Welcome back! I hope you all had a relaxing half term break and managed to recharge those batteries. Hopefully the extra hour on Sunday will have helped too!
We have a really busy half term ahead of us, and every day will be full of exciting, but challenging activities for us to do. In Year 5/6, we don't perform a Christmas production, but we do prepare the Christmas Carol Service on the last day of term before Christmas. You will be more than welcome to attend this and we will send details out nearer the time. Years 5/6 will be performing something fantastic and memorable at the end of the year...we are still humming the tunes from 'Joseph' from last summer!
Literacy
This half term, begins with an introduction to Classical poetry. We will be looking at the work of some established authors and attempting to emulate their styles in our own poetry.
They will also be investigating some writing effects such as personification and the correct use of similes.
The children will be encouraged to work in their teams to discuss the literature and suggest some possible improvements. Some of the vocabulary which they will come across, will be very challenging, so please don't worry if they tell you that their work is 'hard' at the moment - that is the case for everyone and this unit will run for a couple of weeks. By the end of it, as is our experience, the children will be looking for their own examples of classical poetry to 'translate' !
http://www.poemhunter.com/classics/
This site will be really useful when the children discover some of the favourite authors. It is also great as a resource to help practice their handwriting at speed.
http://www.manythings.org/proverbs/
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/reference/house.htm
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/index.htm This is an American site, but the activities are still well worth a look.
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/my_monster/index.htm This is just for fun poetry!
http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/caterpillar/caterpillar.html Can you put this poem back in the right order? Just drap and drop the sentences onto the notepaper
http://www.rhymezone.com/ this is really useful when trying to think of a word that rhymes with...? It also is a really useful tool when looking for similes, homophones and phrases to use in a poem. We will be using this is school this week!
Numeracy
There's no getting away from it...we all need to know our times tables, inside out, back to front. upside down and standing on our heads!! Virtually everything that we do in years 5 and 6 needs the knowledge of times tables. If the children have these facts to hand, then lots of other things in numeracy will suddenly become so much clearer.
So, we are having a really big push on learning them once again. Even if your child USED TO KNOW them, if they are not used on a regular basis, they will very quickly lose that knowledge. Some of the children in my maths group actually test ME, so I have to practice too!!
I have put lots of links on this blog over the last few months, but here are just a few more to keep those skills sharp...(and just in case your children start to test you too!!)
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/testtest.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/mental/flash2.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/mental/flash4.shtml
http://www.deltamicro.co.uk/primary_online/tablechant.html Remember to add in the tables that you want to practice. The changes are really quick, so if you can keep up, then you are well on your way to knowing them reliably!
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Toolkit/Toolkit.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/index.html There are lots of ideas for times tables on this site. Start with the tables that your child already knows in order to help them build their confidence. Then move on to just one table per week. That way, in 12 weeks, they will know them all!
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/interactive.htm These are the games that we play on the interactive whiteboard as warm-ups to our numeracy lessons. Expect some giggles, especially with 'Moon Maths'!
Science
We will be investigating forces this half term. The children will be expected to know about the gravitational pull of the Earth on objects and be able to tell which forces are balanced and unbalanced. They will be using a piece of equipment called a 'forcemeter' or it is sometimes known as a 'newtonmeter'. They should also be able to tell you that a force is measured in Newtons.
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/parkworldplot/flash/concepts/balancedandun.htm This is a brilliant game for children, which test all aspects of this unit. Beware though - it does take around 30 minutes to complete the whole game!
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/parkworldplot/flash/concepts/friction.htm Again, the same as the last link, but this is based on the topic of friction.
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/parkworldplot/flash/concepts/allaboutforces.htm We will be using this in school on Monday, so if you think your child might benefit from a head start, then have fun!
http://www.edheads.org/activities/odd_machine/index.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/forces_action_fs.shtml
Geography
We are beginning our topic about Mountain environments. It would be great if you could collect some photographs or pictures showing different mountain ranges from across the world.
http://www.globaleye.org.uk/primary/focuson/index.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
http://www.lgfl.net/lgfl/leas/haringey/web/teachers%20section/KS2/Geography/Staffroom/Unit%2015%20The%20mountain%20environment/
Technology
This term, the children will have to design and make their own slippers. This is always a fun activity for the children and many choose to wear them in school! In order to help us with this, the children will need to 'take apart' an exisiting pair of slippers to see how they are manufactured. If you are able to provide an OLD pair of slippers, then that would be fantastic.
As you can see, we have a very busy week ahead of us. On top of all this, the children will be starting gymnastics for their PE lessons. The Year 5 children, will be continuing their dance sessions on Tuesdays and the Year 6 children will be carrying on with the drama sessions from St. Greg's next Tuesday.
There have been a number of children who haven't had a PE kit in school for a number of weeks and have had to 'borrow' kit from other children. Although PE sessions normally happen on Tuesdays, we also have sessions on Wednesday, so please ensure that your child is prepared with their kit EVERY day.
Have a great week!
5/6 team.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Half Term
First of all, a big thank you to everyone who attended parent's evening last week. We hope that you found the target sheets and handouts useful. We always welcome any feedback from parents about anything which you feel would help you to support your child's learning, so if you have any suggestions about the things which you would like to see, please let us know and we will do our utmost to address them.
A few recurring queries came up during the parent/teacher interviews, so we have tried to address them in this week's blog. If the answer you are looking for isn't here, please do contact any of the 5/6 team, who will be able to help.
A few recurring queries came up during the parent/teacher interviews, so we have tried to address them in this week's blog. If the answer you are looking for isn't here, please do contact any of the 5/6 team, who will be able to help.
- weekly reading targets are given in your child's diary. This is their focus for the reading for that week. Any questions which you ask them about the text, should be focussed mainly on this target
- high frequency words are checked by the teacher on a regular basis. If you see 'TW's' in the diary, this mean 'target words' or the words which your child is working on that week. Your child's teacher will tick off the words on the sheets at the front of the diary, when the have spelt the world correctly on three separate occasions.
- we love to read YOUR comments in your child's diary and we will always reply to them on the day they are received. If there is something particularly urgent, then please encourage your child to actually hand it to the teacher, or telephone school if you are unable to call in.
- the diary can be used for ANY communication, not just reading. If your child would benefit from some extra work in numeracy for example, this will be recorded in there.
- we hope to organise a number of workshops over the coming months for numeracy. You will need to bring your pencil cases, as they will be very interactive and you will all have the opportunity to 'have a go'!!
There are lots of websites on previous blogs for you to refer to, in order to support your child's learning, so please do have a look back to see which ones you can use over the holidays. Just to give you a little advance notice, the children will be doing lots of practical work next half term, so they will need an old shirt for any 'creative' work we may be doing.
The children will also need an old pair of slippers in school for the next half term. They will have to cut them up at some point, so the older the better! There will also be a pyjama day, where we test out the best materials for comfort and practicality - we are looking forward to that day!!!
Look out for the details for the first week of the new half term next weekend. Have a happy and safe holiday. We return to school on Monday 30th October at 8.45am.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
16th October
Well, can you believe it? We have reached the end of the first half term and we have managed to get through so much! We are very proud of all the children for the effort and dedication they have put in over the last 7 weeks, and know that they will continue for the rest of the year.
Parent's evening
You should have received a letter this week informing you of your time slot for parent's evenings on either Wednesday or Thursday evening this week. If not, please see your child's classteacher on Monday. Each slot is 5 minutes, since there are 30 children in each class. Should you require a longer appointment, then we will be happy to arrange another appointment at a later date, Many thanks for your co-operation with this.
As a point to note, the 5/6 team will be arranging a workshop for parents about what you can do to support your child during the SATs preparation in the near future. This will include lots of information about the actual tests and will be very interactive! Be prepared to have a go at some questions yourself!
Literacy
This week, we will be finishing our autobiography and biography genre. The children have been 'hotseating' a book character, where they are in role as that character, and have to answer questions AS that character. They have thoroughly enjoyed this and have produced some fantastic interviews. This week, the children will be using their ICT skills to produced their own autobiography. They will be asked to take a photograph of each other and use the image to make a front cover of their autobiography. They will also use their word-processing skills to type the first chapter of the book.
Numeracy
The week before every half term, will be an assessment week for numeracy. We will be checking how much the children are able to recall from the work over the last half term. Please let us know whether you have found the numeracy newsletter from Mrs Worrall's maths group useful to support your child's learning. We hope to role this out over all the groups in year 5/6 after the half term.
We are having a real push on the children knowing their times tables, with the focus being on one table per week. Children who already know their tables, have a distinct advantage, as many areas of numeracy rely on this knowledge to move them forward.
By the end of this week, you will also receive a 'bubble' sheet for numeracy. These contain all the mental maths objectives that your child will need to knoow by the end of the year.
Science
We will be finishing our topic on reversible and irreversible change this week. The children will be expected to complete some SATs style questions on the subject. Ask them if they can explain the following words to you at home:
evaporation; condensation; filtering; solution; sieving; dissolving
Problem solving
The children will be given a problem to solve about the Aztecs this week and they will have to come up with their own solution. It will be based on something which actually happened, but we want to see how the children would solve the problem themselves, if they had actually been in that situation. At the end of the week, we will let the children see what actually happened, and they will be able to compare their own solution with reality. Of course, we know that their's will be much better!!
Diaries
A big thank you to all parents who are checking and signing the diaries on a regular basis. There is lots of information in there, which is specific to your child, including their individual reading target, high-frequency word checks and help with numeracy etc. It is checked regularly and any comments which you make are always followed up by your child's teacher. Although we appreciate it is difficult to get your child to read out loud in years 5/6, you can ask them to predict what may happen next, or to recount to you what happened in the last chapter. Try reading the last few pages of their reading book when they have gone to bed, and asking them a few questions about it in the morning over cornflakes!
We love to read ANY comments from you and would love to read more!
Have a good week and a great half term! We return to school on Monday 30th October at 8.45am.
Parent's evening
You should have received a letter this week informing you of your time slot for parent's evenings on either Wednesday or Thursday evening this week. If not, please see your child's classteacher on Monday. Each slot is 5 minutes, since there are 30 children in each class. Should you require a longer appointment, then we will be happy to arrange another appointment at a later date, Many thanks for your co-operation with this.
As a point to note, the 5/6 team will be arranging a workshop for parents about what you can do to support your child during the SATs preparation in the near future. This will include lots of information about the actual tests and will be very interactive! Be prepared to have a go at some questions yourself!
Literacy
This week, we will be finishing our autobiography and biography genre. The children have been 'hotseating' a book character, where they are in role as that character, and have to answer questions AS that character. They have thoroughly enjoyed this and have produced some fantastic interviews. This week, the children will be using their ICT skills to produced their own autobiography. They will be asked to take a photograph of each other and use the image to make a front cover of their autobiography. They will also use their word-processing skills to type the first chapter of the book.
Numeracy
The week before every half term, will be an assessment week for numeracy. We will be checking how much the children are able to recall from the work over the last half term. Please let us know whether you have found the numeracy newsletter from Mrs Worrall's maths group useful to support your child's learning. We hope to role this out over all the groups in year 5/6 after the half term.
We are having a real push on the children knowing their times tables, with the focus being on one table per week. Children who already know their tables, have a distinct advantage, as many areas of numeracy rely on this knowledge to move them forward.
By the end of this week, you will also receive a 'bubble' sheet for numeracy. These contain all the mental maths objectives that your child will need to knoow by the end of the year.
Science
We will be finishing our topic on reversible and irreversible change this week. The children will be expected to complete some SATs style questions on the subject. Ask them if they can explain the following words to you at home:
evaporation; condensation; filtering; solution; sieving; dissolving
Problem solving
The children will be given a problem to solve about the Aztecs this week and they will have to come up with their own solution. It will be based on something which actually happened, but we want to see how the children would solve the problem themselves, if they had actually been in that situation. At the end of the week, we will let the children see what actually happened, and they will be able to compare their own solution with reality. Of course, we know that their's will be much better!!
Diaries
A big thank you to all parents who are checking and signing the diaries on a regular basis. There is lots of information in there, which is specific to your child, including their individual reading target, high-frequency word checks and help with numeracy etc. It is checked regularly and any comments which you make are always followed up by your child's teacher. Although we appreciate it is difficult to get your child to read out loud in years 5/6, you can ask them to predict what may happen next, or to recount to you what happened in the last chapter. Try reading the last few pages of their reading book when they have gone to bed, and asking them a few questions about it in the morning over cornflakes!
We love to read ANY comments from you and would love to read more!
Have a good week and a great half term! We return to school on Monday 30th October at 8.45am.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
9th October 2006
What a fabulous week we had last week. We had some visitors in school, who made some really complimentary comments about our children. On Thursday, Mrs Millington's class had some 'experts' in, to work with the children about developing the 'Mantle of the Expert'. You may have heard your child talking about 'Dr. Barker' and him working for the British Museum! This was all part of the drama and a way in which your child was learning some very sophisticated styles of learning. We were amazed at how ALL of the children got involved and produced some amazing discussions. We will keep you up to date with how the 'drama' continues over the next couple of weeks!
Our second visitor, who came into school on Friday, was the Mayor of Warrington, Cllr. Direr and her consort. As you may know, the children are taking part in a lengthly project, to improve our local environment. They had come up with some questions which they wanted to put to her, about the council's perspective on certain environmental issues. She commented on how articulate the children were and how we definitely had some budding Jeremy Paxman's in our midst!
Diary
This week, we have a number of things happening in school, which you should already have received a letter about.
On Thursday, all of the juniors will be visiting Penketh South for the Kinetic Theatre company's production about Science. We saw a similar show a few years ago, and it prompted some brilliant science work, so we look forward to the same happening this time round.
On Friday, we shall be having our Harvest Festival Mass in the school hall at 9.00am. Parents and Friends of St. Vincent's are most welcome to attend. Thank you so much for all the donations which have been made towards our harvest display. A representative from St. Joseph's Family Centre will be coming into school next week, to explain to the children where all their donations go.
On Tuesday, and for the next 6 weeks our Year 5 children will have the opportunity of working with a visiting dance specialist. They will learning lots of different techniques and hopefully will be able to show a finished product by the end of the course.
Also on Tuesday, we say a sad farewell to two of our pupils in Year 4 and Year 6, who are off to start their new life in Australia. We wish them all the luck and best wishes in the world and wish them a safe journey. Please look in your child's diary for more information !!!!
With all of this going on, it is going to be a packed week fitting in all the curriculum!!
Literacy
We continue our theme of Autobiography anhd Biography. The children really seem to have taken this on board and have brought some fantastic examples into school for us all to share. If you would like to investigate further at home, you could visit...
http://www.roalddahl.com/ the sounds on this site are really loud, but great for helping children to navigate around
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/dickkingsmith/
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=421 We will be asking the children to write their own autobiographies over the holidays, so this site (which is primary aimed at teachers) will give some ideas of how you could make a start collecting the information your child might need
We are also having a real push on learning and spelling the High Frequency words, both during a test AND in their independent writing. The lists of words that your child is currently working on, is stuck in the front cover of their diaries, but do keep going back to words which have previously been ticked off. You will be amazed at how quickly children do forget them, particularly if they haven't used them for a while.
http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg2/wwout/workout1res.html This is an evaluation copy, but it's still a great game to use
http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg2/scrambled/scrambled.html Again, an evaluation copy, but it is quite difficult - even I had to think about some of them!
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/lit_sites/plurals/pl_4/plurals4.htm
This will help the children this week, as we are looking at how words that end in an 'f' change when they are put into their plural form.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/plurals/pluralrules/index.shtml this site will help your child to brush up on all the skills they have learned so far about plurals. How quickly can they identify the strategy they have to use?
Numeracy
We have been working really hard on our numeracy sessions with the children and they are beginning to get to grips with some of the more difficult concepts. They could be boosted even further, by constant revision of the basic skills. This includes knowledge of the time tables, number bonds to 10, 100 and 100; working out change from £1 and £10 and place value.
In order to help with this, there are a number of websites to improve those basics. It is best, if you talk through the answers with your child and find out HOW they arrived at their answer. Quite often, although they get the wrong answer, they have used the correct strategy, and so it may be a simple addition which had tripped them up, not they can't do any of the problems.
http://www.ictgames.com/technowithflock.html This is a real giggler! It shows how to use a number line for addition and subtraction
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/big%20sums/big%20sums%20add.html Move the numbers up to 99 on each card to help find the missing number
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/addsubtract/mental/flash7.shtml mental calculations - practicalities!!
http://www.ictgames.com/spitfireufo.html shoot the correct answer for the times tables
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/written/flash2.shtml multiplying my partitioning
http://www.kidsolr.com/math/fractions.html
These are just a few of the resources which we use in school, so your child should be familiar with them all. We intent to send more 'hints and tips' out at parents evening, as well as written activities for you to try.
As you can see, we have an incredibly busy week ahead of us in school. Homework has been handed out every Monday for Literacy and Numeracy and Wednesdays for Science. It is helpful for us, if you could ensure that your child returns their homework on the appropriate day, so that it can be amrked and returned on time. It is also a vital part of their preparation for high school.
Please could you also ensure that the following letters and slips are returned as soon as possible:
Our second visitor, who came into school on Friday, was the Mayor of Warrington, Cllr. Direr and her consort. As you may know, the children are taking part in a lengthly project, to improve our local environment. They had come up with some questions which they wanted to put to her, about the council's perspective on certain environmental issues. She commented on how articulate the children were and how we definitely had some budding Jeremy Paxman's in our midst!
Diary
This week, we have a number of things happening in school, which you should already have received a letter about.
On Thursday, all of the juniors will be visiting Penketh South for the Kinetic Theatre company's production about Science. We saw a similar show a few years ago, and it prompted some brilliant science work, so we look forward to the same happening this time round.
On Friday, we shall be having our Harvest Festival Mass in the school hall at 9.00am. Parents and Friends of St. Vincent's are most welcome to attend. Thank you so much for all the donations which have been made towards our harvest display. A representative from St. Joseph's Family Centre will be coming into school next week, to explain to the children where all their donations go.
On Tuesday, and for the next 6 weeks our Year 5 children will have the opportunity of working with a visiting dance specialist. They will learning lots of different techniques and hopefully will be able to show a finished product by the end of the course.
Also on Tuesday, we say a sad farewell to two of our pupils in Year 4 and Year 6, who are off to start their new life in Australia. We wish them all the luck and best wishes in the world and wish them a safe journey. Please look in your child's diary for more information !!!!
With all of this going on, it is going to be a packed week fitting in all the curriculum!!
Literacy
We continue our theme of Autobiography anhd Biography. The children really seem to have taken this on board and have brought some fantastic examples into school for us all to share. If you would like to investigate further at home, you could visit...
http://www.roalddahl.com/ the sounds on this site are really loud, but great for helping children to navigate around
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/dickkingsmith/
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=421 We will be asking the children to write their own autobiographies over the holidays, so this site (which is primary aimed at teachers) will give some ideas of how you could make a start collecting the information your child might need
We are also having a real push on learning and spelling the High Frequency words, both during a test AND in their independent writing. The lists of words that your child is currently working on, is stuck in the front cover of their diaries, but do keep going back to words which have previously been ticked off. You will be amazed at how quickly children do forget them, particularly if they haven't used them for a while.
http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg2/wwout/workout1res.html This is an evaluation copy, but it's still a great game to use
http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg2/scrambled/scrambled.html Again, an evaluation copy, but it is quite difficult - even I had to think about some of them!
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/lit_sites/plurals/pl_4/plurals4.htm
This will help the children this week, as we are looking at how words that end in an 'f' change when they are put into their plural form.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/plurals/pluralrules/index.shtml this site will help your child to brush up on all the skills they have learned so far about plurals. How quickly can they identify the strategy they have to use?
Numeracy
We have been working really hard on our numeracy sessions with the children and they are beginning to get to grips with some of the more difficult concepts. They could be boosted even further, by constant revision of the basic skills. This includes knowledge of the time tables, number bonds to 10, 100 and 100; working out change from £1 and £10 and place value.
In order to help with this, there are a number of websites to improve those basics. It is best, if you talk through the answers with your child and find out HOW they arrived at their answer. Quite often, although they get the wrong answer, they have used the correct strategy, and so it may be a simple addition which had tripped them up, not they can't do any of the problems.
http://www.ictgames.com/technowithflock.html This is a real giggler! It shows how to use a number line for addition and subtraction
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/big%20sums/big%20sums%20add.html Move the numbers up to 99 on each card to help find the missing number
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/addsubtract/mental/flash7.shtml mental calculations - practicalities!!
http://www.ictgames.com/spitfireufo.html shoot the correct answer for the times tables
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/written/flash2.shtml multiplying my partitioning
http://www.kidsolr.com/math/fractions.html
These are just a few of the resources which we use in school, so your child should be familiar with them all. We intent to send more 'hints and tips' out at parents evening, as well as written activities for you to try.
As you can see, we have an incredibly busy week ahead of us in school. Homework has been handed out every Monday for Literacy and Numeracy and Wednesdays for Science. It is helpful for us, if you could ensure that your child returns their homework on the appropriate day, so that it can be amrked and returned on time. It is also a vital part of their preparation for high school.
Please could you also ensure that the following letters and slips are returned as soon as possible:
- pantomine slips and monies
- parent's evening slips
- science show slip and contribution
Looking forward to a great week!
5/6 team.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
2nd October 2006
Conway
The Year 6 children returned from the Conway Centre on Thursday night and by all accounts, a good time was had by all! We can't wait to see some of the photographs and I'm sure the children will have lots of stories about the activities (and the dormitories) to tell us this week! The children will be preparing a presentation about their time to show you in the near future. We will let you know a date as soon as possible.
Junior Area
Whilst the Year 6 children were in Conway last week, the Year 5's worked really hard to transform the area outside the 5/6 classrooms. We were very impressed at how many ideas the children came up with - we nearly had to stay in school until 8pm every day, just to get through them! They are now very protective over their new displays and even guard them during breaktimes! It's great to see the children taking such a pride in their work!
Fire Service Visit
On Tuesday afternoon this week, the Year 5 children will be taking part in an interactive visit from the Fire Service. They will watch a video about causes of fire and possible preventions and following this, they will take part in a smoke tent activity. This 'smoke' is entirely safe as it is synthetic, but will give the children a real sense of what to do if they were ever in such a situation. You should have received a permission letter last week for this and we would br grateful if you could send it in as soon as possible.
Literacy
This week, we are looking at biographical and autobiographical writing. We are looking at biographies of authors such as Roald Dahl, Dick King-Smith and even Charles Dickens! This is a really interesting genre to investigate because of the diversity in each subject.
The children are really trying to get to grips with writing and we are encouraging them to really think about the small pieces of information that an author gives, that really brings a story to life. Try to get your child to think about 'time connectives and phrases' to help the reader get a picture of what is happening in their heads.
...as the last glimmer of sunshine disappeared from the sky...
...as the final drop of dew evaporated from the caterpillar-gnawed leaf...
http://www.athena.bham.org.uk/autob.htm
This website helps to identify some of the key featurres of an autobiographical text. These are the things we will be looking for when we mark the children's writing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/compoundsentences/
This site from the BBC, allows the children to have a go at making longer sentences, using some of the time phrases and connectives from the literacy lesson.
Science
This week, we are investigating the difference using different water temperatures has on the time it takes a solid to dissolve. We will be reading the temperature from a thermometer in centigrade and then converting it to fahrenheit. The children will also have to use a stop watch to ensure that they are conducting a fair test, along with reading a scale on measuring cylinders to make sure they are using the same volume of water for each test.
As well as all this, they will need to plot all their results on a graph to show what happened over time.
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/grapher.html
http://www.coppschool.lancsngfl.ac.uk/blackbar.htm?/Classwork/Classwork/Class3/maths/data.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/shockwave/games/datapick.html
These sites help support the work we are doing in graphs, particularly line graphs. You could help by asking your child to show you which axis the numbers should be on. We have done lots of work on Tally charts, so they should be able to tell you how to transfer this information onto a bar chart.
http://www.e4s.org.uk/director/dissolve.htm An online experiment which shows the effect of heat on water.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/measuring/temperature/index.shtml reading thermometers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/keeping_warm_fs.shtml
Foundation Subjects
We really do have some talented artists this year, so we are really looking forward to some of the work which will be produced. This week, the children will be using a variety of media to produce an image of a landscape. We will also be investigating how to give an image depth, by using perspective in a drawing.
http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/play/landscape1/index.html This is really good website for showing the children completed pictures.
In ICT, we are looking at using databases to record information about ourselves. The children will need to know what a field, file and a record is and be able to input this information into a database. This work also links with all the work on reading scales and graph work this week.
For the rest of this term, we are investigating the ancient civilisation of the Aztecs. This week, the children will be archaeologists, who discover a suitcase, filled with artefacts from a dig. They have to find out where they came from, and show the rest of the class what they think happened for them to get into the suitcase!
http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/aztecs.htm A Great site from Snaith Primary, which gives lots of information about the Aztecs for research.
It will be a busy week, but one which the children are sure to enjoy!!
5/6 Team.
The Year 6 children returned from the Conway Centre on Thursday night and by all accounts, a good time was had by all! We can't wait to see some of the photographs and I'm sure the children will have lots of stories about the activities (and the dormitories) to tell us this week! The children will be preparing a presentation about their time to show you in the near future. We will let you know a date as soon as possible.
Junior Area
Whilst the Year 6 children were in Conway last week, the Year 5's worked really hard to transform the area outside the 5/6 classrooms. We were very impressed at how many ideas the children came up with - we nearly had to stay in school until 8pm every day, just to get through them! They are now very protective over their new displays and even guard them during breaktimes! It's great to see the children taking such a pride in their work!
Fire Service Visit
On Tuesday afternoon this week, the Year 5 children will be taking part in an interactive visit from the Fire Service. They will watch a video about causes of fire and possible preventions and following this, they will take part in a smoke tent activity. This 'smoke' is entirely safe as it is synthetic, but will give the children a real sense of what to do if they were ever in such a situation. You should have received a permission letter last week for this and we would br grateful if you could send it in as soon as possible.
Literacy
This week, we are looking at biographical and autobiographical writing. We are looking at biographies of authors such as Roald Dahl, Dick King-Smith and even Charles Dickens! This is a really interesting genre to investigate because of the diversity in each subject.
The children are really trying to get to grips with writing and we are encouraging them to really think about the small pieces of information that an author gives, that really brings a story to life. Try to get your child to think about 'time connectives and phrases' to help the reader get a picture of what is happening in their heads.
...as the last glimmer of sunshine disappeared from the sky...
...as the final drop of dew evaporated from the caterpillar-gnawed leaf...
http://www.athena.bham.org.uk/autob.htm
This website helps to identify some of the key featurres of an autobiographical text. These are the things we will be looking for when we mark the children's writing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/compoundsentences/
This site from the BBC, allows the children to have a go at making longer sentences, using some of the time phrases and connectives from the literacy lesson.
Science
This week, we are investigating the difference using different water temperatures has on the time it takes a solid to dissolve. We will be reading the temperature from a thermometer in centigrade and then converting it to fahrenheit. The children will also have to use a stop watch to ensure that they are conducting a fair test, along with reading a scale on measuring cylinders to make sure they are using the same volume of water for each test.
As well as all this, they will need to plot all their results on a graph to show what happened over time.
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/grapher.html
http://www.coppschool.lancsngfl.ac.uk/blackbar.htm?/Classwork/Classwork/Class3/maths/data.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/shockwave/games/datapick.html
These sites help support the work we are doing in graphs, particularly line graphs. You could help by asking your child to show you which axis the numbers should be on. We have done lots of work on Tally charts, so they should be able to tell you how to transfer this information onto a bar chart.
http://www.e4s.org.uk/director/dissolve.htm An online experiment which shows the effect of heat on water.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/measuring/temperature/index.shtml reading thermometers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/keeping_warm_fs.shtml
Foundation Subjects
We really do have some talented artists this year, so we are really looking forward to some of the work which will be produced. This week, the children will be using a variety of media to produce an image of a landscape. We will also be investigating how to give an image depth, by using perspective in a drawing.
http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/play/landscape1/index.html This is really good website for showing the children completed pictures.
In ICT, we are looking at using databases to record information about ourselves. The children will need to know what a field, file and a record is and be able to input this information into a database. This work also links with all the work on reading scales and graph work this week.
For the rest of this term, we are investigating the ancient civilisation of the Aztecs. This week, the children will be archaeologists, who discover a suitcase, filled with artefacts from a dig. They have to find out where they came from, and show the rest of the class what they think happened for them to get into the suitcase!
http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/aztecs.htm A Great site from Snaith Primary, which gives lots of information about the Aztecs for research.
It will be a busy week, but one which the children are sure to enjoy!!
5/6 Team.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)