12th June 2006

Welcome back after what has been a beautifully sunny break! Please remember to bring hats, suncream and outdoor PE kits to school for this half term.

We have a very busy last few weeks in school before we finish for the summer, and we will be starting the hard work of preparing for our end of term production this week. When the parts have been allocated, the children will bring home a list of what they should need for their costume. In the meantime, all the children will need 'glittery pom-pom shakers'...a la cheerleader style - all will be revealed!!

Numeracy

The children will be working on a variety of maths investigations this week. To this end, I have included a number of websites which I will be using to help with our numeracy lessons this week.

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/protractor.html
whats my angle using protractor

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/angle.swf
guess the random angle

http://www.hqprimary.co.uk/gorilla/
gorilla game

http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/P/puzzlemaths/tangrams_game.shtml
tangrams – remember to rotate the shapes to fit into the grid.

http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Tangram/tangram.swf

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Toolkit/Toolkit.htm
for use with the interactive whiteboard in class

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Triangles/triangles.swf
sort the triangles

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/quad/quad.html
sort the polygons into the carroll diagram

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/goal2.swf
Ode to the world cup! Guess the number you need to divide by and see if you can score a goal!

Literacy

We will be writing and analysing examples of narrative this week. Just to get you back in the right frame of mind for writing again (remembering to use VCOP!) here are a few websites to get you started...

http://www.midlandit.co.uk/education/writingtips.htm
You can find some really good story writing tips on this interactive website. You culd even publish your own.

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/english/activities/literature_comp/lit_comp_home.htm
Online comprehensions

http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/owl/OWL5Book1/1/story/index.html
http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/owl/OWL6Book1/1/story/index.html
Interactive stories

Science

We will be investigating Changing State, which means looking at the similarities and differences between solids, liquids and gases. Let's hope for more sunshine, so that we can conduct some of our experiments outdoors!
Should you wish to go over some of the activities again at home, here are just some of the websites that will go over the objectives that we will be investigating in class...

http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/Curriculum/Millionaire/scimill1.htm who wants to be a millionaire game for solids, liquids and gases
http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/science/activities/sol_liq_gas/home.asp interactive game for solids, liquids and gases.
http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/droplet.html water cycle game - journey of a water droplet
http://www.kidzone.ws/water/ water cycle information
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/riversandcoasts/water_cycle/rivers/pg_02_flash.shtml water cycle animation
http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/Water/index.html online experiment for evaporation, predicting the optimum conditions

Homework will commence again next week. The children will have this week to decide with their co-operative learning teams, who is responsible for bringing in particular resources for their Greek project.
Many thanks for your continued support.

22nd May 2006

FIrst of all, welcome back to our Year 6 children, who had a great week at the Conway Centre. Miss Wilson, Mr Barker, Mrs Walker and Miss Robinson all gave the children glowing reports and said that the centre staff were extremely complimentary about their behaviour and attitude to the challenges which were presented to them. Well done all thank you to all concerned - you are a credit to our school! We will let you know as soon as possible, a date for our presentation.

This is the last week before our Whit break and it is another busy week. In LIteracy, we will be looking at writing our own performance poems. Last week, the year 5 children gave a fabulous rendition of 'Ten Dancing Dinosaurs'!! We will post some of our ideas here over the holidays for you to read!

In numeracy, we will be doing some maths investigations and challenges, to really get our brains thinking. Year 6 children will be beginning some of the transition units, which have been arranged to help with their move to St Gregory's. They will also be starting a transition unit for Science, which will be completed on their day visit to the high school.

In science, we will be completing our work on healthly lifestyles, by looking at the effect of alcohol, smoking and drugs on the body. The children may ask some quite challenging questions at home, so, in anticipation of this, here is a list of websites that we will be using in school, that may be re-visited at home.

http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/grow/drugs_alcohol/poll_alcohol.html (what Kids say - opinions)
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/grow/drugs_alcohol/alcohol.html
(information about alcohol)
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/grow/drugs_alcohol/know_drugs.html (information about drugs including alcohol and tobacco)
http://www.brainpop.com/health/personalhealth/smoking/ video and on-line quiz about smoking (username Worrall; password; Worrall) watch video and answer the quiz questions

Our Year 6 children will be bringing home an important letter this week. It requests your permission for the children to watch the video about puberty after the holidays. We will also be joined by the school nurse on the day, to facilitate the discussion. You may wish to withdraw your child from this and we would request that you do this in writing, by 30th June. There will be an opportunity for parents to view this video beforehand, on 22nd June at 4.00pm in the ICT Suite. Please indicate on this letter if you would like to attend.

On Wednesday afternoon, there will be a mass for the Ascension at 2.30pm. You are most welcome to join us in the hall. We finish on THURSDAY this week, with Friday being an INSET day for staff. We would like to wish you a happy and safe holiday, and look forward to returning for our final half term.

15th May 2006

WELL DONE to all the children in Year 6 who completed their SATs tests last week! They remembered everything they have learned, not just this year, but in all their years at St Vincent's and they tried their very best. A big thank you to all parents who helped and supported the children, through a very busy and stressful week. Well done to the year 5 children too, who completed the optional SATs tests. These will be marked and moderated by the staff in school and will form the basis of our work in the final half term.



This week, sees the year 6 children going on their annual residential to the Conway Centre in North Wales. They will be taking part in some amazing activities and are extremely excited (judging by the conversations on Friday!) We hope to bring you some photographs and video footage when they return on Friday.


Year 5 children will be working with Mrs Worrall and Mrs Riley this week, on a fantastic project called 'Passport to the World'. We will be researching about different cultures around the world, what they eat, wear, listen to, temperature etc. Some of the questions they will be investigating are:

Where is this place?
How do people travel to, from and around this place?
What does this place look like?
Natural and man-made features
Why do people visit this place?
What foods do people eat?
What jobs and activities go on in this place?
How have people made use of or changed the environment?
What changes are happening now? For better or worse? Are there any local issues related to land-use?
What is it like to live here?
What do you like and dislike about this place?
What do the people who live here like and dislike?

You could help by starting some of this research at home, by visiting some of the these websites:
http://www.channel4.com/apps26/learning/microsites/E/essentials/geography/units/passworld_bi.shtml
http://www.mrdowling.com/
http://www.btinternet.com/~tonypickford/gg/webenq2.htm

By the end of the week, each co-operative learning team, will be expected to present to the rest of the group, information about their selected country. We hope to have some food tasting on Friday, although I have been told, they really don't want to try frog's legs!!!
It would be really helpful, if you could provide some holiday photographs or holiday brochures to help with our display work. Thank You!!

7th May 2006

This week, the year 6 children will be taking their SATs tests and the year 5 children will be doing their optional tests. We wish them every success in these important tests.
If there are issues which you feel may affect children, particularly during this week, then please do not hestitate to inform a member of staff as soon as possible. Many thanks.

2nd May 2006

This is our last week of revision before starting the SATS next week. In literacy, we will be looking at persuasive writing; numeracy will consist of working through past papers and looking at the styles of questions which may come up. We will conclude the week, by taking part in a fun science quiz. The children will also be listening to some of the songs from 'Joseph' which they are looking to doing after the tests.
We wish all the children the very best of luck and all of the staff would like to thank them, for the tremendous effort which they have put in over the last few months. GOOD LUCK!!

24th April 2006

Welcome back after the Easter break! We will be very busy preparing for the SATs tests over the next two weeks, so it is really important that your child is in school every day from now until the end of the tests. We will be doing lots of practice papers, so that they get used to the timing of each paper and the types of questions that they may be asked.
The children have all worked extremely hard during this year, and I am sure you will encourage them to do their best and shine!
If there are any queries or concerns that you may have, please do not hestitate to contact any member of the 5/6 team.
The children have enjoyed playing a number of revision games, which are available on the internet. Some of the links are listed below, and may provide some well deserved 'breaks' from writing!
http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/Curriculum/Curriculum.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/

9th April 2006

This is the last week before the Easter holidays, and we have a very busy week in school. On Monday morning, the children in the juniors will be displaying their Easter gardens in the hall. There will be prizes for each year group of an Easter egg, with smaller goodies for the runners up. Monday afternoon sees the infant egg-rolling competition, again in the hall. On Tuesday afternoon, the children in years 5 and 6 will be organising a fundraising afternoon, to raise money for this year's Good Shepherd collection. We would be grateful for donations of any toys, games or books for some of the stalls. Also, we are encouraging the younger children to bring in any loose change, to spend during the afternoon and develop their money skills!
Wednesday is our last day in school, and our Year 3/4 children will be leading the Easter Service this year. The afternoon, sees the Easter Bonnet Parade our Key Stage 1 children and we are really looking forward to seeing some of the very creative entries!
May we wish you a very happy and holy Easter and look forward to a hardworking summer term. Children may wear their summer uniform when they return after the holidays.
Useful websites for over the holidays:
www.mathszone.co.uk
http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/