10 March 2017
This week, in preparation for an end of term spelling test next week, children have been given a copy of the Year 5/6 statutory word list (taken from the Primary National Curriculum).
Children should practise spelling these words as they are likely to be tested on similar words during the test.
Children know lots of ways to practise their spellings so they should choose a method that they think will work for them. One way to get yourself involved would be to say a sentence with the word and ask children to spell the word correctly. It is important that children know how to use the words and not just how to spell them.
10 March 2017
This week, children have two pieces of homework. Both are due on Thursday 16 March 2017.
The first is creative: I can show why teamwork is important.
Recently, we’ve been working hard to improve how well we work together as a team. I’m sure you’ll agree that the ability to work as part of a team is a crucial life skill. For this piece, children should show why they think teamwork is important. They could do this in many ways but must bear in mind that this is a creative piece of homework. It is also worth noting that ‘creative‘ does not necessarily mean ‘colourful’ or ‘eye-catching’. Similarly, it is worth remembering that we expect children to spend a minimum of 30-40 minutes on creative homework – children shouldn’t spend much longer, either.
The second piece this week is practice makes perfect: To be able to punctuate speech.
Some children have been given a worksheet to help them practise this skill further. Others have been set the following task…
I would like you to write the opening of a narrative in which speech is used to give hints about a character’s personality. Also, make sure you create a clear mood and atmosphere.
The narrative can be about anything you like but must be aimed at young adults who enjoy reading fantasy books.
You must write for no longer than 10 lines.
Impress me!
Scratch Projects
Recently, as part of our ‘Time Travel: Entertainment‘ topic we’ve been creating our own games using Scratch. Each game is loosely based on Pac-Man and we’ve spent the last few weeks planning, designing, creating and improving our projects.
The children have worked extremely independently and have taught me a lot about using the Scratch software – I still have a long way to go to catch up with them, though. I’ve been most impressed with how the children have helped each other over the course of making these games. Like most things, some of us are more confident than others and we’ve worked really well as a team to make sure that everyone is involved and learning all the time.
Similarly, I’ve been super impressed that lots of us have gone home and created our Pac-Man style games using our personal Scratch accounts. These games have been really useful as a teaching tool because we could see a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like).
Good work, Year 5!
10 March 2017
The spellings to learn this week are all homophones… words that sound the same but mean different things. As well as the spelling, children need to know the meaning of each word. When I test the children on these spellings, I’ll give them the word in a sentence. For example – There was a pretty, pink flower growing in my garden.
10 March 2017
The homework this week is creative and is due in on Thursday 16 March.
I can show what I have learnt about fractions.
In maths lessons, we’ve become familiar with unit and non-unit fractions, fractions of objects, quantities and numbers. For this homework, show off what you have learnt this week involving fractions.
It’s worth remembering that ‘creative‘ does not necessarily mean ‘colourful’ or ‘eye-catching’. Similarly, it is worth remembering that we expect children to spend a minimum of 30-40 minutes on creative homework – children shouldn’t spend much longer, either.
Houses and homes yoga
Today we had a topic yoga session incorporating lots of yoga poses while thinking of fictional homes, animal homes and homes from around the world. Our relaxation at the end of the session is always a favourite and another way to keep calm.
Keeping calm
Our SEAL statement this week is I keep calm or help others to calm down.
The children had some great ideas for how to calm down if they were cross, angry, upset, over excited or another time they might feel overwhelmed with emotions.
Ask them to explain how the following methods can help them.
- Taking deep breaths
- Fist flowers
- Doing a calming activity such as going for a walk or reading a book
We often take some time after lunch to have a lie down, listening to calming music to relax and prepare for the afternoon.
To support this at home, the children made their own mind bottles. The idea behind the bottles is to shake it up and watch how it settles… rather like our minds!
Team players
Today, as part of our learning about our current SEAL theme (Getting On), we thought about what the ‘perfect’ team player would look like. We thought about our strengths as individuals – of which we have many – and then combined them to make the ultimate team player.
Ask your child…
- What did we decide was really important?
- Is there anything you would add to the list?
- Which of these attributes is most important/least important?
- Which of these things do you consider to be a strength of yours?
- Which of these do you think you’re not so good at yet? (The ‘yet‘ bit of this question is really important because, with practice, they will become good at this.)
We think the ‘perfect’ team player would have these attributes…
A good team player would ask him/her self…
West Yorkshire cross country finalist
Congratulations to Grace who this week achieved 14th place in the Leeds Primary Schools cross country final at Middleton Park out of over 100 runners in her Year 5 girls race.
This means Grace has now qualified to represent Leeds at the West Yorkshire Cross Country Final at Temple Newsam. A fantastic achievement!
If Grace has inspired you to give running a try, why not take part in the local weekly Junior Park Run at Roundhay Park.
To be or not to be…
As part of our Time Travel – Entertainment topic, we’ve explored how people were entertained in Elizabethan times. Theatres were the main form of entertainment and this, obviously, led us directly to the great work of Shakespeare. We began the week by picking apart Shakespearean language to see whether we could understand it – which we could!
The children were really interested in what it would have been like to go to the theatre in the 1600s and had lots of questions. They then showed off some fantastic acting skills by taking on a snippet of Shakespeare in small groups – very entertaining.
