Alpington & Bergh Apton C of E VA Primary School

Class Eagles

EAGLES 20/21

Sound Investigation

As part of our unit on sound we are conducting an investigation into hearing – the link for this is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ocOKvfoZg

Autumn Term

We are back up and running in Eagles and it has been a very smooth, productive and happy start to the year!! See more on the Eagles in Action page.

Our topic this term is ‘Strangers’ and this will be based around the Tudor period. Our curriculum map is here: Autumn Curriculum Map

We have had to make certain adjustments to the timetable and the revised version is here: Revised Autumn Timetable

From next week (week beginning 14.9.20) we will be running Group Reading sessions again and a copy of the timetable can be found below. Your child(ren) will know which group they are in. Please remember that it is important that your child(ren)  bring in their homebook and guided reading book every day whether they have a scheduled reading session or not.

Group reading timetable

Homework

There will be the following regular homework this year in Eagles:

  1. Spellings – weekly test on a Wednesday. The words your child needs to learn will be stuck in their homebook.
  2. Mental maths targets – weekly test on a Friday. A target and practise test will also be stuck in your child’s homebook.
  3. Reading – please see details of what home reading your child needs to do in their homebook.
  4. Comprehension work – this work will be reviewed in class on a Wednesday. It will be placed in their homework folder.

There will be time available in school for the children to work on their homework tasks but please support them at home. If you have any queries about homework, please contact me via the Eagles email account – eagles@alpington.norfolk.sch.uk

 

Arithmetic methods and grammar glossary

You shuld have received two booklets outlining the methods we use for arithmetic and a glossary of grammatical terms. These should be useful as a resource for both you and the children. Once again, if you have any queries, please feel free to contact me via the Eagles email.

Hello new Eagles!!

I am really looking forward to September and getting to know you all better. We have an exciting year ahead with some brilliant topics to study.

I have read all your letters and will try and answer some of the most common questions (see below)  but first some boring practical stuff:

  1. Your parents have had a letter which explains all the arrangements for the new term. Things are still a bit different because of COVID-19.
  2. We will be based in what was the Skylarks’ classroom.
  3. In the mornings, you will need to enter at your allotted time (your parents will know when this is) through the door into the classroom from the playground. Mrs Welch and I will be there to meet you.
  4. You need to bring all your stuff into the classroom. We are going to use the cloakroom in the classroom although only one person is allowed in there at any one time. You can put your bags and coats in there and if you have a packed lunch place it on the trolley.
  5. You will then need to wash your hands and go to your desk, Mrs Godbold will tell you where to sit, and get on with the task on the board.
  6. You need to remember to bring back any reading books you have taken home over the summer and put them in the returns box.
  7. You also need to remember to bring in a pencil case containing: a pencil, a pencil sharpener, a blue writing pen, a red writing pen, a rubber, a ruler, some coloured pencils and/or felt-tips and a couple of high-lighters of different colours. If you can’t get some or all of this, don’t worry we can give you it. You need to keep this in you tray and not share it with anyone else.
  8. On Fridays, you need to remember to come in in your PE kit, so you don’t have to get changed.
  9. Here is the Autumn timetable 

Your questions:

  1. Where will I sit?  Beacuse of the COVID-19 restrictions we have arranged all the desks facing the front. We will have to stay in the same seats for most of our activities. I will try and arrange it so you are sitting next to or near a friend.
  2. What is our topic?  Our topic this year is ‘Strangers’. It is a fascinating topic and will be mostly based around Henry VIII and the Tudors. We will look at immigration, Norwich through the ages and at Kett’s Rebellion later in the term, and the Church of England. We will look at portraits and what they mean in Art. In science we will be looking at light and sound.
  3. Will the work be hard?  There is lots to learn in the Year 6 curriculum but most of it is just adding to what you know already. We work really hard in Eagles but Mrs Godbold and I try to make it really fun and if there is something you don’t understand the first time (which happens a lot) we will go over it again to  make sure you do. We always check to see if everyone is happy with what we are doing and if you are not, we will give you some extra help. We do an extra check at the end of the lesson too, so if anyone needs more help, we can do that in the next lesson or take you out on your own or as part of a small group.
  4. Is there a lot of homework?  There will be more homework than you had in Owls. The reason for this is to make sure you have really good skills in place for high school and also to get you used to a bit more homework as you will have more in Year 7. You will have weekly spelling and mental maths tests, reading and comprehension work and often a bit of maths work. You will have plenty of time in class to work on it and when the Covid -19 restrictions change, you can work during some lunchtimes too, if you want. If you have any problems with what you have been set, Mrs Godbold and I are always there to help you.
  5. How will the COVID-19 outbreak affect what we do? Most of you were back in school at the end of last term and in September things will not be that different to then. Our class will be a ‘pod’ and we will stay together in our pod all of the time. We won’t mix with other pods (classes) and will have break and lunch times on our own. There will still be plenty of handwashing and desk cleaning and we will make sure we do everything we can to prevent the spread of infection.  We will have our own designated toilets and use the sinks in our room and in the room off  ‘The Nest’ to wash our hands. We will also have lunch in the classroom. We won’t have whole school assemblies together, but will do them using Teams as we did last term. We are allowed to have other teachers in now, so you will have PE with Mr Colbeck, French with Madam Brown and music with Mr Cooper. We aren’t allowed to have choir at the moment as that would mean mixing pods. Hopefully, when the COVID-19 situation improves, things will return more to normal! Whatever happens, it won’t stop us learning and having fun!
  6. Do I have to do work over the holidays? It is a really good idea to make sure you read as often as you can. It doesn’t matter what you read although it is a lovely thing to have a good fiction book on the go. You can share your reading with an adult or sibling if you want. It is also a good idea if you spend just a little time practising your mental maths – those of you who had maths with me last year can work on the last targets you had, everyone else needs to make sure they know their times-tables as accurately as possible (multiplication and division facts) – they are really important for maths in Year 6!! If you want to, you can also do some research/reading on the Tudors, especially Henry VIII!
  7. And finally: Is Mr Stowers the best-looking, coolest, funniest and cleverest teacher ever? Yes!

As I have already said: I am really looking forward to getting to know you all. Miss Betts has said what an amazing group you are and I know we will have a fantastic time. Year 6 is always great fun and although things are a bit different at the moment, it will not stop us doing loads of great learning and having a laugh!!

See you soon!!

Mr S