Autumn Term 2024 in Buzzards

Welcome to Buzzard Class! 
 

Welcome back to the Autumn term!   

Curriculum 

In the mornings our focus will be reading, writing and maths and in the afternoons we will cover the rest of the curriculum.  On Thursdays Mr. Gatrell will be teaching  art and Mr. Mott will be teaching music and on Friday it is Bury Rangers.

In English, we will be basing our work on the superb book Azizi and the Little Blue Bird by Laila Koubaa.  Please don’t run out and buy it until we have finished the unit though – I need to keep them in suspense until the end! We will also dip into a lot of other books that support and supplement our whole class text.  

Our spellings will be introduced on a Monday and we will focus on a pattern each week We will also introduce 4 'statutory spellings'. The children will be asked to find them in their reading, use them in their writing  and look for the  root words and etymology (the history of the word and how it is made- for example if the word comes from Latin or Greek and what the prefixes and suffixes mean) to help learn them too.  We will continue to use the Sounds and Syllables scheme that was started earlier this year and will be having a daily spelling lesson. On a Friday, we will test the weekly words and have a retrieval test of statutory words from the last 4 weeks

Our key ‘home learning’ will be Times Tables Rock Stars for 5 minutes a day. The curriculum tells us that our children should know all (up to 12) of their times tables by the end of Year 4, and so we really want them to be confident and fast at recall of these. Please make sure your child plays on the ‘studio’ part of Times Tables Rock Stars several times a week – the more regularly they play, the better they will get.  Please hear your child read for at least 5 minutes a day too. We ask you to hear your child read 5 times a week. I know how difficult this is – but there are often little slots of time when they can read to you – while you are cooking/ironing/ washing up or of course snuggled on the sofa or in bed.  When children get to year 5 and 6, they often prefer to read to themselves, which of course we encourage, but reading to an adult helps them in so many ways. You can pick up incorrect pronunciation, question their understanding, discuss the story.  Every Friday we will send home some maths questions which will support the learning from that week: these will be due back on the following Tuesday. Homework can often be a bone of contention at home so please remember that it is NOT compulsory and it is your choice if your child completes it or not. There will not be any sanctions if your child does not complete the homework. It simply serves as another way for you to see what your child is learning in school and for them to practise the skills that they are learning. We will also send a spelling sheet to practise at home too.

In maths we will continue to cover the year 5 and 6 curriculum and will be incorporating regular investigations and problem solving.  This term’s focus will be place value, calculation and fractions. 

History - The history of St. John the Evangelist Church in Bury.

Science- Light and Forces

Bury Rangers/ DT – Seasonal food and Green man sculptures

Art – 2D drawing to 3D sculpture and Activism

RE - Humanism - Why do humanists say that happiness is the goal of life? and Hinduism - How do questions about Brahman and Atman influence the way a Hindu lives?

Computing -  Computing systems and networks - communication and Creating media - modelling

PE – Hockey

Music – Singing Hey Mr. Miller and Recorder - Winter Festival

Latin - Continuing to work through our scheme

Relationships and health education - Physical contact & appropriate touch,  Challenging the impact of feelings on self,  Body changes and puberty,  Media influences on masculinity & femininity,  Types of relationship (love and commitment) 

On a Friday, the children will have Bury Rangers and will need to come to school wearing their Bury Rangers clothes.   

On a Wednesday the children will have outside PE and will need to come to school wearing PE kit including dark blue or black jogging bottoms or leggings and their school jumper or Bury Rangers hoody.  Please do not wear other jumpers or sweatshirts on PE days.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday 
 
 
 
 

PE 
 
 
 
 

Wear PE kit 

 Gum shield and shin pads
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday 
 
 
 
 

Art and music 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday 
 
 
 
 

 Bury Rangers
Wear Bury Rangers clothes 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Class organisation 

Please ensure that your child has a named water bottle in the classroom everyday. They will need an additional water bottle in their lunchbox if they are having packed lunch.  

School starts at 8.40 - please bring your child to the big side gates by the hall to drop them off. At the end of the day, please wait by Buzzard class’ outside door at 3.15 and I will send the children to you. At each end of the day, please be prompt.   

Some children will take part in extra sessions with one of our TAs. These will take place in school and may be for only 1 or 2 sessions or may happen over a longer period. 

 

Behaviour 

We are continuing to use the Good to be Green behaviour system and Class Dojo to reward children for demonstrating both our school and Christian values.  In the Good to be Green system, if a child makes a wrong choice we will give 2 verbal warnings – being specific about which rule has been broken- then a yellow card. If a child receives a yellow card then they will have to miss some of the net playtime to complete a reflection sheet with an adult. If the child continues to break the rules or is violent, then a red card will be given. This means that the child will be spoken to be Mr. Moore and you will be called to discuss the behaviour.   

Year 6 children will be completing their SATs in May and we will be talking to you and them about preparing for these later in the year. If you would like to spend some extra time at home before then preparing for the tests, then the CGP books are really useful and can be bought cheaply on Amazon. There are both revision and work books.  

As always, if you need to speak to me about anything, please either catch me before or after school or make an appointment with through Mrs. Clark in the office or email the class account at buzzards@bury.school.  It always best to sort out little niggles as soon as possible. 

 Please see below for our knowledge organisers, flashcards and quizes to support learning at home.

Below there are also links to the 'Reading with your child at home' booklet and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar guide for parents.