Magnificent Maths
There was a buzz about the Y6 classroom today where children were practising multiplication.
I was so impressed with their resilience, especially when I set them this tricky challenge:
Find a four digit x two digit calculation that gets an answer of 394,800.
Check out these brilliant – and totally different – approaches to finding the closest answer.
I also liked Sam’s answer to the true or false question before. He knew he didn’t need to work out each answer because he recognised that both numbers on the right hand side were greater than the left.
Times Tables Rock Stars!
Hello to all of you times tables rock stars out there!
Starting soon, we will be hosting our weekly TTRS competitions across all four classes in KS2.
The winning class each week will receive the coveted guitar and the three players with the top average score in each competition will get a certificate in assembly to celebrate their achievements and effort!
What you need to do:
Make sure your child has plenty of opportunities to practise their times tables at home. A rapid recall of times tables supports children understanding other mathematical concepts and can also help their understanding of new learning, too!
Practising regularly in short, sharp bursts is most effective!
Good luck!
Bike to School week and Let’s ride
Biking and scooting are one of the ways we encourage children to actively travel to and from school and next week we’ll be taking part in Bike to School Week (with Sustrans and the Bikeability Trust). We are pleased to be part of this UK-wide event, encouraging families to cycle, or scoot, to school. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate active school journeys and the positive impact it has on children’s health and wellbeing – as well as the environment.
Bike and scooter storage facilities are available by the side of the Year 4 classroom.
Also, taking place this weekend is the free Let’s Ride session held locally at the Brownlee Centre.
This free family community event is ideal for the whole family to enjoy cycling in a safe and friendly space. At the Leeds Brownlee Centre, Bodington Playing Fields, you can ride at your own pace as many times as you like with volunteers on hand to chat all things cycling.
Sign up for the event here.
Reading Records
Hi everyone!
Today, Friday 17th September, your child was sent home with a brand new reading record. Now you might be thinking, ‘Hang on! My child hasn’t used one since Y3!’. Although this might be the case, we’re excited for all the ways your child can engage with reading at home in these new Reading Records.
The new Reading Records offer the following benefits:
- it is a place for children to record the books/texts they’ve read and rate them out of five stars
- there are a range of activities your child will accomplish throughout the year based on what they’ve read (each week, details of this task will be on your homework letters)
- it gives children a chance to enhance their love of reading during our weekly Book Club sessions in school
- it gives children ownership and responsibility of their reading
- there are loads of exciting challenges to complete to become a Reading Challenge Champion
- it can be a place for parents to share with teachers the wonderful reading their child has been doing at home.
This week, the activity your child should complete based on their reading is…
Draw It
You can find more details about this in the activities section of the reading record.
Any questions, please ask!
Happy reading!
Where in the world am I?
Challenge your child with some quick-fire questions that we’ve been learning about at school:
- What’s the capital of England?
- What’s the capital of Scotland?
- Name the four countries of the UK.
- What’s the capital of Northern Ireland?
- What’s the capital of Wales?
- What’s the name of our county?
- What’s the name of our continent?
Notice the use of my capital letters – why are they used here?
Our Science and Geography vocabulary
This half term, our Science focus is States of Matter and we are chemists!
Take a look at our list of vocabulary that we’ve been learning about in class. How well would you say you know their definitions?
Some of them are quite tricky. Can you remember the actions we’ve done in class?
| dissolve | when a solid mixes with liquid to make a solution | |
| mixture | two or more substances that can be separated | |
| chemical reaction | a process in which one or more substances are converted to one or more different substances
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| soluble | when something can dissolve | |
| solvent | usually (liquid) that does the dissolving | |
| reversible | a change that can be undone or reversed
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| insoluble | when something can’t dissolve | |
| solution | mixture of solid and liquid (you might not be able to see the solid)
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| irreversible | a change that can’t be undone or reversed
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We’re also Geographers this half term and we’re learning about urban green spaces and city expansion.
What small activities could you do at home to help you remember this list of vocabulary?
| national park | an area set aside by the government for the preservation of the natural environment | |
| six figure grid reference | contains six numbers which give a precise location on a map | |
| city expansion | also called urban sprawl, this is the increase in a built-up area | |
| urban green space
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any vegetated land or water within an urban area | |
| carbon stores
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places where carbon is stored in the environment | |
| quantitative data
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data which can be written in numbers | |
| qualitative data
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data that can be written in words, not numbers | |
| soundscape | a qualitative record of the sounds in any environment | |
| sampling | a way of collecting fieldwork data without measuring everything |
I know the 8Rs!
This week in Y6, we’ve been focusing our attention on the 8Rs.
Challenge your child to name them as quick as they can!
Not only have we made some bright and colourful posters to remind ourselves of these important learning behaviours…
…but we’ve also been threading them through our classroom atmosphere all week. Here’s what Y6 think.
“They’re sort of like school rules but fun extras. They’re easy to remember because of all the Rs and they help your learning all round,” said Leah.
Billy continued: “They’re important because you’d struggle if you didn’t use them. If you’re not resilient, you’d always give up and never be able to do anything!”
“They help people’s memories and they’re great rules to live by. They encourage you to take safe risks and become more confident,” explained Edris.
“They always help. For example you need to be ready so that you’re concentrating and you always have what you need,” stated Ashton.
Netball coaching and half term camps
We are looking forward to having some coaching in school from Elite Netball Academy in the next few weeks.
Elite Netball Academy run weekly netball classes on a Saturday morning at Gateways school and they have an early bird offer for their October half term camps held locally at The Grammar School at Leeds- £25 per day if booked by 17th September.
Welcome back!
Welcome to year six – your last ever year of primary school!
Today has been a lovely day. It’s been great to get stuck in, especially with a more “normal” break and lunch time.
In the half term ahead, we’ve got lots of exciting things to look forward to…
In maths, we’ll be focusing on place value and some basic number facts eg adding and subtracting two and one digit numbers. Help at home by practising calculations such as 23 – 7 or 16 + 8. Remember… no counting on fingers allowed!
In reading, we’ll be recapping our basic skills of retrieval, interpret and choice. Very excitingly, this half term’s class novel is Survivors – one of my all time favourite books. Ask your child about the girl who fell from the sky…
In writing, we’ll be looking at must dos which are really basic writing skills that are absolutely vital to get right. This includes avoiding squashed sentences and making sure we have capital letters and full stops.
This half term is all about geography. It’s an interesting one where we will take a look at the benefit of green urban spaces and how cities have changed over time. Check out this tool on Google Maps to see how school has changed over time. You could see how your own front garden has changed, too!
Some useful reminders:
- PE is on a Monday and Wednesday.
- No earrings are allowed in PE and hair should be tied back.
- Our library slot is on a Thursday.
- Reading Records need to be completed weekly (more info to follow).
- Every child needs a water bottle in school every day.
- There is a gate now available from Moortown Park.
- The school uniform policy is on our website. Please check if you are unsure about any items of clothing or footwear.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at any time if you need any help.
Miss Wilson
Tennis opportunities
If your child enjoys tennis or wants to try it out, tennis camps are taking place locally at these clubs over the summer holidays.
