Year 6 Friday 21st January 2022

Date: 21st Jan 2022 @ 5:47pm

Year 6 have had a very exciting week. On Tuesday, we received a visit from Mr Pickles (who has trekked up to base camp of Mount Everest) and showed us many pictures and videos of the journey up there. Year 6 had a great time learning what it is really like up near the top of the world, so thank you Mr Pickles! On Thursday, our swimming team had a great time competing at Hutton Grammar against 10 other schools. The competition was very tough and we managed to come 4^th overall out of 11 schools – a super achievement! Finally on Friday, we had a super taster day at All Hallows’ high school where we enjoyed meeting the teachers, went on a scavenger hunt around the whole grounds, took part in a PE lesson and even burnt crisps in Science!

Please remember to bring your wellies, boots, or really old trainers to school on Tuesday 25^th January as our class will be planting some saplings around the school grounds.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we built on last week’s knowledge of equivalent fractions to help us add and subtract mixed numbers, improper fractions and proper fractions.
• In English, we have been introduced to new characters in our ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’ novel: Hatty, Hubert, Edgar and James. We developed our reading skills with how to give impressions and evidence them, along with how to scan the text for clues.
• In RE, we learnt about World Religion Day, which was on Sunday 16^th January and to celebrate, we split into groups to learn about four different religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism) and then presented them to the class.
• In PE, we improved our hockey skills and how to defend within different scenarios. In gymnastics, we progressed our partner sequences to include various apparatus throughout the hall whilst focusing on smoother transitions between moves.
• In Music, we have continued our learning of the djembe drums through creating rhythms in small groups and performing them for the class.
• In French, having learnt the verb ‘avoir’ = to have, we then learnt how to make it negative (e.g. You do not have any apples). We then learnt about the Francophone countries in Africa – those that have French as their official language – as The African Cup of Nations football tournament is taking place in Cameroon at the moment.
• In Science, we modelled how the circulatory system works (by carrying blue and red bands to represent oxygenated and deoxygenated blood). Then we planned and carried out a comparative test to see how different types of exercise affected our pulse rate. We realised it was important to repeat our readings in order to improve the accuracy of the results. Next week, we will be conducting a second pulse rate investigation so phones or Fitbits would be a welcome addition for Thursday 27^th January, if you have one.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Continue to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (challenge words)
  • Sumdog (fer Sp1 wk 4)

Differ, different, difference, differently, prefer, preference, preferred, preferring, referred, referring, reference, referral, transfer, transferred, transferring.

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in mixed number steps. Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.
    • Start with these numbers: 4/5, 4 1/5, 3 ½ , 8 ½ and count up 10 times then back again in 3 1/5 and 3 2/5:

4 1/5, 7 2/5, 10 3/5, 13 4/5, 17, 20 1/5, etc

and in 4 ½ :

8 ½, 13, 17 ½, 22, 26 1/2, etc

• Number facts:
  • To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 7 + 8 = 15, 9 + 7 = 16.
  • The best way to do this is to simply have someone in your home quiz you with questions like (7 + 8, 9 + 7, 3 + 8, 5 + 9, etc)
  • Another great way is to use HIT THE BUTTON which you can access by clicking here
  • Then get them to change the place value of these digits (0.7 + 0.8, 0.09 + 0.07, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

• Sumdog (Times tables (missing numbers))
  • Each child has their own tables target which they should know. The Sumdog challenge may relate to their target but if not, you can always use the ‘trainer’ section of Sumdog for extra Tables Practice. Every Tuesday there is a tables test.

• Sumdog (Add and subtract fractions)
  • For this challenge, there will be questions with similar denominators and some with denominators that have similar multiples, like halves added to quarters. Remember what we have learnt in class and try to answer them quickly. If you end up getting some wrong, do not worry as Sumdog will make the questions easier.

Keep working through the Maths and Spelling Training. As you know, we set weekly challenges that are linked to the learning that takes place in school. As an extra feature, the maths and spelling training sections will provide a tailored challenge for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult. Once your challenges have been completed, use this feature for challenge in both spelling and maths.

Spend some time training so the program can learn the skills your child needs to work on and practise.