Year 6 Residential – Day 1
Year 6 have a had a fantastic first day at Robinwood! After a delicious lunch, the activities were under way – starting in the Dungeon…
The children had to work together to solve problems and escape the room.
Then, it was over to archery. The children really impressed me with their progress!
The giant swing had some of us facing our fears. A few children showed some real courage and felt proud of their achievement.
After our evening meal, we enjoyed the crate challenge.
WOW and NOW
In Year 5 and 6, we often pause our learning for moments of reflection. We often get spiritual, recognising a sense of connection or a sense of awe and wonder – these moments have happened throughout the year and your child will be able to talk to you about some of these moments.
Often, though, some moments are unplanned and we refer to these moments as WOW, OW and NOW moments. Simply put:
Yesterday, we had an unexpected visitor to our classroom when a beautiful chiffchaff flew in. We saw this as both a WOW and a NOW moment. The children we very calm to ensure the bird did not become too frightened. We eventually set the bird free with the help of Freddie’s hoodie.
Help at home – are there moments where you think WOW? Share WOW, OW and NOW moments together. Talk about how these moments make you feel. Share them back at school.
Spooky Settings!
In writing, Year 3 are tasked with a spooky setting description. The purpose of this is to use skills, such as expanded noun phrases and rich vocabulary, for descriptive purposes. So far this week, we (the reader) have put ourselves in the shoes of an illustrator. To begin, our canvas is blank. When reading a good example of a setting description, our canvas begins to fill with everything the writer wants us to see, hear, feel, touch, smell and so on. By the end of the paragraph, we have a full idea of what the setting would be like.
Next, we had a go at writing a short class setting based on the picture below. Here’s the fantastic piece the children came up with!
In the middle of nowhere, an eerie, abandoned house stood silently like a solitary statue. The grass seemed to have a blanket of ash resting on top. Cautiously stepping closer, I heard creaky floorboards. An army of goosebumps invaded my arms.
Help at home:
Explore your child’s current reading book with them and pick out some rich vocabulary that may suit a spooky setting description! We will share these ideas in our lessons and add them to our word wall.
Class novel – Rosie Revere, Engineer
The children have had a great week so far and have enjoyed reading our new class novel Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.) It’s all about a young girl who dreams of becoming an engineer and learns that failure is just part of the journey to success.
It ties in perfectly with our Design and Technology topic for this half term, where we’ll be encouraging the children to be creative, try out ideas and not give up when things don’t go to plan.
We’ve also talked about how the book links to our Christian value of courage – believing in yourself, having a go and chasing your dreams, just like Rosie does.
Home Learning – Be an Inventor!
Design and build your own invention using recycling materials—like boxes, tubes or bottle tops. It could be a flying machine, a robot or something to help people!
Bring in a photo or drawing to share. Remember, just like Rosie, it’s all about being creative and having the courage to try!
Summer 2
Our final theme for this year is Seaside and Cities, our first focus book this week is The Night Pirates.
This week we will be Geographers and will be looking at where we all live in England, we will also identify where we would find seaside towns on a map of the UK. Our word of the week is Country we live in the country England.
Help at home: talk to your child about where they live can they say their full address?
Weekly Rhymes
Each week, the children learn a different nursery rhyme. We sing this rhyme every day and love seeing how confident they become with it by the end of the week.
Here is a clip of one of our favourites from the half term!
Help at home: Ask your child if they can remember the rhyme of the week.
Minibeasts
Caterpillars
We have had some little visitors in Nursery and have watched them grow and form chrysalis. After the holidays, we’ll watch them emerge as butterflies and set them free to start the cycle again.
“They are having a big sleep in their cocoon!”
“It is changing into a butterfly.”
Minibeast Models
We’ve been working hard in our creative area, choosing our favourite minibeasts and using the junk modelling resources to make them!
Number
We’ve been looking at the number 5. The children can find lots of different ways to represent 5.
We can also talk about the ways to make the number 5.
“A part of me is 1, a part of me is 4 and the whole of me is 5!”
“A part of me is 2, a part of me is 3 and the whole of me is 5!”
We’ve also enjoyed challenging ourselves to count super high numbers!
Help at Home: We’ve been finding out lots about minibeasts this half term. See if your child can share some of the facts we have explored.
Happy half-term break
It’s been another great half-term in Year 4!
Reflecting on our experiences this half-term, the children say that they’ve particularly enjoyed:
- the triathlon
- stealing the chocolate cake from the staff room
- using the cubes for improper fractions
- playing netball
- winning the TTRS trophy
- being faster at TTRS than Mr Nash
- learning about Arthur France
Although we are all ready for a rest, we cannot wait for all the fun we have lined up for the Summer Term!
We have reminded the children that they can use their Living and Learning knowledge to help them stay safe this half-term holiday. They know they need to:
- stay hydrated if they are particularly active or the weather is warm.
- use sun cream and wear a hat if the weather is sunny.
- stay active to keep them physically and mentally healthy.
- eat ‘5 a day’.
We’ll be doing our times tables check when we return to school in June so please do keep those multiplication skills ‘topped up’ by playing TTRS for short bursts regularly during the holidays. We ask for 15 minutes per week.
I look forward to seeing everyone happy and healthy back at school on Monday 2nd June!
Mrs Poole
Living and Learning – 60 Active Minutes
In Living and Learning, we’ve learnt about the importance of physical activity in being mentally and physically healthy.
Children should be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day.
Physical activity benefits our bodies and minds in lots of ways:
- muscle and bone strength
- fitness and heart health
- mental health
- improved concentration
- better sleep
We considered how we could add moments of physical activity in the day, both at school and at home.
- walking to school
- football
- skipping
- gymnastics
- cycling
- dancing
To summarise our learning, we completed a physical activity diary.
Help at home by asking your child about the importance of physical activity. How can they add more physical activity into their day?
Reading
This week, we have been focusing on poetry during our reading sessions. We have been using the poem ‘Refugee‘ by Brian Bilston as our stimulus.
Refugees
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)
The poem is super interesting as you can read it forwards and backwards – this is called a palindrome poem.
First, we read it forwards and recorded our feelings. We were outraged by what we had read:
I dislike this poem because it discriminates against refugees. I felt shocked that people don’t treat refugees fairly. Kamile.
I don’t like it because it’s offensive! Tommy.
They don’t deserve to be treated unfairly as they have just arrived from a long, dangerous journey. Valerie.
I found that I was angry as I think it is a bit racist. Leo M.
The poet made me sad because he was discriminating against refugees. Ralph.
Then, we read it backwards and noticed that our views on the poem had completely changed.
Help at home – Read the poem with your child. Discuss your viewpoints. Can your child relate the poem to our Christian values of Peace, Compassion, Forgiveness, Honesty, Courage and Perseverance?