I know we’re all the same and we’re all different…is our Living and learning statement this week .
In Living and Learning this week, we’ve been focusing on self-image, especially body image. This has involved identifying our own positive qualities and understanding that media portrayals don’t always reflect reality. The children enjoyed discussing positive body image and finished the session by recognising something positive about their peers.
Help at home: Ask your child what they’ve learned from these discussions.
World Book Day
In 5/6, children have been designing a new edition of their favourite book. We have also read some extracts of our favourite books, thought about what makes a good character and even had a zoom talk with one of our most popular authors: Pamela Butchart.
PE – rugby
We have moved on to a different sport this half term – rugby!
In this first lesson, the children were introduced to the idea of passing the rugby ball accurately. They used a point and pass technique and if they wanted to challenge themselves, they could try and put a spin on the ball. They applied this skill in a ‘piggy in the middle’ type game in which the children had to accurately pass the ball and also intercept. The children’s confidence definitely improved during the session and they were also able to develop their team building and communication skills.
Science: circulatory system
For the next few weeks, our science topic is the circulatory system. In this biology topic we’ll look at how the heart pumps blood around the body, what blood is made up of and the effects of exercise on our body.
Here is our science vocabulary:
Help at home: Discuss the science vocabulary. Before and after exercise, see what happens to your heart heart. How could you improve your resting heart rate?
Computing
We have started our new topic this half term – computing. As always, we began by looking at our new vocabulary and the children rag rated the words depending on how confident they were with the definitions. We talked about how computers are part of a network and include parts such as a server, cables, switches and clients (laptops, tablets, phones). A network allows computers to share information between different devices, usage can be monitored and if a printer is connected, every computer on the network can access it. It makes our lives much easier.
Help at home: Have a look at the new vocabulary for this term. Can you help your child learn the words?
Topic – we are geographers
As we are drawing to the end of our geography topic, we are applying our geographical skills to study the impact rising sea levels have on the UK’s coastlines. We spent a few lessons looking at how rising sea levels had impacted places around the world, such as the Solomon Islands. We watched an informative video about the devastating impact on a local community.
Today, we used Digi-maps to study the Holderness coastline and we were able to look at maps from 1890, 1950 and the present day. Using drawing and measuring tools, we could see how much of the coastline had eroded. We compared Hornsea with Skipsea to see the positive impact coastal defences such as groynes have.
Help at home: Watch the video with your child at home. Can they recall the impacts that rising sea levels are having on this community?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/zcyqdp3
Writing: Persuasive letters
This week, we’ve started working on our next writing project: composing a persuasive letter. Persuasion means convincing someone to take action through reasoning and clear arguments.
We’ll be writing to Steve Reed, the UK’s Minister for the Environment, urging him to take stronger action against climate change. In our letters, we’ll highlight the severe impact climate change is having globally and suggest what steps he can take to address it.
After we’ve written our letters, we’ll send them out and wait for a reply!
So far, we’ve examined some strong examples and identified key elements of persuasive writing.
On Friday, we focused on selecting phrases that we can use in our own letters.
Help at home: Have a discussion about how climate change is affecting our world. Is there anything we can personally do to stop it?
Living and Learning: I know how to seek help
In our Living and learning session this week, we watched a video from the NSPCC which explored children’s worries and discussed areas of abuse.
Teachers were impressed by how open the children were when discussing their worries in a mature manner. They had plenty of ideas about who to go to to seek help.
Help at home: discuss the term ‘trusted adult’. Discuss who you turn to in order to find a solution to a problem.
Cross country competition
This week, we were lucky enough to enter some children in a local cross country competition. This took place at St Theresa’s Primary School. We entered some year 5’s and 6’s. The children performed absolutely fantastically and definitely showed determination and resilience. Some of the children have made it through to the next round at Temple Newsam in Februrary – well done! Thank you too to the parents for transporting the children to and from the event. If we didn’t have your support, the children wouldn’t get to take part in such events.
Well done to all our runners!
Science: we are physicists
This week, we’ve been continuing on with our Science learning about light. Following on from our planning lesson, we carried out our investigation. We were answering the question ” How does the distance of the light source affect the size of the shadow?”
Each group used a torch, an opaque object and ruler to cast a shadow onto a wall. They decided they would move the light source away from the object 10cm each time and measure the size of the shadow. The children collated their results and concluded that as the light source is moved away, the shadow gets smaller. During our discussions, we also talked about the inaccuracies of come measurements as some appeared to be anomalous.
