As we enter the final part of this half term it has been great to welcome the year 6 children back from Kingswood. The classroom felt full again and it was great to see how much the year 6 children had enjoyed their trip and also see the year 5 children begin to get excited for when it will be their turn. We also this week officially welcomed Mrs MacRae to 5/6B and the children were very excited to see a change in face (I didn't take any offence whatsoever). 

In English this week we have continued to read Street Child and have now really begun to get into the story and begin to see the adventures (and misfortunes) of Jim Jarvis. The children have been looking at using inverted commas and spent a lesson learning about the various rules linked to speech and dialogue. The children then did some shared writing where they looked to integrate dialogue into a part of the text which didn't contain any. The week culminated in the children writing their own descriptive paragraph which included dialogue. In maths this week we have been tackling fractions for the first time. The children looked at recognising and representing basic fractions in a variety of ways. We then moved on to finding equivalent fractions (ask them what the golden rule is). We then moved on to convert between improper fractions and mixed numbers. As always it was great to see the children's enthusiasm and willingness to try new things. In geography we have been looking at fair trade and the impact it has had on manufacturers of products like cocoa beans, coffee beans and cotton. We then looked at the process that cocoa beans go through before becoming chocolate. In RE we spent more time looking at the relationship between science and Christianity and discussed the areas that they agree upon and the areas where there may be some conflicting ideas. It was very interesting to listen to the children's opinions and see how enthusiastic they are about the subject. In PE we did the standing triple jump and also the relay. There were some impressive jumps, baton changes and times and it is really good to see the children develop their skills. In art the children continued to study Hundertwasser and did their own sketches using a range of paint colours. 

The song selection for this week is a tune which has arguably the greatest saxophone solo ever recorded. Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, a criminally underrated song and one I am sure the children will love.

Thanks, 

Mr H