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Year 4 Home Practice Friday 7th January 2022

Date: 7th Jan 2022 @ 5:01pm

Year 4

Home Practice 7^th January 2022

Welcome back to school and to this week’s blog. Here’s what we have been learning in school this week ….

In English, we learnt more about adverbs and how to correctly use them at the beginning of a sentence. We tried to include some of these in our writing about our first day back at school after the Christmas holidays.  In addition, we have continued reading our class novel, The Iron Man, and discuss the different characters we have been introduced to.

In Maths, we revised rounding to 10, 100 and 1000.  In addition, we have continued to refine the formal written method of subtraction, especially where there were zero’s in the numbers – some of these were quite tricky but Year 4 worked hard to try and master this. Additionally, we have been practising our tables, and counting in 3’s and 6’s.

In RE, we learnt about community – we discussed the different communities we belong to and what makes it function well.  In addition, we talked about the advantages and demands of being part of a community, and what causes a community to either break down or helps to build it up. 

In History, we learnt about the types of houses the Romans lived in and looked at various different mosaic patterns.  We then looked more carefully at mosaics and started to appreciate which mosaic patterns we liked and why.

Bonne annee! In French this week, we learnt about how French people celebrate La fete des Rois - the Feast of the Epiphany. A special cake which contains a lucky charm is shared. Whoever gets the lucky charm in their slice becomes the King or Queen for the day. We then focussed on the phonic sound oi (wa) as in roi, listening to a song with lots of oi words and reading them. Tres bien!

Our PE lesson involved both gymnastics and hockey. In gymnastics, we practised a one-foot balance, explored different ways of travelling and refined the front and back support. We then started to create our own sequence and showed this to the class.

This week’s Home Practice ….

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Make sure you discuss the story and the characters.  Find the meaning of any new words too.  Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding. 

Times tables

You have been given your own individual times table target.  Please make sure you continue to practise your times tables in preparation for your test next week, on Thursday (13^th January 2022). Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?  

Remember - you can also practise your tables playing ‘Hit the button’.   

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 3’s and 6’s – draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers down as you count up.  When you count down, cover the numbers up, say the number, then reveal what you have got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 3’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 36 and back again (this will help with your 3 times tables)

0   3   6    9  etc                     36   33    30  etc

Then try counting from 30 to 66 and back again

30  33   36 etc                       66    63    60

Count in 6’s

Start at 0 and count up to 72 and back again (this will help with your 6 times tables)

0   6   12   18     etc                    72   66   60   etc

Do this a few times to help you learn them!

Spellings

The spellings this week all have the ending ‘sure’ or ‘ture’.  The ending sounding like ‘zhuh’ is spelt ‘sure’.  The ending sounding like ‘chuh’ is spelt ‘ture’.  Please practise your spellings each evening at home as many of you are still not doing this.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (13^th January 2022). We have discussed different strategies you could use to help you learn them and you could also use ‘Look say cover write check’.

future         nature         creature      feature        mixture

picture        adventure    fracture      vulture         closure

leisure         measure       enclosure     pleasure       treasure

Sumdog challenges

You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:

• A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
• A times table challenge based on the 3 and 6 times tables
• Rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000 (we have practised this in class this week)

Please make sure you log on and have a go! Many of you are still not accessing Sumdog on a daily basis. Little and often is the key to success!

Number bonds

Number bonds are very important and help with many aspects of maths. The more confident you are with these, the easier you will find addition, subtraction, mental calculations etc.  Therefore, please continue practising your number bonds / addition skills playing Hit the Button

The game you will play will help with your number bonds and quick addition skills. For example:

8 + 6               you could partition this into         8 + 2 + 4 = 14

This is because 8 + 2 is a pair to 10, then add the 4 to 10

Click on the link above, then on Play Game.

Click on Number bonds

On the left-hand side you will see the words ‘Up to 20’

Click on Addition within 20

See how many you can get correct in 1 minute. Then have another go and try and beat your score.

Maths and spelling training

Please continue to use the maths and spellings training sections as these are tailored for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult.

Year 2 Home Practice Friday 7th January 2022

Date: 7th Jan 2022 @ 3:42pm

Happy New Year! We hope you had a lovely Christmas break. Year 2 have had a brilliant first week back in school, it has been great to see their smiles and happy faces again. Our novels this week in English are Leaf and non-fiction. The children have looked at features of non-fiction texts and have written some great questions to Leaf the polar bear. In Maths, we have started multiplication, finding arrays as repeated addition. We have explored shapes in the environment in Art this week. In Science, the children have really enjoyed taking part in an investigation all about which ball will bounce the highest. The children came up with brilliant questions all about different ball types including colours, materials and sizes. In French, the children have learnt about how French people celebrate La fete des Rois – the Feast of Epiphany. The children are also beginning to write some sentences in French – tres bien!

Reading

In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an adult or older sibling. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

Please sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.

Reading books are changed every Monday and sent home on Tuesday. However, if you need to change a book another time, we will change it as needed.

Spellings

write

written

wrote

wrong

wrap

wrist

wreck

wrestle

wriggle

wren

Maths

At home, spend some time counting in 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s. Practise these times tables on a game called Hit the Button. Follow this link: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

You will have a number fact challenge on Sumdog to complete by next Friday.

Sumdog

Please have a go at the spelling and maths training if you haven’t already. 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. 

Log in at www.sumdog.com

Sumdog challenges:

Maths – Arrays as repeated addition

X2 x5 x10 x3 tables

Spellings – ‘wr’ words.

Thank you for all your support. Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 2 team.

Year 6 Friday 7th January 2022

Date: 7th Jan 2022 @ 3:37pm

Welcome back to our first blog of the Spring term. We hope you and your family had a great Christmas and New Year and are all healthy and keeping safe.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have been revising our knowledge of place value with numbers up to three decimal places and developing our understanding of negative numbers.
• In English, we have started our new novel, ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’, and have begun to understand the main characters of Tom, Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan.
• In RE, we started a new topic, ‘Sources’, where we discussed what kind of books inspire us and why. We then wrote about our favourite book and how it affected our lives.
• In PE, we managed to fit in a session that we missed (due to Bank Holiday Monday) so we could assess our learning of team games through Hockey and Dodgeball. Remember, you can bring in a hat and gloves whilst it is cold to use during our PE lessons.
• In History, we discussed how we know about the past and what chronological order means. We then created our own timeline about our lives so far.
• In Music, we have been practising B, A and G chords on the recorder.
• In French, we learnt about how French people celebrate La fete des Rois- the Feast of the Epiphany, A special cake which contains a lucky charm is shared. Whoever gets the lucky charm in their slice becomes the King or Queen for the day.
• In Science, we began our new topic, ‘Health, the Heart and the Circulatory System’. We have started to look at the function of the heart, blood vessels and blood, then we research how to have a healthy heart and why it is important.

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 (Suffixes Sp1 wk 1/2)

Next week we will be investigating the effects of suffixes on root words with -ing, -ed, -er, -est, -ly, -less, -ful, -ness

Caring, friendly, physically, nicest, happiest, hopeful, beautiful, careless, discussed, equipped, bruised, consciousness, attached, continued, luckier

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in whole numbers 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: 400, 165, 5000 and count up 10 times then back again in 25:

                           400, 425, 450, 475, 500, 525, etc

                            and in 250:

                            400, 650, 900, 1150, 1400, etc

• Number facts:
  • To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 6 + 8 = 14, 8 + 7 = 15.
  • The best way to do this is to simply have someone in your home quiz you with questions like (8 + 6, 6 + 5, 3 + 8, 5 + 9, etc)
  • Then get them to change the place value of these digits (0.8 + 0.6, 0.06 + 0.05, 0.5 + 0.9, etc)

• Sumdog (Times tables x6, x7, x8)
  • 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 (Negative numbers)
  • For this challenge, there will be questions related to positive and negative numbers. The questions will ask you to decide which number is the most or least. This will be great practice for your learning next week.

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. 

Year 3 7th January 2022

Date: 7th Jan 2022 @ 12:54pm

Happy New Year!

It has been lovely seeing everyone back at school this week. 

In our English we have started our new novel, Toro!Toro!, written by Michael Morpurgo. We have read the blurb and a letter from the author. Before starting the story, we have been finding out about some of the topics which will come up in the book including Spain, bullfighting, and The Spanish Civil War. We have written non-chronological reports including this information and are now ready and excited to start reading the story an Monday.

In Maths this week we have been learning all about multiplication and how to use our times tables to solve complex calculations. We have set some Sumdog competitions and challlenges to help improve fluency in your tables.

On Friday, we continued our Science topic on light. We explored light sources and talked about how we know something is luminous or non-luminous. Here is some of the vocabulary we will meet this half term.

luminous, reflective, transparent, translucent, opaque, source, dim, artificial, natural

Home Practice

Please read out loud to somebody every night for 20 minutes and talk about what you have read. 

Spellings

Practise your spellings every night by writing them down and saying the letters out loud. 

Your spellings this week all have the /ow/ sound spelled ou. 

     mouth           around         spout         ouch           sprout             hound             trout               outside          found             sound

Practise the following skills for maths – even if you already know them, you need to be quick.

• Number facts, click on doubles – doubles to 20.
• Times tables and counting. Click on times tables – x3 and x4

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Well done to everyone who is accessing the Sumdog Learning platform. The training feature is still available to practise those skills your child finds tricky.

You will be tested on your spellings and times tables on Tuesday 11th January.  

Have a great weekend!

The Year 3 team

Reception 07th January 2022

Date: 7th Jan 2022 @ 10:33am

We have made a great return to school this week! 

This half term we are learning all about Julia Donaldson, our story this week is Zog. We have enjoyed playing in our dragon hut and writing what we would learn at dragon school. 

In Maths, we have been exporing numbers to 10 in different ways, using dominoes, counters, numicon and dice. We have also been using the lanuage of 'more or fewer' when comparing amounts. 

In Art this half term we will be looking at different textures. We had an experiment in Science - who could keep their ice cube frozen for the longest, exploring the season of winter. 

Year 5 Friday 7th January 2022

Date: 6th Jan 2022 @ 5:04pm

Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog

Happy New Year to all my Year 5 families. I hope you all had a great break and are ready to go in 2022!

This week in year 5

In Maths we have worked on equivalent fractions.  We have been converting fractions into equivalent fractions with both a higher and lower denominator and looking at finding the lowest term. This is a really tricky skill but the children will need to remember the rules with equivalent fractions – we can only use times and divide when making equivalent fractions and that whatever we do to the top we have to do to the bottom.  This week everyone has worked really hard to grasp the concept.

In English we have started reading Street Child. This book is about a child during the Victorian era who ends up becoming a runaway. The story describes his life on the streets at a difficult time. So far the children have made some predictions, discussed the thoughts and feelings of characters through freeze frame drama and showed scenes from the book and discussed each character.

In RE, the children started their Mission topic.  We have explored what it means to have a mission in life and how different people are called to their mission.  Next week we will be concentrating on our Holy Communion.  Please ensure that all sacramental programme folders are back in school for the church visit on Monday. You had a booklet to complete over the Christmas period that should also be returned.

In French, we learnt about how French people celebrate La fete des Rois - the Feast of the Epiphany. A special cake which contains a lucky charm is shared. Whoever gets the lucky charm in their slice becomes the King or Queen for the day. We then focussed on the phonic sound oi (wa) as in roi, listening to a song with lots of oi words and reading them. Tres bien! Bonne annee!

In PE, the children completed the train run warm up, we have some super runners in Year 5 and they all really trying their hardest.  Due to the cold weather we had to stay inside and had a spirited game of dodgeball and benchball.  Next week even if the weather is cold we will still be doing PE outside, so please send in plain, dark leggings or jogging pants so they can keep warm.  We are also suggesting thin gloves and hats if the children want to wear them. That way we will be able to split the class again and learn 2 different areas of PE each week.

We are studying history again this half term and our topic is the Victorian era. This fits alongside our English novel and will help with their understanding of the story.  We have had an introduction lesson where we looked at the industrial changes that happened and how this prompted migration from the countryside to the cities and the negative consequences this had on people. We discussed the lack of housing, jobs and food and the spread of infection, illness and disease.

In Art, the children returned their focus to the artist Jo Quigley and looked in more detail at the features of her work.  They have written a plan and chosen a specific piece of art for their inspiration and will sketch a rough plan ready for their final piece over the coming weeks.

In Science, the children had a wonderful lesson with Mrs Quillam.  They investigated words that can be used to decribe different materials that they may be working with scientifically. They then went on to write questions that would lead to a fair test and went back through their science books and discussed questions that could have been used for enquiries in their previous topics. Mrs Quilliam was very impressed with their enthusiasm and their ideas. I'm sure this will help the children with their experiments and enquiries in our next topic Properties and Changes of Materials.

DON’T FORGET (see above for further details)

Sacramental folders need returning for church on Monday.

Additional warm clothes for PE sessions required from next week.

Home Practice all relates to this week's learning - These are the tasks to be completed.

Reading - You all have a Home Reading book for year 5 so reading every night for 15-20 mins is essential. You also have a reading journal/diary that must be completed and signed. Some children had a break from reading over the holidays but please ensure this is made a priority now that we are back at school. Practice is vital to improve in all areas of English.

You can change your reading book on any school day (book bags to be left on Mrs Mulgrew's desk)

Maths – please ask your child what their times tables target is and help them practise this in order for them to progress.

I’d also encourage you to do a daily count with your child.  This week we are counting up in 4s, 0.4 and 0.04. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 4s, 0.4 or 0.04 e.g. 3.2, 3.6, 4 or 1.13, 1.17, 1.21 etc.  This will help the children learn and remember strategies to help them in maths. 

Spellings words containing ‘ant’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. 

Don’t forget the children have a big list of common exception words to learn. These can be practised each week to push your child further.  You will receive a sheet with these words on over the next few days, I have highlighted the words that your child spelled correctly in the spelling test before Christmas. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering their spellings. Continue to practice these and will be assessed again near Easter.

antique, assistant, disadvantage, elephant, fantastic, gigantic, radiant, reluctant, want, advantage, ignorant, anticipate, defiant, important, distant

Sumdog challenges

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES, MANY CHILDREN ARE STILL NOT ACCESSING SUMDOG.

Please encourage your child to complete 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 they find difficult.  Once the diagnostic challenges have been completed Sumdog will set challenges to aid improvement and development in the appropriate areas for your child.  Once you have completed the class challenges, please use this feature for extra challenge in both maths and spelling.  Many children have still not completed the diagnostic section.

Times tables have been set to reflect class targets

Maths the children have been set activities relating to fractions. 

Spellings words containing ‘ant’.

The children have worked hard this week and settled in well.

Year 1 Blog 7th January 2022

Date: 6th Jan 2022 @ 10:21am

Welcome to the first Year 1 Friday blog of the new year!

.

In our Phonics this week we have been recapping the phase 5 sounds. In particular, we have compared the phase 3 ow (cow) sound to the phase 5 ou (shout) sound. Keep practising these sounds at home!

In English we have started to learn about traditional tales (fairy tales). We talked about our favourite tale, explored the features that they have in them and then read the story of Hansel and Gretel. We then sang the Little Red Riding Hood songs on the BBC website, we loved them!

In Maths we have been looking at number patterns and counting in fives in particular. We spotted that the numbers end in either a 5 or a 0. We have been starting from different numbers and using our knowledge to solve challenges.

 In R.E. we finished our waiting topic and recapped why waiting is very important. We listened to 'Be still for the presence of the Lord' and took spent a few minutes thinking about making time for God.

In P.S.H.E, we started to explore healthy eating and how we can have a balanced diet - we know that we can have more of certain foods and have others for a treat.

 In French we learnt about how French people celebrate La fete des Rois - the Feast of the Epiphany. A special cake which contains a lucky charm is shared. Whoever gets the lucky charm in their slice becomes the King or Queen for the day. We chose some Kings and Queens in class by drawing cubes from a bag. Whoever got the lucky cube became le Roi or la Reine and was allowed to tell the rest of the class what to do for a short time! We also read a story and listened to a song about the feast day.

In Science we looked at our five senses and how we use them. We labelled which parts of our body are associated with each sense.

We've had a lovely first week back together, it has been great to see everyone working so hard!

Home Practice

Read for at least 10 minutes every night. This is so important. please sign the diary so we can change the books. Keep practicing reading the Tricky Words on sight. Please just write a note in the diary if you need the next set.

We have also been doing lots of counting. We have mainly been focusing on counting in 5s up to 100 (0, 5, 10, 15...) Please practise these at home. If you want a challenge, start from a different number that is not in the 5x table (e.g. 2, 6, 8...) We use a number square in class to help us with this, feel free to search '100 square' in Google to find one online.

Sumdog challenges

Phonics - ow and ou words

Maths - counting in 5s to 100

Online Safety Update

Date: 5th Jan 2022 @ 11:44am

Filters

Filters are amazing and can set healthy, age-appropriate boundaries for free on any device connected to the home WiFi. These can be set through a phone call to any internet provider and updated as children grow. Updates are incredibly important to gradually increase exposure and allow young people to build resilience as they mature. 

Make sure that you are aware that any devices with their own data sets, like phones, will need their filters set separately. And remember that you can set passwords to override the filter system so you don't miss out on any of the film releases that would be less suitable for your 10-year-old.

Safe search engines

For under 10s, setting the homepage to a safe search engine is an excellent way to overcome mishaps. We have all had a seemingly innocent image search go awry, and by using child-friendly sites like Smiggle, YouTube Kids and KidRex, we can reduce that risk substantially. Some large web search providers do have safe search options but, be aware, these are very easy to switch off.

As for older children (year 6), it's all about reinforcing the importance of responsibility. Leaning over a child's shoulder at all times or attempting to monitor their screens using apps is less likely to create a healthy relationship and more likely to teach them how to creatively sneak past you. 

Algorithms

Have you ever bought a pair of jeans and then been bombarded with ads for jeans for the next three months? That's an algorithm. They collect information and send us materials that will make us tick. While this may be great for our wardrobe, it can create problems regarding echo chambers and fake news.

Reinforce the importance of learning about the world from mainstream media channels rather than stories from social media or news suggestions from their phones. This can build a more balanced knowledge of the world within the home and help you recognise when you or your children are straying into conspiracy theories and bias debates, and instead form healthy informational environments.

Social media

Social media is often the centre of a young person's world and while many parents may have a Facebook account, they may be less au fait with the newer, young models.

For younger children, play around on social media sites alongside your child, learn together how to block and apply appropriate privacy settings to form a positive online space.

For older children, reinforce the message of accountability. What happens on the internet can be difficult to erase. Many young people have no interest in "friending" their parents, and respect of space can build trust, but if you have any concerns, ensure that the parents feel they can have an open a supportive dialogue to air out any worries. 

National Online Safety Training Hub

Continue to access all information on the National Online Safety website. You will get access to all videos and guides by clicking the link below and joining free to our school online safety hub.

http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb

We have set up a watchlist which includes some videos and training we think you will find beneficial.

Year 4 Christmas Blog

Date: 17th Dec 2021 @ 1:59pm

Year 4

Christmas Blog Friday 17^th December 2021

Welcome to this week’s blog. What a busy week and a fantastic term we’ve had! 

Even though it has been the last week of term, we have still been working hard. We have written letters following our trip to Lancaster City Museum last week and learnt how to subtract 4-digit numbers using the formal written method.  In addition, we made Christmas cards and calendars, and learnt what the Romans built after they settled in Britain.

We hope you enjoyed listening to our Christmas carols on Tuesday afternoon and that this helped to put you in a festive mood. 

Mrs Tipping and Mrs Dexter would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and safe Christmas and New Year. Enjoy spending some quality time with your families. We look forward to seeing Year 4’s bright, smiley faces again on Tuesday 4^th January 2022.

Reception 17th December 2021

Date: 17th Dec 2021 @ 12:38pm

Reception have had an amazing first term in school. We would like to say a big 'Well Done' to them all.

This week we have been learning all about the Jolly Postman at Christmas and seeing where a letter goes after we have put it in the postbox. 

In Maths, we have been finding missing numbers and ordering them. 

In Science, we were using our balloons to make static eletricity. 

In the afternoon, we have been making our Christmas cards, calenders and tree decorations.  

Year 5 Christmas Blog

Date: 17th Dec 2021 @ 11:57am

What an amazing term Year 5 have had!

I have been blown away by the amazing work produced this term bit also with the enthusiasm the children have shown.

This week the children have enjoyed learning in a fun way.

We have carried on with fractions earlier in the week and then completed some fun maths mysteries later in the week. The children love completing them even though they have to complete a number of difficult challenges to solve the mystery.

We have finished our Christmas Carol topic in English, the children showed great skills whilst reading this book and were able to understand some really tricky words and link certain themes within the book. I was impressed with their comprehension of the book, let's hope they remember it when they move onto high school and study it again!

We have had an arty week, the children have used layered printing, over a number of sessions, to produce some lovely Christmas cards and also used sketching and printing to make seasonal calendars.

The children have done some fabulous research of the planets in science. They were really engaged and couldn't stop informing me of all the different facts they were finding out.

The children completed an outbreak challenge in computing where they have to try and stop a terrible outbreak with the use of face masks, vaccinations etc. They used various coding skills to complete the challenge. They then discussed how real scientists may use these types of skills to help with things like the pandemic. Some children were very keen to work in this field in the future.

We have continued to think about the preparations we are making for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. The children are trying to make a difference to others each day, with kind acts and kind words.

The children had a very spirited dodgeball competition this week. They were so enthusiastic and showed great promise for the dodgeball team next year.

The children have had a lot of festive fun as well this week including the Santa Dash, Carolling in the yard for the parents (thank you so much for such an amazing turnout) and attending the Christmas shop. We have also completed a number of Christmas activities on our last morning such as poetry writing, Santa beetle drive, Christmas cartoon strips and the fantastic Pirate maths game - they would have played it all morning!

Thank you so much for all your support this term.

No challenges have been set for the break but Sumdog will have the tailored challenges available for the children to access at any time. Also feel free to practise any times tables, number facts or mixed fraction to improper fraction games ( 3 ½  = 7/2 seven halves).

We would like to wish you all a very Happy and Holy Christmas, I hope you all get a good rest and have some peaceful times. I look forward to seeing you all back in January and send you all the best wishes for the New Year.

Tiny Tim said it best, "God bless us, everyone."

Year 6 Christmas Blog

Date: 16th Dec 2021 @ 7:18pm

Our last week in December has been very exciting filled with the Christmas pop-up shop, Christmas carols sang to the parents and the Christingle, which was led very well by the Year 6s! Mrs Hall and Mrs Washington, from All Hallows’, visited us this week to say hello and answered many questions about the life of the high school. They also informed us that there will be a taster day visit in the New Year.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In our Design and Technology topic of sewing, we have planned, prepped, sewn, made mistakes, corrected those mistakes, persevered and finally completed our project. Please see the pictures on our website for their brilliant work.
• In PE, we have been working on creating a range of team strategies to outwit the opposing team. We then practiced them in a dodgeball match.
• In Maths, we used various problem solving skills to solve Math questions as a group.
• In English, to complete our World War One topic, we learnt about the Christmas Day truce of 1914 between the British and the Germans, through the Sainsbury’s advert.
• In Art, we learnt a new skill of printing, with paint and polystyrene to create our Christmas cards. Please check out the Year 6 gallery for pictures of the super artwork.
• In French, following last week’s ‘Who killed Santa?’ cluedo game, we recorded ourselves to practice our brilliant pronunciation. Joyeux Noel et bonne annee tout le monde!
• In Science, we conducted an experiment which focused on the inner workings of the digestion system in animals.

You will have also noticed that there is no Sumdog being set for the Christmas break so you can have a rest and come back fresh and ready for the exciting learning in January!

BUT please keep reading as much as possible – like I always say, ‘It is the number one thing that will unlock all your learning!’

Year 2 Christmas Blog

Date: 16th Dec 2021 @ 4:28pm

Welcome to our final blog of 2021!

We have had a fantastic term in Year 2 - well done for all your hard work!

Merry Christmas! 

We hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas with your family and friends.

We will look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Thank you for all your support.

Miss Gravili, Miss Bennison and Mrs Whitworth.

Year 3 Christmas Blog

Date: 16th Dec 2021 @ 3:40pm

Merry Christmas everbody!

We have had an amazing first term in Year 3 - well done! 

Now enjoy spending time with your family and friends, relaxing, and having lots of fun. 

We look forward to seeing you in 2022. 

Miss Smith, Mr Campbell and Mrs Woof.

Year 1 Christmas Blog

Date: 15th Dec 2021 @ 2:38pm

Welcome the the final blog of 2021!

We have been doing lots of learning in this final week of the Autumn term. Have a look at our photos!

We would like to wish you a happy, holy and peaceful Christmas. We really appreciate all your generous Christmas presents, cards and good wishes. Thank you for all your wonderful support. See you in January!

Year 4 Home Practice Friday 10th December 2021

Date: 10th Dec 2021 @ 4:15pm

Year 4

Home Practice 10^th December 2021

Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s what we have been learning in school this week ….

In English, we looked at the features of a ‘Wanted’ poster and created our own for the Iron Man who was last seen walking into the sea.  We made sure that we included a picture, a detailed description of the Iron Man and information about the crimes he had committed!

In Maths, we learnt to look very carefully at addition calculations and decide whether it was more efficient to work them out in our head, use jottings or a formal written method. In addition, we revised the formal written method of subtraction.  We started by using the compact method of subtraction to subtract 2 digit numbers and then 3 digit numbers - some of these calculations required exchanging which can be quite tricky! Additionally, we have been practising our tables, and counting in 7’s and 0.2’s.

In RE, we learnt about the birth of Jesus and the story of the Wise Men.  We learnt the names of the Wise Men and talked about the symbolism of their gifts.  In addition, we discussed the signs and symbols that can be seen in Church and at home at Christmas.

In History, we learnt how Britain became part of the Roman Empire and the 3 invasion attempts. We also pretended we were Roman Generals and discussed the pros and cons of invading Britain – Julius Caesar was pleased with our ideas!

We are in the process of designing and describing a Christmas jumper in French - hopefully we'll finish next week. It was tricky and we all rose well to the challenge! Year 4 will be super proud of their work once it's finished!

In Science, we identified and classified electrical conductors and insulators by testing different materials. Then we explained our results.  We need to make a variety of switches next week then we are qualified junior electricians! Well done, year 4!

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Lancaster City Museum on Thursday. We had an action-packed day which included a Roman workshop in the morning when we met Marcus Aurus Nepus, and a visit to both the history and Military museums in the afternoon.  During the trip, we learnt more about life in the Roman Army, especially what the soldiers wore and what they were required to keep in their back packs. As it has been a few years since our last school trip, it really was an exciting day out!  

This week’s Home Practice ….

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Make sure you discuss the story and the characters.  Find the meaning of any new words too.  Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding. 

Times tables

You have been given your own individual times table target.  Please make sure you continue to practise your times tables in preparation for your test next week, on Thursday (16^th December 2021). Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?  

Remember - you can also practise your tables playing ‘Hit the button’.   

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 7’s and 0.2’s – draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers down as you count up.  When you count down, cover the numbers up, say the number, then reveal what you have got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 7’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 84 and back again (this will help with your 9 times tables)

0   7   14    21  etc                     84   77    70   etc

Count in 0.2’s

Start at 0 and count up to 1.8 and back again

0   0.2   0.4   etc                    1.8   1.6   1.4   etc

Do this a few times to help you learn them!

Spellings

The spellings this week all have the prefix ‘uni’, ‘bi’ or ‘tri’.  A prefix is a group of letters that are added to the beginning of a word and change the meaning or make a new word.  Uni means one, bi means two and tri means three. Please practise your spellings each evening at home.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (16^th December 2021). We have discussed different strategies you could use to help you learn them and you could also use ‘Look say cover write check’.

unicycle        unicorn         uniform        universe       binoculars

bicycle         biceps          bifocal         bilingual       biannual

triathlon      triangle       trilogy         tricycle        triplets

Sumdog challenges

You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:

• A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
• A times table challenge based on the 7 times tables
• A 2digit column addition and subtraction challenge

Please make sure you log on and have a go! Many of you are still not accessing Sumdog on a daily basis. Little and often is the key to success!

Number bonds

Please continue practising your number bonds / addition skills playing Hit the Button

The game you will play will help with your number bonds and quick addition skills. For example:

8 + 6               you could partition this into         8 + 2 + 4 = 14

This is because 8 + 2 is a pair to 10, then add the 4 to 10

Click on the link above, then on Play Game.

Click on Number bonds

On the left-hand side you will see the words ‘Up to 20’

Click on Addition within 20

See how many you can get correct in 1 minute. Then have another go and try and beat your score.

Maths and spelling training

Please continue to use the maths and spellings training sections as these are tailored for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult.

Year 2 Home Practice Friday 10th December 2021

Date: 10th Dec 2021 @ 3:34pm

The children were fantastic in The Nativity, well done to everyone. I am sure you all enjoyed watching it at home together. Year 2’s Christmas jumpers were fabulous today, we all looked very festive and it was great to enjoy a Christmas dinner with crackers. Thank you for all the lovely cards, the children loved to give them out to one another. In English, they wrote their own animal stories, completed their non-chronological reports on owls and wrote Christmas acrostic poems. We have done some quizzes in Maths to see how much the children have learnt so far. They were great at naming 2-D and 3-D shapes and very quick with their addition and subtraction facts. In RE, we learnt about the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary and talked about what they said to each other. We have done a lot of Art and the children designed some excellent repeating Christmas patterns and used different materials to print with.

  Reading

In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an adult or older sibling. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

Please sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.

Reading books are changed every Monday and sent home on Tuesday. However, if you need to change a book another time, we will change it as needed.

Reading resources:

Oxford Owl – This resource has an exciting range of carefully levelled books to help children learn to read, and love to read.

If parents and children decide to use this resource, we ask they access phase 5 books. Go to https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ and select ‘my class login’. Scroll down to the red box ‘eBook Library for Letters & Sounds’

Username: sto2

Password: 1234

Resources for questioning your child while they are reading - https://www.literacyshedblog.com/uploads/1/2/5/7/12572836/ks1_reading_vipers.pdf

Spelling

There will be no spelling quiz next Friday. Please have a go at the Spelling Training on Sumdog (mentioned below).

 Maths

At home, practise number bonds up to 10 and 20 on Hit the Button.

Follow this link: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

You have a Time challenge this week on Sumdog. We have not done this in class yet, it is to recap previous learning from Year 1 and focuses on o’clock and half past on digital and analogue clocks.

Times Table challenge on Sumdog to complete by next Friday.

Sumdog

We have introduced Maths and Spelling Training. As you know, we set weekly challenges that are linked to the learning that takes place in class. 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 class challenges have been completed, use this feature for additional spelling and maths practice.

Log in at www.sumdog.com

Sumdog challenges:

Time Challenge (recap o’clock and half past)

Times Table Challenge – 2, 5, 10 and 3

Spellings Training

Thank you for all your support. Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 2 team.

Year 6 Friday 10th December 2021

Date: 10th Dec 2021 @ 2:28pm

This week we had a great time visiting the Museum of Lancashire where we learnt how to be a soldier during World War One by some very strict sergeants who put us through our paces, teaching us many drills that we often had to repeat numerous times! It was a lot of fun with the children learning a great deal – we have sent our thanks to the volunteers at the museum. Do not forget to see the Year 6 gallery for pictures of the trip.

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have consolidated our learning this week, attempting some maths quizzes on a range of topics: place value, addition, fractions and division. The class have shown great resilience with these tasks.
• Following our super trip to the Museum of Lancashire, we wrote about our day, as a soldier, making sure we explained to the reader everything we had learnt.
• In Geography, we learnt about the first two people to reach the top of Mount Everest: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Using their experiences, we found out just how harsh the journey up Mount Everest would be.
• For our RE topic, Expectations, we have been thinking about the arrival of Jesus and how it impacts our lives. We have continued our advent calendar of good deeds and prayers every day.
• In this PE session, we completed an Intra competition of handball, where the children focused on their performance, evaluating and suggesting improvements on how they can attack and defend.  
• We have begun our Design and Technology project of ‘textiles’, by learning ways to stitch with a needle and thread, then designing our own to complete next we
• In Music, we have learnt how to compose 12 bar blues on the glocks in groups, followed by a class performance. We have also continued practising the songs, ‘Hark the Herald’ and ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ for the carol service.
• In French, we played Cluedo, trying to figure out who had killed Father Christmas. We then wrote our own version of the game as a story.
• In Science, we explored reflections and how a mirror can change the direction of light enabling us to see behind or round corners.

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

• Reading – Use your Home Reading 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 (challenge words A2 wk 7)

available, muscle, accommodate, determined, identity, competition, existence, rhyme, accompany, suggest, develop, explanation, privilege, symbol, immediately

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in decimal 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: 7.5, 3.9, 25.4 and count up 10 times then back again in 0.5:

7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5 etc

and in 1.5:

7.5, 9.0, 10.5, 12.0, 13.5, 15.0, etc

• Number facts:
  • To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 7 + 8 = 15, 4 + 7 = 11.
  • The best way to do this is to simply have someone in your home quiz you with questions like (8 + 6, 6 + 5, 3 + 8, 5 + 9, etc)
  • Then get them to change the place value of these digits (0.8 + 0.6, 0.06 + 0.05, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

• Sumdog (Times tables x2 – x12)
  • 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 (Decimal Arithmetic)
  • For this challenge, there will be questions related to adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals, all of which we have done in class.

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. 

Year 3 Friday Blog - 10th December

Date: 10th Dec 2021 @ 1:16pm

Welcome to your Friday blog.

We have had a very exciting week this week.

We loved Christmas Jumper Day on Friday - everybody looked amazing. We gave out our Christmas cards and also enjoyed a Christmas lunch. 

In our English lessons this week we have been writing our very own Christmas stories. We have used lots of interesting words to make our stories really exciting. Everybody has tried really hard. 

In geography we have been looking at lots of different maps online and in atlases. We love looking at maps to see where we live and to see what different places we recognise. We picked out physical and human features of Longton. At the start of our geography lessons we have been trying to name cities around the world, we have found this tricky. So try to find out the names of some cities  by talking to people in your house and looking on maps and on the internet. 

In maths we have been learning different methods to subtract. We found this a bit difficult at first, but we are getting the hang of it now and will be doing some more practice next week. 

We also created our 2022 calendars in art. Everyone was very creative with their collages and shape ideas. Well done year 3!

Home Practice

Continue to access the Sumdog training feature to practise tricky skills in both spelling and maths. Try to use the times tables feature too. A little Sumdog every night will make all the difference.

Read out loud to somebody every night for 20 minutes. Talk about what you have read.

Practise the 4x tables by listening to the song and playing on Hit The Button. 

Count out loud in 10s:

Forwards from 56 to 356.

backwards from 821 to 521. 

You will be tested on your spellings and 4x tables on Tuesday 14th December. Try to practise every day. 

Have a great weekend!

Reception 10th December

Date: 10th Dec 2021 @ 12:45pm

We have had a great christmas jumper and christmas lunch day! 

The children have been amazing in their first nativity and have really enjoyed taking part, the video is on St Oswalds TV so make sure to watch it :)

Year 5 - Friday 10th December 2021

Date: 10th Dec 2021 @ 8:42am

 Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog

The children have had another busy week, working hard and learning new skills and knowledge.

This week in year 5

In Maths we have introduced mixed numbers and improper fractions and the children have completed 2 papers to show off everything they have learnt this term.  I am very pleased with their focus and hard work with some tricky questions.

In English we have started reading A Christmas Carol.  The children have been thinking about the words used and what they mean, many are not used very much today.  They have written comparative descriptions of characters, used evidence from the text to draw conclusions about the story and they are really keen to find out what happens next.  We are hoping to find a suitable version of the film to watch next week to compare to the book.

In RE, the children continued to discuss the preparations we make in the wait for the coming of Jesus at Christmastime and the hope this brings to people.  We have created an advent calendar of kind deeds we can carry out for the remainder of Advent.

In French, the children read a story about how some aliens saved Christmas after Pere Noel's sleigh broke.  They lent him their space ship to deliver presents so all was well! They then started to write their own version of the story in French - hopefully they will finish them next week and the children will be super proud of their stories! Joyeux Noel et  bonne annee tout le monde!

In PE, the children did both activities this week.  Due to the colder weather we have spilt the time so they are not outside and feeling the cold for too long.  The tag rugby session was very competitive and the children showed off the skills they have learnt this term.  In the hall, we really focused on moving in time with one another.  We started by moving across the hall in small groups, first walking in time together and developing into running, jumping and hopping.  They discussed items we would put in a time capsule and created an 8 count dance for the item.  Next week they will teach the class their small group dances and we will create an ensemble piece.

In Geography the children loved researching different areas of North America.  They looked at where on the map the place was located, where this was in relation to lines of latitude and how this may affect the climate.  They then each made a fact file for their choice, many children asked to take pictures and titles home so they could make more.  They used National Geographic Kids for research.

In Art, the children planned and practised their Christmas cards.  We got very messy!  They used a range of printing resources to see which effect they preferred and made decisions for their cards.  Next week you will see their final pieces, they will be creating layered printing over a number of days to create their cards.

The children completing their Holy Communion next year, have been sent home with their folders and a workbook.  This is to be completed over the Christmas break and returned to school in the first week back.  We will begin our sessions in church in the second week to prepare for the sacrament.

It was lovely to see the children in their festive wear on Friday, we had a jolly day with Christmas Carols, festive lunchtime and Christmas post alongside our regular lessons.

Home Practice all relates to this week's learning - These are the tasks to be completed.

Reading - You all have a Home Reading book for year 5 so reading every night for 15-20 mins is essential. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be completed and signed.

Maths – please ask your child what their times tables target is and help them practise this in order for them to progress.

I’d also encourage you to do a daily count with your child.  This week we are counting up in 9s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 9s e.g. 37, 46, 55.  This will help the children learn and remember strategies to help them in maths.  For 9s we add 10 and then take 1 away to help us count on faster.

You can change your reading book on any school day (book bags to be left on Mrs Mulgrew's desk)

 Spellings words ending ‘cial’ and ‘tial’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.  After a vowel ‘cial’ is most common (special) and after a consonant ‘tial’ (confidential).

Don’t forget the children have a big list of Common Exception words to learn, these can be practised each week to push your child further.

Some children have been told to complete a different number of spellings, please check with your child.

official, special, social, artificial, facial, commercial, crucial, confidential, potential, initial, essential, partial, attached, available, average

Sumdog challenges

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES, MANY CHILDREN ARE STILL NOT ACCESSING SUMDOG.

Please encourage your child to complete 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 they find difficult.  Once the diagnostic challenges have been completed Sumdog will set challenges to aid improvement and development in the appropriate areas for your child.  Once you have completed the class challenges, please use this feature for extra challenge in both maths and spelling.  Many children have still not completed the diagnostic section.

Times tables have been set to reflect class targets

Maths the children have been set activities relating to fractions. 

Spellings words ending ‘cial’ and ‘tial’.

Only one more week to go and the children are still working hard.

Year 1 Friday Blog 10th December

Date: 9th Dec 2021 @ 12:48pm

Welcome to the Year 1 Friday blog!

We have had a really exciting week rehearsing and performing our Nativity. All the children were amazing and we hope you enjoy watching it. Access the video from the school website.

.

In our Phonics this week we have been looking at the i-e split digraph as in lime,shine and time. 

In English we wrote a letter to Father Christmas. We tried to remember our finger spaces, capital letters, full stops and using our sounds to spell words. We have listened to the story of Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present and we are going to be doing some writing from that next week.

In Maths we have been learning about subtraction. We have been using part whole models and 10 frames to help us too. We have been investigating number fact families. We have been counting in 2s and 10s forwards and backwards from different starting numbers.

 In R.E. we talked about The Annunciation and The Visitiation. We loved being able to pretend to be Mary and Angel Gabriel! We then challenged ourselves and wrote speech bubbles about what Mary would say to Elizabeth and vice versa. We had some lovely ideas - "Mary, you are going to have a special baby" and even simply "I love you, Elizabeth".

In Music we got the boomwhackers out and played along with some Christmas songs. In French we learnt some Christmas vocabulary by playing games and sang some French Christmas songs. Joyeux Noel et bonne annee tout le monde!

We did week 3 of The Big Draw. We looked outside at the weather and then made a collage showing the weather.

We all looked brilliant in our Christmas jumpers today-don't forget to dress up on Monday for our Santa Dash!

Home Practice

Read for at least 10 minutes every night. This is so important. please sign the diary so we can change the books. Keep practicing reading the Tricky Words on sight. Please just write a note in the diary if you need the next set.

We have also been doing lots of counting. We have mainly been focusing on counting in 10s up to 100 (0, 10, 20, 30...) Please practise these at home. If you want a challenge, start from a different number that is not in the 10x table (e.g. 5, 15, 25, 35...) We use a number square in class to help us with this, feel free to search '100 square' in Google to find one online.

Sumdog challenges

Phonics - split digraph i_e words

Maths - adding on 10 more up to 100

Year 6 Friday 3rd December 2021

Date: 3rd Dec 2021 @ 4:11pm

For our fourth week back, Year 6 have had another busy week. They created an advent calendar full of good deeds to do each day during Advent, had a great time watching and taking part in the pantomime ‘Dick Whittington’ and used their artistic skills to design a war scene from their own war story.

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have been deepening our understanding of fractions through finding equivalences and explaining why 2/3 is the same as 8/12. We then used that knowledge to add and subtract same multiple fractions (e.g. 2/5 + 2/10)
• We have completed out novel, ‘‘Private Peaceful’, learnt about the harsh reality of war and planned and written our own battle scene using everything we have learnt over the past 4 weeks.
• In Geography, we evaluated our PowerPoint presentation and each other’s on the effect of tectonic disasters.
• For our RE topic, Expectations, we have used the words of Isaiah to understand how Jesus’ arrival will have rewards and burdens for us.
• In this PE session, we put our attacking, defending, throwing, catching and evading skills to the test with an Intra competition using Dodgeball as the sport.
• In Art, we took part in a ‘Big Draw’ where we used music (that reflected a battle scene) and used any medium they wanted to create a scene based on their own story.
• In Music, we improved our jazz playing on the glocks by investigating the structure of jazz including head, middle 8 and improvising. We have also been learning ‘Hark the Herald’ and ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ for the carol service.
• In French, we completed our writing about the weather with complex sentences using great vocabulary.
• In Science, we explored how the shape of a shadow can be changed. We found out that a shadow is always the same shape as the object that blocks the light because light travels in straight lines.

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

• Reading – Use your Home Reading 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 (ough words)
  • Sumdog (ough words A2 wk 6)
    • though, although, rough, tough, through, cough, nought, brought, ought, thought, fought, plough, dough, enough, thorough

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in decimal steps of:

20 000, 200 000 and x 2. 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.
• g. Start with 5 digit numbers and count up 10 times then back again in 20 000s:

43 654, 63 654, 83 654, 103 654, etc

and in 200 000s:

43 654, 243 654, 443 654, 643 654                

Start at a different number and count up 10 numbers and down again but this time in x2:

9, 18, 36, 72, 144, 288, 576, 1 152, etc      

• Sumdog (All times tables x2 – x12)
  • 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)
  • Some of this task will be challenging but to help you remember how to solve them, here are some success criteria:
    • For adding same multiple fractions ½ + ¼
      • Convert ½ = 2/4
      • The question is then 2/4 + ¼ = ¾
    • For 2/5 + 5/10
      • Convert 2/5 = 4/10
      • The question is then 4/10 + 5/10 = 9/10
    • For subtracting same multiple fractions like 6/7 – 2/14
      • Convert 6/7 into 12/14
      • The question is then 12/14 – 2/14 = 10/14
    • For 8/10 – 1/5
      • Make the denominators the same, such as 1/5 into 2/10
      • Now the question is 8/10 – 2/10 which equals 6/10

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. 

Year 4 Home Learning Friday 3rd December 2021

Date: 3rd Dec 2021 @ 4:00pm

Year 4

Home Practice 3^rd December 2021

Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s what we have been learning in school this week ….

In English, we started our new class novel ‘The Iron Man’.  We listened to the first chapter when the Iron Man steps off the cliff. Following this, we rewrote the chapter as if we were the Iron Man putting his body parts back together again!

In Maths, we learnt more about the compact method of addition.  We revised using this method when adding 3-digit numbers together.  This learning was then extended to adding 4-digit numbers together, including exchanging.  In addition we have been practising our tables and counting in 7’s.

In RE, we were introduced to the prophet Isaiah, who was waiting for the coming of the Messiah. We also learnt about ‘Gaudete’ Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent. We learnt what the word Gaudete means and that Advent is a time of expectation and preparation for Christmas.

In History, we labelled a Roman Soldier, using the correct vocabulary for the different items of clothing / uniform.  We also looked at some Roman Soldier artefacts and are looking forward to trying on the armour!

In PE, we continued adding freeze frames and transitions to our dances.  In addition, we played mini games of tag rugby during which we needed to remove tags from the players on the other team.  

During our French lesson, we watched a Pocoyo cartoon about a birthday. Poor Baleine didn't get any presents but at least he had some really good friends!  We managed to understand the gist of it. Not easy listening so well done, year 4!

On Thursday afternoon we were lucky enough to watch a live production of Dick Whittington!  What an exciting afternoon.

This week’s Home Practice ….

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Make sure you discuss the story and the characters.  Find the meaning of any new words too.  Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding. 

Times tables

You have been given your own individual times table target.  Please make sure you continue to practise your times tables in preparation for your test next week, on Thursday (9^th December 2021). Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?  

Remember - you can also practise your tables playing ‘Hit the button’.   

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 7’s – draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers down as you count up.  When you count down, cover the numbers up, say the number, then reveal what you have got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 7’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 84 and back again (this will help with your 9 times tables)

0   7   14    21  etc                     84   77    70   etc

Do this a few times to help you learn them!

Spellings

The spellings are all words which children use regularly in their writing but are often spelt incorrectly. Please practise your spellings each evening at home.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (9^th December 2021). We have discussed different strategies you could use to help you learn them and you could also use ‘Look say cover write check’.

does            doesn’t         there           their           they’re

to                too              two              were            where

your             you’re          went            would           could

didn’t

Sumdog challenges

You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:

• A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
• A times table challenge based on the 7 times tables
• A column addition challenge

Please make sure you log on and have a go! Many of you are still not accessing Sumdog on a daily basis. Little and often is the key to success!

Number bonds

Please continue practising your number bonds / addition skills playing Hit the Button

The game you will play will help with your number bonds and quick addition skills. For example:

8 + 6               you could partition this into         8 + 2 + 4 = 14

This is because 8 + 2 is a pair to 10, then add the 4 to 10

Click on the link above, then on Play Game.

Click on Number bonds

On the left-hand side you will see the words ‘Up to 20’

Click on Addition within 20

See how many you can get correct in 1 minute. Then have another go and try and beat your score.

Maths and spelling training

Last week we introduced Maths and Spelling Training on Sumdog. Well done to everyone who accessed the Sumdog learning platform.  This training feature will be available from now on, so please continue to practise the maths and spelling skills you find tricky. 

Friday 3rd December 2021 - Year 5

Date: 3rd Dec 2021 @ 1:01pm

 Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog

What a busy week it has been and the children have been fantastic!

This week in year 5

We started the week with our Reconciliation day.  The children were so well behaved, enthusiastic and respectful all day.  They appeared to have an enjoyable day and all felt happy at the end of the sacrament.  I have posted a separate blog with photos in the gallery.

On Tuesday we had our trip to the Vehicle Museum, what a day!  The children had an absolute action packed day, we stayed an extra 30 minutes, we were having so much fun!  They children impressed Rob, our guide for the day, with their knowledge on forces, friction and resistance. They had to order the vehicles on age and again on horse power and then looked at links.  Later in the morning the children made rubber band powered cars and were challenged to make their car travel the furthest.  This was lots of fun.  After lunch, the children had 4 activities, these were designing their own truck, finding badges on the vehicles and completing the sketches, designing their own logo to hand paint on a vehicle and finally free time in the museum to use the interactive truck, change tyres, get into some of the vehicles and look at the amazing vehicles on display.  It really was a great day!

In Maths we have continued our focus on division.  This week we have used the chunking method.  The week started off with some challenging questions but they have used their strategies well to help them solve these.  We finished the week being able to solve 3 digit division problems with remainders. I have been impressed with their resilience in a tricky topic.

In English we finally finished Room 13, what an exciting story!  The children have been so engaged with ideas and links throughout the book.  This week the children have spent time writing an alternative ending to the book and editing it.  They have focussed on adding fronted adverbials, powerful verbs and including descriptions relating to senses to create suspense.  They have done a marvellous job.

In RE the children have been looking at how the coming of Jesus at Christmas can provide hope to a lot of people that are unhappy.  We discussed and wrote about how we could be like Jesus and bring hope to others will small deeds.

The children also did some work on money in PHSE.  We looked at and discussed the right and wrong thing to do when we find money and then they had to shop for 2 people for 3 days on a budget.  They were very careful with their money, shopped for essentials only and had £5 left over.  We discussed how asking for treats is not always the best thing to do as parents can be on a budget and they could see how one or two treats can send you over the budget and you wouldn’t have enough money for essentials.

On Thursday the children watched the pantomime Dick Whittington.

 “Oh No they didn’t!” “Oh yes they did!”

They had a great time shouting to the cast, laughing, cheering and enjoying the show!

Home Practice all relates to this week's learning - These are the tasks to be completed.

Reading - You all have a Home Reading book for year 5 so reading every night for 15-20 mins is essential. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be completed and signed.

You can change your reading book on any school day (book bags to be left on Mrs Mulgrew's desk)

Spellings words ending cious and common exception words. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. 

Don’t forget the children have a big list of Common Exception words to learn, these can be practised each week to push your child further.

Some children have been told to complete a different number of spellings, please check with your child.

conscious      ferocious      gracious        precious        suspicious     spaciousness

spacious        accommodate         accompany  according     achieve

aggressive    amateur        ancient          apparent

Sumdog challenges

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES, MANY CHILDREN ARE STILL NOT ACCESSING SUMDOG.

Last week introduced 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 they find difficult.  Once the diagnostic challenges have been completed Sumdog will set challenges to aid improvement and development in the appropriate areas for your child.  Once you have completed the class challenges, please use this feature for extra challenge in both maths and spelling.

Times tables have been set to reflect class targets

Maths the children have been set more activities relating to multiplication and division.  They will need to use their multiplication and division knowledge and learnt in recent weeks, to work out the answers.  They may need to do jottings.

Spellings words ending cious and common exception words.

The children have had another great week in school.