Welcome to Pine Tree Class

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

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

Mr Ellis

Curriculum Overview:

Our Maths topics for this autumn term will focus heavily on number, place value and the four written calculations and it is imperative that children are supplementing this work with basic skills practise at home. Please encourage the children 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.

We will continue to develop our writing skills through the study of various texts this term, first with Chris Van Allsburg’s beautifully illustrated and thought-provoking book called ‘Queen of the Falls’. Then we will be looking at The Lost Happy Endings by Carol Ann Duffy.  We will analyse the author’s use of language and the impact it has upon the reader and then use them to stimulate a variety of different forms of writing. We will explore using a variety of sentence structures, thoughtful well-chosen vocabulary and a wide range of punctuation and grammar. We will be completing daily whole class reading sessions to develop the children’s reading stamina, pace, understanding of vocabulary and comprehension skills alongside individual reading sessions where each child will be heard to read by an adult weekly. Alongside everything we do in school, it is incredibly important that children are 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 at by an adult regularly. Finally, the children will need to focus on using spelling strategies and rules consistently to ensure they spell a variety of common and uncommon words accurately. They need to be practising their spellings regularly at home. Please see the spelling strategies document to support your child learning their weekly word lists at home. 

Science

We are scientists!

In our weekly Science sessions, we have a Physics focus to begin with and will be learning all about Electricity Children begin with revision of simple circuits with lots of hands on experience with symbols, diagrams and incomplete circuits. Children will then compare series and parallel circuits and face some difficult challenges! Next, we have some biology! The children will then explore the structure of the heart and lungs; looking at the double circulation system and all about blood! They will then investigate why exercise is good for us and what can harm the heart and lungs. The children will be encouraged to work and think like scientists and explore these natural phenomena using their research skills, asking relevant questions to investigate.

History/Geography                                                                                      

Geography

Our Geography enquiry question ‘Is Warrington a good place to settle? In this topic, the children will study why the location, transport links, proximity to cities, trade and industry all make Warrington a good place to live. Through use of digital and paper maps, children will investigate land use in different sized settlements and the ways in which settlements are linked together.  They will also look at how Warrington has changed over time.

History

This year we will be studying both history and geography throughout the year to ensure we cover all curriculum objectives before the children leave us for High School. Our History enquiry question is ‘What can we learn from Ancient Civilisations? During this topic, the children will focus on the early ancient civilisations; Ancient Sumer, Ancient Mayans, Ancient, Indus Valley and Shang Dynasty.  They will learn about significant events from the time and order these events chronologically on a timeline of early world history. 

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 indoor PE on a Wednesay and outdoor PE on a Friday.  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 Friday.  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!