15th January 2006

Week beginning 15th January 2007

The children are certainly trying really hard to follow the Golden Rules in school and one thing we have noticed particularly, is how smart they are when they are in and around school. Thank you to all parents who are supporting us with our Uniform policy.

The builders have made a flying start to our new classroom and the children have all been superb at managing with their reduced playground area. Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 children have all had to move too, so a big thank you to all of them for coping!! The builders have also commented on how well the children are managing, particularly at avoiding the fence with the footballs!! We will keep you posted with all the building developments over the next few weeks.

A few queries have come into school about the recommended size for school bags. We are having some samples made for us, with the school logo on, so hopefully within a couple of weeks, we will be able to make these available for you. We do have limited space in school to store the over-sized bags and a large number of them together in one class, does cause health and safety issues. Thank you for your understanding with this.

Literacy

We had a really successful week last week, looking at balanced arguments. The children really enjoyed this (I wonder why!) and produced some great writing.

This week, we will be looking at poetry, beginning with reading the work of some famous poets.

By the end of the week, hopefully, we will be able to emulate some of their work. I am sure we have some budding Wordsworths out there!!

The children:

Must be able to begin to identify and explain how a poem communicates the writer's thoughts and feelings to the reader.

Should be able to write an interesting and engaging short poem that effectively communicates the writer's thoughts and feelings about an issue.

Could be able to express personal opinions about their own and others' poetry; work collaboratively to perform and share their own and others' poems.

Some websites to help support our work on this are as follows:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/index.htm
The authors recommendations are particularly helpful when asking children to create their own poems

http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/caterpillar/caterpillar.html
Drag and drop some of the phrases on the left, onto the piece of yellow paper to make your own ‘Tired Caterpillar’ poem.

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/narrative/index.htm
Some examples of Narrative poems, written by famous poets. These are ones which we use in class with years 5 and 6.

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/nouns_001/index.htm
You can download this activity as a Word document to compete off-line.

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/year4/limerick.htm
This one is just for a bit of fun. Some of the limericks that can be produced from the drop-down menus will make you giggle!

Numeracy

By the end of the week, the children will be expected to:

Read and plot coordinates in the first quadrant
Recognise where a shape will be after a translation

Rehearse the names and properties of common 2D shapes

Rehearse regular and irregular polygons
Know the meaning of ‘diagonal’ of a polygon

For co-ordinates, the children:

MUST be able to make patterns by repeatedly translating a shape.

SHOULD be able to translate a simple shape on a co-ordinate grid either vertically OR horizontally

COULD be able to translate a simple shape on a co-ordinate grid horizontally THEN vertically or vice versa

For shape, the children:

MUST be able to name, classify & describe all common shapes and their properties plus equilateral, isosceles and right-angles triangles

SHOULD be able to name, classify and describe all common shapes and their properties plus scalene triangle, kite, trapezium

COULD be able to name, classify and describe all common shapes and their properties plus rhombus, parallelogram

The children should also be familiar with the following vocabulary:

Right angled, greater angle, smaller angle, vertex, vertices, layer, diagram, horizontal, vertical, Radius, diameter, net, open net, closed net, base, square-based, regular, irregular, concave, convex, Congruent, bisect, axis of symmetry, reflective symmetry, parallel, and perpendicular.

Knowing the vocabulary associated with any mathematical concept, is half the way to understanding how to solve the problem!!

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/information/shape_facts/shape_facts.htm
Information about the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.

http://www.lgfl.net/dbmaterial/web/learning%20objects/ls/Year%205%20Numeracy%20Co-ordinates%20QCA%201957/home/?verb=view

http://www.counton.org/games/virtualmathfest/dinosaur.html

http://www.athena.bham.org.uk/coordinates1.htm

http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/transform/rotation.html

http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/transform/golftrans.html

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/Transmographer/
This is a real challenge! Click on the LEARNER tag at the top of the page to read an explanation of the activity, and then select the ACTIVITY tab to practice the skills.

Science

We are continuing with our Light topic this week, and the children we be investigating how light from an object can be reflected by a mirror. They will also be finding out how the reflected light enters our eyes and we see the object that we are looking at. When drawing these diagrams, the children will need to know that the direction of a beam or ray of light travelling from a light source can be indicated by a straight line with an arrow.

The challenge for this week, is to investigate how the direction of the beam of light changes, when it hits another object before reaching our eyes. Will they be able to draw this as a diagram, with the arrows pointing in the right direction ?

http://www.seekscience.org/interact/
Click on the LIGHT section for an interactive activity for how light travels in straight lines.

http://www.mystery-productions.info/hyper/Hypermedia_2003/Roby/index.html
A simple, yet effective site, which take you through information about light in easy steps.

SEAL

The children will be asked to set themselves a goal this week – something for them to aim for. They should each think of someone famous who they admire. They should use the following questions to share what they know about the person they admire.

• What has the person achieved?
• Why do you respect the person for this?
• What obstacles were in his or her way?
• How did he or she overcome them?
• Who helped the person achieve their goal?
• What do you think the person said/did when they felt like giving up?
• Is there anything that the person has done in achieving their goals that you
think they should not have done?

All of the goals will be displayed in class, and we will ask the children at the end of this half term, whether or not they feel they have achieved them.

Here I Am

We begin the RELATE section of our Books topic this week. The children will be looking at different versions of the Bible and finding some stories and parables in it, using Bible references to help locate them.

You could help at home, by reinforcing how to read a bible reference. For example,

When people want you to read a special part of the Bible, they give you a reference, for example, 1 Kings 10:23-25. 1 Kings means that you will find it in the first book of Kings. 10 is the number of the chapter in that book. 23-25 refers to the verses of that chapter. These are the small numbers included in the text.

• Look up 1 Kings 10:23-25. Can the children tell you what it is about ?

We will be looking at how the Bible is written in two halves – the Old Testament and the New Testament. The children will also find out, how the Bible had to be translated in order that we may be able to read it today. (The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek.) The children will need to decide if the stories were translated accurately, or whether some changes had to made because of the language.

http://world.altavista.com/
If you type a piece of text into the translator, you will get the text back in another language. However, when you translate it back to English again, it isn’t quite the same!!

REVISION WEBSITES

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/booster04/index.htm
This is a really fun site to help with the revision for numeracy. Click on the area that you wish to revise on the brown boxes at the bottom and then click on play when prompted. Although it is aimed at year 6, it could provide a real challenge for some Year 5 children. Go on…have a go!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/gigaflat/rw_chmaths/default.shtml?pool=all8
BBC Revisewise Maths Challenge

http://icteachers.co.uk/children/children_sats.htm
Questions from past SATS papers for Maths, Science and English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/maths/
Choose whether to practice an aspect of numeracy, or to take the test.

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/upperjuniorspelling.htm
spelling quizzes, which are divided into term by term activities

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/upperjuniors.htm
choose from one of the stories for upper juniors and then select the correct spelling to complete the sentence.

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/english/activities/statements_opinions/state_opin_home.htm
click on the sentence which is either a statement or an opinion. This will help with our work on balanced arguments.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/Science/puzzle.html
colour investigation for light

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/Science/light.html
light and shadows quiz

http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/alienattack/alienattacklink.htm
click on the link with the spinning logo

http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/alienattack/flash/concepts/sourcesandrays.htm
light sources and light rays

http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/alienattack/flash/concepts/reflectionseeingobjects.htm
reflection

http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/alienattack/flash/concepts/shadows.htm
shadows

http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/alienattack/flash/concepts/reflectionmirrors.htm
reflection – mirrors

http://www.supporting-ict.co.uk/documents/argument.ppt
You will need Powerpoint to view this document. It contains a framework to help with how to write an argument.

DIARY

PE is now on Wednesdays for Mrs Millington’s class, and on Thursdays for Miss Wilson’s and Mrs Worrall’s classes. Please ensure that your child has their OUTDOOR and INDOOR PE kit on these days. The children are also expected to wear pumps rather than trainers inside. Again, this is a health and safety issue as the soles on pumps are more appropriate when using apparatus in the hall.

On Friday afternoon, the Year 6’s will be having their last rehearsal for the Holocaust Memorial day commemorations. Next week, they will be performing their drama at the Pyramid Centre, with members of St Gregory’s and in front of the Mayor.

And finally…

Thank you to the parents who consistently make comments in their child’s diaries each week. The staff make comments about your child’s successes and achievements in them and use them to communicate with you on an individual basis. Please read and sign them each week, as it really does make a difference to your child.

Have a good week !!

Year 5/6 team