Update
What a busy week we have had in Year 6. The children have completed their first assessments in Year 6. They have done well and have shown excellent perseverance throughout. I am really pleased with where the children are, and we still have lots of amazing things to learn.
On Tuesday, we welcomed parents into our classroom. We spoke about the importance of retrieval and inference skills and looked at some RIC examples using pictures. For example:
We finished our busy week with some quality time with our Reception Buddies. We were invited down for some hot chocolate and playtime. Our Year 6 children ave been wonderful in helping the new children settle into St James’ – we are all so proud of how kind, caring and compassionate they have been.
Help at home – please ensure you are reading with your child at home on a weekly basis. Little and often really does help. They should be completing activities in their reading record books and bringing them in every Friday.
Please also allow your child time to visit Square Club Maths (QR code below). The child will really benefit for this and have shown that they really enjoy it.
Can you and your child write a retrieval, inference and choice question based on this picture:
Ancient Egypt
Building on with our topic, Ancient Egypt, Year 6 have been preparing to write a report based on this fascinating time in history. We have been learning how to take jottings and notes when researching and ensuring our notes are concise, quick and personal to us.
The children have done really well with this task although it can sometimes be tempting to just copy down what we read. This is a life skill which many of us use later on in life.
Children will be beginning their non-chronological reports next week.
In addition, one of our pupils has been away and produced some lovely work based on our Egyptian topic. Kiara has written a lovely prayer in hieroglyphics on her very own ancient scroll. Such a fantastic piece of work and displaying her enjoyment of the subject.
Help at home – If your child feels like they would like to share some learning or work they have done at home, please encourage them to bring it in and share.
RE – Creation or Science: conflicting or complementary?
To support our learning and understanding of our RE topic: Creation or Science, we have been learning about different peoples’ views. Many of these people are scientists who believe strongly in God.
To connect further with other beliefs, we invited Reverend Peat into school to answer some questions we had. We had such an informative chat and we were able to take time to reflect on our own understanding whilst connecting with Reverend Peat’s beliefs.
It was a very enlightening morning and one where we were all able to contribute. One thing that became clear is that we can’t possibly always know the answers, in this case the answer to who created the earth? By answering questions, we found that this led to further questions. This curiosity is so important in all of our learning. It was lovely to see the children engage in the discussion and be curious about our topic.
As part of our RE learning, we have an RE ‘big book’. Here are some pictures reflecting today’s learning:
Living and Learning
I respect others
This week, we’ve learnt about discrimination and our protected characteristics.
Discrimination is defined as ‘the unfair treatment of people because of who they are or because they have a certain characteristic(s)’.
We discussed examples and the impact of discrimination. During our circle time, we also discussed how this could/has impacted on our lives.
We took time to look at The Equality Act 2010. This is a set of rules that protects people from discrimination based on protected characteristics. Year 6 are very good at remembering our protected characteristics and can say why each is important. We know that these characteristics are protected by law.
Help at home – Does your child remember the protected characteristics? Why are they important?
Topic
Ancient Egypt – hieroglyphs
The children have really enjoyed learning about hieroglyphs this afternoon- learning what various symbols meant and decoding words. We even had a go a writing our own names using hieroglyphs.
I found it quite difficult because reading hieroglyphs is like learning another language. Ethan
I enjoyed it; I enjoyed writing my name. Emily M
I found it interesting how scientists worked out what each symbol meant. Isla
It was fun as it was like a hard puzzle to solve. Connor
It was interesting how each symbol can spell out words. Beau
Help at home – can you use hieroglyphs at home to write down secret words to each other? Can your child remember how to write their own name?
The Grammar Games
In Year 6 this week, our children took part in the inaugural ‘Grammar Games’. Each day, teams of children played head to head against other members of the class. We recapped our previous learning about adjectives, verbs, modal verbs and tenses.
A verb is a doing or being word. A verb tells you what is happening in a sentence.
The verb (or verb chain) is at the heart of a clause.
Without a verb, we don’t have a clause or sentence.
Sometimes we need two or more words to express the full force of the verb. This is known as a verb chain (or ‘verb phrase’).
eg We will eat.
In this sentence, ‘will’ is an auxiliary (often referred to as a helping) verb.
Verbs have tense: past, present, future
There are regular and irregular verbs.
If a verb is regular, its past tense usually ends in –ed: barked, wanted, played, answered
Verbs that don’t follow that pattern are irregular: make – made; catch – caught
Adjectives add information about the noun. Where more than one adjective is used, as part of an expanded noun phrase, they should be separated with a comma. eg the large, blue chair
A modal verb changes the possibility of another verb happening. Used to change the meaning of other verbs.
Can express meanings such as certainty, ability, or obligation.
The main modal verbs are ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘shall’, ‘should’, ‘must’ and ‘ought’.
Help at home: Discuss with your child what the difference is between a verb and a modal verb? Can they give an example of each? Can they tell you what an adjective is and provide examples?
PE
Outdoor and adventurous activities (OAA)
We have had a fantastic afternoon today, taking part in some orienteering as part of our OAA topic.
In groups, children were handed an ariel view of our school with points marked out for them to find. Children then used their map to find the orienteering points. Each point had a letter.
Once children had collected all the letters, they had to work out the missing sentence. After some excellent teamwork and a few clues, they solved the puzzle and discovered the hidden sentence.
OAA is an excellent topic that allows children to be outside whilst solving problems and working together as a team. Communication, listening and perseverance are all skills required to succeed here.
Book Club
The children have enjoyed their first Book Club of the year. This is an opportunity for the children to read together with friends or read alone. It is a safe space where children can try out new genres, authors or stick to what they enjoy.
Children have the option to bring these books home to read. Please endeavour to hear your child read during the week and encourage them to complete an activity from their reading record book. I will collect reading records in every Friday.
Living and learning
At Sphere Federation, we use 8 R’s to promote good learning behaviour and social and character development.
- Remembering
- Being resilient
- Being responsible
- Risk-taking
- Reflecting
- Being resourceful
- Being ready
- Being responsive
This week, we have revisited these characteristics and reflected on how we implement these at school, at home and in the wider community. This is what the children had to share:
I can show I am ready with positive body language – Kiara
I remember when I use prior learning to help me – Elara
I am resilient when I try again, even when things get difficult – Logan
If you are in a lesson and you do a challenge, you are taking a risk – Emily M
When you go into collective worship, you reflect – Emily G
I am resourceful when I ask others for help – Connor
When I respond to questions, I am being responsive – Gabriel
I am responsible when I take care of my stationary – Oliver
Help at home – talk about the 8 R’s at home. How can your child use them at home? Encourage your child to share with others how they have used the 8R’s.
Living and Learning
In Living and Learning this week, we looked at the school rules and why they are important here at St James’. We talked about why each rule is important and children were able to give examples of when they may be used. For example, holding the door for someone, following instructions, using our manners.
There is also a subtle change with our ‘3,2,1…Stop’ actions. The children should now show they are ready by (1) having silent voices, (2) positive body language and (3) focussing on the speaker.
Help at home: What does each action in our ‘3,2,1…Stop’ look and sound like?