Author: Mr Catherall

The Book of Hopes

The Book of Hopes: Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain Children in Lockdown

I recently came across this amazing collection of short stories, poems, pictures and other things. It’s completely free and contains the works of over 100 famous authors and illustrators including Michael Morpurgo and Jacqueline Wilson.

There’s a range of things to read (in terms of content and difficulty) but each text has been specifically chosen to give children some hope in what is a strange time. The texts are engaging, funny and heart-warming. I definitely recommend checking this book out and reading some as a family.

Although most of the texts seem to be aimed at KS2, many of them could definitely be read to younger children, too. For some of our older children, the texts might not be very challenging. But, that’s OK, too. The point of these texts is about how they make us feel and what we learn.

Enjoy!

Quiz of the Week

It’s back. And, this time, there’s an even bigger budget! Check out the video here.

Play along with your family, or against your friends, and have some fun!

As always, let me know what you think – it would be great to get some pictures of you playing along.

Happy quizzing!

08 May 2020: Home Learning

Happy Friday, everyone!

Keep your trick shot challenges coming in! There has definitely been more from 56M – come on 56S and 56OB!

Later today, at 3pm, the quiz of the week will return to the class news section. Check that out for a bit of fun with your family.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. We call it Victory in Europe Day or VE Day for short. In 1945, there were three whole days of celebrations including parades, street parties, a service of thanksgiving and a concert in central London! As you can imagine, people were extremely relieved and thrilled that the war was over and, from then on, the 8th of May each year was a public holiday.

Your three tasks today are optional; feel free to do none, one, two or all of them.

In order to find out all about VE Day, you might want to  read this PowerPoint or watch this clip about VE Day celebrations.

Task One

Task one is to make your own radio or TV broadcast pretending to be Winston Churchill announcing the Victory in Europe.
Things to think about…
– What would you say?
– How would you say it?
– How would you feel?
– How would the British public feel?
– Can you include any information you’ve just read?
You could either write it down, perform it or even record your announcement.

 

Task Two

The Royal Mint has released a special £2 coin to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day. This Newsround article explains more about this.

Once you’ve read the information, have a go at designing your own £2 coin to mark this occasion.

Task Three

Music was an important part of the celebrations. Today, you can make your own musical instruments using clean junk or bits and bobs from around your house. Check out this website for inspiration. Can you make a guitar, drum or even a xylophone?

As always we’d love to hear about what you’ve been up to so please email your class teacher.

07 May 2020: Hall of (home learning) Fame

Hello everyone

Welcome back to another edition of the Hall of (home learning) Fame #HoHLF – are you chanting? I think here some people!

Today, we have a mix of learning and trick shots (insert audience ‘wooooooo’ noise here).

So, here goes…

We start with an incredible trick shot.

Awesome work – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame. Congratulations!

Lucy sent in some methods she has to stay calm:

Well done, Lucy – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame. Congratulations!

Molly also sent in some tips for staying calm:

Well done, Molly- you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame. Congratulations!

Our next entrant has been busy…again!

He smashed his art learning:

Has prepped for his VE day celebrations:

And, updated us on the development of the porch he’s been helping to build:

Awesome work! Well done – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame. Congratulations!

Our final entrant sent in this video which combines reading with extreme sports to pull off a seriously impressive trick shot.

Incredible stuff – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame. Congratulations!

07 May 2020: Home Learning

Hey everyone

I hope you’re all well and are staying happy and healthy. Thanks to the people who are regularly in touch – it’s great to hear from you. Don’t forget you can email your class teacher for help, or even just to say hello.

Also, don’t forget to regularly check out the class news section of the website. Here, you’ll find lots of things that will hopefully keep you entertained. Last Friday, for example, I made a quiz of the week for you to have a go at with your families. I’ll do this again this week – it will go live at 3pm every Friday.

One last thing before we get started. Tomorrow, May 08, is a bank holiday. We have this bank holiday to celebrate VE day. With this in mind, because some families might just want to enjoy the day together, your home learning will be optional. There will be three tasks, based on VE day, and you can choose to do none, some, or all of them.

Here is your learning for today…

Y5 Maths

Your learning today is multiplication.

Check out this video.

Then, if you’re up for it, give these challenges a go.

Y6 Maths

Answers for yesterday can be found on this page of maths is fun.

Starter: spend 15 minutes on Times Tables Rockstars.

Here is another video lesson.  Make sure you pause as the answers are on the next slide.

Y5,6 Reading

As this is our last reading lesson of the week, I’d like you to do something a little different – but really important!

Your learning today is to just enjoy reading. You can read whatever you want, wherever you want for as long as you want. You could choose to read a book, a magazine, something online, a comic…whatever you like. You could even read more than one thing!

I would like you though to email your class teacher. In your email, you should put the following information…

  • What you read
  • Where you read it – go extreme (in a tree, maybe?!)
  • What you liked about it

Y5,6 Topic

Your geography themed learning today is about mountains and tourism.

Check out this video.

Year 5,6 Quiz of the Week!

This week, we’ve decided to end the week with a little bit of fun. So, we’ve made a video quiz of the week. Check it out here.

It’s a mix of general knowledge, a recap of some previous learning and a bit of fun! We’re hoping you’ll play along as a family, or maybe against other families and will enjoy 10 mins of trivia and silliness.

If you like it, get in touch and we’ll do a weekly edition published every Friday.

Enjoy!

Hall of (home learning) Fame

Hello and welcome back to another special edition of the Hall of (home learning) Fame #HoHLF

Today’s entrants have been super busy this week and even found time to email their class teachers with a few pics – how kind of them! Seriously, if you haven’t emailed us yet, please do. We’d love to hear from everyone!

Here goes…

Alfie sent a picture of his time capsule and told me that his favourite song is Will We Talk? by Sam Fender. Thanks for being in touch so often, Alfie. Well done – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame! #HoHLF

Ellis and his family had already started creating their own time capsules – great idea! Well done – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame! #HoHLF

Heath was practising his spellings using this great resource and also found time to make a time capsule. Well done – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame! #HoHLF

Amongst lots of other learning, Lucy created her own time capsule. Well done – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame! #HoHLF

And our final entrant smashed her topic learning – check out how good her outline of the UK is! Awesome work, Annabelle. Well done – you’re in the Hall of (home learning) Fame! #HoHLF

That’s all for this edition. Stay tuned for more.

Send photos to your class teacher’s email address accompanied by #HoHLF. Terms and conditions apply*. 

If you want a challenge, I wrote this article with a clear idea in my head about my audience (who I’m aiming it at) and purpose. What was the purpose of this article? Did it work? How did my audience affect the style I wrote it? Would I write the same if this was a more srious article? Or, aimed at people I didn’t know? 

*Terms and conditions: you must send a picture to be entered into the Hall of (home learning) Fame. Winners will be posted on this section of  the website and will receive their prize as soon as they read it. The prize is a virtual high five from the Year 5,6 team. 

 

24 April 2020: Hall of (home learning) Fame

Hello and welcome back to a very special edition of…Hall of (home learning) Fame! “HOHLF, HOHLF, HOHLF!”

Today, we have a special entry. Usually, this is a compilation of learning. Today, it is not. Today, one person can hold their head high. Today, one person can feel proud. Today, one person has made history.

Yesterday, I received a piece of writing from one member of 56OB. I was blown away! So blown away that I had to share. People of the world, I give you our first ever solo entrant in the Hall of (home learning) Fame #HoHLF…Harry!

Well done, Harry – this writing is amazing! Welcome to the Hall of (home learning) Fame.

Check out Harry’s writing:

She pulled down on the chain with her left hand, steering herself towards her target. It was supposed to be the most exciting 13th birthday present ever; a hot air balloon ride. However, Alice had been hanging on for dear life for over 100KM (since the basket of the hot air balloon had fallen off). She was now getting used to steering the huge balloon by maneuvering her body, leaning to the left or to the right. 

Terrified yet excited at the same time, Alice could just about make out her house and garden far below. It was the one surrounded by trees straight ahead, wasn’t it? 

Alice was a young thirteen-year-old from Chicago, USA. She didn’t have many friends but had 2 friends since she was 6. She liked reading, playing with her friends, and going to her local park on a weekend. She had light brown hair (nearly blonde) and twinkling blue eyes. She can speak a bit of Spanish and Mexican (may help her in this story) and She’s curious and quite nosey too. 

She took a deep breath and focused…  She got closer. Closer. It was not home but she recognised the place like she’d been there before. Alice was thinking where she could be while slowly but dangerously falling to the ground. She landed in a tree. “Great!” she said sarcastically. 

After about an hour of getting down without injuring herself, she finally got down with a couple of scratches on her arms and legs – nothing major. Alice was going through déjà vu. She was hallucinating because of a lack of hydration and kept going from actual life to flashbacks from years back. The town looked deserted to what she could remember: shops boarded up, cars so dusty they looked they hadn’t been touched in years, an old park filled up with weeds coming from the ground and bushes growing through the gates; Alice didn’t get close no matter how curious she was.  

Alice started searching the village for any sort of human life, hours and hours but still nothing. Dehydration was kicking in. Her brain was screaming at her to find something to drink but she was already in a home finding a water tap that still functioned cold, filtered water. House after house (with no sleep at all) she finally found a fridge with some water bur little food. She took it as a win and for the next week settling in the same house. There was a small mattress with a small quilt that looked dirty and damp but worked for now.  

The water had started to run cloudy and had a strange smell, she needed to move on so she attempted to go out and find human life to tell her where she was. Alice started the trek for her own safety and walked days on end without finding anything. She was about to give up when she saw what looked like people in the distance. At that moment in time, she was in a forest and could see a couple of huts as well as people. She started running as fast as she could until she got there. “Hello,” she said. “Do you speak English?” 

They looked at her for a minute or so. Silence and confusion were the words to describe that minute. Finally came an answer. “Hola mi nombre es Pablo,” one boy said. Alice knew Spanish and translated in her head, “Hello, my name is Pablo.” She replied in Spanish and she started explaining her situation while thinking in her head “Thank goodness I started listening to my Spanish teacher in the middle of Year 7.”  

After talking for a bit, they asked if she was hungry and fed her and gave her water. After her meal she was given a fresh pair of clothes and somewhere to freshen up, it had been a while. That night she had a good sleep in one of the huts preparing herself for the journey ahead… Alice woke up. There weren’t many kids there but she didn’t mind because she wasn’t that social towards people. She got herself ready for her trip back to Chicago. 

She asked finally where they were and they replied saying somewhere close to Chicago and they moved from Mexico. After she said her final goodbyes, and she headed West towards Chicago. Some days after setting off she saw her village and also her house. She sprinted harder than she did last time she saw human life and saw her mum and dad talking to the police about her, they all cheered and the look of relief was a picture. Alice was home. She ran to hug her mum and dad with her eyes filled with tears.  

That night, she told her mum and dad the entire story. Luckily it was the weekend so plenty of time to rest.  Monday came and she went to school and saw her two best friends and got back into her normal life. Her best friend laughed and said to her “So what’s next year’s birthday plans?  To which Alice replied, “I think we’ll just stick to a movie and pizza.”  

WOW! I think you’ll agree that’s incredible. Why not give Harry a message and celebrate this great effort with him?

If you haven’t already, send in a picture of you, or your learning, accompanied by #HoHLF, and you could be in the Hall of (home learning) Fame, too. *

*Terms and conditions: you must send a picture to be entered into the Hall of (home learning) Fame. Winners will be posted on this section of  the website and will receive their prize as soon as they read it. The prize is a virtual high five from the Year 5,6 team. 

24 April 2020: Home Learning

Hi everyone

Well done on almost finishing your first week back at ‘school’. I’ve spoken to loads of people this week and they all said they had enjoyed getting back into the routine of learning from home. If you haven’t already, make sure you  check out the following pages from our school website:

Our class news page has some video messages from teachers and the most recent entrants into the Hall of (home learning) Fame #HoHLF.

The latest news section of our website has a daily update from Mr Roundtree that contains loads of useful tips and information.

On Wednesday, we prompted you to check out BBC Bitesize. If you haven’t, make sure you do. They have loads of great resources including some daily lessons across a range of subjects. We think they’re really useful to supplement our home learning tasks.

Here’s your home learning for today…

Y5 maths task

Answers from yesterday:

Pond = approximately 9m²

Starter

Challenge yourself on Times Table Rockstars!

Your learning today is area.

Draw your own ‘Pirate Island’ to be used as part of a treasure map for a new game. Each square represents 4m². Draw lines to turn the page in your book into squares (imagine a maths book)

The island must include the following features and be of the approximate measure:

Circular Island 180m²

Oval Lake 58m²

Forests with a total area of 63m² (can be split over more than one space)

Beaches with a total area of 92m²

Mountains with a total area of 57m²

Rocky coastline with a total area of 25m² 

Send some photos to your teacher to show us your amazing islands!

Y6 maths task

Answers for yesterday – provided by Lucy

There are 10 different ways.

The largest route is 2x7x3x6x2 = 504

The smallest route is 0.1×3=0.3

Your learning today is arithmetic.

Are you arithmetic skills still sharp? Answer these in your exercise book.

2018 Arithmetic

Y5/6 reading task

Your reading today is a little bit different! As you all know, we’re living through something that will go down in history for our children and children’s children to learn about!

Today’s task is to create a time capsule to record a snapshot of what is happening at the minute, how people are feeling and what we’re all getting up to in these strange times. The idea is that you bury or keep your time capsule somewhere hidden and then dig it up or look through it again in a number of years eg 2030, a decade after this famous year.

First, you must read this ‘How To’ guide.

Finally, click here to see what the time capsule could look like. Feel free to print this one (don’t worry if you can’t), copy some of the things down into your home learning book, or change or adapt it to create your own. It’d be great to complete this with your family so everybody’s feelings and thoughts are captured!

Challenge
Improve your time capsule by adding in other objects such as photos, games or a newspaper! You could even make your own box (although an old shoe box works just fine).

Y5/6 writing task

Watch the videos about top tips for writing short stories. Choose one or two tips to help improve your story about Alice from yesterday. Rewrite a paragraph or even the whole story based on the top tips.

Evaluate your writing – you don’t even need to use a purple pen.  What did you change? What impact did it have? How have you made it even more exciting?