What’s the ‘solution’ to our problem?
Last week, Y5 explored which solvents (substances) would create a solution when added to a solvent (water).
If you can’t see any of the particles from the solvent (salt, sugar, rice, sultanas etc…), it has created a solution. If the particles of the solvent sink to the bottom, this is called a residue and a solution has not been created.
Can you get the solvent back once it has been mixed into the solute (water), even if it made a solution?
We sieved and filtered our variables to find out whether we got any back.
The rice and sultanas could be separated from the water and some things were trapped by the filter but lots of our tests still haven’t separated. We’re now leaving them to evaporate to see if anything is left in the cup once the water has all gone.
Loving our library!
This afternoon, as we do every Monday, we went to the library to change our books. We really enjoy this experience and are making a conscious effort to raise the profile of reading in our class. It’s great that we have this facility in school and Year 6 are certainly making the most of it – everyone seems to be enjoying reading their books!
It would be great if you could help at home by:
- reading with your child
- asking questions about what you have read (e.g. How does the character feel? What might happen next? What did the character say when…?)
- encouraging your child to read for pleasure
- asking questions about reading in general (e.g. Do you like the book? Who is your favourite author? What makes this book different to a fiction/non-fiction book? Is there a particular genre you enjoy/don’t enjoy reading?)
- raising the profile of reading at home – Do you read? If so, could you and your child spend time reading your own books at the same time?
We know you help lots at home and it really shows in the learning we do at school. Thank you for your continued support.
Staying safe online
This week, an important letter is being sent home from Mrs Weekes. Please take the time to read this to help make sure your child is safe online.
We strongly recommend you have a happy and healthy discussion about how to behave online. Try this idea.
Tuck shop returns
Tuck shop will be back this Tuesday.
Eighty four portions per week have already been prepaid for this term but there is still chance to buy fruit on the day for 20p per portion.
Is your child in Year 3 and therefore goes swimming on a Tuesday afternoon? Some children buy a portion of fruit from the tuck shop and keep it for their healthy snack after swimming.
Phonics
This term we will begin phase 3 of the ‘Letters and Sounds’ phonic programme.
The purpose of this phase is to:
- teach more graphemes, most of which are made of two letters, for example, ‘oa’ as in boat
- practise blending and segmenting a wider set of CVC (consonant – vowel – consonant) words, for example, fizz, chip, sheep, light (even though there are lots of letters, there are three phonemes – sounds – as in sh – eee – p)
- learn all letter names and begin to form them correctly
- read more tricky words and begin to spell some of them
- read and write words in phrases and sentences
Here are some examples of words your children will be reading: tail, week, right, soap, food, park, burn, cord, town, soil
Tricky words
During phase 3, the children will learn more ‘tricky words’. These are the words we will learn in phase 3: he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, said
In addition, during this phase children will be expected to begin to write sentences independently.
There will be phonics open mornings on 20, 21, 22 January. Please make sure you attend one of these to see how your child has progressed and how you can support them further.
If you have any questions about the teaching of phonics, please ask.
What is a stick?
This week we have been enjoying the book ‘Stick Man’ by Julia Donaldson. (Watch and listen to Julia Donaldson reading the story.)
The children have been on a stick hunt around school and some have found sticks on their way to school.
We’ve been amazed by the wealth of opportunities for learning and the creativity that has been inspired by giving the children a few sticks.
Look out for further stick learning this term, and of course, our ‘Stick Man’ assembly on Thursday 28 January at 2.40pm.
Keep those sticks coming!
Show and Tell
Tuesday’s Show and Tell is changing this term to make it a bit more focussed and structured. Instead of bringing in objects from home, children will bring in their favourite books and talk about them. This could be their favourite story, fact book, poetry collection, recipe book, religious book. If your child has a favourite author, they could talk about this person and their books.
Children will be told the Tuesday before if it’s their turn. This gives them some time to decide what book they will choose and what they are going to say. I’m not expecting a ten minute presentations, just a minute or two. They won’t need to prepare slides but they might like to make a few notes to help them remember what they are going to say.
A general structure for their presentation could be:
- Introduce the book – What is it? What is it about? Who has written it? Illustrated it?
- Why do you like it?
- If it’s a story, what are the main characters like?
- What are your favourite parts of the story, favourite recipe, fact page, etc.
- Who would you recommend the story to and why?
A big thank you!
Thank you to all the people who donated money at the end of the Whoops-a-Daisy Angel performances. Altogether, we raised a fantastic £287.78! This will be split between our two charities: St Gemma’s Hospice and Cancer Research.
Library books
This week, we visited our lovely school library and the children chose books to take home for the week. They were really enthusiastic about choosing their own book and were allowed to choose any book they wished from the Key Stage 1 choice of books. Please ensure your child looks after their book and returns it to school on Friday 15 January. If your child wishes to keep the book for longer then that is fine, but please note that a new book will not be issued without the return of the old one! I hope you enjoy reading together.
Have a lovely weekend!
Squashed sentences!
The first week of the new term is over and the class have settled well into their routines again. We have been learning to add two 1-digit numbers by bridging 10 (see previous post), reading and writing words with the suffix -ing, and learning how not to ‘squash’ our sentences.
A squashed sentence is when two sentences are squashed together without any punctuation.
An example: I went camping it was fun.
This should be: I went camping. It was fun. (…or some other punctuation, but not a comma)
We can also join two sentences with conjunctions.
An example: I went camping and it was fun.
This week, we were focusing on separating two squashed sentences with a full stop. Children found it easy to identify where the full stop should go to separate the sentences when listening to a squashed sentence being read, but found it less easy to do this in their own writing.
To help at home, you could ensure that children are pausing at full stops in their reading. You could also write two sentences which are separated by a full stop in the incorrect place, such as I went. Camping it was fun. Read the sentences together and see if your child could fix it.
‘Squashed sentences’ are something which spoils some older children’s writing, and it’s hard to get out of the habit later on. Please practise this lots at home!
