Hello, Chestnut Class. You have an exciting year coming up before you move into your final year at Woods Bank Academy. 

In Reading lessons, we are starting with the story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis to support our learning. Children will begin to increase their knowledge of certain vocabulary and will then move onto a text which will push them to the best of their ability. This is a book I enjoy very much and I am sure the children will too! After this, we will be moving on to a very emotive book entitled A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. We will look closely at the language the author has used for description and conveying characters’ moods, exploring how they change through the book.

In English, the children will be encouraged to use figurative language (similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, etc.) in their own work a lot more this year. They will then learn how to write an exciting diary entry from one of the book character’s points of view, and watch different clips from the film version to support them with their writing. The children have been really enthusiastic about their writing so far!

In Maths, we are building on our learning from the previous year as we revisit the topic of place value, this time working with numbers up to 1,000,000. The children will then spend a few weeks learning about adding and subtracting numbers, including those with more than four digits. During these units, the children will apply their skills to solve multi-step problems, and will then spend several weeks looking at factors, prime numbers, square numbers and cube numbers. They will also revisit multiplying and dividing numbers by 10, 100 and 1,000. We will also be exploring fractions further in addition to long multiplication and short division. 

In the afternoons, the children are exploring a range of topics. In History, they are learning about the Anglo-Saxons. They are learning about South American countries in their Geography lessons and how they differ from the rest of the world. In DT, the children are working to complete a Viking long boat model, and in Science we will be investigating forces through to Easter. PE lessons on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will focus on a range of invasion games and swimming during the spring term. The children were able to demonstrate a range of skills in the summer term last year when focusing on athletics and kwik cricket: they are enjoying more demanding sports and skills. The children are learning about the rights and responsibilities of being a good citizen in PSHE lessons, enabling a range of conversation and debates which will allow them to develop levels of respect and maturity.

If you have any questions, please find us by the KS2 gates at the end of the day.

Mr Watts and Mr Evans