Duckworth's Dolphins

Welcome to the Class page for Duckworth's Dolphins

Class Teacher: Mrs Duckworth

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Murray and Mrs McLennan

Year Groups: 4 and 5

Hello and welcome to the class page for Duckworth's Dolphins.

Here you will find information on our class curriculum and our knowledge organisers.

We will try to keep you updated with all of the interesting things that are going on in our classroom along with any important information we think you might need.

Please visit us as often as you can!

At the start of day, we will be welcoming pupils at the classroom fire/outside door from 8.35-8.45am.

If parents need to contact Mrs Duckworth, Mrs Murray or Mrs McLennan this can be done in the following ways:

• Seesaw 
• Leave a message at the school office to be passed onto to us
• Ask us to ring you later in the day
• Make an appointment to see us
• Speak to us at the start or end of the school day at the classroom door.

Some useful information for the Spring Term

PE:  For the Spring term our P.E. days will be Tuesday and Friday. Pupils will come to school wearing their P.E. kit on the days of their class sessions. School P.E. kit is a plain white t-shirt and black shorts, or black, grey or navy leggings or jogging pants. School jumpers can be worn over the white t-shirt and trainers can be worn or school shoes with pumps in the school bag to change into. During the first half of the Spring term,  P.E on Tuesdays will take place at school and on a Friday swimming lessons will occur at the pool at Accrington Academy. On these days children should come into school in full uniform and bring their swimming kits with them. After February half term, both sessions will be in school.

Home Reading Books:   In Duckworth's Dolphins pupils will select their own book from a variety of fiction and non-fiction books aligned to their reading age. They can select to suit their interests and reading ability. All children will be encouraged to read regularly at home and will be rewarded with a certificate for each ten books read. As reading is such an important area please ensure that your child reads at home for at least 10 minutes every day.

Books will be changed daily, meaning that as soon as a pupil returns their completed book and their reading record has been signed by an adult, they will be able to select a new book.

Spellings: Spellings will be sent out each Friday and will be tested the following Friday. Pupils will have a yellow exercise book with their weekly spellings glued in and they will complete their spelling homework in this each week. Please help your child to practise and learn their spellings at home. Words should be written daily using the 'Look, Say, Write, Cover, Check' method and to demonstrate understanding of the vocabulary each word needs to be written into a sentence too. Show your English skills by demarcating your sentences with a variety of punctuation and always join your handwriting. 

Homework: This will be sent out on a Wednesday and needs to be completed by the next Monday. This gives the children plenty of time to complete the work set and also opportunity to ask the teacher for help if required. Homework will always relate to the work that is being completed in class that week. Certificates will be awarded for completing homework tasks each week for each half term. For those pupils who need it, Homework Club can be attended each Monday lunchtime in school.

SPRING TERM 

In the first half of the Spring term our curriculum will have a Science link - We Have Lift Off!

In English, we will be reading, analysing and writing playscripts, explanations and persuasive texts linked with Space.

In our Maths lessons this term, we will be focusing on multiplication and division, length and perimeter and fractions. It is also really important that we can recall and recite all the times tables, and our focus will be on quick recall of all times tables which will be practised often throughout each week. Practise these regularly at home by playing the multiplication and division games to promote quick recall of times tables using TT Rock Stars, timestables.co.uk, Purple Mash and the link below.

In R.E. we will start the term by completing a unit on the local church and community. This will be followed by learning about the Eucharist.

Our Geography topic is 'Marvellous Maps'. This will involve learning about and using maps.

In Science we will be learning about Space, focusing on the solar system and the movement of the Earth, Sun and Moon. The topic for the second half of the Spring term is Living Things. We will learn about teeth, eating, digestion and life cycles.

In DT we will be researching, designing and making and evaluating moon buggies. This will involve some work on mechanisms. In the second half of the Spring Term, we will be working at Mount Carmel on a woodwork project, called 'Block Bots'.

WEBSITES TO HELP WITH YOUR LEARNING:

All pupils have their passwords and login details for these websites, which they can access at home to support their learning:

• Edshed - with access to Spelling Shed and Maths Shed.
• IDL - Reading, spelling and Maths practice.
• Purple Mash - activities for all curriculum areas.
• TTRock Stars - Times tables practice..

What do you like about being in Durkan's Dolphins?

Here are some of the responses that the pupils gave when asked this question: