Living & Learning
Last week, in our weekly Living & Learning session, we played a game that incorporated lots of the 8Rs for learning. We also noticed that playing the game was a form of entertainment – the theme for our current big topic (Time Travel).
The game was simple but effective. All you had to do was find pairs of the ‘Rs’. However, they were covered and we could only reveal two at a time. If a pair was not revealed the ‘Rs’ were re-covered.
After playing twice (the second time round we beat our previous score by 4 minutes!) we discussed which of the 8Rs we had practised:
- Resilience – we had to keep going.
- Remembering – we had to remember where on the grid the Rs were.
- Reflecting – we reflected on our tactics after our first game and adapted them to improve our performance in our second attempt.
- Risk-taking – we had to take a safe-risk by putting our hands up and having a go.
- Ready – we had to be ready to put our hand up if we knew where one the ‘Rs’ was.
- Resourceful – we worked as a team and used each other effectively (humans can be a resource, too).
- Responsive – we had to respond to the ‘R’ that was revealed by the person before us.
Help at home by discussing how your child uses the 8Rs for learning away from school. Also, ask them to identify which ‘R’ is missing from the list above.
Orienteering lesson
Year 5 and 6 thoroughly enjoyed their PE lesson this week. Mixing their skills in position and direction from maths lessons and endurance from PE, children followed detailed maps and used electronic ‘dippers’ to show where they had been.
You could continue the learning at home by creating a map of your house and making a ‘treasure map’ for your family to follow.
5/6M Creative Homework – design a game
5/6 M responded to our creative homework this week with great enthusiasm. Some children made their own board games while others decided to design their own computer game using Scratch or Kodu.
Ask your child which game they enjoyed the most. You might like to continue making more games throughout our time travel topic. Perhaps, you could research some games from throughout history.
Great games in 5/6NK
This afternoon, 5/6NK have had a brilliant time in our homework review. The children were set the task of creating a game to entertain the children in their class. I was extremely impressed with the effort all the children had gone to in order to create board games, outside games, computer games, card games and sketching games. The children thoroughly enjoyed trying them all out. They talked about what they enjoyed the best about each game.
‘I really liked Archie’s game. I liked that you had to memorise where the times table questions were to find a pair.’ Reuben
‘Lilia’s game was fun and I will play it again.’ Freya
Year 6 Drug Awareness Talk
Steve, from The Children’s Charity, came into school today to discuss drugs. With the help of his cartoon friend (Bob), Steve informed year 6 about the difference between legal and illegal drugs. The children asked many questions about the effects of drugs and showed a good awareness of the subject. At home, you might want to follow up this talk with your own discussion.
We love reading!
Today, Y5 and 6 enjoyed our weekly love of reading session. Some of us brought a book in from home and loved immersing ourselves in it. Others read a book from school or the First News newspaper. Whatever we were reading, we made sure to discuss it with the people around us and some of us even recommended a book to a friend.
In our reading groups, we had a ‘book club’ with our teachers where we discussed the book we’re all currently reading. We were given a target page that we need to read to before Friday next week – has your child told you what their page is?
Reading is really important to children’s development as a learner – some research even suggests that improvements in reading leads to improvements in other areas of the curriculum such as maths.
You can help at home by encouraging your child to read more often. If you’re struggling to think of books that would be good to read, check out this list of 100 books to read in Year 5 and 6. Also, try talking about reading to foster a love of reading. Here is a few ideas that might get the conversation started…
- Are you enjoying the book you’re reading at the moment? Why?
- Would you recommend your current book to someone else?
- Why did you choose to read what you are reading at the moment?
- What’s the best/worst./funniest/saddest book you’ve ever read?
- Summarise what you’ve read in 20, 10, 5 or 1 word.
- Would you like to be friends with the main character in your book?
- Stop, start, stay – What types of things will you stoop reading, start reading and stay reading?
- Where’s the craziest place you’d like to read a book?
Finally, our library session takes place every Wednesday. Please ensure your child has their library book in school on this day.
Where in the World – Longitude and latitude
After learning about longitude and latitude through playing an online game, we studied our local area using Ordnance Survey maps. Some children spent a long time looking for the PC symbol!
Where in the World?
Children in year 5/6 had fun exploring Google Earth this week. After discussing holiday destinations, children discussed the human and physical features of different locations around the world. Perhaps you could continue exploring by researching some famous world landmarks.
Year 5 Maths
This half term in maths, we will be mainly focusing on place value. We will be comparing, ordering, and calculating with numbers up to 1 million. This week, the Year 5 children were very confident at reading and writing numbers to 1,000,000. They enjoyed an active maths lesson, where they moved around the classroom to find numbers represented with place value counters. At first, the children found it challenging writing the numbers in words but soon mastered it.
Year 6 celebration afternoon
Year 6 and staff shared a fantastic afternoon playing on an inflatable assault course and in a laser quest pod. What a brilliant way to end a terrific year!
