Welcome to 2022!

Spring Term is now upon us.  I hope you all had a very restful Christmas break, despite still having to deal with the pandemic.  It is great to be back.

We have returned to staggered lunch times this term to ensure everyone's safety which means we have our lunch from 12.10 - 1.10 with year 5.  This has been working really well and I want to congratulate the children on how well they have coped on our return for the start of 2022. 

PE

This term we have had to change our PE days to Monday and Tuesday.  We will be having one lesson of Dance and one of Hockey or Netball.  Please make sure PE kits are in for these days.  The kit consists of black shorts, white t-shirts and trainers.  However, as we may go outside for PE this term please send your child with some black jogging bottoms as well.  Please make sure that kit is brought in at the start of the week and we will send them home after PE on Tuesday for washing and returning the following week.

Early Work/Assemblies

Each morning when the children arrive to school we usually complete a short maths activity called Ninja Maths or Numeracy Ninjas. This gets their brains moving really quickly for the start of the day and pupils can earn different colour ninja belts as they get better at the activity.  This is great for everyone because all pupils will achieve a belt at the end of the 5 minute activity.  I know that Mr Boulton  did this in year 5 and I am keen to continue this in year 6.  Please click the numeracy ninjas picture below to have a look at the website too.  It is actually aimed at KS3 but we have seen great success with this activity in years 5 and 6 and will continue to use it.  

We then have class assemblies most days covering PSHE topics on healthy living, relationships, the world around us, current affairs etc.  These are really important assemblies when year 6 together can feel confident to discuss issues that are really important to us and we respect each other's opinions.  This then helps the pupils have a better understanding of the world around them and the opinions of others.  I am really keen to ensure that pupils leave HCPSN as well rounded citizens who are ready for the next challenges that will come their way in secondary school.  

We will be having our celebration assemblies via zoom this term and the children have loved this so far.  It is so lovely to hear the echoes of laughter and applause through the corridors as the children celebrate their successes together.  

Contact 

Don't forget to check Classdojos for any notices.  And if you need to contact me please do so through class dojo during the hours of 8.30-5pm Monday to Friday.

If your child has to isolate I will post work for them to complete and submit on their Classdojo portfolio if they are well enough to complete it.

Each week I post the spellings and homework on our class story and messages will come through using this system as well.  Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need to during the year at any point.  I will be happy to help.  

Just click the class dojo picture for the link to Dojos is below :- 

The Team

The year six team this year are : Mrs Byles, Mrs Williams, Mrs Fletcher, Mrs Rout and Mrs Sitton!

Class Author and reading at home

Please read daily with your children.  We usually have a competition each term where a pupil will earn raffle tickets each time they read at home and we will then pull out a winner at the end of each term.  I cannot stress enough how much reading at home helps the pupils, even in year 6.  Although they are more fluent in their reading, if you can ask them questions about what they are reading to check their understanding of words etc, this can help immensely.  

Our class author is Malorie Blackman and we will be reading three of her books throughout the year. But if children want to read more of her work there are many others to choose from too.  I have a stock of books in the classroom for children to choose from.

We encourage reading of non fiction too, so newspapers, articles etc.  We watch newsround a couple of times per week so we can keep up to date with the latest news.  if you have newspapers at home that the children can read this is great, or articles on something that interests them maybe.

Homework

Children will have homework on a Monday and it will be due in on a Friday.  We have homework books, one English and one Maths and these alternate each week.  I will put details of which book and page numbers and activities each week on Classdojo.  In addition to their normal homework this term I have set the children a challenge to produce a project book on WWII as this is our topic this term.  The children have been given a poly pocked with a booklet that they can use the information from or they can print information at home.  They can write, colour, draw and add as much detail to their project as they want to.  I have shown them a really good example of what I am looking for in class, so they can really make this work their own.  A prize will be given for the best one!

Spellings

We are having a real focus on vocabulary this year and the words that our children use at Harwich Community Primary School and Nursery. Each week our spellings with be linked to a theme, so with have a particular prefix or suffix or pattern of some kind.  I post these each week on Classdojo but children also write them down in their spelling books.  Don't forget spelling shed too!  The children can log onto spelling shed at any time and practice their spellings too!  Below is a list of the year 5 and 6 spellings that pupils are required to spell.  We will be having a sponsored spell after the February half term - so watch Classdojo for more information about this!  

SATS 2022

SATS are still scheduled to happen in May this year.  Please see below for the timetable of dates.  It is essential that your child attends school during these dates and SATS boosters starts for some pupils this term as well.  I have sent letters home for those pupils who have been invited to the booster sessions.  Please message me on dojos if you require any more information.  There is also a link below that will give you a good idea of what SATS are and the website also has some past papers for you to look at.  

Link for past SATS papers and information for parents

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Here is a summary of what we will be learning this year:-

Autumn Term - WWI topic

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Spring Term - WWII Topic

Tell me no Lies by Malorie Blackman was such a great book for us to read as a class as we did a lot of work around relationships and bullying after reading this book too.                  

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Summer Term - Our Planet Topic

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End of year activities

These will be confirmed later on in the year.  

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