Week Beginning 14th April 2008

Hello everyone,

This week is parents evening, you should have already received your appointment day and time. Only 5 minutes per child is allocated, please stick to this time and if you find you need more time to discuss an issue please arrange it with your child's teacher.

The Year 6's are working really hard on their revision and we are really pleased with their attitudes. Including this week we only have 4 weeks left until the SATs. Why not use this time to look over any questions you have struggled with in the test we have done so far. If you take a look at previous blogspots you will find numerous websites to help you with your revision. Keep it up everyone we are nearly there!!

Mrs Millington was really pleased with the response from the family tree homework that was sent home last week. The children really loved tracing their families back and finding out new things, I'm sure you parents were really interested in doing this too.
This week the Year 5's will continue with their theme of Victorians for homework. They will need to use their research skills and then present the information they have found out. Here is what will be included in the sheet that will be sent home on Monday.

Year 5 Victorian Project Homework Week beginning 14th April 2008

Famous Victorians.

Thank you for the fantastic Family Tree information completed for last week’s homework. Hopefully you also learned some information about your family that you didn’t know already!
For your Homework this week we would like you to complete a small presentation to present to the rest of year 5 on Monday 21st April.
The title for your presentation is ‘Famous Victorians’, and each person will be given 5 minutes to present.
This is supposed to be a small piece of fact-finding homework to replace this week’s Literacy Homework. Research skills will be needed, so Literacy knowledge is very important.
You need to choose a person who contributed to Victorian society, and who we would now class as ‘Famous’. Examples of people are….
Queen Victoria
Florence Nightingale
Lewis Carroll (of particular interest to Warrington/Daresbury)
Charles Darwin
Joseph Lister
Robert Louis Stevenson
Alexander Graham Bell
Sir Robert Peel
Charles Dickens.
This is a very small list and we are sure that when you start to research you will find lots of other people.
We want you to choose one person (you can choose more, but remember you only have 5 minutes) and prepare information about their life to share with the rest of year 5. You can be as imaginative as you like with how you present the information. Possible ideas are…
A mind map of facts.
Drawing of the person with key facts.
Information poster.
Simple speech.
Power point presentation
Wordsearch/quiz
Construct simple artifacts that represent the person.
We are sure you can come up with even more ideas of your own!
You will have slightly longer to complete this homework, as it does not have to be in school until the Monday of the presentation. This gives you an extra weekend to work on material.
Please remember that this is only a small presentation and that we do not want you to make lots of resources, and spend lots of time on it. In fact, you should only spend a little longer than you would do normally.

Here are some websites to get you started with your research:-
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians/famous.htm information on famous Victorians from another junior school.
http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/vpeople.html ideas for famous Victorians you could research.
http://www.st-nicholasvc.wilts.sch.uk/Learning/Victorians/FamousVictorians.htm links to websites on famous Victorians.
http://www.st-nicholasvc.wilts.sch.uk/Learning/Victorians/FamousVictorians.htm photo graphs and ideas to use in your presentation.

Literacy

Last week we asked the children to spend 15 minutes per night reading their reading book. This is to speed up their reading. They could have a little competition and try and beat the number of pages they read the night before. It is an important to skill to be able to read and understand and this will help them with every subject in the curriculum. Please encourage your child to do this. We know how busy modern life is but maybe you could make it a family activity where everyone in the house reads for 15 minutes at the same time each night.

Year 5's this week will be designing an advert to promote a new soft drink. Look out for soft drink adverts on t.v and on the radio.
They will use all the skills they have learned in previous weeks to persuade people to purchase their product.

Numeracy

This week Miss Wright's and Mrs Morgan's group will be learning to add two integers less than 10000 using written methods and add two place decimals using written methods.
The children will learn many different methods to do this, this is because some people find different ways easier, so we teach all the methods and then the children can choose the method they find easiest. If you want help your child at home you can show them the method you use but explain to them that there are different ways of doing things. If you want to help them to add numbers with two decimal places then the best way to do this is to use money. Why not try giving them some problems to work out. e.g. Matthew went to the shop and bought a coat for £35.99 and a pair of trousers for £24.49, how much did he spend altogether?

Mr Barker and Mrs Millington's group will be continuing with their revision.

Science

The children will go back to their topic of gases around us. They will learn that gases are different from solids and liquids in terms of how they do not maintain their shape and volume
that gases flow more easily than liquids and in all directions.
The children made volcanoes in a previous lesson and they are now going to take them on the playground and make them erupt, weather permitting!
This will help them see the differences between the states and the fact they you can have gases and liquids together at the same time.

Year 6 could try to answer some of these questions for revision. In this week's revision sessions they will be looking at the parts of a flower.

5a Keeping Healthy
Which exercise affects pulse rates the most?
Which becomes fatigued faster - dominant or non-dominant arm/leg?
What forms of relaxation can slow down our resting heart rate?
How should we store and prepare our rice crispies to get the best ‘snap, crackle and
pop?
Which type of biscuit is the best for dunking into a hot drink?
Are some makes of waterproof plaster more effective than others?
Are different makes of pan scourer equally effective?
Are some washing up liquids better at removing grease than others?
Are some makes of soap more effective at cleansing than others?
5b Life Cycles
What do seeds require in order to germinate?
How is seed germination affected by size/ soaking/ light/ temperature/ motion
/fertiliser/pollutants?
What is the best seed design for effective wind dispersal?
What are the possible factors which affect the rate at which frogspawn develops in
the classroom compared to the pond?
What are the possible factors which affect the rate at which maggots change into
pupae?
5c Gases Around Us
How do sugar/ yeast/ temperature affect fermentation rate of juice?
How does the brand of washing up liquid affect the size of bubbles?
Do different soils have different amounts of air in them?
Which brand of antacids/effervescent tablets produces bubbles for the longest?
Do all brands of sparkling water have the same amount of fizz?
What factors affect the time a candle burns for when placed under a glass jar?
What factors affect the rising time of yeast dough?
What factors affect the amount of gas produced when vinegar is added to baking
powder?
Does the colour of a balloon make a difference to how the air trapped inside is
affected by temperature?
How does the type of balloon which is used affect the performance of a jet propelled
straw – balloon rocket along a string course?
How does the type of lid used affect the performance of a balloon hovercraft?
How does the length of tubing between two syringes affect performance as a
pneumatic linkage?
5d Changing State
How is evaporation of a liquid affected by size of container/ viscosity/ moving air/
additives/ temperature?
What makes a good day for drying clothes?
What factors affect the process of evaporation?
Do all liquids evaporate completely?
How is boiling time of water affected by adding salt?
How is the freezing point of water affected by adding salt?
5e Earth, Sun and Moon
How is the size of shadow affected by the size of object/relative distances between
light source, object and shadow /brightness of light source?
How does the length of string alter the number of orbits the ball on the end makes?
How does the angle that light from the Sun (angle poise lamp) falls on the Earth
affect the temperature at the surface (sand tray)?
How does the size and mass of meteorites (balls) affect the size of the crater they
make on the planet surface (sand tray)?
If the Earth (globe) was further away from the Sun (lamp) would it make a difference
to the temperature on the Earth?
5f Changing Sounds
How is the volume of a bell affected by the surface it is on?
What material conducts sound the best?
What material is the most effective sound insulator?
How does pitch affect the volume/distance a sound can be heard from?
How does type of string on home made guitar affect pitch/volume?
How does the height a marble is dropped from affect the volume of sound it makes?
How does the size of a block of wood/amount of water in a bottle affect the volume of
sound produced when struck?
Which material is best for soundproofing?
What affects the note of a string or wind instrument?
What affects the loudness of the sound from a stringed or wind instrument?
6a Interdependence and Adaptation
What is the best seed shape for water or wind dispersal?
How does soil type effect root shape?
How does a lack of light affect plant growth?
How much fertilizer does a plant require for maximum growth?
What habitat conditions do woodlice prefer?
6b Micro-organisms
How does temperature affect rising time of dough/fermentation time of juice?
How does amount of yeast affect the rising time of dough?
How does the amount of sugar affect the fermentation time of juice?
What factors affect the speed or type of decay of food?
What factors affect the temperature inside a compost heap?
6c More about Dissolving
What makes a powder dissolve quickly?
What factors affect how much or how quickly sugar dissolves in water?
How does temperature affect dissolving time of salt/sugar in water/vinegar?
How does temperature affect the amount of salt that will dissolve in a liquid?
Which liquid dissolves antacid tablets quickest?
How does size of antacid tablet affect dissolving time?
6d Reversible and irreversible changes
What factors affect the time a candle burns for?
What factors cause iron to rust?
What effect will lubrication have on rust prevention?
How is size of baked biscuits affected by substituting butter for shortening?
How is crystal growth affected by light/ temperature/ acidity?
6e Forces in Action
How does type of material/weight added/shape/ making holes affect the falling time
of a parachute?
How does moving the fulcrum on a lever affect the force needed to move an object?
What factors affect the sag of a simple beam bridge?
What affects the time of the swing of a pendulum?
What affects the height bounced by a ball?
What features of a parachute affect the time it falls for?
How does the shape of a boat affect its speed through water?
What factors affect the time for a helicopter 'spinner' to fall?
What affects the time for different Plasticine shapes to sink in water?
What type of surface has more friction?
What makes objects move at different speeds?
How high does a tennis ball bounce on different surfaces?
How does the height of the drop affect the height of the bounce?
6f How we see things
Does the colour of writing affect how far away it can be seen?
What colour of writing can be seen best in the dark?
Does music affect how well we see?
How much more can a person see (peripheral vision) with two eyes than with one?
What effect does light have on us seeing objects and colour?
6g Changing Circuits
How does a knot in a wire affect amps/brightness?
How does the number of wires affect brightness?
How does thickness of wire affect brightness?
How does length of wire affect brightness?
What factors affect the strength of an electromagnet?
How does the number of batteries/bulbs affect bulb brightness?
What types or length of wire gives the best speed control for an electric motor?

These could form some mini investigations you could do at home, Year 5's you could also try some of these.

Have fun.

Year 5/6 Team.