Good afternoon everyone.

We hope this blog finds you well! Here is a round up of our learning from this week. 

English - We have continued looking at chronological reports and have started to find facts and information about different mountain ranges in preparation for our final write next week. We have been using the Chromebooks to research lots of information and interesting vocabulary to describe their chosen mountain range. Maybe you could ask them their favourite fact they have learnt about their mountain range and their favourite descriptive phrase?

Maths - We have started our new unit on ratio, which the children have really grasped and enjoyed so far. We have been looking at different ratio sentences and using the ratio symbol to show this as well. We have also been comparing ratio to fractions too! On Wednesday, some children had chance to write their own ratio questions which were great and we even worked one out as a class! 

Science - In science this week, we have been looking at how heat is transferred through particles. We watched and took part in demonstrations, observing how heat is transferred through a meal knife. The children were able to touch the handle of the knife every minute to feel how warm it was. The children were able to explain what they felt and observed and why they think this was happening. 

History - This week we have been focusing on Martin Luther King Jr and his 'I have a dream' speech. The children learnt parts of the speech and performed sections to the class. You could ask them to see if they can remember a section of the speech. We also discusses as to whether we think Martin Luther King's dreams have come true. The children also began to write their own ' I have a dream speech' based on their dreams and wishes for the future. 

French- We continued with our learning about mealtimes in French. The children were using language/words such as, ' le petit dejeuner, le dejeuner, le diner, demi, quart, moins le quart, and heures'. They played games such as  sentence bingo and noughts and crosses. 

Life skills -The focus of our life skills lesson this week was celebrating diversity.  First we noticed the similarities and differences between us in our class community and then began to focus on the diversity in our wider community.  We came up with a long list which included: race, gender, sexual orientation, different abilities, the way we speak, what we wear, age, beliefs, hobbies, skin colour...  We agreed that diversity and difference is something to be celebrated not to be teased or bullied about.  We then had a go at role-playing how we would support a friend who was being picked on because they were different in one of these ways.

Computing- As we prepare to create our own web pages, this week we learnt about copyright.  Copyright law protects the control you have over the things that you create. It also protects the work of others. Children learnt how they can use images from the internet without infringing copyright laws.  Next lesson, we will begin creating our own web pages using the plans they have now completed

Dogs Trust Visit- On Thursday morning we had a visit from Emily, at the Dog's Trust. She spent an hour with us, teaching us about how to stay safe around our own dogs and others. The morning was full of great ideas and strategies around making the right choices around dogs. The children were presented with a scenario involving a young boy who had been bitten by a dog. They then had six suspects (different dogs) and a small case study about each one with information that may have led to this happening. As the children discussed each suspect, it transpired that any dog could have been the perpetrator due to the events that happened, but ultimately the person responsible was the young boy, as there were certain factors he should have taken into account beforehand. All the children said they had learnt something new and would now use this in future. Maybe you could ask them about what they had learnt? Emily was very impressed with the class's listening skills and oracy skills. Well done Year 6. Please see photos in the gallery and maybe ask your children what was happening in each photo?

Thank you for your continued support. The children are working hard in class and it is paying off by looking at their progress. I have offered the children a short homework club on a Friday lunchtime for any one who might need a little extra support or time with their revision. This is not compulsory, but there as a support for anyone who might need it. 

Finally- today we said goodbye to Miss Collins, our final year student teacher. Miss Collins has played a huge part of Sycamore class's life over the past 12 weeks and the children have developed a great relationship with her. We wish her well and send her lots of luck for her future teaching career! Thank you Miss Collins. ​Enjoy your weekend! Thank you. 

Good afternoon Year Six,

We hope this blog finds you well? Here is a round up of our week in Year 6!

This week has been an assessment week for us so focusing on maths, reading, spelling, punctuation and grammar. The children have tried hard with these and are growing in maturity with their approach.

In science, the children have started a new unit of work, this week looking at heat and the effect it has on solids, liquids and gases when heated up and cooled down. The children acted this out in small groups, pretending to be particles and showing how they behave. 

In maths, in between our assessments, the children have been converting units of measure, such as millilitres to litres, centimetres to metres, and kilogrammes to tonnes. This is real life, useful knowledge the children could be using at home when cooking/baking, shopping, building/measuring and travelling. 

In English, the children have continued to gather ideas for their writing by taking notes about the things they could see or the things they could hear outside in the school grounds. The weather put a bit of a dampener on things, but we got there in the end! It was a rather soggy activity!

In history, we continued with our learning about Civil Rights in America during the 20th century. This week the children learnt about the 'Jim Crow laws and etiquette'. Perhaps, you could ask your children about these and what their views are on them after learning about them?  They were horrified to learn how some people were treated and could not believe that these things happened in history. 

In art, we learnt about the artist Diego Rivera, who lived in Mexico and painted murals detailing Mayan art. The children used different objects to mark make and replicate his patterns in painting. Take a look at the photos below to see what the children have been up to!

In gymnastics the children experimented with different balances and rolls and linked them in sequences on the mats. 

In French the children practised counting to 20 by singing songs and playing 'lotto' (bingo). They also learnt the word half (demi) and quarter (quart) in the lead up to learning about telling the time in French, linking in with mealtimes. 

Young Sports Leaders
This week, Jackie Jarvis from OCRA came in to train up our children to be young sports leaders. She taught them lots of games and activities that they could lead with younger children as well as teaching them how to be safe when leading these activities. This is a great opportunity for year 6 children to be responsible and lead groups of younger children in playtime games and sports activities.  I will be drawing up a timetable for all children in the class to try out leading at playtime or lunchtime and hope that many of them will volunteer to continue doing so for the rest of the year.

Good afternoon everyone,
Happy New Year to you all!

We hope this blog finds you all well. Here is a very short blog for the first few days back at school. 
The children have all returned in a positive frame of mind, which has been great to see after so much illness. 

Maths
 As a result of this illness, we have finished the fractions unit which the children have done so well at. Next week, we start and finish a very short unit on equivalent measures.

English-
We have started a new core text 'Survival at 40 degrees and above'. This is a wonderful book about the Simpson Desert in Australia, the animals that live there and the landscape. We will be varying our writing styles as we look at non chronological reports and poetry.

French
The children have excelled themselves on their knowledge of French foods and opinions. Today we started recapping animals, opinions and French phonics (sounds in words). 

PE
Today, the children took part in a fitness exercise where they had to run laps of the playground and count them within a time limit. From next week we will be starting Gymnastics.

History
In History we have started our learning about the Civil Rights Movement in America. This will be the focus for the half term. We will send home more about our units for you next week. 

Thank you for your continued support. Have an enjoyable weekend. 
Mrs Ware, Miss Ruby and Miss Collins