Download Slide 1 - WhiteHouseCurriculum

Amethyst Class
Term 5 and 6
2011-2012
In Term 5 through our science theme
Plants and animals in the environment
children will explore the different
habitats and conditions necessary for
growth.
Hopefully on Tuesday 15th May we
will visit The History Museum in
London to experience the Dinosaur
and the Creepy Crawly Exhibitions.
Children will learn about life cycles
of both plants and animals and link
this to their literacy work through
explanation texts.
During term 6 we will learn about
Variation. Children will become aware
that there is a huge variety of living
things within our environment. They
will learn that although living things
are different there are also
similarities.
This term we will learn how the write our own riddle. We
will learn about the different features of a good riddle
such as varying sentence starters, descriptive vocabulary,
clues and similes etc. The children will be encouraged to
include these in their own riddles.
We will also learn about explanation texts and link this to
our Science Curriculum. Children will learn about the life
cycle of a chicken and a plant.
We will also read stories about Dinosaurs. We will look at
the way the stories are written and discuss characters,
setting and plot. We will develop a range of adventurous
vocabulary to use in our work. We will use these stories as
a stimulus to create our own Dinosaur stories and poems.
In handwriting we will continue to develop the children’s
understanding and ability to join letters.
Your child will participate in weekly guided reading
sessions and we will endeavour to hear your child read
their home reader when possible. Can we remind you of
the importance of dating, signing and possibly commenting
in their reading records when you hear your child read at
home?
This term the children will continue
to consolidate and extend their
knowledge of addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. We will
use known number facts and place
value to add and subtract mentally.
Mental maths sessions will continue
on a regular basis.
The children will be encouraged to
develop a range of methods to solve
one and two step word problems and
explain their reasoning. The children
will also further their knowledge of
multiplication and division, fractions
and times tables.
. We will collect a variety of data
and using various computer programs
we will represent it in lists, tables
and different types of graphs
In ICT this term we will collect data and create
graphs such as bar graphs and Venn diagrams using
Handy graph and Early essentials. We will also use the
program To Investigate to create our own data base
linked to the Olympics. We will continue to use a range
of programs to consolidate our learning in Literacy,
Numeracy and other subjects and also to enhance our
I.C.T. skills
Ways to help your child with reading:
Make it a fun time for both of you.
Remember when sharing a book with your child to discuss the author, illustrator,
characters, plot and setting and to encourage them to read with expression.
Discuss what is happening in the story and what they think will happen
Look at different punctuation marks and why they are used, such as question marks,
exclamation marks, speech marks etc.
Visit the library to borrow books on plants and animals, Dinosaur stories and riddles.
As ever, reading is a vital part of learning. Children should aim to read to an adult for
at least 10 minutes every evening, at a time you can share a book together. This can be
either a school reading book or a book from home; I would like to encourage the
children to explore, and most importantly enjoy, a variety of reading materials, so
please don’t feel that they must read the Reading Tree books day after day.
We do endeavour to change the books regularly.
Please remember that you can change your child's reading book for another of the
same colour band if you feel they have read it well to you at home and have a good
understanding of the story.
Ways to help your child with writing:
Keep a daily diary. .
Encourage your child to write for different purposes, such as writing their own
invitations, thank you letters, helping write shopping lists, postcards from holidays,
weekend news diary etc.
Practise handwriting by copying a page of text from their favourite book.
Start a topic book in which they can write about the facts they discover,
for example, eg plants, animals or Dinosaurs
Ways to help your child with maths:
Count anything and everything. Practise counting on and back in different steps of
2, 3s, 5s and 10,s
Look at house numbers as you walk to school. Can they double or halve the number,
or say the number that is 10 more or ten less than that number?
Cook together, letting children weigh and measure the ingredients, i.e. litres,
grams.
Point out litres and grams when shopping
Talk about different 2D and 3D shapes around them.
Collect information using a tally.
Let children experience real money when shopping, by counting the amount needed
and working out how much change they should receive.
Ways to help your child with
I.C.T:
Research topics on the Internet.
Practise using the space bar, return key, full
stop and shift key when writing text.
Create text or pictures of what they have
learnt at school that day.
In Amethyst Class our door is always open; please feel free to pop in for a chat – no
matter how small the problem, we are always here to listen and try to work with you
to find a solution.
A big thank you goes to those mums offering their time and support by hearing
readers and helping with other classroom tasks, we really do appreciate all your
efforts.
If you are also able to help lighten the load, please do let me know.