Welcome to Pine Tree Class

Welcome back to school!

I hope you have all had a lovely summer break and are ready for an exciting term ahead. 

Have a read through our welcome letter and curriculum overview to see all the exciting things we have planned for the autumn term.

On this page, you will find some useful information about the term ahead and any key messages that you need to be aware of.  If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see our class Twitter feed and instructions for Google Classroom. We love to use Twitter to share some of the excellent things going on in class and will use Google Classroom to support learning at home - spellings, homework and useful documents will be uploaded and made available on there.  If you are on Twitter, please follow @pinetreeclass to see regular updates.

We are set to have a great term and have some really exciting things planned and lots of new things to learn about.  If there are ever any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to get in touch, either by popping in or telephoning.  The support you give is essential for your child's progress and the closer we can work together the better it will be for them.

Kind regards

Mrs Owen

Curriculum Overview:

Our maths focus for autumn term will be number, which will consist of place value and the four written calculations, so it is imperative that your child supplements this work with basic skills practise at home. Please encourage your child to use their log in for Times Table Rockstars regularly at home, to ensure they know all the multiplication and division facts accurately and rapidly, as this knowledge and recall will be hugely beneficial this year.

In English, we will continue to develop our writing skills through the study of various texts this term. Firstly, with Helen Ward’s beautifully illustrated and thought-provoking book called ‘Varmints’ which looks at colonisation and industrialisation. Then, we will be focusing on William Grill's fascinating, detailed book about Ernest Shackleton's Journey across the Antarctic. We will analyse the author’s use of language and the impact it has upon the reader and then, use this to stimulate a variety of different forms of writing. We will explore using a variety of sentence structures, choose thoughtful and interesting vocabulary and incorporate a wide range of punctuation and grammar. We will be completing daily whole class reading sessions to develop our reading stamina, pace, understanding of vocabulary and comprehension skills, alongside individual reading sessions, where each child will be heard to read by an adult. Alongside everything we do in school, it is incredibly important that your child is reading a variety of texts both fiction and non-fiction regularly at home and recording their comments in the planners. The planners need to be in school daily and to be signed by an adult regularly.                                                                        

Science

We are scientists!

In science, we will be learning about electricity. This will start with retrieving knowledge of simple circuits from previous learning. This will follow with working scientifically (as scientists) by using a range of equipment to create circuits and demonstrate our scientific knowledge by making predictions, asking questions, discussing experiments, recording results and drawing labelled diagrams. We will also compare series and parallel circuits. Later in the term, we will explore the structure of the heart and lungs; looking at the double circulation system and about blood!  We will also investigate why exercise is good for us and what can harm the heart and lungs.

Geography                                                                                      

This term, our geography enquiry question will be:

‘Is Warrington a good place to settle? 

During this topic, we will study why the location, transport links, proximity to cities, trade and industry, all make Warrington a good place to live. Through the use of digital and paper maps, we will investigate land use in different sized settlements and the ways in which settlements are linked together.  We will also explore how Warrington has changed over time.

History                                                                                                 

In history, we will be exploring the history enquiry question:

  What can we learn from Ancient Civilisations?

During this, we will investigate and interpret the past, through exploring early ancient civilisations, such as Ancient Sumer, Indus Valley, Ancient Greece and Shang Dynasty. We will study sources of evidence to identify significant events and main achievements from this time, investigate when and where they lived by chronologically ordering events on a timeline and also, describe the similarities and differences between the four ancient civilisations. 

Additional Messages:

Reading: 

Please make sure that you read for at least 10 minutes everyday.  This can be your school book, own book, newspapers, comics, shopping list etc and record in your planner.

Spellings:

Spellings will be added to Google Classroom on a Friday afternoon and the children will be tested the following Friday.  Spellings will focus on particular spelling rule/pattern each week and we will also be looking at words taken from the statutory word list.  These will be taught and practised throughout the week. 

PE:

The children will have outdoor PE on a Tuesday and indoor PE on a Thursday.  The children should come to school wearing their PE kits.  PE kits should be a house colour t-shirt, plain black shorts/ joggers/leggings and a plain black jacket/jumper.  Please remember to tie long hair up and make sure no jewellery is worn.

Homework:

Homework will be set on a Friday and this should be returned by the following Thursday.  Homework will consist of a maths activity and an English activity linked to the unit of work they are covering in class, so they should be able to complete the activity independently. 

Some useful websites, resources and links:

https://spellingframe.co.uk - Spelling Frame - A great, interactive website to give you chance to practise your spellings in a variety of different ways.

https://ttrockstars.com/ - Times Table Rockstars. Use this website to practise your times tables, battle with your band mates and keep your arithmetic skills up to scratch!