Welcome to Rye Class

Welcome to Rye Class, Rye Class consists of year 5 and 6 pupils who are nurtured to develop their independence and resilience. Pupils enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum where they have opportunities to explore our curriculum enhancers of diversity, community, sustainability and creativity.

Our school day compromises of morning activities which focus on retrieval of prior learning, handwriting, Maths, SPaG, English which is taught daily and our afternoons are filled with engaging and interactive sessions exploring the curriculum of: Science, French, Music, History, Geography, Art, Design and Technology, Computing and British sign language. More information on our curriculum can be found on our curriculum pages.

Pupils are encouraged to work collaboratively and imaginatively to broaden their horizons. We tailor pupils’ learning to their interests and needs, which is why our pupils love, learn and grow together.

Dear Parents,

A big welcome back to everyone in Rye Class! I hope everyone enjoyed a nice rest after their hard work during the Autumn Term and had a happy Christmas and New Year!

Please see below for an overview of what we will be learning in Rye Class this term. You will notice a few slight changes, including one of our PE days.

English

Both Orange (Y6) and Green (Y5) group children will continue base their English learning around a key text. This term, Green group will be reading ‘Charlotte’s Web’ by E.B White with Miss Jones. They will study the plot, characters and setting before using what they have learned to write a persuasive speech as the character of Wilbur and write advertisements for the sale of animals. They will also develop their understanding of dialogue when writing narrative pieces and use their understanding from our Geography lessons to write non-chronological reports.

SPaG sessions will focus on recapping and securing prior knowledge, parenthesis and concise, expanded noun phrases in order to apply these to improving written work.

Orange group’s text will be ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgeson Burnett. We will begin by exploring the historical context of this book, written over 100 years ago, and after developing our understanding of biographies, research and write a short biography of the author. After we further explore the setting, characters and plot, we will plan, write and edit our own narrative based on a similar theme. As we move into next half term, we will explore the key features of and write; a balanced argument, non-chronological report and set of instructions.

In our SPaG lessons, we will again focus on recapping and securing prior knowledge, before developing our understanding of word classes and tenses.

Spelling tests for all children will continue to be on a Friday, so children will need to ensure they have their yellow spelling book in school on this day.

Maths

Green group will begin this term by consolidating their understanding of multiplication and division, learn how to calculate using long multiplication, using written methods to solve problems. They will also learn how to multiply fractions. Orange group will begin by exploring ratio and algebra, including calculating scaled measurements using ratio and writing equations to find a missing value in algebra. Both Green and Orange groups will then continue into next half term with a focus on fractions, decimals and percentages and exploring the relationship between these. They will also further develop their understanding of area and perimeter. Throughout the term we will be applying our understanding in these areas to reasoning and increasingly challenging problem-solving questions in all mathematical areas.

Children have passwords to access Mathletics at home where we will at times set them activities for homework relating to our topics to help them to further develop and consolidate their skills and knowledge. The children also have TT Rockstars logins which is useful for helping them to improve their multiplication skills.

Science

Mrs Huntriss will teach Science on Thursday afternoons to all of Rye class throughout the year. This term the children will be learning about ‘Electricity’. This topic will challenge the children to build on the electricity knowledge and skills that they learnt in Year 4. They will use and develop their knowledge to learn: to associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit; how to compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches; and finally, to use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.

Topic

Our Cornerstones topic for this whole term will be ‘Sow, Grow and Farm.’ Through this topic, children will learn about allotments in the United Kingdom and how the government encouraged people to have them to support food rationing during the Second World War. They will have the opportunity to learn about farming in the United Kingdom and the techniques used in modern farming, including the challenges that farmers face. They will learn about the benefits of eating seasonally and about the pros and cons of importing food. They will also learn about world farming and how the different climate zones affect where different foods can be grown. We will also be incorporating links with local farming families to explore farming in our local community. In Art, we will explore still life forms, drawing and painting our own and focus on honing our line and shading techniques.

Computing

Our Computing topic for this half term will be ‘Word Processing’ and will focus on the children developing their skills using Microsoft Word. This will include, creating a document, adding and editing an image, using a table and inserting text boxes and formatting a page. Children will also develop their typing skills throughout this unit.

RE will be on a Monday afternoon and our topic for the whole term will aim to answer the question: ‘What matters most to Humanists and Christians?’

PSHE will be taught on Wednesday afternoons and we will be continuing with our topic of ‘Being Safe’ before moving on to ‘Its My Body’ and ‘My Healthy Lifestyle’ as we progress through the term.

PE will now be on Mondays with Mr Cairns and Fridays with Mr Walker. Please make sure children have their kit in school to change in to on these days.

French – Children in Rye Class will now learn French as a whole class with Madame Conroy and I on Friday afternoons. Our first topic will be ‘Quel temps fait-il?’ and will focus on speaking about the weather. After half term, out topic will be ‘Les Vetements,’ and children will learn to name clothes and discuss what they are wearing.

Homework – Children will receive homework on a Friday and it should be brought back into school on Wednesday, unless it is a Topic homework, which children have 2 weeks to complete.

Year 6 children will also have SATs books in Maths, Reading and Grammar. Please encourage your child to practise their skills using these books during any free time in order to help them prepare for their SATs tests in May. I am happy to go over any challenging questions during our SATs club, which will run on Tuesdays after school.

If you have anything you would like to discuss, with myself or Miss Jones, please feel free to contact us via the class email: ryeclass@langton.n-yorks.sch.uk

Kind Regards

Mrs R. Dale & Miss Jones