Buckingham

Buckingham Class Values:

Respect

Responsibility

Kindness

Trust

Buckingham Class Rules:

Be good role-models for the rest of the school
Show good-learning through our body language
Have a positive attitude towards our learning
Always present our work neatly
Show kindness towards others
Listen attentively to others and take turns
Respect other people’s property and space

Autumn Newsletter

Welcome to Buckingham Class and the start of another brand new school year! This newsletter gives you some information about the work the children will be covering this term. We have also included a timetable for you to view and display at home to help the children and you know what to expect each day. We hope you will join us in encouraging your child to develop independent organisation skills as much as possible (especially those children in Year 6!)

English

To complement our Autumn-Term topic, The Second World War, we will be studying Friend of Foe by Michael Morpurgo. Through this story, we will cover a range of fiction and non-fiction genres to help develop writing skills and techniques, including poetry.

There will be a strong focus to bring the children up to the new standard required by the Government in grammar, punctuation and spelling skills and knowledge; your help and encouragement here would be very much appreciated. A copy of the spelling guidelines from the Government are attached for your information.

We will be reading a variety of books and texts both in class and in small groups. Your child will also be expected to use their reading diary to record their reading activities (completed both at home and in school). The reading diaries are checked with the children every week and House Points are awarded for reading with an adult and for how many times they have read.

Maths

We will teach the Year 5, 6 and 6+ work and differentiate according to need and ability in the following areas, according to the New Curriculum (which has a keen focus on arithmetic and problem-solving skills).

Written methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Positive and negative numbers.
Structured practise of the multiplication tables.
Quadrilaterals, polygons, angles and circles.
Properties and reasoning about numbers – patterns, primes, factors, odds, evens and multiples
Decimals – find fractions of amounts, decimal point as a place holder.
Money and real life problems.

Science

Science will be taught in separate Year 5 and 6 classes by Mrs. Sykes and Mr. Hawkins on Monday afternoons.

Year 5 – Forces with Mr. Hawkins.

Year 6 – Light with Mrs. Sykes.

Other Subjects

Topic - World War II. The non-core curriculum areas will be included within the topic work.
French – All about Ourselves
R.E. (Religious Education) – Christianity and the Ten Commandments, Free Will and Following Rules, The Teaching of Jesus’s Parables.
P.S.H.E. (Physical, Social and Health Education) – Class Rules, Our Community, Making and Keeping Friends.
P.E. – The class PE lessons will be on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. This term will be a mix of indoor circuit and apparatus work in poor weather and hockey outside during fine weather. All children must wear: white T. shirt, dark shorts and trainers (plus a dark tracksuit for outdoors when it’s chilly). Please ensure that your child brings a note should he/she not be able to take part in PE/swimming for any reason. Also jewellery and watches cannot be worn for PE and long hair must be tied back.

Home Learning

Home Learning will be given out and expected back completed as follows:

Monday – Literacy to be handed in on or before Thursday morning.
Tuesday – Spelling homework and activities to be tested on Monday morning.
Thursday – Maths to be handed in on or before Tuesday morning.

We are keen for home learning to be completed with parent/adult encouragement. In Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6) home learning is necessary to develop the children’s independent learning skills in readiness for their start secondary school. However, each piece of homework should take no longer than 30-40 minutes to complete (please let us know if it is taking much longer than this). If there is a problem with a specific piece of home learning, then please ask your child to talk us straight away so we can work with them and help them (please remind them that ‘asking for help’ is to be encouraged).

A Homework Club also runs in school every Thursday lunchtime.

5-Minute Spot Light (Tuesdays)

On Tuesdays, we will be running a 5-Minute Spot Light when each child, in turn, will prepare and deliver a short presentation to the class on a topic of their choice. Popular subjects might be their pets, a favourite hobby/sport or an interest they have in a charity, or similar. The support of a Power Point presentation or home-made video and /or any relevant materials such as photos or medals is encouraged. The purpose of 5-Minute Spot Light is to help the children develop confidence to speak to an audience in a safe, friendly and supportive environment. A letter will be sent home giving more details a bit later.

We do hope that your child settles into the new school year and feels happy. If you do have any worries or concerns, please feel free to speak to one of us, about any matter, however small.

Mrs Sykes and Mrs. Bryer

Class Timetable

*Things to bring into school in the morning.	Monday Mrs. Sykes *Spelling Book	Tuesday Mrs. Sykes Numeracy h/w P.E. Kit	Wednesday Mrs. Bryer	Thursday Mrs. Bryer Literacy homework P.E. Kit	Friday Mrs. Bryer
8.55 – 9.10	Register	Register	Register	Register	Register
9.10 - 10.15	Literacy	Literacy	Reading Comprehension	Literacy	Literacy
10.15 – 10.30	Assembly & Group Work	Assembly & Group Work	Assembly & Group Work	Literacy	Literacy
10.30 - 10.50	Break Time	Break Time	Break Time	Break Time	Break Time
10.50 – 12.10	Numeracy	Numeracy	Numeracy	Numeracy	Numeracy
12.10 – 1.10	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1.10	Register	Register	Register	Register	Register
1.15 – 2.20	Science	P.S.H.E. and R.E.	Topic	Art	French
2.20 – 3.20	Science	P.E.	Topic	P.E.	Topic
3.20 – 3.30				Sharing Reading with class 2/3L	Year 6 Assembly

Year 6 Sats Homework Help

Spelling Guidelines

Recommended Reading List for Year 5 and 6 Pupils

Harvest Rap

Autumn Newsletter