism and electrical circuits.
SCIENCE
The main topics that Years 5 and 6 will study this year are:
Earth and Space
Light and Shadows
Variation and Classification
Adaptation
Materials
Lifecycles
Food Chains
Your child will revise other topics ready for the End of Key Stage 2 test in May.
During PSE lessons your child will cover Healthy Living and there will be a course for Year 6 pupils on growing up to prepare them for the immediate future-this will include Sex Education. If any parent wishes to discuss this further please contact
Mrs Crossley.
HISTORY
Topics this year will include
The Anglo-Saxons and Tudors.
GEOGRAPHY
Topics covered this year are Traffic Problems, Weather, Coastal Places and People and Water. We hope to visit Bough Beech Reservoir later in the year.
GAMES / P.E. / SWIMMING
They will need their named football kit for Games on Mondays and their named P.E. kit on Thursdays. Due to the pressure on academic lessons in Years 5 and 6, swimming will take place for a few weeks each term. All pupils will be required to wear a swimming hat.
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
The children will be using a variety of software packages including Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point. In addition, they will be expected to access the internet for research in different subjects. If pupils wish to use the Internet for homework but are not able to do this at home, they may use the class computers immediately after school by arrangement with form staff.
HOMEWORK
Homework for Year 6, in particular, is very important for consolidating class work as well as establishing good habits for year 7.
As well as reading and spelling, two subjects are set two nights a week with one subject on the other three nights. Homework is usually due in the following day. If there is a good reason why your child is unable to complete the homework set, I would be grateful if you could write a note in the homework diary to explain this.
Children work hard all day at school and need time to relax in the evenings. For this reason We have asked them never to spend longer than 40 minutes on any one subject. If the work is incomplete we do not mind, provided they have tried their best, uninterrupted, for 40 minutes. Again a note from you to this effect is appreciated.
A 45 minute after-school Detention (on a Friday) is given to any child who fails to hand in three pieces of homework.
VISITS/SPECIAL EVENTS
We aim to have a visit each term.
Years 5 & 6 have a theatre visit to Woking to see a Shakespeare 4 Kidz production of
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Tuesday 28th November.
The Glyn House Christmas Parties will be held on Wednesday 13th December.
ASSEMBLIES
Assemblies take place everyday. Once each half term we meet as a whole Junior School at Chessington Lodge. We hold an assembly in the Church for J1-J6 twice a term.
The Carols by Candlelight service will be held on Tuesday 12th December at
6.00 pm at St. Mary’s Church, Ewell.
We hope as many of you as possible will join us for these services in the Church.
If you have any concerns or problems during the year please do not hesitate to come and see Mrs Goff, Mr Knowles or Mrs Crossley.
