Hello Everybody,

Thank you so much for your emails and photos.  We love seeing them, keep them coming!

I’ve just heard about an event which I will definitely stay up for although if you want to take part you will have to ask your parents REALLY nicely.

Do you remember when we were looking at SPACE, some of you were interested in shooting stars?  Well, we have a chance to see lots later this month, without the need for any specialist equipment (unless you count a warm blanket to lie on).

On the night of April 21st sometime around midnight, going through into the early hours of April 22nd, we will be able to see the Lyrid meteor shower.  It is occurring on a moonless night (can you remember why the Moon is not always visible from Earth?) and there should be 10-15 meteors an hour.  You could ask to stay up late or get up really, really early to see some.

If you can’t wait that long, there will be a SUPERMOON on April 7-8.  It is expected that the Moon will be bright enough to cast shadows and should shine extra big and bright all night long.  April’s Supermoon is known as a Pink Moon which is strange because it won’t seem pink.  It’s named after pink Phlox flowers that bloom at this time of year.

Do you remember talking about how when people are far away, we can look at the moon from wherever we are and know that they are seeing the same one?  It’s a nice thought to have if you go and look at the Supermoon, that lots of us in Blue Class will be looking at the same one at the same time.

Let me know how you get on.

Keep smiling!

Mrs D

PS. There are lots of poems about the moon.  Here are 2 famous ones to get you started.

http://www.rainydaypoems.com/poems-for-kids/space-poems/sun-and-moon-by-charlotte-druitt-cole

https://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-moon/

English

As it was meant to be our poetry  competition this week, we  have set two days English work from Hamilton home learning resources based around the TS Eliot poem- Skimbleshanks – about a railway cat.

https://www.hamilton-trust.org.uk/blog/learning-home-packs/

I have used Year 5 ( this work is also suitable for year 6) Week 1  day 4 and 5. Both days focus on parenthesis using brackets, commas and dashes. Day 5 ( day 2 for you) also suggests writing a newspaper article about Skimbleshanks. There are also  some other activities that you may wish to do.

Have fun and keep working hard. We break up on Friday for two weeks.

Mrs B

Good Morning Blue Class!

What a strange week! For the first time ever, I had to queue outside my local shop and wait until somebody came out before I was allowed in.  It is super quiet on the road near my house but as I type, Mr Deards is sanding down our garden bench and making a bit of a racket in the process.

It was Daisy’s birthday last week.  I made her a cake and we had her favourite dinner.  Luckily we had bought all her presents before lockdown.  People were really kind and sent cards and little gifts and she spoke to her friends on various social media. One of her friends emailed a card for us to print out and another filmed herself opening Daisy’s card and sent Daisy the clip!  We went for a walk up in the hills for a bit of fresh air and watched a film in the evening.  Have any of you had to celebrate special events differently?  We would love to hear about it if you have.

Did you all join in with the ‘Clap for our Carers’ event?  My friend’s son decided to bang a saucepan as well as clap. Unfortunately, he put the pan on his head before bashing it with a wooden spoon.  There was a tense moment when the family thought it was stuck and when it came off, his ears had turned bright red!

What inventive ways have you all found to keep yourselves occupied? I have found some yoga channels and have done lots of digging and weeding in the garden.  I know lots of people who are doing the Jo Wicks PE session each day.  My teacher friends say it nearly finishes them off when they attempt it.

Blue Class, well done for continuing with your learning this week.  Mrs Benson and I know it is challenging and we are so proud of you for giving it your best shot.  Try to stay patient with the grown ups who are trying to help you stay on track.

Below is the suggested learning for this week.

Spellings

Ask somebody to test you on the spellings from 9.3.20.  These were looking at the ei spelling pattern when it makes an ‘ay’ sound.  A reminder of these words – weigh, freight, eight, neighbour, vein, reign, veil, sovereign.  Sovereign is pronounced slightly differently.  The ei makes more of a short ‘i’ sound.  Remind yourself of the meaning of all these words.

New spellings to learn this week.  This is the ie spelling pattern.  Group the words according to the sound the ie makes when you say each word.

thief, belief, mischief, obedient, glacier, patient, medieval.  

Practice writing them out and circle or underline the tricky parts or write those parts in a different colour.

Reading 

You should be aiming to read for at least 20 minutes every day.  If you have younger brothers or sisters you could also read a story to them, making sure you do all the voices and are as expressive as possible.  We had ERIC (Everyone Reading In Class) at school, what could the acronym be now we are all at home?  Who can come up with a good one?

Year 5 

Laws Affecting Women   or  Yellow Brick Road         (depending on what was in your pack)

Year 6

Weird but Wonderful Octopus    or   White Fang       (depending on what was in your pack)

Maths

Our friends at White Rose Maths have come up with some daily maths lessons which are more similar to a school lesson.  There is a short video to watch that explains things a bit and then an activity where you can practise what you have seen.  The answers are included which will help you judge how you are doing and save your parents some time!

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/

Year 5

Triangles and circles – Start at Week 1 Day 1 – Decimals.

Continue with one lesson each day.  You might like to have a go at Problem of the Day as well.

Squares – You may wish to start with Y4 decimals until you feel confident to have a go at Y5.

Everybody –  http://www.timestables.me.uk  

Use this to generate yourself a times table challenge.  You can do it online or there is a version which generates a printable sheet if you prefer.  It is perfectly fine to make 45 questions all on one times table if you need to learn it, You may be ready to pick several or all the times tables.  Wherever you are on the times table journey, practise the division facts too, even if you are at first stage of learning.

Year 6

Start at week 1 day 1 – Ratio – We have covered this but it is good to fully consolidate it in preparation for Year 7.

Have a go at Problem of the day to see a mixed selection of questions.

In addition Year 6, please complete the arithmetic paper in your pack.

Writing

Please continue with your Daily Diary.  This week, we will revisit our old friend the relative clause.  Remember, a relative clause gives extra information and is ‘stapled’ in place by two commas like this – Year Five and Six, who are studying at home because of lockdown, are trying really hard with their diaries.  Relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns who, whose, which, that, when, where.  You do not have to make every sentence contain a relative clause.  Maybe just one or two each entry for this week.  By the way, you can use contractions in your diary (won’t, can’t, didn’t etc.) because you will be using an informal tone in your writing.

If any of you fancy emailing Mrs Benson and me this week with a paragraph of (beautifully constructed and punctuated) news, we would love to hear from you.

Science

We would have been moving on to forces in Science, so have a go at this very easy experiment.

You need:

some identical pieces of paper

a large rock or something else that is quite heavy but won’t break when you drop it.

somewhere high

1.  Hold the piece of paper in one hand and the rock in the other.  Which is heavier? So which will fall to the ground faster?
2. Crumple up the piece of paper into the smallest tightest ball you can.
3. Stand somewhere that you can safely drop a rock from a height to the ground without hitting anyone or anything.
4. Drop the rock and the piece of paper at the same tine from the same height.
5. Describe what you observed.
6. Now take 2 pieces of paper of identical weight.  Crumple one up and leave the other flat.  Drop them from the same height at the same time.
7. Describe what you observed.

Try to find out the reasons for your observations.  Explain what you found out to an adult.

Talking of adults – A huge thank you to the adults who are all planning, explaining , marking and everything else that home schooling involves, often with multiple children of different ages.  It is a tough call but thank you so much for all you are doing.

Keep smiling everybody!

Love from

Mrs Deards and Mrs Benson

Home learning week 1

I hope you have all had a good weekend and are now ready to tackle your home learning. Remember this is instead of going to school so try to get yourself a routine.  Maybe do some maths and English in the morning, and some different activities in the afternoon? Don’t try to attempt all the work AT ONCE or LEAVE IT ALL to the last minute and feel overwhelmed.  The whole point is to keep your mind ticking over ; rehearse the skills we have learnt this year ; and maybe learn some new skills. Ask your parents to look over what you have done and talk through your learning with them.

Reading

I have been so impressed by the way you have all embraced the BOOKFEST books. Keep reading and try to read a variety of authors. Why not chose a book that you can share with your family? Take it in turns to read chapters aloud or to yourself and discuss the book you have read.

Comprehension

Year 6

Do three comprehensions from your 10 minute a day book. Spread them over the week. Mark them yourself or with a parent. If you are struggling or don’t get good marks, go over the answers with an adult like you would with a teacher.

Year 5

Complete Jacky Daydream remembers. Mrs Wade’s reading group, complete The baby of the family.  All groups talk through your answers with an adult.

Your parents have been given a login for Twinkl, have a go at one or two UKS2 60-second reads which help your fluency and understanding. If some of you are struggling with these, use the LKS2 60 second comprehensions.

Writing Year 5 and 6

You MUST complete a small bit of writing each day. We have asked you all to make /  or use a ready  made diary and keep a record of this time at home. Hopefully, this situation will  never occur again and your diaries will be part of   history – who knows they may be published one day? This week’s challenge is to vary your sentence starts. Only one sentence in 3 can start with I or we (pronouns.)

Maths

Year 5

Times tables rehearse using times table rock stars, Hit the Button .  Those few children who DO NOT know them- work on 2,5,10; then 3,6; then 4 8; then  7,9;  11,12. You SHOULD have almost immediate recall of them all and division facts by the time you come back to school or you won’t be able to tackle the year 6 curriculum.

 Year 5 circles and triangles

Number and place value review 2

Multiplication and Division review 1 and 2

Fractions decimals and percentages review 1 and 2

Measurement review 2

  Year 5 squares

Number and place value review 1

Number and place value review 3

Addition and subtraction review 3

Multiplication and division  review 1

ALL GROUPS – look through your answers with an adult.

Year 6

Mrs Derrer booster group complete and mark from the standard book

Decimals and rounding – pages 11-13

Fractions , decimals and percentages – page 36-39

3D shapes and coordinates   68-71

Units and conversions page 52

Year 6 Mrs Benson’s  booster group complete and mark from advanced book

Comparing, adding, subtracting , multiplying fractions– page 23-27

Dividing fractions decimals and percentages 28-32

3D shapes and coordinates   70-73

Units and conversions page 51-54

Other subjects

Complete/start two of the squares from the activity grid you were given OR attempt one of the RE activities. Go outside and run around. Help your parents in the garden. Do some art and craft. Cook. Keep yourselves busy. Don’t spend too much time watching TV or playing on your x-box!!

We are missing you all and wish we could be teaching you. Please get your parents to  e- mail us if you are struggling or if you want to share pictures, projects with us.

Parents

Please support your children in their learning.  Children at school DO NOT sit and work alone , unaided very often: they will need your help and guidance. Talk to them about what they are doing.  We certainly don’t expect them to working all day but set up a routine for them to help make it easier . We understand this is very hard and most of you aren’t teachers. Believe me, even those of us that are struggle to get our children to do their homework and we are asking so much more of you. If there are any problems, do not hesitate to contact Mrs Deards or myself and we will do our best to help you.  All we really want is that the children do not forget everything they have learnt . You don’t have to battle with them or insist they sit there for hours; you will be able to tell when they have had enough. Most importantly have fun with your children  and enjoy your time together.