Cuffley School Curriculum Newsletter Summer Term 2014

Cuffley School
Curriculum Newsletter
Summer Term 2014
Team 5
Class teachers:
Miss Godley
Miss Hennessy
Teaching assistants:
Mrs Johnson
Mrs Watkins
Louis
‘Shropshire was
awesome! Everyone
Melisa
enjoyed all the activities,
especially abseiling and
indoor caving!’
‘Shropshire was the best
school trip ever!’
‘Having the frogs was so much
fun. It was fascinating watching
them grow; I even got to keep
them!’
‘It was lovely having cute, fluffy
pets for a few weeks. I miss them
already, but not the smell!’
Fin
Daisy
Louis
Melisa
The chicks (and frogs!!) have gone so it is very quiet in team 5 but we think it
is fair to say that they were a resounding success. The chicks linked very well
to our science topic on lifecycles and, while being ‘cute’, helped the children
use real life contexts for what they were learning in class.
Later this term, we will be taking our optional SATs in Maths and English and
following this, we will be returning to our normal curriculum timetable. We
have some very exciting activities planned for the term, including a trip to
Hatfield House, where we can immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of Tudor
times. This will be followed by a visit to the Young Mariners Base where the
children will have the opportunity to hone their rowing skills, soon to be taught
in PE!
Maths - we will be revisiting the four operations and developing our problem
solving skills as well as looking at place value; fractions, decimals and
percentages; shape and measure. We will also be looking at past paper
questions to help the children learn how to approach test questions, as year 6
is fast approaching. Please continue to support your child in practising mental
maths, for example: times tables, doubling and halving, number bonds, and
mental addition and subtraction. Furthermore, to develop and apply their
mathematical understanding, it would be beneficial if the children were
regularly questioned on ‘real-life’ maths, such as: telling the time, money,
timetables etc. Whilst we are covering this in class, questioning at home
would maintain the consistency to support your child’s learning. If you would
like to support your children with written calculations and you are unsure of
any of the written methods we use in class, then please let us know and we
will be happy to give you some examples. However would like to stress that
pushing children onto written methods which they do not intrinsically
understand is counterproductive and may hinder their progress; they should
use methods that best suit them.
English – Both classes have thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Highwayman’, a
narrative poem, which has allowed them to continue to explore their use of
ambitious vocabulary. At present, we are exploring language and literary
features that are used when creating interviews, recounts and articles; this
understanding will support the children in their challenge of producing the
‘Cuffley Splash Magazine’. Commencing after half term, the class will be
exploring senses to develop some poetry; this builds nicely on to our
descriptive, poetry writing based on ‘The Highwayman’. Our next unit will be
Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ (our choice of an ‘older text’). Despite the language
being very sophisticated, the plot fascinates the children and inspires powerful
writing. To complete the year, we will embark on a year 5/6 transition unit
entitled, ‘There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom’. It was greatly enjoyed last
year! Any support you can offer your child with reading at home will be greatly
appreciated.
Our science topics for this term are linked with ‘Solids, Liquids and Gases.’ To
introduce the unit, we have been fortunate in having the opportunity for
outside experts to come in and expose the children to a variety of engaging
investigations. The workshop focused on exploring materials and
understanding some of the reactions that occur between various chemicals. In
lessons, we will revise the properties of the three states of matter and
introduce terms, such as; ‘evaporation’ and ‘condensation’. This unit
concludes with an understanding of the water cycle.
In ICT, this half term, the children will be completing their database work by
analysing and responding to the data and answering questions that they have
generated from this. Following this, they will be moving onto using a
programming tool called ‘scratch’, which will develop their skills with building
graphics. This is a really useful programme that can be implanted across the
curriculum.
History - As we have completed our geographical unit on the ‘Ecuadorian
Rainforest’, which also supported the children in producing really wonderful,
descriptive writing, we are now moving our focus on to History. In History, we
will emphasise the significance of being ‘History Detectives’, to encourage the
children to develop their analytical and investigative skills. With a focus on
Tudor Britain, we will be exploring some exciting artefacts so that the children
can grasp a deeper understanding of the differences between the wealthy and
poorer groups in society.
PE - In PE, we are lucky enough to be using ergometers in school to teach
the children the techniques of rowing. We will also begin to focus on athletics
in preparation for our own sports day and district sports.
Art/D&T - In art, we are currently designing illustrations that will be used to
print with polystyrene tiles. After this, the children will be designing and
making ‘pot people’ out of clay. It continues the progression of skills with clay,
but also offers a chance for the creativity and imagination to come into play.
Music - The focus of our music composition will be linked to the rainforest and
will require the children to include ostinato and chords. We will be working on
music appreciation and will also be learning songs for performance, especially
for the Year 5/6 production.
PSHE - This term, our topic is ‘Relationships’, which will be followed by our
final topic, ‘Changes’. This is an exciting time for the children and there will be
a meeting providing an introduction into the Year 6 activities. This will be held
on Tuesday 4th June at 2.45. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
Once again, we are hugely appreciative of your continued support and we
hope that this term is another success for the children’s progress.