Junior Class 2

Welcome to Class 2

We are one part of our closely linked Federation team and as our school motto says, we believe ‘Every Piece Matters’ and that we should all ‘Aim High, Be resilient and Take Care of Each Other’. Creating a happy, supportive, team environment is our top priority as this is the foundation for enabling children to challenge themselves and ‘Aim High’ across all areas of the curriculum.

 

Curriculum

We hope you had a lovely break and we look forward to a fun-filled summer term! Here is an outline of our curriculum for this term:

Our history topic this term is ‘The Victorians’. This topic will underpin several areas of our curriculum as we take a cross-curricular approach to our learning. The children will develop their understanding of continuity and change; making comparisons between the Victorian era and life in Britain today. They will also learn about evolution through industry, engineering and education. We will also have a Victorian themed school day so that the children get a feel for life as a Victorian child.

Our class book for this term is Street Child by Berlie Doherty. This is an inspiring and gripping adventure based on the true story of an orphan living in Victorian London whose plight inspired Doctor Barnardo to set up his famous children’s refuge. The children will also use this text as inspiration in their English work. To ensure we develop reading skills across all the areas we use VIPERS in our whole class reading, which stands for the following and which is labelled in their reading records:

V=Vocabulary

I=Infer

P=Predict

E = Explain

R = Retrieve

S = Summarise

Reading is such an important skill to continue consistently practising throughout years 3-6 and underpins all areas of the English curriculum. It enables children to develop their confidence and understanding of a range of topics and the world around them through the constant exposure to new vocabulary. In addition to the wide range of texts we will be studying in class, it is so valuable to continue to support children with their reading at home. We suggest reading with your child at least 5 times a week. Please can you record this in their reading records.

 

In Maths, we will focus on consolidating our learning over the year so far as well as further developing our skills and knowledge across the following areas: shape, angles (including of triangles for year 5 and 6), position and direction, co-ordinates, translation, reflection, symmetry and rotation.

As always, continued, regular practice of the times tables and basic number skills including number bonds and arithmetic strategies across the four operations, will have a positive impact on the children’s confidence and progress within maths. Hit the Button is a great online game to support your child with their number bonds and times tables. They also have a login to TT Rock Stars in their reading records. Year 4 children will be taking the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) in JUNE which requires them to answer each question within 6 seconds (any table up to 12 x 12). The Soundcheck section on TT Rock Stars is very similar to the format of the tables check and is a great way to prepare for the MTC.

In Science, the children will be learning about electricity including insulators and conductors as well as how to complete series circuits and investigate how we can alter a circuit to make a bulb brighter. They will also learn about other key components such as switches, buzzers and motors. The second Science topic is ‘Animals including Humans’. This will include learning about the circulatory system and how nutrients and water are transported within animals as well as studying the changes of the human body as we develop to old age. This includes learning about the changes experienced during puberty.

In art, the children will be studying the work of William Morris and Eadweard Muybridge and focusing on moving figures; creating sequences of figures which show movement as would be used to create animation.

Routines

In Class 2, we use Dojo points as our reward system. Children can earn points for an array of qualities such as showing kindness to others, listening attentively or for producing a fantastic piece of work.

Homework has been reviewed and we will continue with Mathletics and Reading Buddies.  However, it remains essential for children to regularly practise the times tables and read 5 times a week to an adult at home.

The children will need their PE kits on a Wednesday and Friday but it is helpful if they have them in all week.

Wednesday pm – PE and French and Friday am Wild Tribe (1^st half term) and Dance and Music (second half term).

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. If your message concerns homework or is not urgent, you can contact me via the messenger on Class Dojo. If it is urgent e.g. relating to attendance, please contact the school office.

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Frayn (Class Teacher) and Mrs Hazell (Teaching Assistant)

Class 2 – Timetable

Class 2 – Long Term Planning

Parents SATs information