Ash Tree Class Blog
back
Weekly Update - 17.1.25
Posted: Jan 17, 2025 by: Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Ash Tree Class Blog
Hello,
A much more "normal" week this week! Everyone was glad to finally get back outside at breaktimes and lunchtimes and we definitely feel like we are back into the swing of things now!
In English, we started looking at figurative language and other poetic devices as well as reading some rainforest themed poetry. In maths, Miss Bairstow's group have been finishing their work on fractions and Mrs Trotter's group have been learning about decimals.
We started our new science unit - Life Cycles - and computing unit - Selection in Physical Computing.
Y5 were very excited as auditions were held and parts were cast for our upcoming Easter production of Bugsy Malone. The children have until half term to learn all their lines and cues – they are all so very keen, which is marvellous. Some may be a little disappointed about the role they have been given, but whatever their role, it will definitely be a fun show to participate in, so please do encourage them.
And finally... READING! I have spent some time over the last two weeks listening to all children in Ash Tree read. It is really important still in Years 5 and 6 that even if your child sounds like a fluent reader, they continue to read regularly both independently and with an adult at home to develop their comprehension skills as texts they read become trickier. Please support us by encouraging your child to read for a minimum of 20 minutes 5x a week.
Some interesting statistics from The Reading Agency (a UK charity with a mission to empower people of all ages to read) are:
- One in four children hasn’t reached the expected level of reading by the age of 11. Many of these children will struggle to keep up at secondary school.
- Students are less able to learn other curricula if they do not develop sufficient reading skills by the middle of primary school.
- Children who read books often at age 10 and more than once a week at age 16 gain higher results in maths, vocabulary and spelling tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly.
Reading is an essential life skill and investing time in this now will help prepare your children for their future. We greatly appreciate the support you give to this at home.
Have a great weekend!
Miss Bairstow