English

The next two week’s work is based on The Lighthouse – a short film.  Most of the unit has a writing focus which I know is harder to do at home without modelling etc. However, we are only asking for one or two  quality paragraphs a day . This work is non- negotiable as writing is an area that you all need to focus on

Day 1

Using one of the links below, watch the film until the point when the lighthouse keeper smashes the lamp.  PAUSE THE FILM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HfBbSUORvo

https://www.literacyshed.com/the-lighthouse.html

Now answer the questions in your work book. It may be helpful to watch the film again with an adult and discuss the questions like we do in class.

1. Where do you think this story may be set?
2. What is the purpose of a lighthouse?
3. As the beam of light shines across the village, the villagers cheer. Why do you think they do this?
4. The lighthouse keeper slams the window shut. What does this tell us about how he feels about the villagers?
5. How does the director of the film build the tension in this part of the story?
6. Why is the lighthouse keeper looking in the lamp?
7. Write down 2 words that the lighthouse keeper may have been feeling when the bulb smashes? Explain why eg He was …..because….
8. Predict what could happen next?
9. Watch the rest of the short film.
10. How do you think the lighthouse keeper felt when he saw the ship approaching? How does the director show this without using words?
11. Why do you think the keeper went down the steps?
12. What do you think he felt as he opened the door?
13. At the end of the film, how has his attitude to the villagers changed?
14. If you were writing a story of The Lighthouse film, what part of the story is the build up?  Which part is the climax/ problem? What is the resolution? How do you think the story ends?

Day 2 ……. coming tomorrow

Also keep up with your reading and spellings. How many/ what books have you read since lockdown?

Maths

 Year 5

Keep up with your timetables. You need to aim to be fluent  ie know times tables facts out of sequence  for your return to school!

This week we would like to follow the white rose home learning week 2 spring term which focuses on rounding decimals. If you have done this in the holidays, start on week 1 summer term which focuses on adding decimals within 1.  Watch the video for each day and do the activities; these are really valuable and there are answers so you can check your work at the end.

If you need some more maths, why not try a daily warm up of 5 calculations in 5 minutes? By the end of year 5, you should be able to add and subtract whole numbers with more than 4 digits using the formal column method; multiply numbers up to 4 digits by a one or two- digit number; divide whole numbers up to 4 digits by a 1 digit number. Squares you are still working multiplying by a single digit.

Year 6

This week we would like to follow the white rose home learning week 2 spring term which focuses on scale factors and angles. If you have done this in the holidays, start on week 1 summer term which focuses on more angles.  Watch the video for each day and do the activities; these are really valuable and there are answers so you can check your work at the end.

There is also KS2 problem of the day which now has answers! These are fantastic at testing your reasoning skills and keeping you  focussed on all the things we have learnt this year. You can also fill in missing pages of your standard/ advanced work book if you want more practice.

 Year 5 and 6 Arithmetic

Can all children complete one half or one whole arithmetic test for their year group from Twinkl each week. The answers are at the back of the test.  Remember no one should be on the ‘daftometer’ for silly mistakes!! 

History

This half term we were meant to be focussing on

changes in an aspect of social history eg crime and punishment from the Anglo-Saxons to the present or leisure and entertainment in the 20th Century ( national curriculum 2014)

I thought you may like to choose an area  of interest you could focus on eg changes in transport, music, communications, fashion, flight over the years. Obviously, some projects can’t start in the Anglo-Saxon times. This is an on-going project and we don’t expect you to complete it in one week.  You can present it in any way you wish eg powerpoint/a booklet but it would nice to share with the children when we come back to school (which hopefully will be in May sometime?!)

Art/DT

I know lots of you have been doing lots of amazing art and DT projects at home with your parents so this is not compulsory. Over the next 2 weeks we will be focussing on the lighthouse film. Why don’t you try and make your own lighthouse?

French

Before we broke up, we were looking at breakfast and cafes in French. Go onto Espresso, French, On- Mange  which is all about food. Have a go at the exercises and learn some new vocab.

Spellings

This spelling pattern crops up in your writing quite often so I thought we would have  go at sorting it out.  Here are the words

swimming   hopping   getting   clapping   tipping   stabbed   hopped  clapped   tipped   stabbing

The rule is  – if the word has 1 syllable, 1 vowel and it ends in 1 consonant, double the final consonant before adding -ing   -ed   -er  -est

Identify the root words for this week’s spelling eg swim.  Identify the vowel and the final consonant.

Find some other words which fit the same pattern – doubling the final consonant before adding the -ing   -ed   -er  -est

Some of you may prefer to work on this spelling list:

hawk  paw   saw   jaw   claw   fawn   dawn   draw  drawn

Science

How did you get on with the last experiment?

You should have seen that the paper and rock hit the ground at the same time (allowing for slight differences in height or letting go)  All objects are pulled toward the Earth by the force of Gravity.  The acceleration of an object due to gravity is the same on everything, regardless of the object’s weight.  This means you could drop a piano and a marble from the same height at the same time and they would hit the ground at the same time!  (Top tip for surviving lockdown – don’t throw a piano out of the window).

Newton’s Law

So, Sir Isaac Newton was a scientist a long time ago.  He came up with three basic ideas which are still used all the time today.  We are going to do an experiment this week which focusses on his third big idea, known as Newton’s Third Law.

Newton recognised that for every action or movement (force), there is an equal and opposite action or movement (force).

For example, when you sit on a chair, you are putting force down on the chair, but the chair does not collapse because it is exerting an equal and opposite force upwards.

Try this experiment to see this in action.  You will need permission to use the bath and you will need some old towels or kitchen roll on hand in case you make a mess.

Materials

Plastic bottle with pop up cap (sports bottles or some washing up liquid bottles have this)

Measuring spoons

Food colouring (ideally but not critical)

Toilet paper (only a few sheets – don’t use it all it is precious at the moment)

1 !/2 cups vinegar

1 tablespoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda from the cooking cupboard)

(note – if you use  a massive bottle you will need more vinegar and baking soda)

Method

1.  Fill the bath until it is about 15 cm deep
2. Make sure the cap of the bottle is popped up meaning it is open.
3. Unscrew the cap and add the vinegar to the bottle.
4. Add a few drops of food colouring.  This makes the action/reaction easier to see.
5. Take 2 sheets of toilet roll and lay them flat.  Put the baking soda on the squares and fold it up to make a little pouch.
6. Hold the bottle over the bath.  You will need to be quick for the next bit – Drop the baking soda such into th vinegar in the bottle and quickly screw on the lid.
7. Let the bottle go in the water and watch what happens.

Record what happened in words or pictures or a diagram if you prefer.

Experiment with different amounts of baking soda and vinegar to see if you can make your bottle propel itself for longer.

Questions to ponder

Why does the boat move forward?

What is the action? (think about the bubbles)

What are the bubbles pushing against?

What is the reaction or what is pushing back against the bubbles?

Explain your thoughts to an adult.

DON’T FORGET TO TIDY UP THE BATHROOM WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED, INCLUDING TOWELS OR KITCHEN ROLL AND RINSING OUT THE BATH.  TRUST ME, IT WILL NOT GO DOWN WELL, IF YOU LEAVE THE BATHROOM IN A RIGHT OLD STATE!!

Have fun!

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.

Blue homework goes here