Year 6: Blog items

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Year 6 Blog Friday 19th May 2023

Date: 19th May 2023 @ 3:33pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog.

This week has been another busy one following our SATs week. On Thursday we attended church to celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, led by Year 6. This Friday, we had a visit from the CEO of the Foxton Centre in Preston who gave us a talk about their fantastic charity work for the homeless community.

Also, Year 6’s learning this week:

In Maths, we have learnt about line graphs, how to interpret them and draw various continuous data. Next week, we will learning more about pie charts and how to interpret them.
In English, we have learnt how to improve our persuasive writing through planning and creating a persuasive letter to one of the Skellig characters on why they should try home school or state school.
In PE, we focused on our athletics skills: running, throwing and jumping, as we prepare for our last Sports Day at St Oswald’s. Also, we prepared our ‘mini coaching’ sessions by designing them and practising each activity with other groups.
In Geography, we introduced our new topic, Brazil, through mapping work of South America and learnt the bordering countries surrounding it.
In History, we learnt about the Maya rule and how this compares to the Anglo-Saxons at the same period (8^th to 10^th century).
In PSHE, we discussed our responsibilities around school, and how we can use what we have learnt from them as we begin transitioning to high school.
In RE, we began our new topic, ‘Witness’, where we learnt how our beliefs and values affect what we do when being a witness.

Home Practice this week.

This week I have a different task for you to complete. Part of our speaking and listening area of the English curriculum is to give presentations on a variety of topics. Doing this individually though, will be great practice for any future activities you undertake in high school. Therefore, this weekend, I would like you to create a two-minute speech to present between next Monday to Friday. It can be:

About any topic you wish
About a talent you have
About a skill you developed
About any holiday you have been on
About your pet and how to look after it
About absolutely anything.

Year 6 Blog Friday 12th May 2023

Date: 12th May 2023 @ 3:48pm

This week Year 6 completed an exam week of SATs for Spelling, Grammar, Reading and Maths.

You have all worked incredibly hard with revising, the work in class and all the home learning you completed. You should be so proud of yourselves for persevering through this week.

No home learning is set, so please enjoy yourselves and rest this weekend – you deserve it!

Year 6 Blog Friday 5th May 2023

Date: 5th May 2023 @ 12:18pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog. This week our Sports Captains led their first sports day for Reception. They did a great job and are looking forward to leading the next one. This Friday, we celebrated the King’s Coronation wearing red, white or blue and with a special picnic outside, including music and biscuits!

Also, Year 6’s learning this week:

In Maths, we have been improving our learning of 2D shapes and used that knowledge to help with perimeter, area and coordinates. One main area we have been improving is fractions of amounts and percentages of numbers.
In English, we have focused on our descriptive writing, and learnt how to better use similes and personification to create a more detailed image for the reader.
In PE, we learnt how to improve the accuracy of throwing and catching within cricket and how to perform the basics of batting.
In PSHE, we discussed ways of keeping calm under pressure and devised a plan for how to organise ourselves for next week.
In Art, we completed a collage of our Mayan masks.
In French, we recapped the items on a cafe menu then conjugated a regular ER verb - Aimer, to like. We will put this learning together next week to say what people like and dislike from the menu.
In Science, we summarised our learning from this topic about Healthy Lifestyle Choices. Then we had a video call with a hospital pharmacist who talked about the path she took from St Oswald’s to where she is now - the lead Major Trauma pharmacist for Central Manchester. She answered the children's questions about her job, medicines and drugs. The children were very interested and asked some great questions. The idea was to show Y6 that many, varied science careers are open to all of them.

No Home Practice this week.

But make sure you spend the weekend doing at least one or a number of the following things:

Rest and enjoy doing something you love,
Do something active,
Spend time with your family,
Read a good book,
Watch a film.

Have a great weekend everybody, rest and sleep well with a good breakfast Tuesday morning.

Year 6 Blog Friday 28th April 2023

Date: 28th Apr 2023 @ 9:18am

Welcome to our first Year 6 blog of the Summer Term. It has been great to see the children back in their summer uniforms. They have all come back with a super attitude after having two weeks off and have done brilliantly with all the tricky tasks set this week. Keep up the hard work Year 6!

Also, Year 6’s learning this week:

In Maths, we have been learning how to solve problems with our place value knowledge by making sure we underline the important parts of the question and to check our answers. We have also learnt about ratio (the relation of one quantity to another) and proportion (which is a number, a share or a part of something in relation to a whole – like portions).
In English, we have written an explanation text, a story and a poem using a range of conjunctions and noun phrases. We have also been improving our grammar knowledge by revisiting the names of all the word classes.
In History, we continued our learning of the Maya civilisation by interpreting evidence from a range of artefacts.
In PE, we began our striking and fielding unit through the sport of cricket, and focused on our bowling skills, both underarm and overarm.
In Music, we have started a unit of living composers: people composing music who are alive now. This week we looked at Anna Meredith and began composing our own raps.
In French, we began to learn about the Cafe culture in France and used dictionaries to look up any unknown words to help us read a cafe menu. We were pleasantly surprised how much we could understand without having to look up the words - great progress y6!
In Science, we learnt about medicines and drugs - how they are helpful but can also be dangerous. We have a talk next week from a hospital pharmacist who will talk about her job role and answer the children's questions about medicines and drugs so we prepared for that. We have now learnt about many different ways of making healthy lifestyle choices - we will put all our learning together next week to conclude this topic.

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. It is important to keep reading, right up until the end for the year.

NO SPELLING LIST THIS WEEK (We will be recapping our knowledge of the Year 5/6 spellings). Next week’s test will be on a random 15 spellings from this list so please look through those which you need to practise on.

NO SUMDOG – please complete the sheets that have been given, by Monday.

Maths challenges:
- Counting:
  - This week we have been counting in 60s and 600s
  - Start with 225 or 850 or 575
  - Then count up in 60s ten times and back again
    - 225, 285, 345, 405, 465, 525, 585, etc
  - Then count up and back in 600s
    - 850, 1450, 2005, 2650, 3250, 3850, etc
  - Number facts:
    - To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 17 – 9 = 6, 15 – 8 = 7.
    - The best way to do this is to simply have someone in your home quiz you with questions like (13 – 5, 18 – 9, 16 – 8, 15 - 9, etc)
    - Then get them to change the place value of these digits (1.3 – 0.5, 1.8 – 0.9, 1.6 – 0.8, 1.5 – 0.9, etc)

Year 6 Blog Thursday 6th April 2023

Date: 6th Apr 2023 @ 2:07pm

Welcome to the last Year 6 blog this spring term. We are so pleased with everyone’s effort throughout the term! This week, we led a church service based on Holy Week and were invited to church again by Father, where we learnt more about the stations of the cross, and what it means for Christians.

Also, Year 6’s learning this week:

In Maths, we learnt that algebra means ‘the reunion of broken parts’, what algebra symbols mean and how to solve them. We also improved our learning on how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions.
In English, we used our Skellig story to help learn how to answer reading questions of retrieval and inference using the text as evidence.
In PE, we completed our orienteering unit with an intra competition in pairs trying to find the points hidden around the school grounds.
In History, we learnt how the Maya were so successful, with clever farming and building structures using limestone and obsidian as their main resource. We summarised our findings in the style of a historian.

For the Easter holidays, I have included a ‘Suggested Revision Guide’ that has extra home practice sheets to use as you please. All documents have been given to you in a folder.

The Easter holidays are to rest, relax and enjoy time with your family. The documents I have included in the folder are for those who wish to do some extra practice during the two weeks, for just a small amount of time each day. It is not a requirement to complete everything but little and often of reading, maths revision, grammar and spelling revision will go a huge way when you return on Monday 24^th April. Please bring in any work and revision in on that day so I can advise on what to do next.

Enjoy your Easter break!

Year 6 Blog Friday 31st March 2023

Date: 31st Mar 2023 @ 1:02pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog.

On Thursday, we had a super time celebrating World Book Day with a special assembly about Tyrus Wong, the Chinese American immigrant who was responsible for the creation of Disney’s Bambi. Please see the pictures of the great outfits on our Year 6 gallery.

On Friday, Year 4 surprised us with a visit to show their excellent adventure stories based on Adolphus Tips. We then showed our persuasive adverts to buy a house – super writing by all! Please see the pictures on the Year 6 gallery.

We have attached a new online safety guide 'What Parents and Carers Need to Know about Age-Inappropriate Content'. Please Read.

REMINDER

For the last week of orienteering (weather depending), please bring in extra trainers (preferably old ones) that you do not mind getting dirty and a plastic bag to keep them in.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we learnt to work out mode, median, range and mean in a set of data. We also practised how to convert length, mass and capacity with different reasoning questions.
In English, our main character, Michael, and his family have recently moved to a new house with an estate agent showing them around. We used this to learn formal persuasive ways to speak and become an estate agent to sell a fictional house.
In RE, we learnt about Jesus’ journey through Holy Week, discussing how He must have felt and why Jesus sacrificed himself. We then created an information page about what happened.
In PE, we used our school grounds map (created by cross curriculum orienteering) to find hidden letters around the school to form the secret message. We made sure we orientated the map correctly all the way around the course.
In History, we investigated the Maya timeline by plotting events in chronological order. We learnt where and when they lived and the main events that happened during the Maya era.
In French, to round off our learning about the geography of France, we read a classic French poem, Dans Paris by Paul Eluard. We then wrote togetherin the same style. - Dans Longton. The children's pronunciation of new French words is impressive - great phonics, Y6.
In Science, we completed the investigation involving burning crisps to see how much energy they contain. The children then used the results to say what they had found out and to evaluate the investigation, explaining how it could be improved. You would be amazed how much black smoke comes off one crisp - most off-putting!

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

Reading

Please keep reading every day to build up stamina. A great idea is to read 20-30 pages a day (you can read more) in one sitting, as this will build up your ability to read at length for long periods of time.

Spellings (challenge words)

Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 7 Challenge words 3)

average, awkward, correspond, forty, interrupt, lightning, occur, relevant, sacrifice, excellent, recognise, sincere, sufficient, variety, vehicle

The main spellings will be the ones above, but as we are consolidating our learning of spelling strategies and spelling rules, Sumdog has included these 5 below in the online challenge.

(according, bargain, develop, equip, physical)

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week, please practise counting in 90s and 900s
- For example, start at 2 360 and count up to 2 960 and back again
- 2 360, 2 450, 2 540 etc 2 960, 2 870, 2 780, etc
- Also, start at 8 800 and count up to 17 800 and back again
- 8 800, 9 700, 10 600, etc 17 800, 16, 900, 16 000, etc

Sumdog (Squared and cubed numbers)
- This challenge will help recognise squared and cubes numbers. Remember – squared numbers are numbers multiplied by itself twice (3 squared = 3 x 3; 4 squared = 4 x 4)

Cubed numbers are numbers multiplied by itself three times

( 3 cubed = 3 x 3 x 3; 4 cubed = 4 x 4 x 4)

Sumdog (Volume using cubes and formula)

This week, use your knowledge of times tables and the volume formula (length x width x height) to solve the questions quickly. Some will be word problems so try not to rush them – aim for accuracy.

'What Parents and Carers Need to Know about Age-Inappropriate Content'.pdf

Year 6 Blog Friday 24th March 2023

Date: 24th Mar 2023 @ 12:53pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog.

This week, people from the Fire Service came to give Year 6 a fire safety talk. We learnt valuable safety tips on how to keep safe at home and on the road.

On Friday, Year 6 were invited to mass, where we prayed and learnt about the stations of the cross.

Please find attached the latest guidance regarding the use of Whatsapp. As you are aware, the age restriction on the platform is 16.

REMINDER

For our PE lessons this term, which will include rugby and orienteering (weather depending), please bring in extra trainers (preferably old ones) that you do not mind getting dirty and a plastic bag to keep them in. You may take them home each week, if you prefer to clean them.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we learnt how to interpret pie charts using our knowledge of fractions. We also found the properties of 3D shapes – faces, edges and vertices – and created nets for them.
In English, we began our new story, Skellig, and met the main character Michael, who has just moved house. We learnt how to write an internal monologue using thoughts and feelings.
In RE, we began our new topic, Death and New Life, where we discussed the loss of a friend, relative or a teacher they once had, and how we deal or have dealt with it.
In PE, we worked in small teams to navigate our way through different coned maps to try to complete two courses of orienteering. The children had to use math skills to figure out which direction to move in.
In History, we learnt more about the Ancient Maya using 10 clues around the classroom. We worked in pairs to discuss what these findings mean, to help us understand what life might have been like for a Mayan.
In Art, we researched the Mayan masks, created an information page about all their use and used different media (pastels and charcoal) to create them.
In French, we learnt that feminine nouns usually end with the letter e. This helped us decide whether we need un or une as a determiner. Then we looked at the vocabulary for countries and nationalities and how to make the adjectives agree with the subject of the verb. For example, They (feminine) are Italian would need to be feminine plural. Tricky stuff! We finished by giving our opinions in French about a very popular song In France - we didn't like it much!
In Science, we continued our learning about healthy diets by burning different brands of crisps to demonstrate that calories are the amount of energy in food. We talked about the effect of eating more calories than we use up on our bodies. We used the data from the investigation to explain what we had found out.

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

Reading

Please keep reading every day to build up stamina. A great idea is to read 20-30 pages a day (you can read more) in one sitting, as this will build up your ability to read at length for long periods of time.

Spellings (challenge words)

Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 5 Challenge words)

available, according, conscious, familiar, muscle, determined, identity, competition, existence, suggest, develop, explanation, privilege, symbol, immediately

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week, please practise counting in 80s and 800s
- For example, start at 780 and count up to 1580 and back again
- 780, 860, 940 etc 1580, 1500, 1420, etc
- Also, start at 6 900 and count up to 14 900 and back again
- 6 900, 7 800, 8 600, etc 14 900, 14, 000, 13 200, etc

Sumdog (Multiples of 6, 7, 9, 25, 1000)
- This challenge will help to develop your counting skills.

Sumdog (3D shapes with nets Sp2 wk 5)

This week, use the learning of 3D nets we have done this week to quickly identify nets of 3D shapes. The most important ones to get correctly are cube and cuboid. Good luck!

Whatsapp guidance.pdf

Year 6 Blog Friday 17th March 2023

Date: 16th Mar 2023 @ 10:40am

Welcome to our Year 6 blog.

This week, our Athletics team headed to Blackpool to compete in the Lancashire Finals against 14 other schools. After a very tense and exciting afternoon, St Oswald’s achieved their first ever win, becoming the top athletics team in Lancashire. An amazing achievement that could not have been accomplished without a full team effort.

Also, we were lucky to welcome back Freddy Fit on Wednesday, who put us through paces with hoopla-hooping, speed jumping and lots of dancing - thank you Freddy Fit!

REMINDER

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we learnt how to read and interpret different bar charts, pictograms and timetables. We practised using number lines as a great way to find the difference between two times or adding/subtracting with time.
In English, we learnt how to write a formal letter of complaint so we could complain to the governments who are yet to ban wild animals in a circus. We learnt different formal language phrases, no contractions to be used and how to structure it so we did not come across rude.
In RE, we concluded our Unity topic by analysing the ‘Prayer for Peace’, which is read out by the priest before we offer each other the sign of peace. We linked different phrases to various stories we have learnt over the passed few weeks and to bible passages we have learnt in other topics.
In PE, the weather was awful, giving us the opportunity to complete our athletics lessons, which helped us to evaluate how well we have improved individually during this unit.
In Computing, we completed a 3D model of our dream house, using a range of shapes to make it unique. We then evaluated what went well and what needed improving next time.
In Art, we learnt about pointillism, a technique of painting using small dots of colour applied in patterns to form an image. George Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886. We trialled this with cotton buds and then applied this new knowledge to create our Mother’s Day cards.
In French we learnt how to change masculine adjectives into their feminine form, then we used these feminine adjectives to write a card for a special lady to tell her how amazing she is! I hope the children can read and translate for you.
In Science, we began to look at how to make healthy lifestyle choices and the effect they have on our bodies. The children researched the different food groups and designed a day's healthy meals to provide a balanced diet.

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

Reading

Please keep reading every day to build up stamina. A great idea is to read 20-30 pages a day (you can read more) in one sitting, as this will build up your ability to read at length for long periods of time.

Spellings (challenge words)

Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 4 Unstressed letters)

accommodate, accompany, amateur, bargain, bruise, definite, desperate, environment, excellent, government, guarantee, immediate, leisure, neighbour, nuisance

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week, please practise counting in 70s and 700s
- For example, start at 650 and count up to 1350 and back again
- 650, 720, 790, etc 1350, 1280, 1210, etc
- Also, start at 5 400 and count up to 12 400 and back again
- 5 400, 6 100, 6 800, etc 12 400, 11, 700, 11 000, etc

Sumdog (Multiply / Divide by 10/100/1000)
- This challenge will help to develop speed in this area.

Sumdog (Timetables Sp2 wk 4)

This week, use the learning of timetables to answer various questions linked to time. Do not worry about speed on this task, just try to get as many accurate as possible.

Year 6 Blog Friday 10th March 2023

Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 12:55pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog.

This week, our Japanese visitors taught a lesson on proverbs with the game, ‘Karuta’ using matching cards. Please see the Year 6 gallery and the fun we had playing it.

This Friday we were very lucky to welcome Stuart Rowson, a producer on CBBC and CBeeBies, and now an author of his new book, 'Issy and the Tumble Thunder'. He read part of his book out to us and answered some of our great questions.

REMINDER

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we learnt how to find the perimeter of rectangles, squares and rectilinear shapes by finding all the length of each side and adding them together. We have also been improving our x fraction strategies using bar models to explain.
In English, we have written as a tiger expressing our terrible treatment at the circus, and what a typical day is like.
In RE, we continued our topic of ‘Unity’ by analysing St Paul’s letter (Romans 12:3-10) to then create a stained-glass window of what unity means to us.
In PE, we continued our focus on improving our individual performance with throwing, jumping and running in athletics.
In History, we researched four ancient civilisations: Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Sumer, Ancient Indus Valley and The Shang Dynasty to compare what they have in common. We discussed how they all lived near rivers and the benefits that these can bring: more crops, plants for medicine, protection, cleanliness, drinking water and growing farm animals.
In Computing, we analysed three 3D models of houses, chose our objects and combined them to planned our own 3D model of a dream house using tinkercad. Next week, we will complete them, take photos and upload to the Year 6 gallery.
In French, we recapped how to conjugate the verb etre, to be, with a game before using the correct form of the verb to say what nationality various people are. Getting ready for High School with this great French grammar, Year 6!
In Science, we planned and carried out a comparative test to find out how different forms of exercise affect our pulse rate. We identified all the variables and chose which one to change and which to measure. We understood that we needed to repeat the readings to ensure the data is more accurate. We then used the scientific vocabulary to explain our findings. We will move on next week to learning about how exercise and life style choices affect our health.

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

Reading

Please keep reading every day to build up stamina. A great idea is to read 20-30 pages a day (you can read more) in one sitting, as this will build up your ability to read at length for long periods of time.

Spellings (challenge words)

Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 3 Prefix dis-, un-, im-)

disadvantage, disappear, disappoint, discovered, dishonest, unacceptable, unachievable, unbelievable, uncomfortable, unforgivable, immature, impatient, impolite, impartial, impossible

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week, please practise counting in fraction steps of 2/5 and ¼
- For example, start at 1/5 and count up to 3 1/5 and back again
- 1/5 , 2/5 , 3/5, etc 3 1/5, 3 , 2 4/5 etc
- Also, start at ¼ and count up to 6 ¼ and back again
- ¼, 2/4, ¾, etc 6 ¼, 6, 5 ¾ , etc

Sumdog (Times tables Sp 2 wk 4)
- Keep working on your fluency and speed with this challenge.

Sumdog (Perimeter Sp 2 wk 4)

This week, remember that perimeter is the total distance around a shape. Therefore, make sure you add all the sides you see. (Be careful with different units).

Year 6 Blog Friday 3rd March 2023

Date: 3rd Mar 2023 @ 8:05am

Welcome to our Year 6 blog.

This week, we have been lucky enough to welcome our Japanese visitors (Yuichi and his students), who will be learning about early reading and writing as they continue their journey to becoming teachers.

REMINDER

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we learnt how to find the area of squares, rectangles and rectilinear shapes (using the formula, l x w = area), which then helped us to solve various shape problems.
In English, Vita, our main character, witnessed her first circus, which inspired us to write a ‘rave review’ for a newspaper article. We have been working on perfecting our punctuation too.
In RE, we continued our topic of ‘Unity’ by reading John’s gospel (17:11, 20-23), which helped us to write a prayer of the benefits people can have by being more united with each other.
In PE, we focused on improving our individual performance with throwing, jumping and running in athletics.
In History, we learnt where some of the ancient civilisations fit into a world history timeline
In Music, we appraised another song written by Carole King, ‘The Locomotion’, and played some accompaniment to the song, ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. We also learned the recorder parts to the song.
In PSHE, we continued our topic of online safety by learning about the age ratings system for films and other media. We can now recognise the different symbols related to the age ratings for films and can explain what each mean.
In French this week, we recapped how to say (A town/city) ______ est dans l'ouest de la France using a map of France. Then we began to learn our first irregular verb - the verb etre, to be, and practised using the right part of the verb with jobs vocabulary.
In Science, we learnt about the structure of a heart from a diagram, then we dissected some lambs' hearts to see if we could identify the parts. It's not as easy as the diagram makes it look! An interesting experience!

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

Reading

Please keep reading every day to build up stamina. A great idea is to read 20-30 pages a day (you can read more) in one sitting, as this will build up your ability to read at length for long periods of time.

Spellings (challenge words)

Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 2 long -y- sound)

Cycling, hyena, identify, imply, justify, apply, multiply, occupy, python, qualify, recycle, rhyme, supply, cyclone, hyphen

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week we have been counting in single digit steps to prepare us for future division learning. 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: 1.4, 2.64 and 3.726 and count up 10 times then back again in 0.3s:

1.4, 1.7, 2.0, 2.3, 2.6, 2.9, 3.2, etc

And in 0.4s:

2.64, 3.04, 3.44, 3.84, 4.24, 4.64, etc

Number facts:
- To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 6 + 9 = 15, 5 + 7 = 12.
- Then change the place value of these digits (0.6 + 0.9, 0.05 + 0.07, etc)

Sumdog (Prime numbers Sp 2 wk 3)
- We practised doing this same activity in class, so work on achieving close to 100% accuracy with this challenge.

Sumdog (Area Sp 2 wk 3)
- This week’s challenge will ask various area questions related to squares and rectangles. The purpose of this exercise is to read the question correctly as the unit of measurement will be important. For example, if the question asks, what is the area of 7cm x 5cm? The answers could be 35cm (squared, with a number 2 symbol) or 35cm. Make sure you read the answers carefully too.

Year 6 Blog Friday 24th February 2023

Date: 24th Feb 2023 @ 3:39pm

Welcome to our first Year 6 blog since the February half term.

This week, Year 6 were invited to celebrate Ash Wednesday and receive their ashes before Lent begins.

REMINDER

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we used our knowledge of times tables to help solve short and long division questions. We have begun to learn the method but this will need to be practised over the next few weeks before we can be secure with it.
In English, we met the final main character, Samuel, who will help Vita to complete her heist in the novel, The Good Thieves. We wrote a diary entry as her describing the first time she met either: Silk, Arkady or Samuel.
In RE, we started our new topic, ‘Unity’, and discussed and created an information text for ways to be a good friend to others.
In PE, we worked on evaluating our performance in invasion games, and how we can give constructive feedback to another person, just like a coach.
In Music, we used glocks and recorders learning the chords: G, A, F and C. We also learnt to sing the song, ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ by Carole King.
In PSHE, we discussed the benefits and risks of social media, and how we can encourage others to use social media responsibly.
In French this week, we looked at the geography of France and added cities, rivers and mountains to a map. We learnt how to say the compass points in French and put the information together to make sentences such as Marseille est dans le sud de la France.
In Science, we used apps and pulse meters to measure our pulse in a quicker and more accurate way than trying to count ourselves. We gathered the data and talked about the range of pulse rates in the class and why that might be. We then learnt what is meant by a double circulatory system by modelling it - running round in a circuit passing through the heart twice for every trip round the body, picking up oxygen in the lungs and dropping it off around the body before going back to the heart and so on. We then tried to explain our understanding in writing. Next week, we will look at lambs' hearts and dissect them. If anyone feels squeamish, they do not have to take part.

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

Reading

Please keep reading every day to build up stamina. A great idea is to read 20-30 pages a day (you can read more) in one sitting, as this will build up your ability to read at length for long periods of time.

Spellings (challenge words)

Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 2 short -y- sound)

Rhythm, system, physical, symbol, mystery, oxygen, symptom, hymn, myth, physics, syrup, cylinder, pyramid, rhyme, syllable

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week we have been counting in single digit steps to prepare us for future division learning. 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: 1, 2 and 3 and count up 10 times then back again in 3s:

35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50, 53, 56, etc

and in 6s :

365, 371, 377, 383, 389, 395, 401, 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, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

Sumdog (Multiplication Sp 2 wk 2)
- We have practiced a lot with these types of questions over the past month. Make sure you read the numbers in the question correctly and you will hopefully be able to work them out mentally.

Sumdog (Divisions with times tables Sp2 wk 2)
- For this challenge, use your times tables knowledge to answer quick division questions, which may be in the style of missing number sentences, e.g. 4 x ? = 36; 7 x ? = 56;? X 6 = 72, etc.

Year 6 Blog Friday 20th January 2023

Date: 20th Jan 2023 @ 7:18pm

Welcome to the Year 6 blog. This week, some of our Year 6s (along with a team of Year 5s) took part in a swimming competition at Hutton this Friday after school. It was a tough competition but our team managed to come 2^nd in our Penwortham/Longton area. A fantastic result!

REMINDER

For our PE lessons this half term, which will include cross country and orienteering (weather depending), please bring in extra trainers (preferably old ones) that you do not mind getting dirty and a plastic bag to keep them in. You may take them home each week, if you prefer to clean them.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we have learnt how to accurately measure, draw and estimate angles using a protractor. We have started to find missing angles but this learning will continue into next week.
In English, we have begun our new novel, The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell, by predicting the plot and themes based on clues of the four main characters. We then met the novel’s main protagonist, Vita, which we described using our knowledge from the text.
In Geography, we investigated the similarities and differences between three digital maps: Google Earth, Google maps and Ordinance Survey maps (through the digimaps website). Next week, we will look into more detail of how an Ordinance Survey map is useful, using our local area of Longton.
In PSHE, we helped a fictional character, Sita, with online friendships, and gave her advice on how to keep the friendship safe.
In PE, we were joined by Year 5 to work together for improving our stamina in cross country, learning different tactics in tag rugby and creating new sequences in gymnastics.
In Computing, we continued 3D modelling using Tinkercad. This week we learnt to add 3D shapes to a project and modify them.
In Science, we investigated the reflection of light with mirrors and tin foil. The children were then able to use their understanding of reflection to invent a periscope using junk materials. Some worked better than others, but everyone could say how they could improve their design next time.

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 can now change your book on any day – in Year 6 we aim to change it every week.

Spellings (challenge words)
- Sumdog (Spellings Sp1 wk 3 silent and unstressed letters 2)

guide, history, knee, know, lamb, often, parliament, recognise, rhyme, sign, separate, surprise, vegetable, weight, wrong.

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 Sp1 wk 3)

Sumdog (NEW diagnostic test)
- For this week’s Sumdog challenge, I have asked Sumdog to retest everyone. Questions may vary from person to person. The result will benefit all children, when they use Sumdog outside of the challenges I provide. Please let me know if there are any issues with it.

Year 6 Blog Friday 13th January 2023

Date: 13th Jan 2023 @ 3:31pm

Welcome to the Year 6 blog. This Friday, our football A team headed to Poolfoot Farm Sports & Leisure Complex in Thornton-Cleveleys for the Lancashire Football Finals. This is the first time we have ever achieved this, and thanks to the hard work from everyone, they achieved runners-up in the shield finals of the competition. A fantastic achievement!

REMINDER

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we have learnt to find fractions of amounts using our multiplication facts, and converted between fractions, decimals and percentages.
In English, we are nearing the completion of Private Peaceful. This week we have learnt to use new vocabulary to describe a deadly gas attack scene and used various sentence structures to write an action scene.
In RE, we learnt that there are seventy-three books in the Bible, forty six in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. We used our school Bibles to look up references to decide what genre the writing was and a short summary of them.
In Geography, we began our mapping work by relating our previous learning of mountains to discuss whether we would live near a volcano. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of living near one.
In PSHE, we explored how people on social media can create identities which can affect the way other people perceive them.
In PE, we divided the class into learning new tactics in an invasion game and prepped our gymnastics routine for our final lesson next week.
In Computing, we began a new topic of 3D modelling, using Tinkercad, a web-based 3D modelling application. Each child has their own private log in to save work, which we will be adapting over the next 5 weeks.
In French, we recapped weather and clothes words using the story Quel temps fait-il, Berthe? We answered questions about the text to show our understanding.
In Science, we looked for patterns between an object, the position of the light source and the size of the shadow. We also used our knowledge of how light travels to explain why shadows are always the same shape as the object.

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 can now change your book on any day – in Year 6 we aim to change it every week.

Spellings (challenge words)
- Sumdog (Spellings -silent letters and unstressed letters)

answer, favourite, bruise, actually, build, guarantee, certain, guard, definite, library, difference, muscle, exercise, doubt, environment.

Maths challenges:
- Counting:
  - This week we have been counting in fraction 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 one fifth and then two fifths:

4/5, 1 1/5, 1 3/5, 2, 2 1/5 , 2 3/5, etc

and in 2 ½ :

3 ½, 6, 8 ½, 11, 13 ½, 16, 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, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

Sumdog (Times tables Sp1 wk 2)
- This week, to see how confident the children are with the lower times tables, I have set a challenge for x4, x5, x6 and x7. Try to focus on speed as well as accuracy again this week.

Sumdog (Adding and subtracting fractions)
- For this challenge, you may need a pencil and paper to make quick jottings, especially if you have a question with same multiples, e.g. ½ + ¼ Remember that you need to convert the fractions to have the same denominator.
- Therefore, ½ = 4/8
- The question is then 4/8 + 1/4 = 5/8
- Do not try to complete each question or game quickly, focus on getting as many correct as possible.

Year 6 Blog Friday 6th January 2022

Date: 6th Jan 2023 @ 1:06pm

Welcome to our first blog of 2023. It has been a short week but we have managed to fit in quite a bit of work, which the children have responded very well to.

On Friday, the juniors celebrated The Feast of Epiphany in church with Father Michael. Well done to those in Year 6 who did the readings and bidding prayers.

REMINDER

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In Maths, we we learnt how to find common multiples and common factors of numbers. We used this knowledge to add and subtract fractions with different denominators.
In English, we continued our novel, Private Peaceful, by improving our reading skills, retrieval and inference, to gain information about the new character Sergeant Horrible Hanley. We also learnt to describe an action scene using the scene of how Tommo and Charlie rescued their Captain.
In RE, we started our new topic, Sources, by discussing the impact that books have on our lives. We asked ourselves whether books can enrich our lives, have they ever inspired us, and is there a book that changed the way we perceive the world.
In History, we used sources to predict what happened from the start of the World War I to the end. We then learnt about the Treaty of Versailles and how USA, Britain and France felt towards Germany and whether we felt it was harsh or fair decision.
In PSHE, we discussed what social media is, how it can affect our lives positively and negatively.
In French, we recapped telling the time in French to prepare for the Question of the week : Quelle heure est-il?
In Science, we continued our learning about light, investigating how we see a light source, then how we see objects. Finally, we were able to draw a ray diagram correctly. We also looked at all the vocabulary associated with light - you can't explain what you know if you don't have the right words to do it!

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 can now change your book on any day – in Year 6 we aim to change it every week.

Spellings (challenge words)
- Sumdog (Spellings -cial / -tial)

official, artificial, partial, confidential, essential, crucial, glacial, spatial, judicial, financial, beneficial, substantial, social, controversial, racial

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, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

Sumdog (Times tables Sp1 wk 1)
- This week, to see how confident the children are with the lower times tables, I have set a challenge for x3, x4, x5 and x6. Try to focus on speed as well as accuracy.

Sumdog (Multiples and Factors – part 2)
- For this challenge, see if you can use the learning from this week to answer questions on various multiples, common multiples, factors and common factor questions.

Year 6 Blog Friday 16th December 2022

Date: 16th Dec 2022 @ 12:37pm

Our last week in December has been very exciting, filled with Christmas carols sang to the parents, Christmas jumper day and the Christingle, which was led very well by the Year 6s!

Learning Times for this term has finally been completed, edited and published. Thank you to Year 6 for working hard on this. You can view the edition here online.

On Tuesday, we had a visit from Lancashire Adult Learning who led a workshop for our Year 6 with parents / grandparents. The campaign aims to help those in a care home who are lonely this Christmas. The gallery here, Year 6 Cards for Kindness, shows how super the cards were that both the children and adults made. If you managed to make it on Tuesday, thank you for coming!

On Thursday, we celebrated Mrs Sullivan and her 31 years as a teacher here. The children and adults sang her favourite songs, reminisced over lovely memories and presented her with hand-made cards from each class. We hope you enjoy your retirement Mrs Sullivan; Year 6 will miss you!

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

In our Design and Technology topic of sewing, we completed the planning, prepping, sewing and adding the finishing touches to our project. Please see the pictures here on our website for their brilliant work.
In PE, we have been working on creating a range of team strategies to outwit an opposing team. We then practiced them in various invasion games.
In Maths, we used various problem-solving skills to solve Math questions as a group.
In English, we learnt how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship as brothers became stronger as they headed off to France to fight in the Great War.
In History, we investigated what life was like for people at home when the Great War began and how propaganda had an affect on them.
In Art, we learnt a new skill of printing, with paint and polystyrene to create our Christmas cards. You can view this super artwork by clicking on this link, Year 6 Printing Art.

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 future learning!’

Year 6 Blog Friday 9th December 2022

Date: 9th Dec 2022 @ 8:16am

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

Congratulations to our Year 5/6 Football team who came second in the South Ribble finals on Tuesday. They have worked incredibly well as a team, helping to reach the Lancashire Finals for the first time ever for St Oswald’s.

Also on Tuesday, the juniors were very lucky to see the infant nativity in church. We thought they did an amazing job and sang beautifully. You can also see the Nativity video here.

On Friday, eleven of our children volunteered to be carol singers at this month's Caritas lunch at St Teresa's church. They did a brilliant job singing for the parish.

Our learning this week:

In Maths, we have been learning how to solve word problems by highlighting the important information, finding the numbers and working out what the calculation is.
In English, we have had our last lesson with Gareth Walker, who has been teaching us how to be a sport journalist. We have used the skills he has taught us to create this term’s edition of the Learning Times, which will be available next week.
In PE, we used this term’s learning of invasion games tactics to play small sided games of hockey. The most important thing we learnt is to move into space to gain a better advantage against an opponent.
In PSHE, we learnt how important sleep is for a healthy lifestyle and discovered ways of improving our own sleep.
In French, we wrote a story called Qui a tue le pere Noel? Who killed Father Christmas, based on a game of Cluedo. Fantastique, y6!
In Science, we carried out a carousel of activities to prove that light travels in straight lines.
In Design and Technology, we began our final design for our Christmas tree decoration using tapestry thread and needles. It has been great to see everyone develop their stitching skills this week.

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next Thursday:

Reading – Please read up to 30 minutes a night, complete your reading task and change your book one last time.
Maths challenges:

Sumdog (Lancashire Sumdog Winter Wonderland Contest))
- This week’s Sumdog contest is once again against Year 7 from All Hallows’. Try your best to get as many questions completed before next Thursday 15^th The questions will be based at your Sumdog level and will vary across many topics.

No spellings for home practice:

Due to a double sitting of spellings this week, no spellings are to be completed as ‘Home Practice’. Although, we will be recapping our learning of our spellings this term, in class.

Year 6 Blog Friday 2nd December 2022

Date: 2nd Dec 2022 @ 1:01pm

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

This week the athletics team continued their winning streak by becoming champions of South Ribble! An excellent achievement, which means another trip to the Lancashire finals. We will update you soon on when that will take place.

Also, the Santa Dash was on Friday. The whole class completed a very quick mile, and then supported the infants really well. Thank you to everyone for any sponsorship money raised.

Our learning this week:

In Maths, we have learnt how to use our times tables knowledge to quickly divide with partitioning.
In English, we have learnt the structure of persuasive writing, by analysing, planning and writing our own. We became Mrs Peaceful, from our Private Peaceful novel, trying to persuade the Colonel to not shoot Bertha the dog.
In PE, we were able to be outside for both athletics and invasion games. We worked on our baton changes in athletics and how we pass and receive in hockey.
In History, our World War I topic continued with investigating sources from the past to uncover what life was like on the front line. We listened to audio files, read letters from soldiers and explored pictures of the trenches.
In RE, we used the hymn of Maranatha to help understand the meaning of Advent and how Christians prepare for the coming of Jesus. We then created our own Advent calendar filled with positive actions to do, people to think about and prayers to say each morning of Advent.
In French this week, we played Cluedo (in French!) to guess who killed Pere Noel. Next week, we will write a story in French based on the game.
In Science, we checked on the food that's going nicely mouldy to see if our predictions were correct. Then we revisited all our learning about Classification before moving on to our new topic about Light. We began by recapping what we recalled from Y3, understanding that light comes from a source, that we need light to see and explaining what darkness is.
In Design and Technology, we continued our topic of sewing by learning new skills of the running stitch and over stitch.

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:

Reading – Please read up to 30 minutes a night and complete your reading task.

You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday

Spellings

Sumdog (A2 wk 6 -ough words)
- 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 again.
- Start with these numbers: 7.5, 2.46, 19.05 and count up 10 times then back again in 0.3:

7.5, 7.9, 8.2, 8.5, 8.8, 9.1, etc

and in 0.03:

7.5, 7.53, 7.56, 7.59. 7.62, 7.65 etc

Number facts:
- To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 6 + 8 = 14, 8 + 9 = 17.
- 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 A2 wk 6)

Sumdog (Fractions, Decimals and Percentages)
- This challenge will help cement the knowledge of equivalent fractions to decimals to percentages. Hopefully this task will be straight forward so we can build on this learning next week. Please get in touch if it becomes too tricky.

Maths Training

For further maths work, please visit the ‘Maths Training’ section which you can find in the tasks box on the left of the main screen. This will enable your child to push their learning further with the skills that Sumdog has given them, following the diagnostic test, which they completed in the first week of school.

Year 6 Blog Friday 25th November 2022

Date: 25th Nov 2022 @ 4:08pm

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

We have had a fabulous week getting back to our curriculum, following Robinwood last week. As we had missed one of our sports journalist sessions, Gareth Walker came for an extra visit to help us understand how an editor edits a journalist’s work before we then created our own. We will be using what we have learnt to help create articles for the upcoming Learning Times.

Our learning this week included:

In Maths, we have learnt to use bar models to find percentages of numbers and continue to use the grid method for up to four-digit by two-digit numbers.
In English, we have read more of our novel, Private Peaceful, and inferred main characters words and actions to help us write in role.
In PE, we focused on net/wall and gymnastics this week. In net/wall, we introduced the children to using better accuracy with the sport of table tennis. In gymnastics, we used the paired sequences from last week and applied them to different apparatus focusing on good transitions and slow and accurate movements.
In History, we began our new topic on World War I with an introduction of how it started and who was involved. Out topic will delve into what life was like for people living during this time.
In RE, we looked at the expectations of ourselves now and in the future, what expectations we have of others, and what it’s like when people let others down.
In French, we used a dictionary to look up the meanings of adverbs of frequency (sometimes, always, never etc) then we read some sentences about the climate in different seasons in the Alps and in Marseille - two contrasting locations in France. Some of us were able to continue by writing about the climate in England in French - fantastique!
In Science, to hone our working scientifically skills, we looked at some investigation plans and worked out what kind of graph the scientists would draw to show their results. We then recapped our learning about Classification as we are coming to the end of this topic. Finally, we looked at the food we set up to grow mould last week and checked to see if our predictions were correct.
In Design and Technology, we began our new topic of sewing by evaluating last year’s products before designing our own, which we will create in the coming weeks.

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:

Reading – Please read up to 30 minutes a night and complete your reading task.

You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday

Spellings

Sumdog (A2 wk 5 -ent, -ence)
- persistent, persistence, violent, violence, intelligent, intelligence, inconvenient, inconvenience, obedient, obedience, conference, difference, conscience, reference, excitement

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week we have been counting in decimal steps.
- Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class.
- Start with these numbers: 7.5, 3.9, 25.4 and count up 10 times then back again in 0.7:

7.5, 8.2, 8.9, 9.6, 10.1 etc

and in 2.5:

7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 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 A2 wk 5)

Sumdog (Adding and subtracting fractions)
- This challenge will help to cement the learning we have done with adding and subtracting fractions. Try to work through them quickly as they now should be easier to answer. Let me know if you find this tricky and we can work on this together.

Maths Training

Year 6 Blog Friday 18th November 2022

Date: 18th Nov 2022 @ 10:50am

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

This week has been our fabulous residential to Robinwood in Todmorden. We all had a super time. Click the link - Robinwood 2022 – to see some of the pictures. Also, look out for our Robinwood video coming soon on our YouTube channel, St Oswald's TV .

Our highlights included:

Accurately firing an arrow in archery
Crawling through tight spaces in caving
Using our strength and coordination to combat indoor climbing
Finding the courage to release the wire on the giant swing
Working together creatively to solve the dungeon challenge
Using our senses to navigate through the night line blind folded
Developing great communication skills to solve the quest challenge
Building confidence to head down the large zip wire

The children have been a credit to the school this week and we hope to build on the 12 qualities learnt at Robinwood:

Responsibility, cooperation, confidence, resilience,

Patience, respect, support, listening,

Developing skills, problem solving, encouragement, communication

Our learning continued on Thursday and Friday with:

Maths – we have learnt to accurately use the grid method effectively with large numbers and begun to find fractions of amounts.
English – we learnt how to write a detailed letter so we could thank Robinwood for our fantastic time there.
Science - we recapped what we learnt about microbes last week, then researched ways of preserving food to slow down the growth of microbes. We used this knowledge to predict which foods will grow mouldy the quickest, giving reasons for the order we predicted. We will watch what happens to the various food items over the next few weeks! Safety: All foods will be kept in sealed bags.
Art – having researched the flags of the World Cup, we designed our own flag using the skill of cutting materials to make a collage.
RE – we began our new topic of ‘Expectations’ where we discussed different scenarios, and the expectations we have of ourselves and what others expect.

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:

Reading – Please read up to 30 minutes a night and complete your reading task.

You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday

Spellings

Sumdog (A2 wk 4 -ant, -ance)
- assistant, assistance, arrogant, relevant, important, importance, appearance, extravagant, hesitant, reluctant, nuisance, hindrance, ignorance, resistant, restaurant.

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week we have been counting in 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 (Times Tables A2 wk 4)

Sumdog (Factor pairs linked to division)
- Remember that a factor is a number that divides into a number, leaving no remainders. 42 ÷ 7 = 6 and 42 ÷ 6 = 7, so both 7 and 6 are factors of 42. In fact, 7 and 6 are factor pairs – which is what we have looked at these past few days.

Maths Training

Year 6 Blog Friday 11th November 2022

Date: 11th Nov 2022 @ 4:20pm

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

For our second week back after half term, Year 6 have had two more visitors.

On Wednesday, Gareth Walker visited again, who is the founder of Literacy Kicks. He is working closely with Year 6 to write their own sports journalist articles.

Mr Pickles, our Mount Everest expert, joined us this Wednesday to show Year 6 a different side to Mount Everest. The pictures and videos of his journey to base camp, along with his stories, were a delight for the children to see.

This week’s learning in Year 6:

In Maths, we have learnt different mental jottings of multiplying whole numbers and decimals to help become more efficient, and we have learnt how to find equivalent fractions to decimals and vice versa.
In English, we began our new novel, ‘Private Peaceful’, through predicting the themes based on the synonyms of the words ‘peaceful’ and ‘private’. On Friday, we wrote our own Remembrance Day poems, thanks to the inspiration of John McCrae’s In Flander’s Fields and Moina Michael’s We Shall Keep the Faith.
In PSHE, we discussed ways of helping ourselves and others when faced with difficult challenges. We then related this learning to what we can do next week at Robinwood.
Our ‘Mountains’ topic in geography concluded with a story of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay – the first two people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. We then had a visit from Mr Pickles, who has ventured to the base camp of Mount Everest, and gave us a different view of what it was like there.
In PE, we learnt how to pass and receive a ball with hockey sticks. Then applied that learning in mini games. We also learnt how to show different paired balances in gymnastics, before creating a mini performance for the class to evaluate.
In RE, we learnt about the celebration of Rosh Hashana, a Jewish festival to celebrate their new year. We designed a card with various signs and symbols for a Jewish person.
In French this week, we used a bi-lingual dictionary to look up nouns to write a poem in French on the theme of Remembrance Day. We had to be careful to find the word happiness (noun) rather than happy (adjective).
In science, we learnt about another group of living things - Microorganisms. We planned and carried out a fair test using yeast. How does ______ affect the amount of gas produced by yeast? We researched ways of preserving food and used this research to predict which foods will go mouldy first.

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next MONDAY:

Pack your bag. Check the list of items you will need for Robinwood (NO EXTRA BAG IS NEEDED. JUST USE ONE)
Bring a water bottle
NO LUNCH – Robinwood is providing ALL your food for the entire stay.
Do not forget your coat!

Reading

Try to do your best to read over the weekend. Enjoy a really good book!

Year 6 Blog Friday 4th November 2022

Date: 4th Nov 2022 @ 3:36pm

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

For our first week back after half term, Year 6 have been working very hard and have remembered the importance of being of being good role models for our school. This was evident as a few of our Year 6s led St Oswald’s All Saint’s Mass on Tuesday.

This week, we had two visitors to our class. On Wednesday, Gareth Walker visited, who is a Sports Journalist with over 20 years’ experience of working on National Newspapers and founder of Literacy Kicks. He will be working with Year 6 to help teach them how to be a Sports Journalist over the next six weeks.

On Friday, Father Michael visited us to discuss how he became a priest and what it means to commit yourself to your faith. The children asked super questions and learnt a great deal. Thank you for visiting us, Father.

This week’s learning in Year 6:

In Maths, we have been improving our fraction addition and subtractions strategy by using common multiples. We also looked at various strategies to work out multiplication questions mentally.
In English, we completed Clockwork by creating our own alternative ending, which had to include suspense writing tools: short sentences, different senses and exciting vocabulary.
In RE, we completed our topic of ‘Vocation and Commitment’ by interviewing Father Michael about being a priest and how he was ordained.
Our ‘Mountains’ topic in geography continued, with research into three tectonic disasters (volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes) which the children will present next week.
In PE, we concluded one invasion games topic (Tag Rugby) by evaluating our performance in small game of 4 v 4. We also started a new topic through the sport of Hockey, where the same strategies and tactics (of Tag Rugby, Netball and Handball) will be used, but with the added skill of holding and running with a stick.
In French this week, we looked at how to say the sound 'an/am/en/am' then we began learning to read, pronounce and write weather phrases.
In Science this week, we used our knowledge of the characteristics of invertebrates to create our own new species. We challenged a partner to classify our newly-discovered creature, giving their reasons why. Then we used natural materials to make a collage picture of our new invertebrate.

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:

Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for up to 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.

You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday

Spellings (Spellings of Autumn 1)

Sumdog (Autumn 1 mixed spellings wk 6)
- politician, magician, electrician, optician, musician, technician, Egyptian, vision, session, decision, permission, compassion, expression, progression, impression.

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week we have been counting in whole number steps of 50, 90 and 900. 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 different numbers and count up 10 times then back again in 50s:

233, 283, 333, 383, 433, 483, 533, etc

and in 90s:

233, 323, 413, 503, 593, 683, 773, 863, etc

Start at a different number and count up 10 numbers and down again but this time in 900s:

740, 1640, 2540, 3440, 4340, 5240, 6140, 7040, etc

Sumdog (Times Tables A2 wk 1)

Sumdog (Multiply whole numbers and decimals)
- These questions are practice of the work we have done recently. Work through as many as you can as they will help hugely for next week’s learning.

Maths Training

Year 6 Blog Friday 20th October 2022

Date: 20th Oct 2022 @ 3:44pm

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

On Monday, alongside the Juniors, Year 6 performed ‘Down in the Valley’ with recorders to our first live performance of the year.

On Tuesday, Mr Kimmins, a firefighter, came to be interviewed to help us understand our RE topic ‘Vocation and Commitment’ better. After school, the Athletics team showed excellent determination and teamwork and won the Indoor Athletics competition for our local area. We are looking forward to competing again in the South Ribble finals.

Wednesday saw the South Ribble Coaches deliver ‘Young Leaders’ training to the whole class. We split into groups to devise our own new activities, which will help the infants develop their fundamental skills during future lunch times.

Also, the football league concluded at Hutton this week. The A team and B team gave excellent performances with the best teamwork play we have seen so far this season. After a tough three weeks of games, the results are in.

Results for A team:

St Oswald’s A 3 – 0 Little Hoole A

Play Off game St Oswald’s A 1 – 0 Howick A

A team finished 1^st. Congratulations A team!

Results for B Team:

St Oswald’s B 0 – 1 St Leonards

Play Off game St Oswald’s B 1 – 2 Ashbridge

B team finished 4^th. An excellent effort everyone!

This week’s learning in Year 6:

In Maths, we learnt how to explain the column addition and column subtraction method and discussed when to use it best.
In English, we have learnt that three separate timelines are occurring in Clockwork and how the writer has combined them to create an exciting ending.
In RE, we interviewed Mr Kimmins, a firefighter of over 23 years. The children’s questions gave some super responses and we now have a better understanding of why people commit to such a demanding job. Please see our Year 6 gallery where we pretended to be firefighters ourselves.
In PE, we continued developing our evaluating skills with various activities in both athletics and rugby. Working in small groups, we discussed how we can give positive feedback to each other.
In Music, we concluded our unit of recorders with a live performance in the Music Showcase, with the song ‘Down in the Valley’.
In Science, we researched an invertebrate group and presented the information in the form of a poster, explaining the characteristics of a particular group.

Home Practice

As it is half term this week, I have just three activities for you to practice (if you have time).

Reading – Please read as much as possible over this period. Some of you have taken an extra book. I cannot stress enough how little and often reading can make a difference and, with 10 days off school, that could be 300 potential minutes of reading that would benefit you massively.

Spellings (Spellings of Autumn 1)

Sumdog (A2 wk 1-tion, -sion, -ssion) Only 45 questions to answer (deadline is 04.11.22)
- direction, collection, addition, action, rotation, creation, punctuation, subtraction, division, television, discussion, session, mission, percussion, profession

Maths

Sumdog (Times Tables wk 7) 150 questions to answer (as the deadline is 04.11.22)
- Each child has their own tables target which they should know. The Sumdog challenge may relate to their target but this week we have focused on a mixture of x4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9s.

Online Safety Update

Date: 19th Oct 2022 @ 1:52pm

Welcome to your latest Online Safety Update

At St Oswald's, we regularly discuss online safety with the children to find out what they are experiencing in their online spaces. We find out what new games and platforms are trending and if any of our children have worries or concerns about what they experience online. A lot of children continue to access YouTube so we have added a refresher guide on the platform.

In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as connecting with strangers, inappropriate content and high visibility.

We have also spotted that some children have the new FIFA 23 football game for the PlayStation and XBox. Gaming has changed massively in the past few years with social connection now becoming an integral part of the gaming experience. We have added the latest guide for this game also.

Below you will find a link to join the National Online Safety platform and gain free access to a huge range of videos, resources and support.

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

YouTube.pdf FIFA23.pdf

Year 6 Blog Friday 14th October 2022

Date: 14th Oct 2022 @ 1:43pm

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

This week, Year 6 had a super time on their taster day at All Hallows’ school. They enjoyed burning crisps in Science, playing a handball tournament in PE and designing a moving robot in Computing. Please view our pictures in the Year 6 gallery.

Also, the football league continued at Hutton this week. The A team played really well with a great win and draw, which has set them up for a tense last week as we head towards the play offs. As for the B team, they are working incredibly well together and managed to win one and lose one. Please do not forget that the last week of football is at Hutton, Wednesday 19^th October at 3.45pm – 5pm.

Results for A team:

St Oswald’s A 1 – 1 Howick A

St Oswald’s A 4 – 1 Whitefield B

Results for B Team:

St Oswald’s B 4 – 2 Cop Lane B

St Oswald’s B 0 – 2 Middleforth

This week’s learning in Year 6:

In Maths, we have continued investigating different strategies for addition and subtraction using ‘compensation’ and ‘finding the difference’ to then decide on which strategy is the appropriate for different questions.
In English, an evil character (Dr Kalmenius) has dramatically entered our novel, ‘Clockwork’. We then described this character and attempted different ways of entering him into a story. We then created a play script to practise our spoken language skills in front of the class.
In RE, we started our new topic of ‘Vocation and Commitment’ by discussing the jobs that require these values. We then created questions for a firefighter that we will be interviewing next week.
Our ‘Mountains’ topic in geography continued with a look into how mountains were formed and are still forming. We learnt that the tectonic plates that surround the Earth have moved to create various mountains over millions of years.
In PE, we focused on developing the children’s evaluation skills. We discussed what to look out for (e.g. various tactics to outwit an opponent) and whether these were successful. If they were not, we changed them and tried again.
In Music, we practised with recorders this week as we prepared for our ‘Music Showcase’, which is at 2.45pm in the hall, Monday 17^th October 2022.
In French, we recapped the months of the year and learnt the vocabulary for the four seasons.
In Science, we created an interview with Carl Linnaeus, the ‘father’ of classification, and we sorted the characteristics of different classes of vertebrates and invertebrates.

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:

Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for up to 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.

You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday

Spellings (Spellings of Autumn 1)

Sumdog (Autumn 1 mixed spellings wk 6)
- discussed, usually, happiness, unavailable, changeable, comfortably, dependable, horrible, impossible, incredible, possible, difference, preferred, reference, transfer

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week we have been counting in decimal steps of 8, 80 and 800 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 different numbers and count up 10 times then back again in 8s:

5, 13, 21, 29, 37, 45, 53, 61, etc

and in 80s:

13, 93, 173, 253, 333, 413, etc

Start at a different number and count up 10 numbers and down again but this time in 800s:

456, 1256, 2056, 2856, 3656, 4456 etc

Sumdog (Times Tables wk 6)
- Each child has their own tables target which they should know. The Sumdog challenge may relate to their target but this week we have focused on a mixture of x4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9s.
- (Every Tuesday there is a tables test).

Sumdog (Estimating addition / subtraction)
- These questions will focus on rounding, which we have done these past few weeks. The questions will eventually seem quite simple once you realise that you do not need the exact answer, just the estimate. This practice will help with next week’s learning.

Maths Training

Year 6 Blog Friday 7th October 2022

Date: 7th Oct 2022 @ 3:45pm

Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.

This week, Year 6 attended church to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Thank you to Father Michael for inviting us.

Also, the football league began with pupils from Year 5 and 6 competing against schools from the local area. Both teams represented the school brilliantly, with superb hat-tricks from Finley (Year 6) and Morgan (Year 5). Everyone worked really well as a team – we are looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in the next two weeks.

Results for A team:

St Oswald’s A 3 – 0 Whitefield A

St Oswald’s A 4 – 0 New Longton A

Results for B Team:

St Oswald’s B 4 – 1 Ashbridge

St Oswald’s B 1 – 2 Howick B

This week’s learning in Year 6:

In Maths, we have learnt how to use the partitioning and bridging strategies for both addition and subtraction. Next week, we will learn a few more before deciding which strategies are most appropriate for different questions.
In English, we began our new novel, ‘Clockwork’ and have improved the reading skills of retrieval and inference to help find evidence that explains the impressions we have on the two main characters.
In Art, we used Lola Dupre’s artwork to inspire us further with the mediums of sketch pencils and charcoal. We focused on the skill of shading.
In RE, the school ambassadors led a lovely collective worship to complete our topic on ‘Unconditional Love’, before learning how people choose jobs that become a vocation and are extremely committed to.
Our ‘Mountains’ topic in geography continued with a closer look on what features are in a mountain range. We worked as groups to gather the information before making a presentation to the class.
In PE, the children learnt how to improve their running skills by evaluating their arm and leg movements. They also developed their swing pass, dodging and tackling through the sport of rugby.
In PSHE, we learnt that any situation can have hopes and challenges. We discussed a scenario of moving to high school and the hopes and challenges we might face. We then wrote to ourselves to give advice for how we might overcome some of these challenges.
In French, we recapped the months of the year and question words - Qui? Quand? Ou? Comment? Qu'est-ce que...? etc We translated some sentences from French to English, understanding that we had to translate the sense, not the exact words. We also chose the first pair of Language Leaders who will be helping everyone to answer questions in French about themselves.
In Science, we learnt about the work of Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of Classification. We discussed how science is constantly evolving as we develop new technology and understanding so some of his ideas are no longer valid. Then we researched some animals to find their classification and scientific names. Finally, we looked for evidence to answer the question: Are humans primates?

Home Practice

Please try to complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:

Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for up to 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.

You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday

Spellings (-fer words)

Sumdog (-ious wk 5)
Cautious, various, precious, vicious, conscious, conscientious, gracious, suspicious, perilous, hazardous, marvellous, adventurous, dangerous, glamorous, famous

Maths challenges:

Counting:
- This week we have been counting in decimal steps of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.25 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 different numbers and count up 10 numbers then back again in 0.1:

5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, etc

and in 0.2:

6.5, 6.7, 6.9, 7.1, 7.3, 7.5, 7.7, etc

Start at a number with two decimal places like 8.12 and count up 10 numbers and down again:

8.12, 8.32, 8.52, 8.72, 8.92, 9.12, etc

Now try to count in 0.25 from 7 and 23 and 54:

7, 7.25, 7.50, 7.75, 8, 8.25, etc

Sumdog (Times Tables wk 5)
- Each child has their own tables target which they should know. The Sumdog challenge may relate to their target but this week we have focused on 4s, 6s and 8s.
- (Every Tuesday there is a tables test).

Sumdog (Add / Subtract numbers mentally)
- This week, these questions vary from two to three-digit numbers with both adding and subtracting. This will be great practice for the future as I hope you will continue to answer questions like these without the use of a formal written method.

Maths Training

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