We have had a great start to the year with the class settling into their classroom and familiarising themselves with each other and staff.  

In Primary 5/6 we have: 

Teacher: Mrs Collins 

PSAs: Miss Caragh and Mrs Williamson

We have lots to look forward to over the next session, including a P5/6 assembly, the P5/6 Showcase, Nursery Buddies, swimming lessons and much more.  

Further information will be uploaded in the coming weeks, but if you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please contact me through the office.  

Kind regards, 

Emily Collins 

We have started the term with estimating and rounding numbers. Numeracy groupings have been applying their knowledge of rounding to the nearest 10, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000 with increasingly larger numbers.

They will go on to applying their understanding of rounding to estimate and check answers, and some learners will explore rounding decimals to the nearest whole number.

Later on in the term, we will practise reading, writing and ordering whole numbers to 1 000 000, starting from any number in a sequence. Everyone will gain accuracy with partitioning and recognising the value of digits, with some learners extending to numbers to three decimal places.

Before Christmas we will begin our addition and subtraction unit, where learners will add and subtract multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 to and from whole numbers, we will recap chimney methods with increasingly larger numbers, and some learners will do this to two decimal places. 

Topical Maths:

Alongside our numeracy groupings, we will be exploring mathematics and its impact on the world, patterns & relationships, ideas of chance and data analysis.

In writing, we are starting the term with weather based poetry. We will then move towards learning how to write an imaginative story with a balance of action, description & speech, and we will explore ways of creating mood and atmosphere within our setting description.

The grammar that will go alongside this unit will include revising basic sentence punctation, learning about the different types of sentences, using paragraphs, experimenting with figurative language and using a range of sentence openers.

Later on in the term we will be learning how to write an adventure story with a focus on a clear story structure, and a character arc. We will extend our grammar for the term to include using direct speech, reporting clauses and will begin to use conjunctions for different purposes. Primary 5/6 pupils have also expressed an interest in linking our writing to our topic by exploring and creating myths.

Spelling:

Primary 5/6 will learn a new spelling rule each week and practise rules and their list of spelling words in class throughout the week. Children will have weekly dictations to check their understanding of spelling rules.

Reading: 

During our whole class reading lessons, the class will read “Weather Weavers” by Tamsin Mori, which is a story set in Shetland. We will unpick the text in ways that are linked to the core reading skills: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising.

Later on in the term, we will continue working on these skills while reading “Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief” by Rick Riordan, and it is hoped that both novels will act as inspiration for our writing genres, and will also influence the direction that we take our water & weather topic.

In addition, we will be exploring healthy habits (sleep, exercise and diet) as part of our Wellbeing Indicators learning.  

Our PE days are Tuesdays and Fridays. The class have expressed an interest in sharing PE slots with other classes, and so we will join the P5s on a Tuesday and will join with P6s on a Friday.

During our PE slots we will practise field sports including rugby, hockey and football, and will develop our fitness too. We will also do our swimming block at some point during the term (tbc).

Throughout the term, we will continue to look at the importance of SHANARRI, the UNCRC and Global Goals.

Later on in the term, we will head off in our own direction – Primary 5/6 are keen to look into water/weather gods and myths, they would like to be creative with puppet shows, interpretive dances and would like to create weather music. This is likely to form the theme of our Primary 5/6 assembly!

We will also be furthering our knowledge about Christianity in RME, and will be exploring the safe use of shared and 1:1 ipads, this will include learning how to access and save learning digitally, and how to be safe and responsible when using devices. 

For expressive arts, we’ll also be experimenting with making music, and will be creating textures through collage and printing in art.

At home, practise your spelling words using Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check (or a strategy that works best for you). Then choose 1 activity from the 2nd Level Spelling Homework Grid.

What home learning will be sent home?

Weekly: Spelling lists

Termly: Learning grid with suggestions of activities that are linked to our learning

Do we have a home learning jotter?

No. To save on resources, we won't be sending home a jotter in P5/6 but if you would prefer one, let me know and I can send one home. See the details below for information on how to submit learning digitally.

What should my child do weekly for their home learning?

• Spellings (I will be posting a new spelling list on here & in the TEAM each week)

• Reading at home & "Book Talk"

• Practise times tables (in Primary 5/6 we will learn all multiplication & division facts to the 12 x table)

  
  

What if we want to do more across the term? See our Learning Grid for optional, additional activities which are linked to our learning for Term 1. Documents that we've mentioned in the grid (like a book review template, experiment grid etc...) are posted in the P5/6 TEAM and I will print out paper copies at school for anyone who needs them.

How do we submit homework?

If you would like to show me what you have been doing for your homework, you can bring it in physically or send it to me digitally, as you do it throughout the term. 

How do we submit work digitally?

For spellings: I will set a separate, weekly assignment on the P5/6 TEAM if you want to upload anything related to spelling home learning. 

For anything else: In the P5/6 TEAM, children can send homework to me (privately) by attaching documents/pictures to the assignment or you can email it to me via Admin.

Note: on TEAMS, once you have submitted an assignment, if you want to add more as the term goes, you can add to and "re-submit" the assignment.

What do I do if we need help?

I will be adding helpful resources & links to the P5/6 TEAMS page as the term progresses. Please also feel free to email me via admin or catch me at the school gate if you have any questions.

For writing, we logged into a “Live Lesson” and started planning our submission for the BBC 500 Word Writing Competition. Everyone planned out their ideas before starting their first draft. After October break we will finish, edit and type up our stories.