Welcome to Amethyst Class!

Welcome back to the Summer term! This is always one of my favourite parts of the year due to the improving weather, opportunities to learn outside in our lovely environment and all of the excitement for the end of the year. 

Please note: this half term, our PE slots will take place on MONDAY and FRIDAY.  

My PPA will be covered by Mrs Tomlinson on a Monday morning and she will cover, Maths including arithmetic skills and PE. Please ensure that children are appropriately dressed for our PE lessons, including warm weather appropriate items (should we be so lucky!)

We are also very fortunate to be joined by Mr Richards Monday to Thursday. He will be working with small groups to build maths fluency and develop reasoning skills! 

 You can follow our learning journey via our school twitter account @LittleLeighSch, our facebook page and our new Instagram page.

If you need to discuss anything with me, please don't hesitate to contact me on my school email rrochellgill@littleleighprimary.cheshire.sch.uk.

Miss Rochell-Gill, Mrs Tomlinson, Mrs Green & Mr Richards

This half term in Geography we will be answering the question...

'Why is the Amazon region so important?'

Within this unit of work we will develop our geographical knowledge of this area of the world, address misconceptions about the Amazon rainforest and explore who and what calls it home.

Within our unit we will aim to answer the key questions:

What is the Amazon and where is it located?

What is it like within the rainforest (layers of the rainforest and climate)?

Who and what lives within the Amazon region?

Why is the Amazon under threat and what can we do to protect it?

As Writers...

We will start the term exploring the text 'The Darkest Dark' which is an illustrated story about the life of canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield. Inspired by Chris's decision to become an astronaut after watching the Apollo 11 moon landing at age nine, The Darkest Dark is an inspiring story about facing your fears and following your dreams. We will write a biography about Chris Hadfield as our outcome. 

Then we will move onto the beautiful book 'The Brilliant Deep'.

All it takes is one: one coral gamete to start a colony in the ocean, one person to make a difference in the world, one idea to help us heal the earth. The ongoing conservation efforts to save and rebuild the world's coral reefs―with hammer and glue, and grafts of newly grown coral―are the living legacy of environmental scientist Ken Nedimyer, founder of the Coral Restoration Foundation.
 
In telling the story of this sea conservation pioneer and marine life protector, Kate Messner and Matthew Forsythe create a stunning tribute to the wonders of nature and the power of human hope―a power even the smallest readers can access in their quest to aid our extraordinary planet. We will write an information leaflet as our outcome.

As Readers...

Our Shared reading lessons this half term will focus on the text 'Fantastically Great Women who Saved the Planet'alongside other non-fiction texts about plastic pollution and significant people who are fighting to protect the planet.

As Mathematicians...

This half term we will be focusing on: Fractions Decimals  Percentages **Please note, fluent recall of times tables and division facts is so so important and is an essential stepping stone to access lots of other areas of the curriculum. Although we are not formally learning about TTs in our maths lessons, please continue to encourage your children to access TTRockstars and complete their 'Garage' sessions regularly across the week - thank you! **

As Scientists...

Year 4 will be learning to :

• recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
• explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
• recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things

Year 5 will be learning to:

• describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird
• describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals