We are going to begin our science learning this half term by focusing on the history of science and scientists. I am sure you remember that we did a little of this in the Autumn term when we found out about Charles Darwin and evolution.

First, we will think about how our ideas about science change over time. New discoveries and theories are a really important part of science. Lots of new things have been discovered even since I started to study science at school! Change and discoveries – two of the exciting things about science.

In lesson 2, we will find out about a scientist and do some practical work which is safe to do at home.

Lesson 1 – How do scientific ideas change?  – click here for the lesson

Lesson 2 – Who is Katherine Johnson? click here for the lesson

In this lesson, we will learn about Katherine Johnson’s main achievements and the story of her life. We will learn how she used maths to get rockets into space and back home safely. We will learn what trajectory is, we will have a chance to do some practical work  and draw the trajectory for different objects.

Lesson 3 – How has our understanding and use of electricity developed?  – click here for the lesson

Persuasive Writing

This week we are going to do a unit of work which will end with you writing a persuasive letter. We build up the skills and ideas day by day, so it is important that you do each lesson. If you are a key worker child who is school some days and not others, please do the lessons on the set days so that you are not confused when you come into school.

Guided reading this week is also planned to support this objective – look out for Mrs Benson’s post about guided reading materials and the times and links for her live guided reading sessions on the Teams timetable.

Monday 22nd Feb

(don’t forget to look at the new spellings for the week on the spelling page too)

To understand the features of a persuasive letter

In today’s lesson, we will be learning all about what it means to persuade someone and will look closely at the features of a persuasive letter. Click here for lesson video

Tuesday 23rd February – today we have two shorter lesson videos

To generate points to use in our persuasive letter

In this lesson, we will begin to prepare to write our persuasive letter by generating points to use in our argument. Click here for the lesson video

To develop a rich understanding of words associated with feeling surprised
In this lesson, we will introduce new vocabulary, identify word pairs and synonyms and apply the vocabulary in sentences. Click here for the lesson video

I hope you are enjoying the short story by Anthony Horowitz. I couldn’t wait to get through the lessons to find out what happened! These lessons really examine the reading skills needed to analyse a text.

Wednesday

In today’s lesson we are going to focus on two of the lessons: lesson 3 and 4. In  lesson 3 we will read the next part of the story and make inferences to help us reflect upon how Kevin is feeling. Inference is often what children find hard in comprehension: reading between the lines to work out what is happening or what someone is feeling.

lesson 3 and 4

In the second lesson ( 4)  we will read the rest of interview and consider Kevin’s feelings, make predictions and consider the story arc in this short story.

There isn’t lots of writing so two lessons should be easy to manage.

Thursday

Today is our final lesson in this short unit. In this lesson we read part of the climax and consider how the scene and atmosphere changes as the story progresses. We reflect upon our previous predictions and the genre of this text.

lesson 5

I hope you enjoyed this short unit. If you are like me and want to know what happens at the end, don’t panic  as I  bought the book that contains the short story so will find somehow to read it to you.

Our English unit has a reading focus this week so I am not including any additional guided reading. I am running three live guided reading sessions. Rowling, I am afraid it’s your turn to miss out this week but you can do the Year 6 comprehension independently- I was really impressed by your depth of answers in our discussion last week. Children coming into school, I will be doing the guided reading with you on Wednesday, and the follow up will be on Thursday so don’t do it at home before you come in! It is really valuable discussing a text together so please join me if you can. Its also a good chance to catch up in a small group.

 Thursday 9:10am – 9:35am Walliams-

Hannah, Fabio, Laila, Will, Nina, Logan, Apryl, Molly, Oliver

Thursday 1:15pm – 1:40pm – Blyton

Amelia, Rosie, Evan, Poppy N, Pollyanna, Chloe, Maisie, Martha

Thursday 1:50pm – 2:15pm – Dahl

Poppy B, William M, Nina, Logan, Apryl, Molly, Oliver B

PLEASE DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE TEXT BEFORE YOUR LESSON OR HAVE IT AVAILABLE ON YOUR DEVICE TO READ.

Year 6 

Pig Heart Boy text

You don’t need the questions for the lesson but just for the follow up

Pig Heart Boy questions

pig heart boy answers

Year 5

The Iron Man text

You don’t need the questions for the lesson but just for the follow up

The Iron Man comprehension questions

iron man answers

If you have trouble joining the links, I will phone you on Teams

Links to guided reading sessions

Lots of you really enjoyed doing the French unit last week: C’est Moi! Many of you tried a short  daily lesson and realised how much it helped reinforce your vocabulary and grammar. Superb!

This week there is a 4 day unit  Ou habites-tu?  which means Where do you live? Why not try a daily lesson again? Join the link below

 Ou habites-tu?

I decided to enrol on Duolingo this weekend to improve my French.  I have been doing half an hour a day and I am really enjoying it.

Mrs Benson