Dear Parents
April 2015
I hope you all had a lovely Easter and enjoyed the beautiful weather of the second week.
Welcome back!
This term Oak Class will be studying the fascinating Ancient Egyptian civilisation. Running
alongside the usual mathematics and literacy, we are looking at why the Egyptians were
classed as a ‘civilisation’ and comparing them to who was living in Britain at the same time.
We will obviously study the pyramids, famous Egyptologists (and using our imaginations to
interview them) research the typical Egyptian way of life and feedback information to each
other and explore how their beliefs affected how they lived. I am particularly looking
forward to sharing the gruesome details of ‘Mummy Making’ and creating death masks,
amulets and exploring the delightful patterns and colours of Egyptian Art. The children will
also carry out an in depth study of the Nile: its journey, importance to life and features. In
addition, we will be carrying out a variety of investigations exploring forces: friction, gravity,
air resistance and water resistance. We will also be looking at mechanisms that have an
effect on forces like levers, gears cams, and pulleys. In DT, toys will be designed and made
that use a cam.
The children will be continuing to improve their programming skills and use them to design
a game on the computer. They will also explore the features of Powerpoint and show all
they have learnt to create a multimedia presentation on Ancient Egypt.
If that wasn’t enough, Year 6’s have their SATs (week beginning 11th May) and after half
term we will be looking at Sex education (puberty, conception and the human life cycle),
Sports day and the Year 6’s will be working hard setting up and rehearsing their Leavers
Assembly which will be on the last day of term at 10:00am.
Last term, every child had their own personal targets in maths and literacy. They worked
very hard to achieve them and try to do even better than what was expected of them.
Many succeeded. Attached to this letter is what your child achieved and what they will be
aiming to achieve this year. On the subject of last term , I would like to say a huge thank you
to you all for supporting us during our ‘Money Matters’ mini project. It culminated in raising
over £400 for Red Nose day.
Homework will be a mixture of set activities (revision for the first half term), mini-projects
and presentations. The mini projects work very well in that they offer children the
opportunity to make their own decisions and present information creatively. Please support
your children in organising their time effectively and doing the best they can. The children
will be studying spelling patterns/rules in class this term and having small ‘tests’ at surprise
moments! This will hopefully enable them to remember learnt facts long term and apply
them in writing too. As usual, your child is expected to read regularly (4 or 5 times a week)
for approximately 20 – 30 minutes. The choice of their texts is very important – please help
them to choose a variety of genres, both fiction and non-fiction, that cover different subject
matter and is of an appropriate challenging standard.
If you have any queries or worries, please do not hesitate to come in and see me after
school – especially if any of you are budding Egyptologists and would like to share your
knowledge!
Mrs Millward
After half term we are hoping to create some major art projects. If you have any spare
corrugated cardboard and colourful magazines, please bring them into school asap. Thank
you.
Targets from Spring term 2015 (the ticked ones are what your child achieved)
Maths
i) I must use these spelling rules at all times in my writing:
 Take off the e when adding ing
 Change the y to an i when adding a suffix
 Double the consonant if the last vowel has a short sound when adding ing or ed
ii) I can change the spelling of root words when adding ly, est, er,
iii) I can use prefixes accurately: mono/uni, bi, tri, quad, pent, dec, cent
de, dis/mis, con, pre
iv) Adapt root words accurately when adding any prefix or suffix
v) Know the meaning of most suffixes and prefixes and explain how adding them effects the
meaning of the root word.
Literacy
i) I must use these spelling rules at all times in my writing:
 Take off the e when adding ing
 Change the y to an i when adding a suffix
 Double the consonant if the last vowel has a short sound when adding ing or ed
ii) I can change the spelling of root words when adding ly, est, er,
iii) I can use prefixes accurately: mono/uni, bi, tri, quad, pent, dec, cent
de, dis/mis, con, pre
iv) Adapt root words accurately when adding any prefix or suffix
v) Know the meaning of most suffixes and prefixes and explain how adding them effects the
meaning of the root word.
This term your child is working on the asterixed targets.
The statements that are below are the next steps in their learning.
Literacy
a) I can use a style of writing to suit the purpose and audience
b) I link sentences/ideas within a paragraph
i)
Pronouns
ii)
Connectives
c) I use a range of devices to support organisation including referring to earlier parts of my writing.
d) I develop my ideas in imaginative detail
Maths
a) I can read a variety of scales
b) I can interpret and construct pie charts and line graphs and use these to solve problems relating to science and
geography.
c) I can use the four operations with mass, length, time, money and other measures, including the use of
decimal quantities.
d) I can create a scaled model of an historical or geographical structure showing an acceptable degree of
accuracy using known measurements.