Good afternoon everyone, we hope this blog finds you well. Here is a brief update on learning this week!

English
The children have really enjoyed reading and imitating Flossie Albright's secret World War 2 diary.  They have learnt from more personal stories from World war 2 to complement their learning in history and have been able to write in the role of a child living through this turbulent time in history.  The children are working really hard to proofread and perfect their writing and to show evidence of all the year six standards of writing. We will soon have to make a final teacher assessment of their writing which has to be then submitted officially.

Maths
We have come to the end of our unit on area, perimeter and volume and what a difference a couple of weeks makes! All the children have made great progress in this area and have tackled the problems they have encountered very well. Next week we begin ratio and proportion. 


Science
This week the children learnt about animal and plant cells and their similarities and differences.  To support this unit of work about life processes, cells and organ systems, the children have been growing sunflowers so that they can observe their growth and the other life processes over time. As an extra bit of fun I have promised a prize for the tallest/best sunflower.  They will be bringing these home for half term and can bring back after half term or at the end of term for the final judging! - No cheating now!!


Life skills
Our lesson this week was all about drug awareness: the risks associated with using any type of drug and identifying some of the risks and effects of drug use.  They were able to analyse the level of risk in different situations, identifying that drugs can affect people in different ways.  We discussed how, for some people, drug use can become an unhealthy habit that can be difficult to break and about the support available to help people and  where to report any concerns they have.  After half term we will begin our lessons on relationships and sex education

Quad Games and PE
The children thoroughly enjoyed their 'speed cricket' game on the field this week. This saw them pairing up and getting 3 balls each to score as many runs as possible before the next pair took over. Winners were Ollie and Rowan, followed by Jason and Ralfie. It was a lesson of running, throwing and cheering. 

On Friday morning in the glorious sunshine the children took part in OCRA's Quad games. This consisted of four events: a sprint, a long distance run, a long jump and a javelin style throw. The four girls and four boys with the most points overall from Years 5 and 6 will go on to represent us in the finals in July, so watch this space! The OCRA coaches were very complimentary about our children and said they had seen huge improvements in fitness, resilience and most importantly enjoyment. We have a great team spirit in Sycamore class, something of which both Mrs Ware and I are very proud of. 

French
The children's letters to the school in Blangy Chateau in Normandy have been sent off! We look forward to receiving a reply! The focus of today's lesson was to use their past knowledge of animals and opinions, numbers and greetings to buy a pet from a pet shop. Today there was a huge emphasis on speaking and listening as the children were introduced to new phrases and also some new French culture: using euros and noting how the cost of something is written. They did very well with this and we have some lovely video clips of the children having a go!

We hope you all have a wonderful half term break, enjoy the Jubilee celebrations and may we hope for some more glorious sunshine. When the children return we have an exciting, but incredibly packed final 7 weeks of Primary School life. Transition will be made a priority for all children and we have the much anticipated activity week, sports events, Festival of hope and many more! One incredibly important date for your diary will be the Year 6 Leavers Assembly, you won't want to miss it! So write it in your diaries now! Friday 22nd July (we think this will happen during the morning). We would love to see as many family members there as possible to share this special occasion. 

Happy half term, we return on Tuesday 7th June 2022!
Take care and thank you.
Mrs Ware and Miss Ruby

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Hello everyone,

We hope this finds you all well and looking forwards to the weekend! As per usual, the children have had another busy week and this week has seen a return to the usual routine/timetable that we have followed for so long.

In English we are reading 'My Secret War Diary' by Flossie Albright, and we are looking at writing diary entries in the style of the author, to fit the time period the book is based in (1939-1945). The children have shown great enthusiasm for this book so far and have really got learning about life in WW2.

In Maths we have begun a short unit on area, perimeter and volume. We have focused on finding the area of rectangles, rectilinear shapes and finding the area of triangles. We will continue with this unit next week.

In History we have looked at the questions, "Was the Treaty of Versailles Fair?" and "How did Hitler rise to Power in the 1930s?" As you can see, these questions this week will link the end of WW1 to the beginning of WW2 and the children have gained an insight to how they link. They particularly enjoyed learning about 'The Big Three', and how their decisions about repercussions on Germany led to the collapse of the state. They were asked to consider questions such as, 'was Germany solely responsible for the war?' and 'how did the repercussions affect the people living in Germany?'. As part of this history unit, the children have also gained an insight into how Europe has changed geographically/politically since the early 1900s. They are so keen to know more about this and were eager to take part in history this week, asking if we could do it all day! 

In Science the children have investigated the question, "What are organ systems, organs, tissues and cells?" The children learnt that a cell is the basic unit of an organism and cells work with other cells to do a job, forming a tissue, for example muscle tissue. They learnt that tissues work with other tissues to do a job forming organs e.g. the heart (muscle tissue and fat tissue). This then led onto organs and how they work with other organs to do a job forming organ systems e.g. the circulatory system. They then discovered that organ systems work together to form an organism.

In P.E the children have Mr Berry teaching them some more 'cricketing' skills, before using them in a match next week! It was lovely to see them all taking part and enjoy the fast paced atmosphere!

This week in French there was great excitement in the class, as the children learnt about the local primary school in Blangy le Chateau, in Normandy in France (who North Tawton is twinned with) and discovered they would be writing letters to the children there to make pen pals! They used the knowledge they had learnt about their birthdays, ages, names, pets and opinions to write a brief introductory letter that will be sent off in half term. As you can see from the photos, the children participated in this with confidence and eagerness! Well done Year Six!

On Tuesday the children experienced Forest school for the first time this term. This was a great afternoon of den building, team work, problem solving and resilience. All key skills to have. It's fair to say the children enjoyed it.

As you know Mrs Ware and I share the class and everything that goes with it. However, one thing we don't share, are our class story books (class novel). We are both really passionate about children developing a love of reading from an early age and try to immerse them in different types of texts, written by different authors. We both love reading! The story that we are sharing on my days is Wolf Hollow,  which focuses on a young girl; Annabelle and her relationship with a new girl Betty. When Betty goes missing suspicion falls on a man called Toby and Annabelle has to do everything in her power to stop the town turning against him. The children always listen so well during this time and we have great discussions about what has happened and what they think will happen!

Here are some photos so you can see some of the exciting things we have been doing this week! Have a lovely weekend, we will see you on Monday!
Miss Ruby and Mrs Ware

Happy Friday everyone and what a week it has been!

The children have absolutely excelled themselves this week, with their maturity, compassion and resilience throughout a week of SATS.  

They started off every morning with breakfast club in the school hall, where they enjoyed cereals, toast, pancakes, fruit juice and fruit before heading to the playground for some early morning exercise. I still believe this was the best part of the day for them all. Watching them eat together, talk, take turns and enjoy each others company brought a real lump to my throat as they have built such strong relationships despite being a small class.

After the indulgence of breakfast and some fresh air came a different test each day. SPaG on Monday, reading on Tuesday and maths on Wednesday and Thursday; where the children calmly and maturely approached each paper with an air of quiet confidence. Watching them made us all so proud of them.

During the afternoons they have undertaken a D.T project have created their own playgrounds. This involved designing and researching a playground, creating a footprint and then making it using a whole range of materials and apparatus such as saws, glue guns, bench hooks, doweling, and lolly sticks just to name a few. They all thoroughly enjoyed this and it was so nice to see the different skills the children have coming to light! Please see the gallery below for photos!

Friday saw us take a trip to the park and pump track with bikes and scooters...putting our bike ability skills to the test! Ice creams in the sunshine, climbing, hiding, catching, chasing, football, Secret seeker (a game they invented today), laughing and enjoying our time together after a week of hard work. 

Year Six-you have made us very proud this week! Well done. Enjoy a wonderful weekend together and we will see you all on Monday morning!

We hope you all enjoyed the extended weekend and made the most of it! Four week days to cram lots of learning in, instead of five! 

We have spent the time in English and Maths revisiting areas of learning the children in preparation for next week. They have all really risen to the challenge of identifying areas of learning they each want to get better at, and have grown in maturity in a short period of time. It is lovely to see responsible, resilient and positive children. We wish them every success next week and they each deserve to get the results they are capable of.
 
Science
This week we learnt about the organ systems in the body and the important functions they carry out.  We also learnt that plants too, have organ systems such as the root system, shoot system and reproductive system.  To support our learning about cells, and particularly life processes, we did some planting as part of our science lesson . Firstly, we planted cress seeds so we can observe the life processes of growth, sensitivity and movement.  We also planted some sunflower seeds to see who can grow the tallest to celebrate the appearance of the sun lately!  Some children also wanted to bring some home to try and grow - if they use the pots they were given they will need to put some drainage holes in the bottom!

Computing
We are continuing to learn about variables and how they can be used in games.  We coded a  project involving two variables.  The children learnt that variables have a name and a value and that the value can change during the operation of the program but that the name stays the same.

History
We have continued to learn about World war One and in particular the question, "Why were so many lives lost on the Western Front?". We recapped last weeks lesson about factors that caused the First World War and then went on to look at the Western Front, weaponry, life in the trenches, naval blockades, major battles and propaganda. The children were absolutely fascinated about this, in particular life in the trenches, and have asked to learn more about it. They were horrified to learn about the conditions and the disease, 'trench foot'. The children have been incredibly mature when discussing this topic  and have asked great questions. I love the fact they are curious and they want to know more! Next lesson we will learn about the Treaty of Versailles. 

P.E
The children has P.E. with Mr Berry again this week and they began recapping cricket skills. In particular, batting and bowling. They really enjoyed this session and they were eager and cooperative! Well done Year 6. 

We want to wish all the children a relaxing and happy weekend. Enjoy the warm sunshine, get some fresh air, sleep well and enjoy. We will see the children on Monday morning at 8:15 am for breakfast club in the hall.

Thank you.
Miss Ruby and Mrs Ware