Welcome back to an exciting (but very long) new term!
We hope you have had a good half term break, and have managed to renew your batteries (or maybe ran them out!!)
DON’T FORGET THAT WE HAVE AN INSET DAY FIRST MONDAY BACK (29TH) SO YOU ALL GET AN EXTRA DAY AT HOME!
They say time flies when you’re having fun, and we cannot believe we are into the second half of the term already. Christmas will be upon us really soon! (Too soon when you think of all the shopping that will need doing!)
This term will provide lots of fantastic opportunities for new learning, but will also emphasise lots of consolidation.
On Thursday of this week, we shall be having Mass at 9am in the hall for All Saints Day. Feel free to attend, however please be considerate about the amount of space we have available.
Please can you make sure that you continue to sign your child’s diary. We are aiming to have a 100% ‘signing’ rate every week, and although we are getting better with this, we are still some way off. We ask children to either open their diary on the correct week, and we mover around the tables to check them, or children bring their diaries to us. It is extremely embarrassing for children when their diary as not been signed, as they then feel they stand out. It is your child’s responsibility to show you their diary, however it is your responsibility to make sure it is signed and that there is a communication with school. We hate to lecture, but as we have said before the difference it makes to school standards is immense!
Thank you for making sure that homework is still brought into school on time. It is so important that children continue to foster these skills of independence, in preparation for learning at the High School.
TARGET SETTING:
You may find that during this week, and next, your child may be keen to talk to you about a new form of target setting we have introduced in School, particularly targeting Maths. We are focusing as a whole school on the areas of RAPID RECALL and PROBLEM SOLVING. Obviously these areas are inextricably linked, but they are Mathematical skills that provide the foundations for further learning. We are confident that if as a school we manage to CRACK these, children will be altogether more confident in every other area of Maths.
The targets are what we call LAYERED which means that they are suitable for every member of a class and that learning becomes more personalised. Your child may have told you that in lessons we give children the lesson objectives as a MUST, SHOULD and COULD. This means that all children MUST achieve a basic target, they SHOULD be able to achieve something slightly more difficult, and COULD push themselves to achieve a challenge objective.
We are hoping to achieve a similar approach with the new Maths targets, however the procedure is slightly different.
Every Half term your child will be given a different target/s which will be at a suitable level for them. It may be a MUST, SHOULD or COULD target. In school and at home our focus will be on ensuring that your child focuses on this target whenever possible. Here are the targets for both year 5 and year 6.
YEAR 5 Targets
MUST = I can add and subtract 2 digit numbers rapidly and accurately.
SHOULD = I can find doubles and halves of 2 digit numbers.
COULD = I can find doubles and halves of decimal numbers (to 2 decimal places.)
YEAR 6 Targets
MUST = I know all my multiplication facts to
10 x 10
SHOULD = I know all my multiplication facts to 10 x 10 and the corresponding division facts.
COULD = I can multiply and divide decimal numbers.
We will plan learning opportunities into lessons whenever possible to enable children to review the target, and would hope that parent’s will help by emphasising the target at home.
What is so brilliant about this type of target setting is that children have the opportunity to aspire and challenge themselves to reach a higher level target, and a developed learning ability. Your child may start on a MUST, but there is no reason they cannot aim for the COULD. If your child completes a target, then we will move them onto a new target. Please be assured, however that we will ensure that the targets are suitably challenging to be relevant for a half term.
The targets will be progressive throughout the whole school so that learning/targets in one year are built upon in the next year. All relevant targets are displayed in every classroom and your child will be made aware of their target. ASK THEM AT HOME, WHAT IT IS!
Focusing on one target ensures that deeper learning can take place, instead of surface learning of lots of different targets. We will review the targets as a school every half term and move on appropriately. We are really excited about this learning opportunity, and would really appreciate your support!
After all the complicated housekeeping we now move on to what we are learning this week…
Before half term we made some informal assessments of how the children have progressed so far this term, and we will continue with our assessment and review this first week back. Don’t worry! Your child will not realise they are really being assessed, and these review weeks are not TESTS as such.
LITERACY:
This week we will be completing our unit on significant authors. Hopefully children you have had the chance to read a Roald Dahl book over half term. We have really enjoyed the stories we have read together. By the end of the week we will…
Write a new story inspired by a favourite book or author. Include elements based on reading, for example an interesting story opening or language used to create a particular comic or dramatic effect. Vary the length of sentences to achieve particular effects.
Our objectives for this week are that we…
Must write a complete story with a sequence of events arranged into paragraphs (marking and feedback against agreed success criteria).
Should write a complete story with a sequence of events arranged into paragraphs, linked with a range of connectives (marking and feedback against agreed success criteria).
Could write a complete story with a sequence of events arranged into paragraphs, linked with a range of connectives and using varying sentence length (marking and feedback against agreed success criteria).
We have been planning activities using a new framework for Literacy introduced this year, and we are really pleased with how it is going. We feel it has given us the luxury of learning about a topic in greater depth, and therefore providing a better learning experience.
MATHS:
Mrs Millington’s group will start a new unit on being able to Use and convert between metric units of length and understanding imperial units of length. We will also focus on Using and converting between metric units of weight and understanding imperial units of weight.
Our objectives for this week are….
Use, read and write standard metric units of length: mm, cm, m, km
Convert from one smaller metric unit of length to another larger unit
Suggest suitable units and measuring equipment to estimate or measure length
Understand the relationship between imperial and metric units of length
Use, read and write standard metric units of weight: kg, g
Record estimates and readings from weighing scales
Suggest suitable units and measuring equipment to estimate or measure weight
We will still also be focusing on Multiplication and division facts as part of our new target system.
Mrs Morgan and Miss Wright’s Maths group will be spending the week looking at shape, and their targets will be ….
Rehearse the terms ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’.
Introduce the terms ‘parallel’ and ‘perpendicular’.
Identify ‘parallel’ and ‘perpendicular’ lines.
Rehearse names and properties of 2-d shapes, particularly focussing on the properties of rectangles.
Rehearse regular and irregular polygons.
Introduce diagonals of polygons.
Don’t forget to use the Maths websites published on previous blogs!!
Here I Am:
We continue with our topic of Signs and Symbols. This topic is brilliant preparation for the season of Advent that will soon be upon us!! Children continue to be reflective and thoughtful during our daily sessions, and really do try to be advocates of our mission statement ‘To love and serve as Jesus shows us’.
SCIENCE:
We will spend this week reviewing what we have learnt in our ‘Light and Shadows’ topic, and then we will move onto our brand new topic ‘The Earth and Beyond’. We always find that this is a really popular topic, and the children always surprise us with the facts that they find out at home and bring to lessons. This first week sees us concentrating on the solar system and by the end of the week we will be able ….
To know that the Earth is part of the Solar System
To know that the Solar System includes The Earth, The Sun and nine planets.
A useful way of remembering all the planets is by producing a Mnemonic. A useful one we use in school is
Many Vile Earthlings Make Jam Sandwiches Under Newspaper Piles!
See if you can come up with any better Mnemonics. The most interesting ones may even win Raffle Tickets.
Useful websites for this topic are….
http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/cyberhunts/solar_system/sosystem.htmKey Stage 2 –5E – Earth, Sun and Moon – A cyberhunt for children.
www.scienceyear.com/parents/school_pack/ks2.html
www.engineeringinteract.org/teachers5.htm
www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/teacher/science.html
TOPIC:
Our Lights, Camera Action topic focuses on a new theme of ‘Movie Magic’
Children will get the opportunity to Take a look behind the scenes of Star Wars III at http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/me3/8.html,
What did the chn see or hear? What were the people doing? What were their roles? Draw together the chn’s thoughts and observations on the f/c. What would the atmosphere behind the scenes be like? It’s something that movie watchers rarely see and experience! We will then Write an informal letter using the correct structure and style, explaining to someone back home about their movie experience.
We will also chat about how Successful Movies can make millions of pounds at the cinema, through DVD sales and merchandise like toys! The film Titanic has made nearly 2 billion dollars! Getting the right movie star can be important – Why this is? As a result, movie stars can earn HUGE amounts of money! You’d think they would be happy with that! Oh no! We will discuss the ‘sometimes bizarre’ requests of the rich and famous. Which seem most unusual? Unreasonable? Remember that stars make these requests as part of their contract, so no bendy straws no singing or acting!!!! Discuss Share some of the amusing, demanding or just plain bizarre requests. We will tell the children to imagine that they (the movie star!) have just arrived on the movie set and their requests have not been met! Time for a letter of complaint! This letter will be different than that written in the last session. Can childrenn explain why?
Websites to support this topic are….
Letter Writing
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/english/writing/13_act.shtml
An interactive activity from a trusted source dealing with the conventions of letter writing.
Behind the Scenes Tours
http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/me3/8.html
Take a look behind the scenes of Star Wars III.
www.learner.org/exhibits/cinema/index.htm
An in-depth look at the key roles in movie production.
That’s it for this week. Hope it’s a good one!! Until next time, the year 5/6 Team.
Saturday 27 October 2007
Friday 12 October 2007
15th October 2007
Hi everyone.
Hope we are now really back into the swing of school. It will be half-term before we know it! Friday in fact!
We are still missing Mrs Morgan who will not be back in school yet! She is still busy recovering after her operation. It was lovely to read her comments (last weeks blog).
Last week was a fantastic busy week! A big THANK YOU for being so supportive with the new homework procedures.
Parent’s Evening:
Hopefully you have all been given an appointment time for Parent’s Evening. If not, check in the murky depths of your child’s bag where it as probably found a new home!!
Reminder dates for Parent’s Evening are THIS WEEK,
Tuesday 16th October & Wednesday 17th October.
Mrs Morgan will arrange appointments with any parents who want to see her, when she returns to school.
MEN Arena:
Just a quick reminder, that all outstanding money for the MEN Arena ‘Young Voices’ concert is needed in school ASAP. We do understand that this is a large amount of money (it is hard to believe that coaches and t-shirts cost so much, but they do), however we genuinely believe this to be a fantastic opportunity for your child that they will never forget. The total amount is £20.00
Literacy:
We continue into the 3rd week of our unit on significant children’s authors, in particular Roald Dahl. We will be drawing on our research skills this week, and finding out all we can about Mr Dahl himself, as well as other significant authors. The website we gave last week should have prepared the children well for Dahl research. Here it is again…
www.roalddahl.com
Our targets for the week are that the children…
Explore the idea of a 'significant author' by collecting information about an author.
Draw on children's own responses, survey popularity in the class or school and collect background information.
Children work collaboratively in groups to research an author of their choice and make a presentation to the class.
Should work as part of a group to research a significant author and make a presentation to the class (teacher observation, feedback from groups).
Could work as part of a group to research a significant author and make a presentation to the class; individuals take on a specific role in the group and play a role in planning what needs to be done and negotiating problems (teacher observation, feedback from groups).
Mrs Millington’s Maths Group will this week be focusing on Data Handling, in particular, Constructing and using grouped frequency tables and Drawing and interpreting bar graphs using grouped data.
By the end of the week your child should be able to….
Group discrete data in equal intervals
Construct a grouped frequency table.
Draw and interpret a bar graph based on grouped data.
Even though these skills are taught in Maths, they are also extremely important for Science, as children are tested just as much on interpreting scientific data, as learning scientific facts.
Listed here is a list of websites to support this topic, and to further general learning in Maths. Don’t forget the websites published on earlier blogs!
www.mathstories.com
Will help children to improve their mathematical problem solving and critical thinking skills. There are more than 4,000 word problems to enjoy. Rated as the top US website.
www.stfx.ca/special/mathsproblems
Is a superb site which contains a range of carefully selected problems to help improve children’s problem-solving skills.
www.fpsp.org
Is the website of the Future Problem Solving Program. It is designed to engage children in creative problem solving to stimulate both their critical and creative thinking skills.
www.japanese-online.com/math
Contains 225 logic-based story problems. The site’s aim is to provide quality mathematical content based on world standards.
www.rhlschool.com
Features original mathematical problem-solving worksheets which can be used as tools for reinforcement or review.
www.mathpuzzle.com
Contains a massive collection of puzzles as well as links to other relevant sites. This is an enormous website for serious mathematicians.
Science:
We are really placing a big emphasis on Science this year and are calling on all parents to help us on our mission as much as possible. We have found that our children are particularly good at their analysing skills (strange in that this goes against the trend in other schools). Our children however seem to struggle with remembering facts that they have learnt in their Science lessons. It is really important that children are asked to review their learning again and again so that the facts finally stick. You can help at home in lots of ways, for example if you are baking a cake together, talk about the irreversible changes taking place.
Look at the phases of the moon together and construct an observation chart over the 28 day cycle.
Chat about the different parts of the body and what they are used for.
When your child takes any prescribed medication, talk about what the medicine contains, and how it makes the body better.
Here is a list of some informative websites that you can use to support your child’s learning. We will be publishing more over the coming weeks.
General
http://www.digitalbrain.com/digitalbrain/web/subjects/1.%20primary/ks2sci/?verb=viewKey Stage 2 Science Activities
Plants and animals
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case4/c4m1.htmlShows the parts of a flower and pollination. Children are asked to label the diagrams.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/Great plant escape. All aspects of plant growth. Ideal for Science KS2 revision if used on whiteboard.
http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/explorer/Key stage 1/2 – a site for exploring different environments
http://www.cadburylearningzone.co.uk/env2/index.htmKey stage 2 – Exploring different environments in UK and around the world
http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/habitats/index.htm Looking at animals in the local environments
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/revisewise/science/living/index.shtmlA range of activities on living things
http://www.sunshine.co.nz/nz/kia/coolstore/v2/17/Discovery/kzoo1.htmllower key stage 2 – Korky’s Virtual Zoo – looking at animals in different environments
Human body
http://www.dentalhealth.org.uk/downloadcentre/downloadslist.php?categ=6Teeth & Nutrition: Games and puzzles to download.
http://www.bhf.org.uk/cbhf/A British Heart Foundation website for 11yrs and under with information and activities.
http://exhibits.pacsci.org/nutrition/default.htmlNutrition café – lots of information, quizzes and activities linked to healthy eating
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/kids/Explore the body’s muscles, skeleton and organs.
http://www.healthykids.org.uk/Key stages 1 and 2 –Health and growth – Teeth and eating – Keeping Healthy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/revisewise/science/living/05_act.shtmlKey stage 2 – Keeping healthy
Materials
http://ambleweb.digitalbrain.com/ambleweb/web/primaryportal/1.%20primary/ks1sci/su3/?verb=view Materials -Properties
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/sirrobhitch.suffolk/Materials/page5.htmlSorting and using materials
http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/Materials/index.htmlSorting and using materials
http://www.welltown.gov.uk/teachers/pupilintro.html
Keeping healthy and staying safe
Electricity
http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/3/physics/circuits/QCA Unit 6G:Interactive Circuit challenges aimed at Year 5/6
http://www.learn.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=Unit&WCU=11203Key stage 2 –4F – Circuits and conductors
The Earth and Beyond
http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/cyberhunts/solar_system/sosystem.htmKey Stage 2 –5E – Earth, Sun and Moon – A cyberhunt for children.
At present our topic is Light and Shadows, but we still have a Practical Science session each week, and a review session. Both of these sessions are usually revising another Science topic, and at this point in your child’s learning this review is very useful because as you will no doubt be aware year 6’s will be sitting a SAT in Science, and year 5’s will also complete a Science test at the end of the year.
In Light and Shadows this week, our objectives are…
To understand that shiny surfaces can be used as mirrors but dull surfaces cannot.
To understand the use of reflective materials for safety.
Topic:
Our Lights, Camera, Action topic is even more exciting this week, and we cannot wait. We will be evaluating some movie trailer clips, and then trying to create some movie clips of our own. We will maybe even try to film them! Our objectives will be to….
Use internet & appropriate search terms to find & evaluate ‘movie trailers’.
Develop a storyboard to outline main ideas to create a ‘trailer’ for a new movie.
Develop understanding of the functions of a video camera & use to film a short video clip.
Write, rehearse & perform a script for a movie trailer to be filmed on video.
This is such an interesting topic that we couldn’t help but publish a few more websites so that you can support at home. We love the Movie Trailer links. All that is missing is the popcorn!!
Early Movie Clips
http://www.buyoutfootage.com/pages/subtops/pd_classiccuts.html
Very short, classic movie clips are available to watch.
http://www.eztakes.com/store/genres/Silent-Movies.jsp
Watch video clip from the silent movie ‘The Lost World’!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4172449.stm
Click on the link to watch a two and a half minute documentary about the finding of some turn of the century film footage discovered in a shop. Includes lots of the actual footage recovered. (Searching the BBC’s Audio and Video library for things like ‘early film footage’ or ‘silent film’ will also throw up a few items.)
http://course1.winona.edu/pjohnson/h140/early%20film.htm
Brief profiles of the early film makers, Thomas Edison, August and Louis Lumière, George Méliès, Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith, includes short clips of some of their most famous movies.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/es/il/baboon_1
Two early movies involving animals available for viewing here for free (second movie on page two). Using the ‘See, Hear and Sing button on the top right gives access to many other early clips and recordings, such as early cartoons and ‘disaster movies’ (real life disasters caught on film as well as fictional movies inspired by them).
Early Movie footage/ The Lumiere Brothers
http://www.holonet.khm.de/Visual_Alchemy/lumiere.html
http://www.holonet.khm.de/Visual_Alchemy/lumiere-x.html
http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html
http://www.terrace.qld.edu.au/academic/lote/french/yr5lumi.htm
Movie Trailers
http://movies.yahoo.com/trailers/
http://video.google.com/movietrailers.html
http://www.english-trailers.com/index.php
http://www.apple.com/trailers/
Other ‘film’ websites of interest
http://uk.imdb.com/
http://www.bfi.org.uk
How to use a Camcorder
http://www.getvi.com/eng/e-camtechnic.
Nice introduction to using a camcorder; general tips & cartoon images.
Anyway, enough for this week! Have a great half term break and we will see you on Tuesday 30th October (Please remember that we have an inset day on the first Monday back.)
Until next time, the year 5/6 Team.
Friday 5 October 2007
Monday 8th October
Hi everyone.
Last week was a very busy, yet successful week. We are back to some normality after Conway, but are still missing Mrs Morgan, who is recovering from a sudden operation. Mr Morgan if you are reading this, we are missing you loads, and
GET WELL SOON!
Now to some boring housekeeping!
Homework Books:
Your child should have last week brought home some ‘brand new’ Homework books which they were very excited about.
To ensure that we do not have any confusion as to how they are used, we have outlined the procedures here…
On a MONDAY your child will be given a page (sometimes more) of work from both the English and the Maths book. Your child has been given an ‘age appropriate’ book. We ask the children to write the date at the top of each page we want them to complete, as depending on the topic we are teaching, they are not always consecutive.
We ask that this work is back in school on THURSDAY, so that we can mark it together on FRIDAY. We have decided that it is more conducive to mark the work together, as the children can then see where they have sometimes gone wrong. If we mark the work like we usually do, they race on to the next task, and often make the same mistakes again.
The same procedure applies to the Science Homework, however this is given out on a WEDNESDAY and needs to be completed for MONDAY. This at least gives you the weekend to work on it.
Please be aware that although it sometimes may seem as if your child as a lot of Homework, we are trying to prepare them for the ominous workload in the high school. If at any point you or your child as a problem with the Homework or your child cannot complete it, please put a note in the homework book or your child’s diary. It is not a problem, so long as we know!
Parent’s Evening:
Please can you make sure that you have returned your reply slip for Parent’s Evening.
Dates for Parent’s Evening are.
Tuesday 16th October & Wednesday 17th October.
Mrs Morgan will arrange appointments with any parents who want to see her, when she returns to school.
MEN Arena:
Just a quick reminder, that all outstanding money for the MEN Arena ‘Young Voices’ concert is needed in school ASAP. We do understand that this is a large amount of money (it is hard to believe that coaches and t-shirts cost so much, but they do), however we genuinely believe this to be a fantastic opportunity for your child that they will never forget. The total amount is £20.00
Literacy:
We continue this week with our topic on significant children’s authors, focusing on Roald Dahl. It has been lovely to read such fantastic books to the children by such an inspiring author.
We are reading ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ together, paying particular attention to the disgusting, horrible character of Grandma. She really is a nasty piece of work!
www.roalddahl.com is a really good website to investigate ‘all things Dahl’ and will be really useful in preparation for next week when we begin to research the life of Dahl himself.
Our targets for the week are that the children…
Must demonstrate understanding of an author's style by writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author (marking and feedback).
Should begin to demonstrate understanding of an author's style by writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author; scene is organised into a sequence of paragraphs (marking and feedback).
Could demonstrate understanding of an author's style by writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author; scene is organised into a sequence of paragraphs (marking and feedback).
We will do this by learning how to do the following….
Exploring aspects of an author's style by comparing themes, settings and characters in different stories.
Focusing on characterisation and make inferences about the author's perspective on a particular character.
Reviewing conventions of dialogue: what it reveals about plot or character.
Writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author.
Maths:
Mrs Millington’s Maths group will this week be learning about Shape and Space, in particular, Properties of 2D shapes, including parallelogram, rhombus and trapezium and Classifying quadrilaterals.
By the end of this week your child should be able to…
Use the terms ‘parallelogram’, ‘rhombus’ and ‘trapezium’
Begin to know the properties of parallelograms, rhombuses and trapezia.
Begin to use the term ‘kite’
Classify quadrilaterals, using criteria such as parallel sides, equal sides, equal angles.
Below is a list of websites to help you support your child with their Maths learning. Some are specific to shape and space, but others can be used for any Maths Topic.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/rewisewise
KS2 activities, fact sheets and tests for number, data handling and shape and space. Nice revision activities for Year 6 pupils in the run up to SATs
www.bbc.co.uk/education/megamaths
The site is aimed at 7 to 9 year olds. Megamaths Tables: an interactive site for practising and testing times tables. Good animations and could be used by children in Yr2 to Y6, to support pupils learning times table facts. Different levels of activities are provided to support differentiation.
Megamaths Shape: an interactive multiple-choice quiz on the properties of 2D shapes
www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools/digger
Maths adventures for Digger and the Gang, activities for the age ranges:
6–7, 7–8 and 9–11. Three maths adventures have been designed for each age range. Nice animated story themes, but a little slow and limited number of mathematical activities involved in each adventure. Children tackling the age 9-11 activities may need a pencil and paper to support their calculations.
www.nrich.maths.org.uk
An excellent website providing lots of challenging problem solving activities. A few interactive games for upper key stage 2, which should be part of a problem solving activity. For example a game called ‘Got it’ where children play against the computer to get to a total of 43 – lots of discussion could be generated on working out how to beat the computer. A range of super non-interactive puzzles and problems to challenge pupils thinking – good AT1 activities, using and applying, in all areas of mathematics! The site is regularly updated.
www.childrensmoneyworld.com
A website designed for children in YR and Y1, supporting their recognition of coins. Two interactive games provided – a pelmonism activity ‘Motherpounds Memory Game’ and a counting activity game ‘Saving Perry Penny’. (Nice animations)
www.worldclassarena.org
A website designed to challenge more able Year 5 children (top 5%) with problem solving and mathematical activities. The materials provided are paper and computer based and children can receive a certificate showing pass, merit or distinction, if they undertake a computer and paper based test, which is available four times a year. The registration fee for each child is £8.00. The example materials look extremely good and focus on the dimensions of ‘breadth, depth, independence, reflection as well as acceleration’. Materials are available for parents and teachers, including a specimen test pack, with mark schemes and reports!
www.aplusmath.com
This website provides five interactive bingo and concentration games to develop multiplication, addition, subtraction and division mental recall skills. The activities would be appropriate for Y4, Y5 and Y6. The only negative element of the site is that the calculations, which should be done mentally, are set out in a vertical format. There are some very basic flashcards and worksheets also available.
www.cadburylearningzone.co.uk
A super interactive website providing lots of problem solving activities. The content, devised by BEAM Education, has been designed to enable children to explore mathematics in its applications in a real working situation. ‘Maths in chocolate making’ has 40 online interactive exercises based on numbers in the number system, calculations, shape and space, measures and handling data. A nice feature is that the activities provide some written support and guidance, if pupils get calculations or problems wrong!
www.ambleside.schoolzone.co.uk/
Probably the best website for primary mathematics. It has a vast range of excellent interactive maths resources. Activities to develop children’s mental maths skills, fraction, shape and lots more! There are also lots of teacher tools with an on-line calculator, four-in-a-row game, number lines, analogue clock and number squares.
Miss Wright and Mrs Woodcock will be spending another week teaching Multiplication and division skills. The above websites will also be useful to support your child.
Science:
Our Science topic gets really interesting this week when we begin to delve deeper into how we see things, and take a closer look at the eye. Children find it really fascinating to SEE (Ha, Ha!) what a complicated job, the eye performs. Some useful websites to support your child, learning about how we see things, are….
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/see_things.
www.healthyeyes.org.uk
www.bootslearningstore.com This Boots website is really really good so be sure to check it out!!
Topic:
Our Lights, Camera, Action topic takes a look at the History of film this week, as we look at how early Hollywood started, and the first movie stars. We are also going to have a go at making our own flicker books to really understand what the term ‘motion’ means in its simplest form. You could probably help to make one of these at home by drawing a little stick man on the corner of each page of a notebook with its legs gradually changing position. We have all probably done this before, where we end up creating a little running man!
Don’t forget to look at the websites published on last week’s blog for some fantastic fact finding. There is also some useful information here for adults, so who knows! You may win that next pub quiz!!
Anyway, enough for this week! Until next time, the year 5/6 Team.
Last week was a very busy, yet successful week. We are back to some normality after Conway, but are still missing Mrs Morgan, who is recovering from a sudden operation. Mr Morgan if you are reading this, we are missing you loads, and
GET WELL SOON!
Now to some boring housekeeping!
Homework Books:
Your child should have last week brought home some ‘brand new’ Homework books which they were very excited about.
To ensure that we do not have any confusion as to how they are used, we have outlined the procedures here…
On a MONDAY your child will be given a page (sometimes more) of work from both the English and the Maths book. Your child has been given an ‘age appropriate’ book. We ask the children to write the date at the top of each page we want them to complete, as depending on the topic we are teaching, they are not always consecutive.
We ask that this work is back in school on THURSDAY, so that we can mark it together on FRIDAY. We have decided that it is more conducive to mark the work together, as the children can then see where they have sometimes gone wrong. If we mark the work like we usually do, they race on to the next task, and often make the same mistakes again.
The same procedure applies to the Science Homework, however this is given out on a WEDNESDAY and needs to be completed for MONDAY. This at least gives you the weekend to work on it.
Please be aware that although it sometimes may seem as if your child as a lot of Homework, we are trying to prepare them for the ominous workload in the high school. If at any point you or your child as a problem with the Homework or your child cannot complete it, please put a note in the homework book or your child’s diary. It is not a problem, so long as we know!
Parent’s Evening:
Please can you make sure that you have returned your reply slip for Parent’s Evening.
Dates for Parent’s Evening are.
Tuesday 16th October & Wednesday 17th October.
Mrs Morgan will arrange appointments with any parents who want to see her, when she returns to school.
MEN Arena:
Just a quick reminder, that all outstanding money for the MEN Arena ‘Young Voices’ concert is needed in school ASAP. We do understand that this is a large amount of money (it is hard to believe that coaches and t-shirts cost so much, but they do), however we genuinely believe this to be a fantastic opportunity for your child that they will never forget. The total amount is £20.00
Literacy:
We continue this week with our topic on significant children’s authors, focusing on Roald Dahl. It has been lovely to read such fantastic books to the children by such an inspiring author.
We are reading ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ together, paying particular attention to the disgusting, horrible character of Grandma. She really is a nasty piece of work!
www.roalddahl.com is a really good website to investigate ‘all things Dahl’ and will be really useful in preparation for next week when we begin to research the life of Dahl himself.
Our targets for the week are that the children…
Must demonstrate understanding of an author's style by writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author (marking and feedback).
Should begin to demonstrate understanding of an author's style by writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author; scene is organised into a sequence of paragraphs (marking and feedback).
Could demonstrate understanding of an author's style by writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author; scene is organised into a sequence of paragraphs (marking and feedback).
We will do this by learning how to do the following….
Exploring aspects of an author's style by comparing themes, settings and characters in different stories.
Focusing on characterisation and make inferences about the author's perspective on a particular character.
Reviewing conventions of dialogue: what it reveals about plot or character.
Writing a new scene for a story in the style of the author.
Maths:
Mrs Millington’s Maths group will this week be learning about Shape and Space, in particular, Properties of 2D shapes, including parallelogram, rhombus and trapezium and Classifying quadrilaterals.
By the end of this week your child should be able to…
Use the terms ‘parallelogram’, ‘rhombus’ and ‘trapezium’
Begin to know the properties of parallelograms, rhombuses and trapezia.
Begin to use the term ‘kite’
Classify quadrilaterals, using criteria such as parallel sides, equal sides, equal angles.
Below is a list of websites to help you support your child with their Maths learning. Some are specific to shape and space, but others can be used for any Maths Topic.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/rewisewise
KS2 activities, fact sheets and tests for number, data handling and shape and space. Nice revision activities for Year 6 pupils in the run up to SATs
www.bbc.co.uk/education/megamaths
The site is aimed at 7 to 9 year olds. Megamaths Tables: an interactive site for practising and testing times tables. Good animations and could be used by children in Yr2 to Y6, to support pupils learning times table facts. Different levels of activities are provided to support differentiation.
Megamaths Shape: an interactive multiple-choice quiz on the properties of 2D shapes
www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools/digger
Maths adventures for Digger and the Gang, activities for the age ranges:
6–7, 7–8 and 9–11. Three maths adventures have been designed for each age range. Nice animated story themes, but a little slow and limited number of mathematical activities involved in each adventure. Children tackling the age 9-11 activities may need a pencil and paper to support their calculations.
www.nrich.maths.org.uk
An excellent website providing lots of challenging problem solving activities. A few interactive games for upper key stage 2, which should be part of a problem solving activity. For example a game called ‘Got it’ where children play against the computer to get to a total of 43 – lots of discussion could be generated on working out how to beat the computer. A range of super non-interactive puzzles and problems to challenge pupils thinking – good AT1 activities, using and applying, in all areas of mathematics! The site is regularly updated.
www.childrensmoneyworld.com
A website designed for children in YR and Y1, supporting their recognition of coins. Two interactive games provided – a pelmonism activity ‘Motherpounds Memory Game’ and a counting activity game ‘Saving Perry Penny’. (Nice animations)
www.worldclassarena.org
A website designed to challenge more able Year 5 children (top 5%) with problem solving and mathematical activities. The materials provided are paper and computer based and children can receive a certificate showing pass, merit or distinction, if they undertake a computer and paper based test, which is available four times a year. The registration fee for each child is £8.00. The example materials look extremely good and focus on the dimensions of ‘breadth, depth, independence, reflection as well as acceleration’. Materials are available for parents and teachers, including a specimen test pack, with mark schemes and reports!
www.aplusmath.com
This website provides five interactive bingo and concentration games to develop multiplication, addition, subtraction and division mental recall skills. The activities would be appropriate for Y4, Y5 and Y6. The only negative element of the site is that the calculations, which should be done mentally, are set out in a vertical format. There are some very basic flashcards and worksheets also available.
www.cadburylearningzone.co.uk
A super interactive website providing lots of problem solving activities. The content, devised by BEAM Education, has been designed to enable children to explore mathematics in its applications in a real working situation. ‘Maths in chocolate making’ has 40 online interactive exercises based on numbers in the number system, calculations, shape and space, measures and handling data. A nice feature is that the activities provide some written support and guidance, if pupils get calculations or problems wrong!
www.ambleside.schoolzone.co.uk/
Probably the best website for primary mathematics. It has a vast range of excellent interactive maths resources. Activities to develop children’s mental maths skills, fraction, shape and lots more! There are also lots of teacher tools with an on-line calculator, four-in-a-row game, number lines, analogue clock and number squares.
Miss Wright and Mrs Woodcock will be spending another week teaching Multiplication and division skills. The above websites will also be useful to support your child.
Science:
Our Science topic gets really interesting this week when we begin to delve deeper into how we see things, and take a closer look at the eye. Children find it really fascinating to SEE (Ha, Ha!) what a complicated job, the eye performs. Some useful websites to support your child, learning about how we see things, are….
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/see_things.
www.healthyeyes.org.uk
www.bootslearningstore.com This Boots website is really really good so be sure to check it out!!
Topic:
Our Lights, Camera, Action topic takes a look at the History of film this week, as we look at how early Hollywood started, and the first movie stars. We are also going to have a go at making our own flicker books to really understand what the term ‘motion’ means in its simplest form. You could probably help to make one of these at home by drawing a little stick man on the corner of each page of a notebook with its legs gradually changing position. We have all probably done this before, where we end up creating a little running man!
Don’t forget to look at the websites published on last week’s blog for some fantastic fact finding. There is also some useful information here for adults, so who knows! You may win that next pub quiz!!
Anyway, enough for this week! Until next time, the year 5/6 Team.
Monday 1 October 2007
Monday 1st October
Year 6’s had a wonderful (if not tiring) time at Conway. I’m sure that when you mange to get them out of bed, you will find out about all the fun.
Year 5’s have had a fantastic time, and are now fully fledged pirate experts. Their presentations were absolutely brilliant, and of an incredible standard for children of this age. We would like to say a big thank you to all the year 5 parents for all your obvious time, support and commitment in helping your children with this project.
Circusology was amazing! We all wanted to run away and join the circus, but then we forgot we wouldn’t be able to come to school, and decided to stay!!
Now to this coming week!
Mrs Morgan continues to be away from school this coming week as she is recovering from an operation. Mrs Woodcock will take Mrs Morgan’s class and the usual class routines will continue to be in place. Please be assured that all members of the 5/6 team plan, evaluate and even sometimes deliver lessons together. Your child will always continue to receive a quality learning experience.
In Literacy this week, we will be starting a new narrative unit where we focus on comparing and contrasting work by significant children’s authors.
It would benefit your child in school if you could spend some time reviewing books by the same author and searching for similarities and differences. For example, How does Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ differ from his classic ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’?
By the end of the week your child would have had the opportunity to…
Read stories by a significant children's author including a serialised class novel.
express their response with reference to other books they have read by the same author.
visualise a setting.
make predictions about plot and note story structure.
compare story openings and experiment with different types of opening.
As part of our weekly formative assessment all children will be assessed on the following…
Must be able to visualise a setting and make predictions about events that might happen there (discussion, questioning).
Should begin to write alternative openings for a familiar story using, for example, dialogue, description or an event (marking and feedback).
Could write alternative openings for a familiar story using, for example, dialogue, description or an event (marking and feedback).
In Maths we are moving on to general multiplication and division strategies. This is an area where we feel both year 5 and 6 children need practice. The government are now recommending that all children should know all of their times tables by the end of Year 4. We are finding that we have many children in year 5/6 who are still not confident with their table knowledge. This lack of confidence holds the children back in many other areas of their Mathematics, in particular their ability to be successful in answering mental maths questions.
Please, please, please spend any spare time you have working with your child on their times tables.
Here are some exciting websites you can use at home to practice and review their table knowledge. Some of these we use in school so your child will be familiar with them…
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/testtest.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/mental/flash2.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/mental/flash4.shtmlhttp://www.deltamicro.co.uk/primary_online/tablechant.html http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Toolkit/Toolkit.htmhttp://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/index.html 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 Math’s lessons.
Our topic work focuses on Lights, Camera and Action. This cross-curricular creative unit ensures that we get to teach/review English, Maths and Science learning as well as exploring Art, Dance, DT and Drama.
Last time we studied this unit, before Conway, the children made brilliant shadow puppets. We discussed Javanese shadow puppets, wrote our own mini plays, and performed these on the overhead projector. It also gave us the perfect opportunity to review our Science vocabulary for Transparent, Translucent, and Opaque.
How’s that for teaching Science, English and Design Technology in just one hour!!
This week the wonderful Pinhole Cameras (made for homework a few weeks ago) become a valuable resource. We will be analysing our Pinhole cameras (Camera Obscura) to find out exactly how they work and why. Then we will combine our Science topic on Lights and shadows by using our shadow puppets for a shadow investigation. Children will then construct a graph to show the results of their investigation.
Please can you get your children used to using comparative language for Science? For example, ‘The FURTHER from the light source the SMALLER the shadow. The CLOSER the light source to an object the LARGER the shadow.
Questions like this come up in the Science tests frequently so Practice makes perfect.
We are sending out another cry for help to ask for any torches you may have hiding at home. The study of light means that torches are needed, however they are a little thin on the ground in school.
Below is a list of websites relating to the Lights, Camera, Action topic that may help you support your child over the coming weeks.
Shadow Puppets
http://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/Schools/shadows/shadows1.htm
Samples of shadow puppets from Java & the Far East
http://discover-indo.tierranet.com/wayang.html
Find out more about Javanese Shadow Puppets and picture the scene as you read the commentary of a show in action!
The Moving Image – General
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/see_things.shtml
http://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/Schools/youth.htm
http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html
http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/MAGIC_MACHINES_1.html
Many websites listed have ‘moving pictures’ & working models of early inventions
Camera Obscura
http://brightbytes.com/cosite/maplist.html
Do you have a camera obscura close to you that you could visit? Check here!
http://brightbytes.com/cosite/cohome.html
http://www.discoverypark.com/cameraob.html
http://www.precinemahistory.net/1400.htm
This is the ideal website for children to find out about key stages in the development of the Camera Obscura.
How to make a “Pinhole Camera”
http://users.rcn.com/stewoody/
http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/pringles_pinhole.html
Best site! Very clear instructions using a Pringles® can!
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/pinholeCamera/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question131.htm
The children really enjoyed our introductory unit on Goodnight Mr Tom, and as we feel this has made such a positive impact, Dance sessions in PE for at least this half term will continue to be based on the book. We hope to create some interesting (if not emotional) sequences.
Have a great week! Until next time,
The Year 5/6 Team.
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