Information for parents and families

Knowledge Organisers to support with learning at home

Optional half term homework

Week Ending 29th March

This week, children spent time reflecting on their learning from the term with revision tasks as well as finished work that was started from the previous week. Additional to this, children completed their science work based on evolution and inheritance.

To conclude our spring term, children had their reward day on the last day of term - we had some Easter themed activities available for the children as well as a disco in the morning and a selection of films in the afternoon.

All the staff from Quartz class wish all the children a restful holiday.  Remember (not to scare anyone) there are 19 school days before our SATs week.  During this time, our main focus will be getting the children as prepared as possible for sitting their reading, SPAG and math papers.

Week Ending 22nd March

This week in English, children have continued their work on explanation texts.  Once again, we have looked at short videos from Wallace and Gromit.  Children have had the additional challenge of being more advanced with their subject vocabulary choices - next week there's an even bigger challenge of making it science based!  In maths, children have looked at converting units of measure - looking at both converting across the metric system (some children even considered imperial measurements) as well as calculating worded problems.  In science, we continued our work on evolution and inheritance - focusing on adaptation, natural selection and how animals have changed over time (millions of years).

Booster sessions have continued this week for both reading and maths.  After the Easter break, we will be spending more time preparing children for their SATs (starting on 13th May).

Week Ending 15th March

In English this week, children started their work on explanation texts.  We looked at a short film from Wallace and Gromit (the Snoozatron) and unpicked the elements of the video that could be included in our work.  We identified the features of this type of text as well as wrote our own explanation for the Wallace and Gromit invention.  In maths, we looked at statistics - focusing our time on line graphs and pie charts.  As it was British Science Week, we completed some practical elements of science based on this year's theme of 'time'.

Some children completed their bike ability course during the week.  For the afternoon sessions, we continued our preparation for SATs as well as PE.

Week Ending 8th March

This week, children completed their official school assessment week completing their maths papers.  Over the coming weeks we will share results and analyse papers with children.  Additional to this, we continued our learning in topic as well as completed more tasks within our evolution and inheritance theme in science.

On Thursday, we all celebrated World Book Day.  During the day, children had the opportunity to listen to stories and complete tasks centred around literature.  On Friday we all took a trip to Cambridge.  We spent the morning at Magdalene College listening to age appropriate lectures on: Black Holes, Chemistry in colour and mathematics (the art of winning games).  During the afternoon we visited The Fitzwilliam Museum, spending time in different galleries - looking at artwork as well as artefacts from different periods of time.

Please remember, that for some children, it is Bikeability next week.  Children involved in this will need their bike (road worthy) as well as helmets and suitable clothing to be outside.  If needed, we are able to store bicycles overnight.

Week Ending 1st March

Because tawny owls feature in our class novel 'Skellig', we have been researching and writing reports about them. We have learnt about owl pellets which are the undigested parts of an owl's food, regurgitated (coughed up) through the beak. By finding their tiny bones, we were able to investigate which small rodents and birds formed the owl's last meal.  

In maths, we continued our work on geometry as well as completed some problem solving activities based around our recent learning.  In science, we started our work on evolution and inheritance - focusing our learning this week on variation (of both plants and animals).

What are causes of variation? - BBC Bitesize (KS3 video link but suitable for UKS2)

Additional to normal lessons, we made a start with our assessments (our official assessment week is next week), as we know that we have quite a few days that are not as classroom based as normal!

We hope that you are busy creating or getting costumes or props sorted for World Book Day next week!

Week Ending 16^th February

In English this week, we wrote in role as three different characters from Skellig. Using the personality that each character portrays, the children wrote self-reflections from each perspective as: Michael, the old man and Mina. In maths, we continued our work on area, looking at different triangles as well as parallelograms. In science, we considered the relationship of the ray of incidence with the ray of reflection (maths link with angles) and we made working periscopes using our knowledge of reflection using mirrors.  This week we also continued work on The Tudors (in history) and considered some of our possible good and bad habits in PSHE (linked to our health and well-being).  To conclude this half term, we had our final swimming session where children had the opportunity to refresh their knowledge of water safety as well as play a team game in the water and swim twenty-five meters on their front and back. 

This is Flo's writing in role as the three characters. She has shown their different personalities well.

Michael

Whatever should I do? The man in the garage must not stay there! This person has arthritis and needs proper medical care, not living off leftover Chinese food and brown ale, not just laying there day after day as if waiting for the day of death to come. I do feel better for telling Mina. She will figure something out soon. She will most likely find a way how to move him to a safer place. She is knowledgeable so if we work together, we will surely think of something.

Mina

I just had the weirdest experience of my life. My friend, Michael, just showed me a man in his garage. I was completely gobsmacked! The smelly, cluttered and broken garage was no place for an old man. I was nervous when I approached the door but Michael grabbed my hand and went in together; nice friend, him. I held back my gasp as I walked closer to the man. I was curious and asked who he was. His croaky and raspy voice sounded painful. Michael moved my hand closer to touch near his shoulder blades. 'What are you?' I asked, and, yet again, he replied in his croaky voice.

The old man

Why did he have to bring a girl? The boy knows I like to be alone. People just ask. Questions. Questions. Questions! I like the food of the gods - 27 and 53. Brown ale. Nectar. Girl said she could help. No. Cat come. Soft cat. Sweet thing. Maybe people can help...

Week Ending 9th February

This week in English, children have reflected on their work on newspaper reports as well as prepped and written a discussion text.  We were focusing on whether Michael should tell Mina or his parents about what is in the garage (content taken from our class book 'Skellig' by David Almond).  In maths, children have worked on area and perimeter - looking at rectilinear shapes as well as right-angled triangles.  In science, children completed a more formal investigation on what affects the size of shadows.  In art, we continued our work on portraits and in PSHE we continued our work on health and well-being.

Week Ending 2nd February

In English this week, children have shared their opinions on characters from Skellig, thought about content of sentences for descriptive writing as well as considered the use of active and passive voice.

In maths, we have looked at decimal numbers using all four number operations (add, subtract, multiply and divide).  We worked on different written jottings and considered which could be applied to the relevant operation.  In science, we continued investigating light and how shadows are formed.  We completed a few practical tasks and wrote them up scientifically - using diagrams as well as explanation sentences.

In PSHE, children discussed the impact that technology has on our wellbeing as well as how we can be resilient when faced with difficult or challenging situations.  In art, we continued our work on portraits - using different techniques to create an image (using both pencil and coloured paper).

Week Ending 26th January

Another packed week of lessons and activities!  In English, children continued their work on Skellig and are enjoying the start of the book.  There was a focus on newspaper reports - looking at features as well as thinking about how to write in the style of a report.  Additional to this, we wrote a recount on our Tudor Day (History off the Page) - focusing on key features of recounts and writing with cohesion.  In maths, children continued their work on percentages - we identified percentages of an amount and also looked at percentages with missing values.

Example maths question:

In science, children continued their work on light - identifying that light travels in straight lines with shadows forming where there is an absence of light.  We also looked at how mirrors work and how we see objects (how light travels through the eye and sends messages to the brain).

In PSHE children looked at how healthy their lifestyle is, focusing on food intake, the amount of exercise they take, what they do to relax and their dental hygiene.  In art, children continued their work on continuous line drawings with a theme of self-portraits.

Week Ending 19th January

This week in English, children continued their work on Skellig.  Children have looked at different SPAG elements as well as settings and character description.  In maths, we have continued our work on fractions, decimals and percentages - making links between these types of number as well as identifying arithmetic skills that could be used within SATs type questions.  In science, children were introduced to our new theme of light and reflection.  We discussed how light travels as well as some key vocabulary - we also had some fun making different shadow silhouettes!  In history this term, we have researched events in Tudor times as well as focused our learning on Henry VIII.

This week, many children went to the O2 Arena in London and performed in the Young Voices 2024 concert.  This was an absolutely amazing experience, photographs and short video clips have been posted on our secure Class Dojo page.

Don't forget, next week we have History Off The Page visiting our school on Tuesday - children are invited to spend the day in Tudor style clothing.  Suggested clothing options have been posted on our Class Dojo page.

Week Ending 12th January

Welcome back to the Spring Term.  All staff working in Quartz and UKS2 hope you have all had a restful break and a lovely start to the New Year.

This week in English, children have been introduced to our new book Skellig (by David Almond).  In maths, children have continued with their arithmetic work as well as started our unit on fractions, decimals and percentages.  We have also started our 'booster' sessions in the lead up to SATs - children are all completing additional reading, maths and SPAG sessions during part of the afternoon.

This week, children also had the opportunity to attend two additional workshops (led by visitors to our school).  One of the workshops was based on smoking and vaping (impact this has on our bodies), and a NSPCC workshop based on 'speaking out and staying safe'.

This timetable for this term is slightly different from the Autumn Term, with Miss Smith and Mr Nelson teaching slightly different lessons from last term - allowing children the opportunity to experience the same subject led by a different adult - as well as swimming (for the first half term only).