Year 5/ Year 6 Class

Teacher: Mr Bell

Teaching assistants: Mrs Bromley

English

In English we will first be writing a newspaper article detailing the dramatic events of the story ‘The Witches’. The children will try writing their own poetry based on the poem called ‘Guarding Secrets’. Throughout the term, we will also be looking at a variety of punctuation and grammar that Upper Key Stage 2 children should be using.

Maths

In the first part of the term, we will look at perimeter, area and volume before touching on statistics, which includes drawing and interpreting line graphs and pie charts and calculating the mean. In the second half term we will continue the vital task of practising and consolidating calculation skills and fluency with fractions, decimals and percentages. However, we will also tackle some more extended and creative problem solving activities and investigations.  In addition, Year 6 pupils can look forward to an exciting maths project which is part of their transition to Year 7.

Topic

Our geography topic will look at why oceans matter where we will study the water cycle, the Great Barrier Reef, how humans use the ocean and the impact we have. To follow this we will study the Maya civilisation which will include looking at features of ancient Maya cities, their beliefs and the reasons for the decline of the Maya civilisation.

Science, DT, Art and Computing

Our first science topic is ‘Living Things and Their Habitats’ where will explore a variety of plants and animals and examine how they have adapted to suit their environment.  We will follow this by looking at the changes that occur in humans as they develop into old age which will be closely linked to RSE (relationship and sex education). Finally, we will explore the work of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution and inheritance. In design and technology, we are going to look at ’textiles’ with a focus on stuffed toys. In art, we are going to work around the theme of photography through taking photos and using editing software. Long Mynd will learn about 3D modelling using the computer program TinkerCAD.

Reading

In Long Mynd, we have a mini challenge to see who can read the most throughout the whole year with the aim of reading over 1 million words! We also have a recommended list of 20 books that the children can read. Alongside these books there is a wide range of books for your child to choose from in class. In school, we provide daily reading opportunities, some of which are guided where we focus on the following skills: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising. We are going to be reading ‘The Secrets of the Lost Valley’ by Lesley Parr. In addition to this, we will look at a range of shorter fiction and non-fiction texts in preparation for the SATS.

Other

In PSHE we will cover ‘Rights and Respect’ and ‘Being My Best’. Long Mynd class will continue with ukulele lessons. PE this term will be rounders, athletics, golf and cricket. Within RE, we will be focussing on the type of king that Christians believe Jesus was.