Make-a-wish
This year, we’re supporting Make-a-wish as our school charity, chosen by the School Council.
Today, we welcomed John Russo, a volunteer from Make-a-wish, who told us about the charity, the kind of wishes they make happen and how the money we raise might be spent.
Children were asked to consider how we can support the charity over this year. They could either write a suggestion for their ‘I want to say’ box or pass on their ideas to their class school councillors.
Chick Cam 3!
We’ve now got seven chicks! We’ll start moving them to the breeder box today.
Polar Explorer Day in Y6
The whole school took on the role of polar explorers today to kick off our new eight-week Big Topic: Life Forces. We began the day with Terry Kirk, our school’s polar ambassador, learning all about the RHS Sir David Attenborough (a new research vessel for the British Antarctic Survey).
Year 6 then discussed how animals are adapted to survive in the cold conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic. Most of us already knew about blubber – a thick layer of fat underneath the skin – but we got to feel just how effective it can be by creating our very own blubber gloves.
We then imagined that we were explorers of the Arctic and wrote a diary entry of our adventures – there were some really great pieces of writing in the room.
In the afternoon, we learnt all about how animals are adapted to survive in winter and summer and across different habitats. We took notes of what we were learning all over the tables.
Then, we used all of the knowledge we gained throughout the afternoon to create our own creature. We were told whether they were a predator or prey and where they lived. It was important to consider this when thinking about how our animal would be adapted.
A great day was had by all – especially me!
Chick Cam 2!
The streams on YouTube only last for 8 hours, so here’s the next one!
It’s 17:10 and we now have three chicks with one more arriving very soon! Once hatched, the chicks need to stay in the incubator for about 24 hours to ‘fluff up’ before they are moved to the breeder box.
Chick Cam!
Good morning. Click on the following link to watch the chicks in our incubator. Two chicks have hatched already and there should be more hatching today and tomorrow! Stay tuned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSUKPotLzS4&feature=youtu.be
Examples of good spelling practice
There were lots of great examples of spellings practice from Year 6 this week. Most children had made sure they’d practised across at least three days (just for 5-10 minutes each time) and they’d got a parent to sign that they’d done this.
Will it sink or will it float?
As part of learning about solutions during our ‘What’s the Matter?’ topic, we explored floating and sinking.
In fresh water, a fresh egg will sink.
However, if you add salt to create a salt solution…
…the egg will float.
At home, see whether your child can explain why this is. They should use our key word: dense.
We then predicted that the same would happen if we used sugar to create the solution.
The fresh egg sunk, like before.
We stirred in the sugar to make sure it created a solution…
…and eventually the egg floated.
We needed to add more sugar to make it float than we did for the salt. See whether your child can say why we thought we needed to use more sugar. They’ll need to use the key word: particles.
Court in Session
Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed their English lesson today as they entered, not their classroom, but a fully fledged courtroom.
We had a judge, a jury, the media, defence and prosecution lawyers, witness and family members of the unfortunate victim and, of course, the accused. The Three Little Pigs were on trial for murder and we were determined to find out exactly what happened.
There were some fantastic characters in the room and, at times, it all got very tense! After a long deliberation, the jury decided that all three of the little pigs were guilty of murder, using the wolf to try and commit insurance fraud and then murdering him so that he couldn’t give the game away.
Welcome Back
I hope you’ve all had a lovely break over Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody.
Year 6 had a lovely start to the new year yesterday, adapting straight back into school life with focus and a positive attitude. We started an investigation into the Three Little Pigs who have been arrested on suspicion of boiling the wolf alive!
After gathering all of the evidence, we created a crime investigation board, locating connections between the different clues and, therefore, piecing the story together.
Take a look at the news reports at home here.
We’ve also started a science investigation into solutions and how to separate them and have started to look at working with decimals in Maths.
To continue helping at home, help us to practise our times tables three times a week and quiz us on our spellings in the car, on a walk or while eating breakfast. It would also help if you asked us about our reading every now and again too.
Living and Learning
- Drug, alcohol and tobacco education (DATE)
- Keeping safe and managing risk
Here are the weekly Living and Learning statements, for this half term, to support this learning.
- I don’t interrupt (with my mouth or my hand).
- I can make things better.
- I know what a drug is.
- I am aware of risks.
- I make safe choices.
- I stay safe online.