Dear Parents,

Hello and welcome back to the new term.

Literacy:

We have already started learning about recount writing, and this will take us all the way to half term.

There are some wonderful cross curricular opportunities with our topic as well as writing up science

investigations. After half term, we will be learning about stories from other cultures.

The children should be continuing to read widely at home. We have discussed as a class why this is

important and I have asked them to reflect in their reading journal once they have read. This is more

than just recording the page they have got to. Do they like what they have read? Why? Are there any

questions they want to ask the author? Is there something they don’t understand? Why? Does it

remind them of another book? Why? They need to be able to explain their thoughts and ideas about

the book they are reading, and above all it must be a challenging book…not an easy read!

Numeracy:

We have begun by consolidating and developing our skills of mental and written multiplication, including

decimals and have now moved onto fractions and decimals. Our attention will then turn to developing

our addition and subtraction, to include numbers to 1 and 2 decimal places. Word problems will also be

a focus for us as we learn how to pick out the key information and interpret what to do with it. We will

finish by looking at shapes again and developing our knowledge of symmetry and angles.

We are also focusing on our multiplication and division facts this term. Up until now, the children have

been choosing the table facts they learn, highlighted from weekly tests. However, it has become clear

through our work on written multiplication, that there are children who don’t know their multiplication

tables! So, we will be looking back at these and your continued support to help learn specific tables,

including division facts, would be very much appreciated.

Topic:

As I’m sure the children have already told you, our topic is Britain at War. This half term we are

learning about the war in Europe and will be developing our map skills, to include drawing our own

thematic map to show how Germany invaded and then retreated. We will also be learning about the

battle of Dunkirk and developing our History skills through creating our own time lines of the rise of

Hitler. We will of course be adding to them as we work through the topic. We will also be learning

about Anne Frank, which links to our RE as well as considering what happened to the Jewish people

that Hitler persecuted. We will finish with a Science week that investigates sound and we will consider

which materials would best sound proof the annex where Anne Frank and her family were hidden.

After half term, we will be learning about life on the home front.

RE:

Our RE topic looks at the moral issues surrounding why Anne Frank went in to hiding. We will be

learning about her, the choices her family made and what happened to her. The children will also be

asked to consider the reasons why she went into hiding and how hope and strength was kept alive in

their situation.

SEAL:

We start with Going for Goals, where the children consider what their goals are and how the reach

them. We then move onto Good to Be Me, in which children are asked to consider what they are good

at and to recognise what other children are good at.

PE:

Our PE sessions continue to be on a Monday and Tuesday. Both sessions to begin with are outside, and

as long as it is not raining or snowing, we will be going out. Some children are still in shorts and they

are starting to look cold, so tracksuit bottoms might be useful. Our outside games session is Hockey

for this half term, and we are learning and developing our strategic skills. Inside will be gym to start

with, in which we are learning to create gymnastic sequences and evaluate and improve them. Once we

have finished that, we will be learning how to jive as the GI s taught us during the war!

Home learning will be set on a Thursday and due in the following Tuesday. I will continue to run a home

learning club on a Friday lunchtime where the children can come and ask for help, complete their

homework or just get it out of the way before the weekend!

Please keep an eye on the blog, as they are beginning to develop with links and information about our

learning.

I hope that this answers any questions you might have and it just leaves me to say that if you have any

questions or queries them do please come and see us to discuss it.

We look forward to working with you!

Sarah Walton and Sarah Thornton