Week beginning 30th March 2009

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blogspot,

We only have a couple of weeks left but there is still so much to do!

Well done to all of the children who took part in the Cross Country Tournament last Thursday at Cinammon Brow Primary School, the children tried very hard especially keeping going through the wind and rain- A Big Well Done.

Just a reminder that on the Wednesday of next week we will be judging our Easter Gardens competition and we are very much looking forward to seeing the finished pieces of work as they are always fantastic.

Homework- Year 6: As from next week as we only have a few weeks left we have decided to change the format of the homework. Children will be sent home individual homework for Literacy, Maths and Science as we are aware that most children have now come to the end of working through their CGP revision books.

Curriculum:

Literacy:

Mrs Morgan's and Miss Wright's groups will be looking at Persuasive Writing this week in revision sessions. We will be studying the features of persuasive texts and planning and writing our own. here are some websites to have a look at:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/index.asp?topic=Persuasive
http://www.kidsonthenet.org.uk/dragonsville/poster.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/revision_bites/argument1.shtml

Mr Slavin's class will also be looking at persuasive writing, looking at different advertisements in the media, finally leading upto creating a new V.I.P product which the children will have to advertise and persuade people to buy.

Numeracy:


Year 6
Mrs Morgan's and Mr Barker's groups will be carrying on with their revision timetable. See previous blogs for websites.


Year 5
Miss Wright's and Mr Slavin's groups will be looking at Co-Ordinates most of the week. Learning how to read and plot co0ordinates in the first quadrant. We will also be looking to rehearse names and properties of common 2 d shapes. here are some websites to try:
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/maths/coord_shapes/index.htm

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

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/maths/coordinate_game/index.htm

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primaryframeworks/downloads/SWF/coordinates.swf



Science:



Year 5

Mr Slavin's group will be starting the new topic of ' Forces in Motion' in which children will be understanding why objects float and sink and how the force of gravity keeps us on the ground.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/forces_action.shtml

http://wwwg.eng.cam.ac.uk/mmg/teaching/peterstidwill/interact/resources/parkworldplot/parkworldplotlink.htm

http://www.mystery-productions.info/hyper/Hypermedia_2001/lall/index.htm

http://www.mystery-productions.info/hyper/Hypermedia_2003/Johns/index.htm



Year 6

Mrs Morgan's and Miss Wright's groups will be reviewing work done on forces and moving onto how forces can be measured. We are also having our weekly Science quiz on Monday afternoon in which we are focusing on Plants.



Just a note to say how well the Year 6s are doing within their Booster sessions they are really working hard- Keep up the good work everyone!!

You may have got a letter this week informing you that your child has been selected for one-to-one tuition sessions. The sessions are aimed at children that we feel with this extra last minute boost they could make it into the next level. We really appreciate the fact that lots of the staff in school have given up their time and agreed to run these sessions. Staff are very busy after the school day keeping up with the paper work for their own classes and the fact that they have agreed to give up 2 of those busy nights to help our Year 6 children is fantastic of them. Thank you very much.

The children are planning a fundraising afternoon for next Tuesday. They may have come home and told you about the ideas their group have. We hold this event annually at this time of year and the children do raise a lot of money for CAFOD. We are always really impressed with their efforts and maturity when it comes to this event and we are sure this year will be no different.

That's all for this week.

Year 5/6 Team

Week Beginning 23rd March 2009

Hello and welcome to this week's blogspot.

Wow, what a busy week last week was. The children did us proud on their first and second reconciliations and they are getting better at handing in their reply slips which saves a lot of hastle when we are taking them out of school, thank you very much for this.

We would like to express our sympathy to Mrs Cain and her family on the sad loss of her husband John. We hope that you will keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.
We also ask that under the circumstances you only contact the office if it is something of extreme importance, thank you.

Thank you to parents and children who have been involved in before and after school booster sessions. We have never run the booster session before school and were not sure if they would work but we felt that it was unfair that the children should be asked to stop going their clubs after school to attend booster sessions while they have the opportunity of so many sports clubs. (Thank you Mr Slavin!) These sessions have worked really well and we thank you for getting up that extra bit early so that the children can attend.
The booster sessions will run right up until the week before SATs, they will also take place on the week before and the week after the Easter holidays.

On Thursday this week their is a cross country race at Cinnamon Brow Primary School. We were allowed to enter a team of 4 boys and 4 girls. If your child has been chosen to represent the school then you will have received a letter asking for permission. We would really appreciated help in transporting the children to the event, thank you.

This week's curriculum..........

Literacy
This week the Year 6 children will be working on improving their vocabulary, they will do this through description. They will be describing settings and characters using wow language.

The Year 5 children will be continuing their work on non-chronological reports. We were really impressed with the quality of the children's homework last week, they wrote some excellent reports using all the features that they need to include. Well done.
On the down side of this there were 13 children who did not complete the homework that was set. We would ask you to please encourage your child to complete their homework.

Numeracy

After doing a past paper last week Mrs Morgan's and Mr Barker's groups will be working through the paper and seeing how we can improve our scores.
We were really shocked to see how many of the children struggled with telling the time. This could be a focus at home for the coming week.

Science

After the fabulous science show last week we will be doing some work on materials and in particular separating materials. The children will be working on how to separate different kinds on solids and also how to separate a solid that has dissolved into a liquid.

Fundraising

The children are doing some fantastic fund raising at play times. On the last week of this term will be holding our annual fundraising afternoon. We will use some of our time this week to plan the events we will be running on that afternoon.

That's all for this short blogspot, Happy Mother's Day.

Year 5/6 Team

Week Beginning 16th March 2009

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

We have a really busy week in store so let's get started.

Thank you to all the children who dressed in RED on Friday to support comic relief, you all looked fantastic and your donations were greatly appreciated.

Many of our Year 5 and 6 children are also doing daily fundraising for our adopted charity CAFOD. They have stalls on the yard each playtime and making lots of money for the charity.
Further on in this term we will be organising a fundraising afternoon for the rest of the school were we will all run stalls and activities to raise money for CAFOD as part of our Lent preparation for Easter.

A big thank you to all the children who attended the netball and football tournament at St Gregs. Both teams did very well and their behaviour was very good indeed. Can we also say thank you to parents who gave their time to help with transport.

On Wednesday this week our Year 5 children will be making their First Reconciliation. They will spend the whole day at Church. In the morning they will do lots of different activities based on stories from the bible and in the afternoon they will make their First Reconciliation. Afterwards their will be a service in Church to celebrate. There will be a creche at school for younger children in case parents do not make it back from Church until after 3pm. We send the children our love and prayers in this important Sacrament.

On Thursday this week we will have mass in the school hall. As usual parents are welcome to join us but please be aware that space is limited.

On Friday morning we will have a science specialist in school to perform a science show. This is always a very interesting and enjoyable activity for the children and it comes at a great time as it will be revision for the up and coming SATs.

On Friday afternoon our Year 6 children will spend the afternoon in Church where they will also participate in Reconciliation with Father Richard.

We are also starting booster session this week. We have booster going on for maths, literacy and science. There are 2 boosters for each of the subjects as we have split the children into ability groups.
If your child has been selected to take part in the booster activities then you should have received a letter on Friday informing you of which booster it is and when it will take place.
Booster will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday morning and Wednesday after school. If your children is coming to the morning session they will begin at 8.15am, we will provide the children with some fruit or toast in the morning as they will have to have their breakfast a lot earlier than usual. If your child has not been selected to take part in the booster sessions and you feel that it will be of benefit for them then please see a member of the Year 5/6 Team.

Curriculum......

Literacy

Miss Wright and Mrs Morgan's group will completing a reading past sat at the beginning of the week to see if our reading has moved on.
For the rest of the week we will be focusing on non-chronological reports.
Mr Slavin's group will also be starting a new topic of non-chronological reports.

Try these websites to help....
http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/Curriculum/Literacy.htm#KS2%20On-line%20Activities%20NEW
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/englishD8.htm

Maths

Mr Barker and Mrs Morgan's group will be completing a SAT paper at the beginning of the week and then using the results to inform our planning for the rest of week.

Miss Wright's and Mr Slavin's groups will be rehearsing mental and subtraction strategies and strategies for adding strings of 1 digit numbers and multiples of 10. Have a look at the following websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/addsubtract/mental/flash7.shtml
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/additiontest.html
www.nrich.maths.org
http://www.ictgames.com/technowithflock.html
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/pyramid.html
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/subtractiontest.html
http://www.ictgames.com/countonconvict.html
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/big%20sums/big%20sums%20subtract.html

Science:

Year 5- Will be finishing off the current topic of Dissolving and aiming to plan their own investigation into the variables that affect dissolving. Children will need to consider what they will change and what they will keep the same and how to plan a fair test.
Year 6- We will be having a 10 minute quiz on Monday looking at the areas 'Forces in Motion' and 'Looking at Life' for the rest of the week we will be going over past SATs papers in order to test their current knowledge, and from this what they need to work on.

P.E Kits- There are still children who are forgetting to bring the correct kit for in school P.E. Can we urge children to remember to bring in their kits and if any items are lost in school children will spend their break looking for them. Please be aware that P.E is a compulsory part of the curriculum as well as encouraging your child to have a healthy lifestyle.

That is all for this week.
Have a good weekend
Year 5/6 team.

Week Beginning 9th March 2009

Hi everyone and welcome to Science Week. This week we will be taking part in lots of activities to celebrate Science as a subject. We will be involved in a number of competitions and activities which the children will really enjoy.

A big thank you to all the Year 6 children who showed excellent behaviour at our away day at The Foundry on Friday, the children had a great day and were a credit to the school.

Monday 9th March
We will be going to The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic to take part in the 'Going Global' concert. The children have worked very hard in the lead up to the concert learning about different musical instruments and the families that they belong to and the structure of the orchestra.
We are aiming to be back at school for approximately 3.45pm traffic depending.

Curriculum.

Numeracy.

Y6- Numeracy - Mrs Morgan and Mr Barker's classes will be continuing with their revision programme. See previous blogs for revision web sites.

Y5- Numeracy- Mr Slavin and Miss Wright's groups will be revisiting fractions and how to relate fractions to division and to use division to find fractions, including tenths, and hundredths of numbers and quantities.
Try these websites to help:
http://www.ngflcymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Numeracy/Keystage2/Number/Findafractionof/Introduction/default.htm
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/fractotron.html
http://www.sums.co.uk/playground/n6a/playground.htm
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/fractions/index.htm
http://www.arcytech.org/java/fractions/fractions.html
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/bingo/index.html

Literacy

Y6- Mrs Morgan and Miss Wright's group will be focusing on narrative writing this week. We will be looking at how we can improve our narrative skills in a number of ways such as using powerful vocabulary,similes/metaphors, complex sentences, a variety of connectives and the important use of punctuation. try some of the following websites to help with your revision this week:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/activities/planning.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/activities/beginnings_endings.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/whatisasentence/flash7.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/activities/punctuation.shtml
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/english/bgfl/dont_use_said/
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/lit_sites/speech_marks/index.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/tenses/getting_the_right_tense/
http://www.learnatglobal.com/assets/applets/grammar.swf
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/english/monmouthshire/choose_adj_monmouthshire.html

Y5- This week Mr Slavin's class will be publishing their myths using their mini laptops. These will then be printed off and displayed around the junior area. The children have worked very hard and have produced some great myths. Well done.

Science:

As it is Science Week we will be enjoying a variety of investigations and activities linking into art and literacy. To celebrate this year as the International Year of Astronomy we will be taking part in an imaginative competition in which the children will create a new planet and create new habitats in which new creatures could live in. Credit will be given to children who show a good understanding of how certain characteristics help creatures survive in particular environments and how their alien creature compares to those in similar environments on our planet.

We will also be looking at the plight of the Honey Bee in the 'Save our Bees Campaign' Across the world honey bee numbers are declining and fast. Billions of the UK’s bees are dying from unknown causes and one in three honey bee colonies in the UK were lost last winter alone!

Honey bees are very important for everyone. They pollinate more than 100 crops – including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds – and these foods then go on to feed us and many other animals, including farm animals. Everyone can get involved in the campaign please see the following website for more information:
http://www.saveourbees.org.uk/

Here are some more events that are taking off during the National Week for Science:
http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/uniqueness- For NSEW 2009, the 'Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics' at the University of Oxford is inviting you to explore just how unique you are.
http://www.astronomy2009.co.uk/

Have a great week

Year 5/6 Team