Welcome Back!
Welcome back to all! We hope you all had a wonderful summer holiday and enjoyed the sunshine. Not sure what has happened to the sun since we have come back to school. We are looking forward to this year and seeing lots of amazing work from the children.
We welcome lots of new staff to LKS2 this team. We have: Mrs Clipsham, Mrs Shepherd, Miss James and Mr Farrant as the class teachers. Our amazing support staff include: Mrs Thornton, Miss Black, Mrs Walker, Mrs Turnbull, Mrs Cross and Mrs Steeples. We are all looking forward to working together and supporting your children.
Homework
Homework will be set on a Friday to be handed in on the following Thursday. Homework will be set in children's individual homework books to encourage children to practise their handwriting, presentation and take responsibility for their own work. Children will have the opportunity to practise their spellings in school on a daily basis through SPaG and RWI lessons. Children will receive dojo points for completed homework.
This term our topic is all about Ancient Egypt. We will be exploring Egyptian life, where Egypt is located and some of its key features, e.g. The River Nile. We will be comparing the Egyptian civilization to other civilizations. We will be drawing conclusions about Ancient Egyptian society. We will be learning about the Egyptian people and studying the pyramids. Finally we will be learning about afterlife and Egyptian beliefs.
We also have the Wakefield museum visiting us on October 7th. The children we will having a full Egyptian workshop looking at Egyptian artefacts. A letter will follow about this.
In our English writing lessons we will be focussing on writing a combination of both fiction and non-fiction pieces. including a story introduction, a character description, a diary account, instruction text and an acrostic poem. Our writing will link to the book we are reading in class or our topic wherever possible.
Reading is incredibly important. Most children in LKS2 will be on the Accelerated reader programme and will be able to chose a book from our library and then complete a quiz on the book. Some children will continue on the RWI programme and will be bringing home a book on a weekly basis. Please do read with your child and enjoy that time together.
Children can also choose to read a book from home and if the book is on Accelerated reader, they can do a quiz on this too at home or in school.
If you have any questions regarding RWI or Accelerated reader, please speak to your child's class teacher who will be more than happy to help.
In our school we follow the White Rose scheme of learning to plan and deliver our maths lessons. This scheme allows children to experience a wide range of strategies to use across the different operations and pushes the children towards mastering the subject by allowing children to use what they know about number relationships and patterns in different ways, helping them solve problems.
This term, the children in Year 3 will be learning about place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The children in Year 4 will be learning about place value, addition, subtraction, area linked to measurement, multiplication and division.
TT Rockstars is a great way for your child to practise their times tables. Each child will be given log in details to play a range of games online. Times tables are particularly important in Year 4 as the children will be taking Multiplication Table Checks in May 2023. Get practising those times tables everyone.
Our RE lessons this half term will focus on learning about festivals in Christianity and in other religions. We will then move on to exploring Incarnation and looking at the Trinity in autumn 2. We will be learning some Christmas songs and having Carols round the Tree in December.
Our core Christian values for the term will be Responsibility in the first part of the term and then Resilience in the second half of autumn. We will explore these themes in our daily worship sessions learning about these values. We will also be having weekly class worship looking at what is in the news currently and how this impacts on our lives.
Our science work in autumn 1 is based on sound. We will be investigating 'When are ear defenders useful?' The children will be learning about how sound is created through sound waves, learning about volume and the pitch of sound. In autumn 2 our science work is based on electricity. The children will be investigating 'What would life be like without electricity for one day?' They will be learning about switches, insulators, conductors and circuits.
We will be focusing on Art in Autumn 1. Our topic is based upon optical illusion print, willow patterns, painting and mixing colours, soap sculptures and still life drawings.
We will be focussing on DT in autumn 2. Our focus will be electrical systems and the children will be looking at and making torches. Hopefully we will be able to use our science skills as well to look at how a torch works.
Your child's PE day is TUESDAY. If your child is in year 4 they will be swimming each week. Your child will need to bring their swimming kit to school with them - towel, swim shorts / swimming costume. Hair needs to be tied back and children may bring googles or a swim hat with them if needed. If your child is in year 3 they will need to bring their PE kit with them to school. This needs to be a white t shirt, black or blue shorts or tracksuit bottoms. The children will also need trainers for outdoor lessons. Hair again needs to be tied back and please ensure your child removes their earrings on this day.
In computing the children will be learning how networks and the internet work. They will also be learning about databases. The children will be using IPads for some of their learning. Children will be reminded about how they need to keep themselves safe on the internet and to tell an adult if they have any concerns.
This term we are going to be learning lots in a range of other subjects. We will be having a French tutor in LKS2 who will be teaching the staff and children some French. We are excited to learn a new language. In music, we will be having drumming lessons. In PSHE we will be having weekly lessons learning about being safe, family and relationships, health and wellbeing. In British Values we will be learning abut democracy and voting for our class Academy councillors.
Attendance and punctuality
Your support in sending your child to school regularly and on time is vital. We now open the school doors from 8.45am and close them at 8.55am. It is important that children are in school on time so they have no lost learning time.
Mrs Clipsham will be on the top door each morning. Messages are passed on to other teachers. Please do not hesitate to approach or contact any LKS2 staff if you ever have a query. We also check our messages regularly on Class Dojo and will respond as soon as we can during the hours of 8:30-4:30. Your child has also been given a diary which can be used to record homework and pass any messages on. There is a reading record section so do record any reading with your child and it is always lovely if parents/carers sign the diary on a weekly basis.
Mrs Clipsham, Mrs Shepherd, Mr Farrant and Miss James.
Credits:
Created with images by Stillfx - "Team" • francescodemarco - "papyrus of the dead ancient egypt" • Rawf8 - "Black condenser microphone, blur turquoise waveform background." • Philip Steury - "Row Of Messy Colorful Paint Brushes And Containers On Isolated White Background - Creativity Concept" • Luis Echeverri Urrea - "Flashlight on wooden background" • magele-picture - "Curriculum"