Osprey Class 2023 - 2024
Welcome back everyone to another academic year and a special welcome to our new year sixes and year fives who make up Osprey class of 2024!
Please find below, our overview of what is happening this half-term for each subject. Please be aware that PE is on a Thursday afternoon and swimming for Year 5 and selected Year 6 on a Wednesday morning.
Homework expectations
Weekly Homework Expectations for KS2 Children (Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6)
Read 3 x weekly (more is always encouraged please) – Reading diaries to be signed to earn 10 minutes of Golden Time
TT Rockstars – The expectation is either to complete 3 x 3 minute sessions or 9 x 1 minute sessions over the course of the week.
Reading Diaries and TT Rockstars will be checked on: Thursdays
Maths - In this half of term, we will be starting with long division and how to calculate this formally. Then we will move on to fractions; comparing and ordering, equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting, mixed numbers, improper fractions and multi-step problems.
English - For the next few weeks, we will be reading our new class text, 'The Somerset Tsunami' which links to our geography theme for this half-term. Our extended piece of writing will be a short adventure story that is based around the themes in the book. In SPAG, we will revise adverbials, colons and semi-colons, subordinating conjunctions and clauses as well as spellings on a weekly basis.
Geography - Natural Disasters is the theme for this half-term and we will be studying hazards and events in nature that contribute or cause disasters to happen: earthquakes, volcanos, hurricanes and tsunamis are the main phenomena we will be looking at. We will also learn about different climates and regions which are particularly vulnerable. We will find out about the make-up of the Earth and how this links to some of the phenomena studied.
Science - Year 6 will finish their learning of classification and living things and will then move on to 'light'. Year 5 will move on to 'Forces' and will be taught by Mr Jesshop.
Music - This term we will be looking at a rock unit and focusing on the classic rock song, 'Living on a Prayer.' We will learn to sing as well as recognise some notation and play instruments along with the main melody.
RE - Christianity is our focus for this term and we are focusing on 'Incarnation.' The lessons will include looking at the Christmas story and we hope to have a visitor in. The children will continue to attend Open the Book assemblies.
DT - We will be putting our culinary skills to the test and making a Christmas/roast dinner! This will be done in small groups and the children will have a chance to sample what they have cooked.
Maths - We begin by revising place value for both year groups and will be regularly practising arithmetic skills to build confidence in this area. We will move on to using formal methods within the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
English - There will be many opportunities throughout this year for the children to read and we will continue to use high quality texts to encourage reading for pleasure as well as for teaching. We start with 'Wild way home,' which links to our 'Stone age to Iron age' theme. We will be writing character and setting descriptions, as well as thinking about what an historical text looks like. We continue to teach spelling through investigative approaches and shorter tasks that revise key phonic knowledge and spelling pattern retrieval.
History - We will be looking at the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages this half-term and the development of life and cultures within and across these. The children will explore the evidence and archaeological research and find out about some sites of historical interest, most notably Stonehenge.
Science - This half-term the theme for both year groups will be 'Living things and their habitats.' Year five will be learning about life cycles and Year six will be looking at classification systems and different types of species.
Art - We will be using charcoal to explore new techniques and designs. We will be working in our sketchbooks as well as on textured paper and represent cave drawings and fossils using this medium.
Spanish - This term we will be revising our Spanish learning from last year and building our vocabulary and speaking skills.
PSHE - This term our PSHE sessions will be focussing on relationships and families. We will think about friendships, respecting each other as well as ourselves and looking at different types of relationships within families.
Computing - We will be looking at the importance of online safety, which is something that we always need to refer back to as digital technology changes so frequently. We will also be using 'Microbitz,' which are a popular piece of hardware that can be programmed to perform many tasks!
