Some great Maths learning!
Each week, Year 6 do Guided Maths which gives us an opportunity to work in small groups and revise learning from earlier this year and even Year 5. It means we’re always revisiting our learning either on our own or with adult support.
Last week, we revised angles and the group on our Maths Challenge Table produced some brilliant independent work.
Rollercoasters
On Thursday 09 March, Year 6 had a wonderful time with visitors from Leeds University as part of both national STEM week and our Time Travel – Entertainment topic. Our visitors talked to us about how rollercoasters work, discussing the gravitational and kinetic energy involved and how they conserve energy. (This means the amount of energy stays the same but it is transferred into different types.)
Once we understood the science, we were tasked with creating our own rollercoasters using half foam tubes as the track and a marble as the carriage. We got more points if we could create loop the loops, corkscrews or jumps and even more if we could land the marble in a cup at the end!
Take a look at some of our incredible rollercoasters and some fab teamwork.
The winning team got a whopping 70 points: three loops, one corkscrew, a jump and a cup landing!
10 March 2017
This week, Year 6 have a mini Maths test and a mini SPaG test for their Practice Makes Perfect homework.
The children could complete it independently, with you or a bit of both by doing it themselves then going through it together. Make sure they make note of anything they’re struggling with as we’ll discuss this as a class in our homework review on Thursday 09 March.
10 March 2017
This week’s spelling activity is a bit of fun. Have a look at the Year 3/4 and 5/6 spelling lists you received at parents’ evening (or here) and create a game, quiz, crossword, wordsearch or anything else you can think of which will help us to practise them.
Bring your game to our homework review on Friday 17 March.
10 March 2017
This week, in preparation for an end of term spelling test next week, children have been given a copy of the Year 5/6 statutory word list (taken from the Primary National Curriculum).
Children should practise spelling these words as they are likely to be tested on similar words during the test.
Children know lots of ways to practise their spellings so they should choose a method that they think will work for them. One way to get yourself involved would be to say a sentence with the word and ask children to spell the word correctly. It is important that children know how to use the words and not just how to spell them.
10 March 2017
This week, children have two pieces of homework. Both are due on Thursday 16 March 2017.
The first is creative: I can show why teamwork is important.
Recently, we’ve been working hard to improve how well we work together as a team. I’m sure you’ll agree that the ability to work as part of a team is a crucial life skill. For this piece, children should show why they think teamwork is important. They could do this in many ways but must bear in mind that this is a creative piece of homework. It is also worth noting that ‘creative‘ does not necessarily mean ‘colourful’ or ‘eye-catching’. Similarly, it is worth remembering that we expect children to spend a minimum of 30-40 minutes on creative homework – children shouldn’t spend much longer, either.
The second piece this week is practice makes perfect: To be able to punctuate speech.
Some children have been given a worksheet to help them practise this skill further. Others have been set the following task…
I would like you to write the opening of a narrative in which speech is used to give hints about a character’s personality. Also, make sure you create a clear mood and atmosphere.
The narrative can be about anything you like but must be aimed at young adults who enjoy reading fantasy books.
You must write for no longer than 10 lines.
Impress me!
Scratch Projects
Recently, as part of our ‘Time Travel: Entertainment‘ topic we’ve been creating our own games using Scratch. Each game is loosely based on Pac-Man and we’ve spent the last few weeks planning, designing, creating and improving our projects.
The children have worked extremely independently and have taught me a lot about using the Scratch software – I still have a long way to go to catch up with them, though. I’ve been most impressed with how the children have helped each other over the course of making these games. Like most things, some of us are more confident than others and we’ve worked really well as a team to make sure that everyone is involved and learning all the time.
Similarly, I’ve been super impressed that lots of us have gone home and created our Pac-Man style games using our personal Scratch accounts. These games have been really useful as a teaching tool because we could see a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like).
Good work, Year 5!
10 March 2017
The spellings to learn this week are all homophones… words that sound the same but mean different things. As well as the spelling, children need to know the meaning of each word. When I test the children on these spellings, I’ll give them the word in a sentence. For example – There was a pretty, pink flower growing in my garden.
10 March 2017
The homework this week is creative and is due in on Thursday 16 March.
I can show what I have learnt about fractions.
In maths lessons, we’ve become familiar with unit and non-unit fractions, fractions of objects, quantities and numbers. For this homework, show off what you have learnt this week involving fractions.
It’s worth remembering that ‘creative‘ does not necessarily mean ‘colourful’ or ‘eye-catching’. Similarly, it is worth remembering that we expect children to spend a minimum of 30-40 minutes on creative homework – children shouldn’t spend much longer, either.
Houses and homes yoga
Today we had a topic yoga session incorporating lots of yoga poses while thinking of fictional homes, animal homes and homes from around the world. Our relaxation at the end of the session is always a favourite and another way to keep calm.
