Welcome to Year 6, Ocean Class at Freshwater & Yarmouth Primary
Staff – I (Mr Cook) will be the key teacher for year 6 and will be teaching the class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday all day, except on Tuesday afternoons, where the children have PE with Mr Westhorpe, PSHE with Mrs Smith (Aut 1, Spr 1, Sum1) and Forest Schools with Mrs Gates (Aut2, Spr 2, Sum 2). On Thursdays the class will be taught by Mrs Taylor, who also taught the class last year during Summer 2, and she will be leading the work with the children. I will ensure that lessons are stimulating and enjoyable for the children to give them the best chance of positive motivated attainment. Teaching assistant support, when I am teaching, will be provided by both Mrs Taylor (Monday, Tuesday and Friday), Miss James (Tuesday-Thursday).
Please remember, if you have ANY concerns or worries about your child throughout the year DO NOT hesitate in coming to see me after school. If there is any way that I can support your child and family then I will. I would much rather know about a problem and take steps to solve it before it becomes a bigger problem! I also try my best to respond quickly to any messages I receive on the Class Dojo so don’t hesitate to message me either. I am thoroughly looking forward to working with you and your child throughout this exciting school year.
Please see below for key information.
Click to download the following planning documents
Please find below information on this years planned events/trips – please note these may be subject to change.
This years class charity is Mountbatten Hospice
Autumn 1
History WW2 Visit Estelle Baker
Autumn 2
WW2 based trip
DT Day – Parents in – Bomb shelter making
Spring 1
Climate change themed day – parents invited in
Spring 2
Georgraphy field trip – Freshwater bay and surrounding cliffs
Summer 1
Post SATs celebration – UKSA & Paultons Park
Summer 2
Residential
Portsmouth Cathedral Service
AM & PM Routines
Early morning routine – The children will come straight into the classroom at 8.25. From here, the children will organise their things, put their bags in the cloakroom and then come into the classroom. Whilst doing this, there will be some tranquil music playing in the room and the children will settle down to their places and read their books (or completing an activity that is on the TV). While they are either doing this independently, or reading to another adult, we will take the register.
End of the day routine – The day ends for the children at 3.05pm. I will lead them out and independent leavers will be able to go without being collected by an adult, however those who are not will need to wait with me until their adult has collected them from the back gate.
Uniform
I ask that you regularly check that all clothing is clearly labelled, especially jumpers and coats, including P.E. kit, and that all children are provided with a hat in hot weather, and a coat when it is cold or wet. It’s important to get the children out at playtime every day, even in light rain.
PE & Outdoor Learning
Our PE lessons will take place on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon. To avoid unnecessary movement and to also ensure we have the maximum time possible for our PE lessons, I ask that children come to school in their PE kit on these days. Please could all children be provided with some jogging bottoms and a sports jumper so we can continue with P.E. outside when it becomes chilly! I only have a small amount of spare kit for anyone to use (if for any reason they forget to come in their kit) otherwise the children will be provided with work to do to occupy themselves during P.E. Forest Schools will be on a Tuesday afternoon during Aut 2, Spr 2 and Sum 2. As we move into the winter, you may want to send your child in with waterproofs and wellies as forest school sessions still continue in wet weather (unless extreme). We will store these in the cloakroom during the day so the children can access them before a session if they are needed.
Class Dojo
his is our completely electronic way of rewarding the children. As you probably know, one feature that is particularly useful is a message system (which can be accessed via computer or app). This feature allows there to be a better working relationship between myself and all of the parents in the class. I will be able to send class or individual messages out to inform you of particularly positive behaviour or work during the week, you will also be able to also message me if you have anything you would like to talk about or query. Other great elements of this system include the ability to view your child’s points total and to monitor what their points have been awarded for e.g. good work ethic. I will also post photos and videos onto Class Dojo so you can see the work your child is completing in school. I will be posting these regularly so make sure you check the app often. Your child will also be able to use their log in to edit their own avatar so they can see it in class and so it is completely individual to them.
Food & Drink
Fruit – Your child can bring a piece of fruit/snack for their morning break time.
Drinks – Each child will need to bring in a named water bottle to drink throughout the day. It can get very hot in the Key Stage 2 classes so a drink will always be available. Water bottles will be easily accessible in the class room and the children will be given lots of opportunities to have a drink throughout the day, however I will ask for them not to be on the class tables during lessons, but rather they be underneath them, to ensure that great work does not accidently become spoiled.
Lunchboxes – These will be stored in the cloakroom.
Reading
I can not stress how important it is for your child to be reading regularly. Fluent reading helps unlock the world we live in and is a hugely important life skill. This is why we have prioritised this for homework. At school, we have a fully stocked library with a range of books that cover a range of genres and text types for the children to take home to read. Whilst in the classroom, we will have a range of different Horrible Histories magazines and a collection of books that are unique to the class and children can enjoy during quiet reading time. Hopefully every child will be able to find books that appeal to their interests. I do not mind if the children prefer non-fiction books, fiction, magazines, newspapers etc, the key thing is that they are reading daily. Every child will continue to have a reading record, and it is helpful if you can write in it each time you read with
your child, and adults at school will do the same to keep you informed of your child’s progress. I will also show the children how I want them to use these to record their own individual reading too. I expect to see the evidence of this each week and will be checking how much reading has been completed every Friday. Dojos will be awarded for well-presented reading logs and consistent reading.
Homework
Spelling – Spellings this year will be tailored to whatever the priorities for the class are, whether this is a specific sound, prefix/suffix or common exception word. The children will be given the spelling list on a sheet which will include a range of suggestions for how they might best practice the spellings. The strategies suggested will appeal to a number of different spelling learning styles. These spellings will be given out weekly or bi-weekly depending on the amount of spellings and complexity of them. Spelling tests will occur on the Friday to check how well they have been practiced and learned by the children. I will then message you on Dojo as to how your child has got on.
Maths – For maths homework, the children will be on a rotation of two digital programs. The first is Times Table Rockstars. It is vital that children are fluent with their tables as so many questions in Year 6 rely on using the tables in order to access understanding, this is particularly relevant with fractions, decimals and percentages. We will be holding class competitions on TTR where the children can gain points in any of the game modes (though studio mode is the one they want to aim to conquer). I will be expecting the children to play for 25 minutes a week, with a check occurring on Friday. The other program is called Prodigy. Here the children will play an adventure game based on completing quests and different battles. In order to progress they will need to answer questions based on a variety of different maths questions ranging across areas such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, measurement, fractions and many more. The game will adapt based off of the questions your child needs the most practice
in. Again, I will be expecting a minimum of 25 minutes a week which I will check on the Friday.
Topic – Children will be given a sheet at the start of the term which outlines a range of different projects that children can complete based off of our topic. Each project will involve a different skillset and will appeal to different learning styles. Children can complete as many of these as they want across a term and they will be rewarded for doing this as well as being given the chance to present what they have done. Across the term I will be expecting each child to have completed at least one of these projects. If for any reasons there are difficulties completing these projects at home, I can give the children extra time at lunch on these if it is needed.