Class Forecast Spring Term 2004

Dear Parents and Children

I wish you all a happy new year and trust that it has begun positively for you. The children have settled well back into the routine of school. This is very pleasing as you are all aware this term is extremely important in terms of preparation for National Tests early in the final term. The National tests are within the subjects of English, Maths and Science. If you have any questions or queries relating to these over this time please do not hesitate to bring these to my attention as soon as possible.

English~ Our literacy hours will be focused on the aspects of grammar, comprehension, creative writing, focused writing and exploration of fiction and non-fiction texts. We will be looking at writing short stories and how to plan, write and edit a complete tale within a set time. The children will need to continue to read independently as often as possible as this fuels their imagination and creativity when being authors themselves.

Maths ~ For some of our lessons each week this term we will again be dividing the class into smaller groups so that children have more direct teacher time. During this time we will be able to cater for each child's more individual needs and the class will benefit greatly from this. The focus for the small group work will be preparing for SAT's. Within the rest of the numeracy lessons we will continue with our scheme, covering topics investigating co-ordinates, symmetry, both rotational, reflective and translation, three dimensional shape, area, conversion graphs, ratio and percentages. As we are covering a large range of maths concepts over this term, please encourage children to come and see me it they are having any difficulty with any topic.

Science ~ The class will continue to have Mr Martin for Science lessons where they will be looking into light and sound, circuits and also balanced and unbalance forces. A major emphasis will also be on preparation for SAT's tests also.

ICT ~ Our ICT work will be focused Spreadsheet Modelling. We will be using models and testing results, entering formulae into a spreadsheet, copying cells and creating graphs from sports results, also looking into changing data to find what if…..?

Technology The class will continue their Technology work with Mr Llewellyn and are really looking forward to creating powered vehicles with fixed and rotating axles. This includes the investigation of pulleys and other mechanisms to make motion.

P.E.~ As last term, our class will continue to be part of a P.E. rotation with Year 5. The children are fortunate as this allows us to teach sports to smaller groups of children and all children can be actively involved. Sports for this term will continue to include Netball, Rugby, Football and Hockey.

Humanities~ In readiness for our summer excursion to Cornwall we will be continuing with our study of all things Cornish. The mining and fishing industries will be investigated as well a some of the areas that are linked with tourism and some of the areas that we will be visiting whilst there. The children are really enjoying this area of our school work and are creating and compiling an excellent file of work.

R.E.~ The main religion that we are studying this term is Hinduism. We will be looking at the main gods, places of worship, customs and celebrations and main beliefs of Hindus. After half term we will be looking at death and what differing religions believe happens after we die. This is an area of R.E. that may cause the children some discomfort or distress and if there are any issues that you feel are appropriate that I need to be aware of please let me know prior to this time.

Homework~ Numeracy and Literacy homework continues to be given out weekly which complements work undertaken in class. Children will also continue to bring home work to complete from Cornwall and PSHE lessons. By mid term Science will also be included in homweork tasks as this will help children prepare more thoroughly for SAT's. If children are ever unsure of any item of homework they should ensure that they raise it with me before the date that it is due in please. All homework should be recorded in children's homework diaries for both their and your aid and interest.

This term is very busy and the children will need to be extremely focused. I thank you for the tremendous support and encouragement you give to the children at home with school based work. It definitely is most productive when we are all focused on the needs of the child and how we can help to support them positively during this important year. I would also like to take the time to thank you for the wonderful gifts at Christmas, they were greatly appreciated.

Miss Cronin

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autumn forecast | spring forecast | summer forecast - autumn 2002 available as Word docs

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