P6a Curricular Update – Term 2
Well, can you believe Christmas is almost upon us? It feels like just a few weeks ago I was writing the update for Term 1. What a quick term it has been and your children have done you proud. They have worked their socks off in all areas of the curriculum. Here’s what we have we been up to:
Reading
Building on from using the Big Cat reading scheme in Term 1, the children have continued their study of non-fiction texts. They have enjoyed learning about how dogs were used to help the military during the Second World War, the solar system and the ancient Egyptians. They used the texts for paired reading activities, guided reading sessions and to complete a variety of comprehension tasks. I can see a better, more consistent standard of work across all areas of Literacy but in particular in the children’s written responses to text. Next term, we will continue to work on comprehension skills but through the medium of a class novel and the focus will shift to understanding character, setting, plot and the author’s craft.
Writing
We did Persuasive writing this term and looked at a variety of topics including; homework, school uniform and which pets animals make the best pets. The children were given the opportunity to come up with arguments for and against each topic and to choose the side of the argument with which they agreed. We had some fantastic discussion and debate surrounding these issues and the children developed their skills in using the persuasive writing toolkit to produce well-structured, detailed pieces of writing. They also had the opportunity to create and design their own gadgets and present sales pitches in order to persuade us to buy these, which was fun.
Next term we will move onto Imaginative/Creative writing. I have a lot very imaginative children in my class, you know, and I cannot wait to see what they produce! I know many of them are excited to do some story writing after two terms on non-fiction writing.
Maths
We continued with Number as our main focus this term, building on Addition and Subtraction from last term and moving onto Multiplication and Division. We used these four processes to work with whole numbers up to 5 digits. The children gained experience in the use of a variety of mental strategies to help them solve number problems. These included partitioning, transformation, open number lines, grid method multiplication, VIPs and Area Models.
We continued with both individual mental maths and group mental maths tasks on a daily basis and all of the children have grown in confidence when talking through mental maths solutions and strategies.
Fractions, Decimals & Percentages and Time will be our big focus topics in Term 3.
IDL (Topic)
Our science topic this term was Sound and Light. We looked at the different parts of and the inner workings of the eye and the ear. We had an input from an optometrist who explained how light enters the eye and the reasons why some people have problems with their eyesight. We looked at problems that can occur when the eye and ear don’t work as they should and at the difficulties that may be faced by people who are blind and or deaf. We also looked at how modern technology has helped people with vision and hearing problems. This all tied in nicely with our work in Health and Wellbeing where we learned more about living with disabilities.
Our topic for next term is a cracker – The Swinging Sixties!
It’s a really interesting, fun topic and I’m sure the children will love it. I can’t wait to get started!
Health and Well-being
Our topic in Health and Wellbeing was Celebrating Differences. Each week we looked at ways in which we are both similar and different and how this can be a cause for celebration but unfortunately also a source of conflict. The children looked at case studies of children living with disabilities and also researched Paralympians. They were sensitive and respectful throughout. Well done kids!
As you can see, we’ve covered a LOT! I can see a notable difference in the attitude of the children towards their work and both the quantity and the quality of the work they’re producing has improved greatly. We’re all exhausted but well done everyone, I knew you could do it!
As for you, as parents, thank you for continuing to support your children and for supporting me. It really is much appreciated.
Have a wonderful Christmas and all the very best for 2024.
Kind Regards,
Louise Boyce
