Welcome back, and welcome to another Home Guide – this time for the second half of the summer term. We have really enjoyed working with your children this year, and hope that you have found the Home Guides useful.  This Home Guide will take us up to the end of this term.  As usual, the Home Guide includes information about:

Literacy:
Spellings for this half term - please go through these with your child. Children will have a spelling test each Friday. Weekly guided reading sessions continue, and we strongly urge that you encourage your child to read every night, whether it is to an adult, to themselves or listening to an adult read aloud.  We also include details about the topics we are covering in class, and again, for your reference, a list of the high frequency spelling words that all children in Key Stage 2 are expected to know.

Maths:
A list of topics which we have already covered – if you wish, you can revise these with your child. We are also including a list of multiplication and division tables. We are continuing to have a ‘big push’ on learning multiplication and division facts this term, so any help you can give your child in this respect would be much appreciated. 

Plus: Information and ideas about the other subjects studied this half term, to help reinforce your child’s learning at home.

Also…School website: You can find this half term’s home guide on our school website:  http://www.ravenstoneschool.co.uk/

We would also like to remind you of the forthcoming trip to the Dulwich Picture Gallery.  Miss Richardson’s class is going on 25th June, and Mr Turi’s children will be going on 9th July.  Letters will be going out shortly……

Literacy Topics:
These are the topics we will be covering this half term in class, and suggested activities for parents and children.

Plays and Dialogues

In this unit we will read and discuss stories, identifying the different characters and voices by using dramatised reading and puppets. The children will be able to identify the features and conventions of written dialogue, demonstrate and then write dialogue. They will be able to compare this with a play based on the same story. Finally they will write and perform play scripts based on familiar stories.  This will link with our weekly story telling sessions and our work with the Apple Macs. 

Activities:
 When sharing a book with your child, focus on the characters.  Ask your child to describe their favourite character, and build up a bank of character profiles.  Discuss the different characteristics – what makes a character likable, mean, unhappy. 
 Use different voices for the different characters and encourage your child to do the same when they read aloud to you. 
 Identify the punctuation used to mark speech and dialogue in stories, and encourage your child to use punctuation correctly when writing stories.  Brainstorm lists of words to use to describe how a character is speaking to avoid an overuse of said.
 Find simple playscripts in the library and discuss how the script is laid out.  If possible, compare the playscript to the original story).
Language Play
We will complete this topic, and the details about it are in the last home guide.  As we focused on the work of Valerie Bloom, we did not have time to fully complete it, but will do so this term.

Literacy: Spelling Words
These are the spelling words which we will be covering each week for the whole term – we appreciate all the help you give the children with their spellings. We would also encourage you to get your child to write sentences or make up little stories with these words as this gives them extra practice and reinforces their learning by giving them an understanding of the context in which these words are used.

Picasso, Da Vinci, Van Gogh groups – Weekly Spellings

To be tested: 12/06/09   To be tested: 19/06/09

hope  hopeless   is not  isn’t
care   careless   was not  wasn’t
pain   painless   did not  didn’t
use   useless   does not  doesn’t
home  homeless  will not  won’t
speech  speechless  cannot  can’t
end   endless   could not  couldn’t
harm  harmless   should not shouldn’t

To be tested: 26/06/09   To be tested: 03/07/09

I would   I’d    behave  misbehave
I have   I’ve    sense  nonsense
they have they’ve   fiction  non-fiction
she will  she’ll   stop   non-stop
there is  there’s   import  export
where is  where’s   interior  exterior
here is  here’s    star   co-star
they are  they’re   clockwise  anti-clockwise

To be tested: 10/07/09

cycle  bicycle
recycle  tricycle
appear  disappear
visible  invisible
normal  abnormal
view   preview
review  interview
marine  submarine

Constable and Monet groups – Weekly Spellings
These are the spelling words which we will be covering each week for the whole term – we appreciate all the help you give the children with their spellings. We would also encourage you to get your child to write sentences or make up little stories with these words as this gives them extra practice and reinforces their learning by giving them an understanding of the context in which these words are used.

To be tested: 12/06/09  To be tested: 19/06/09

woken  woman   across  almost
world  would   always  around
wrist  write   August  banana
young  zebra   before  better
       bridge  called  

To be tested: 26/06/09   To be tested: 03/07/09

change  cheese   during  eleven
cherry  circus   father  finger
closed  coffee   forest  fossil
collar  coming   Friday  garden
dinner  doctor   hammer  inside

To be tested: 10/07/09

jumped  kitten
ladder  letter
little   Monday
mother  number
o’clock  opened

Literacy: High Frequency Spelling Words

It would be very beneficial to your child if you could frequently get them to read, revise, spell and use these words. They are essential to the development of their writing.

Maths: Please continue with the activities outlined in the previous Home Guides.  Especially important in this respect, is encouraging your child to practise and learn their times and division tables.  We have really noticed that children who have regularly practised at home have become much more confident as the year has progressed.  This has enabled them to apply their knowledge when tackling other complex areas of the maths curriculum such as fractions and worded problems. 

We will also be setting a short homework project based around handling data.  Details to follow!

Science

Our next topic is Light and Shadows.  The children will learn how to explain that shadows are formed when light from a source is blocked; recognise that shadows are similar in shape to the objects forming them; describe how a shadow from the Sun changes over the course of a day; make predictions about the shadows formed by different objects or materials and make careful observations and measurements of the shadows.

Useful Websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/light_shadows.shtml
http://wsgfl2.westsussex.gov.uk/aplaws/intergames/science/v5_ShadowsOfTime_2.swf

Vocabulary:

transparent
translucent
opaque
light
shadows
block
direction
shortest
highest
travel

History:
This half term we will be continuing our learning about the Anglo-Saxons, and will move on to learning about the Vikings.  In this unit children continue to explore the idea that people from other societies have been coming to Britain for a long time. Children find out how Viking influence spread through different parts of the world and how, over a period of years, the Vikings eventually settled in Britain.
Children will develop their understanding of chronology, describe and identify reasons for and results of historical events, situations and changes and consider different ways the past has been interpreted.
PSHE:
This half-term’s SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) topic will be Changes, in order to prepare the children for the ending of this academic year, and to prepare them for Year 4. If you want, you can review with your child some positive examples of changes they have experienced in their own lives.

RE:
This half term we will be continuing our work on the importance of the Bible to Christians.

Art: 
In this unit children explore sculpture in public buildings and spaces. They explore and use shape, form, colour and pattern to consider how to make model of a sculpture for a site in the school or the local area. We will consider the work of the Italian sculptor Giacometti.

ICT:
We will continue to be using Apple Mac computers to explore presenting the children’s work. We will also begin our animation project.

Music:
The children will continue to have a weekly lesson on Wednesdays with Ms Paranzino, and will be rehearsing for the end of year performance.

P.E.:
The weekly PE lesson is on a Monday with Morris, and this half term the children will need trainers as they will be going outside.  The weekly Dance lesson with Ms Robbins is on a Tuesday.  Again, please ensure that your child has the correct kit, with shorts for dance, not tracksuit trousers.