This week, by Jennifer and Ethan
This week, Jennifer and Ethan have spent some time reflecting on our learning over the last week.
English
This term in English we have been planning and writing news articles about the three little pigs but this time the wolf is innocent. We have already done the main news and the background. This a piece from Bailey’s writing:
At approximately 15:17, Bradley and Albert Pig were left no option but to run to their sister’s house. Mr A.Wolf, who claimed he wanted to invite them to his house welcoming party, said the attack on Wheat Dale Farm was accidental.
Maths
In maths we have been focusing on drawing and calculating angles – including missing interior angles. We have also learnt about symmetry and circles!
Here are some examples of our learning (drawing angles and finding the total of the interior angles of a shape):
Next week, we will be starting our new topic: Life!
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.
Spectacular Science!
Today, we were fortunate enough to visit the science department of Allerton Grange High School.
We completed six experiments using their specialist equipment in the labs; we mixed acid with magnesium and even made our own sparklers!
We also saw some awe-inspiring demonstrations of different chemical reactions. In one of them, Zach had his hands set on fire!
Most importantly, all the children returned to school enthused about science and hungry to learn more. This is great because our current topic ‘What’s The Matter?‘ and our next topic ‘Life‘ are driven by this subject.
This week, by Arran and Bailey
Arran and Bailey spent some time reflecting on some of our learning this week.
Topic
In Year 6, we have started a new mini topic called ‘What’s The Matter’. This topic involves Chemistry. In our first lesson, we learnt about ‘filtration’ and how to separate mixtures and solutions.
Here is some technical vocabulary that we have learnt:
- ‘Mixture’: A mixture is a combination of a solid and a liquid which won’t dissolve.
- ‘Solute’: A solute is solid that dissolves in a solvent.
- ‘Solvent’: A solvent is the liquid used to dissolve a solute.
- ‘Solution’: A solution is the combination of a solid and a liquid that have dissolved.
English
In English we have received a mystery letter from Alexander Wolf. The first few lines of the letter read: ‘Everybody knows the story of The Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Nobody knows the real story because nobody has heard my side of the story.’
Based on this letter we are writing a news report.
Mystery letter causes outrage in Year 6 English lesson
Happy New Year!
Yesterday, we read the classic fairy tale: ‘The Three Little Pigs’. Then, in the middle of our lesson, we received a letter from Mr A.Wolf. The letter explained how the wolf has been made out to be a villain when really the whole story was a misunderstanding involving a bad sneeze and a cup of sugar; some of us were more understanding of the wolf’s plight than others. We combined all of this to create our own version of the plot in which the wolf is not the villain.
There were some interesting ideas. Rav’s alternative plot included misheard song lyrics, heavy whistling and a tranquilizer dart, while Jaskirat’s alternative plot centres around the wolf having a bad couch and asking his neighbours for medicine.
Despite being aimed at younger children, we have used ‘The Three Little Pigs’ as a stimulus for some very creative and mature learning. The focus of our learning will be on news reports so we’ll be producing our own news reports based on our alternative plots.
You can help at home by encouraging your child to read the news (online or in the paper) and pick out how the writing might differ to what you would find in a narrative. Also, ask them about the plot they have devised in class and how it differs to the original story line. 
Let’s get sugar smart
Today has seen a new campaign launch by Change 4 Life, the government’s public health initiative, aimed at reducing the amount of sugar that children consume.
The free Sugar Smart App can tell you the amount of sugar in items by scanning the barcode, and then displaying the result as a number of cubes or in grams. The app can be used as a way of revealing the hidden sugar content in foods and to make us more aware of what children are consuming.
Public Health England, which runs the Change 4 Life campaign, hopes the Sugar Smart app and campaign will help combat tooth decay, obesity and type two diabetes and encourage families to choose healthier alternatives.
New SEAL theme…Good to be me
Our new SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme for this half-term, Good to be me, focuses on three main areas of learning:
•Self-awareness – feeling good about yourself, taking risks.
•Managing Feelings – understanding feelings, and why and how they lead us to behave the way we do – particularly the feelings of being excited, proud, surprised, hopeful, disappointed, worried and anxious and standing up for yourself –assertiveness skills, standing up for your views.
•Empathy
This theme explores feelings in the context of the child as an individual, developing self-awareness and helping the child to realise that it really is ‘Good to be me’. The theme is about understanding our feelings as well as considering our strengths and weaknesses as learners.
As part of our current mini topic, What’s the matter?, children will also ask ‘What’s the matter?’ from a social and emotional point of view, understanding feelings and thinking about how they can solve problems.
The key ideas and concepts behind the theme of Good to be me are:
Building emotional resilience
Children need to become resilient if they are to be healthy and effective life-long learners.
Coping with anxiety and worrying
Worry and anxiety are major features in many children’s lives. Many children have good reasons to be anxious. Exploring worries is important.
Calming down
Although getting stressed, anxious or angry are important and useful emotions, sometimes these feelings can be overwhelming.
Assertiveness
The theme encourages children to become assertive – that is, able to recognise and stand up for their rights while recognising and respecting the rights of others.
Understanding feelings and how they influence behaviour
The theme explores the relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ and the way each impacts on our behaviour. It looks at Flight or Fight rapid response to situations of threat and our responses to feeling threatened /under stress.
‘I respond to difficult situations in a positive way’ is the first SEAL statement for this theme.
Latest competitions
We’ve had a busy end to the term with two recent competitions.
Firstly, our Year 5 and 6 cross country teams braved the elements in traditional cross country weather to take part in the Leeds North East competition at Cardinal Heenan. Despite the conditions, all the children were keen to compete and a special well done to Gloria, finishing 14th in her race.
Back indoors was the second round of the Sports Hall Athletics competition at Roundhay School. Unfortunately we didn’t progress to the next round but the children never gave up and there were lots of cheering and encouragement to support the team. Well done to all children who took part. They’ve learnt lots of new track and field events in the process.
We certainly looked the part with our new school polo shirts and hooded tops purchased by the PTA.
