Wednesday 25th April, 2019
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope that you have all had a lovely Easter holiday. The topic for Terms 5 and 6 will be ‘Awesome Egyptians’.
In English our reading and writing work will be inspired by the Ancient Egyptians. The focus will be on non-fiction, as we look for ways to share some of our new found expertise!
In Maths we will continue developing our mental maths skills. We will be revising the written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These methods will then be applied to solving multi-step word problems. There will also be a focus on time, shapes, measures and co-ordinates.
History will be a key focus this term as we find out about the Ancient Egyptians and ask and answer the following questions:
- What is archaeology and how have archaeologists found out about Ancient Egypt?
- Who were the Pharaohs?
- What is a Mummy and why did Egyptians believe that they needed to mummify people and animals?
- How did the Egyptians build such amazing structures?
- What are hieroglyphs and why were they used?
In Geography children will examine the location, and therefore climate, of Egypt. They will find out why the River Nile was so important to the development of the early Egyptian civilization.
In Art we will be inspired by the artists and craftsmen of Ancient Egypt.
In Science we are going to find out about skeletons. We will explore how a skeleton provides support, protection and movement. To link to our topic, we will find out how archaeologists use CT scans and x-rays to see the skeletons within mummies and then use this information to find out important information about the person who was mummified.
In French children are learning the names of different family members. They will learn how to ask each other questions about their family, introduce different members of their family and describe who is in their family.
In PSHE children are thinking about relationships and how we can build and sustain successful relationships. In particular, we will focus on the need to listen to each other as well express our own ideas.
In RE children will discuss the different leaders and authority figures they have in their lives. They will question what makes an effective leader and look at the qualities and skills needed for leadership. Children will then look at Jesus as an example of a leader.
P.E. continues to take place every Monday and Friday. Please ensure your child always has kit in school.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Debbie White
Weekly Homework
– 10 garage games on Times Tables Rockstars (times tables on these have been set specifically for each child to help them improve the speed and accuracy of their arithmetic)
– 5 quizzes on Read Theory (these short comprehension activities have also been levelled specifically for each child)
– spelling practice (including the use of Spelling Shed)
– practice towards Rising Stars targets
Termly Homework
Please complete three of the challenges below to share with the class before the end of this term. You must choose at least one maths and one English challenge.
| English Tasks:
1) Fascinating Fact File: Use different information texts and/or reliable websites to find out facts about Ancient Egypt. Challenge: Write up the 5 most fascinating facts you can find in order to share with the class.
2) Acrostic Poem: An ‘Acrostic’ is a poem where the first letter of each line spells a word e.g. The tomb stands tall and proud like the Ancient Egyptians who built it. Challenge: Use what you know about Ancient Egypt to write an Acrostic poem for a word related to our topic e.g. EGYPT, TOMB, MUMMY, SCARAB |
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Maths Tasks: 1) Co-ordinates and Mapping: We use co-ordinates to make it quicker and easier to communicate where things are on a map. Challenge: Draw a treasure map with an Ancient Egyptian theme, which includes co-ordinates. Decide a coordinate in which to hide some buried treasure. Bring the map into school and ask children to guess which square they think the treasure is buried in.
2)Everyday Maths: People use maths all the time, which is why we spend a lot of time in school working to improve our maths skills! We use maths to buy things, to measure things, to work out how long something is going to take and to celebrate birthdays as we get one year older each year! Challenge: Think of a good example of when you have used or seen maths in your everyday life out of school hours. Describe to the class what it was and how maths was involved.
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| Topic Tasks:
1) Time Capsule: We know a lot about Ancient Egypt because the ancient Egyptians buried so many objects, along with the mummies, in tombs. This meant that lots of everyday objects survived for thousands of years. Archaeologists have used these objects to discover what life was like. Challenge: What objects do you have that are important to you and would tell future archaeologists something about your life now? Choose six objects that you would put in a time capsule for archaeologists of the future to discover. Think carefully about your choices!
2) Codebreakers: The Ancient Egyptians used symbols called ‘hieroglyphs’ instead of letters in order to write things down. Challenge: Create a large picture of a word written in hieroglyphs. Bring it into school and see if anyone in the class can decode it. If you need a copy of what the different hieroglyphs stand for please just ask me!
3) Surprise Me Homework! You choose an activity or task inspired by our topic.
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Always supervise your child when they are using the internet.