Author: Staff..226

Welcome to P6NM with Mrs McFarlane and Mrs Nicholson.

The pupils have all settled back well and we have really enjoyed meeting everyone this week. 

Important Information 

Our PE days will be on Mondays and Wednesdays. On these days, please come to school in comfortable, weather appropriate clothing and footwear, which you will be able to exercise in.   

This week we have focussed on the expectations and routines in P6 and lots of Health and Wellbeing.  

Here are some highlights from our first few days in Primary Six: 

• We started to read a book called Wonder. 
• Self portraits in the style of the cover for Wonder.
• Having pictures taken for learning partners.
• Solving riddles.
• We decided on our class name (P6 Nanny McPhee). 
• Starting a patchwork quilt for our class charter.
• Starting ‘rough jotters’.
• Making birthday cards for our classmates to get throughout this session.
• We have enjoyed catching up with existing friends and have had the opportunity to widen our friendships even further with our new classmates. 
• We have enjoyed more freedom of movement in the playground at break and lunch.
• Teachers and pupils getting to know each other.  

Have a great weekend, 

Mrs McFarlane 

We have had a busy week in P6NM. Here is a summary of our learning:

Literacy

Reading

We held our Literature Circle meetings on Tuesday. The next meeting is on Monday 31^st May.

Writing/Links to IDL

We read more of our class novel Wilderness Wars. In it, one of the main characters discovered bats roosting in a cave. We used this opportunity to read for information, using leaflets from The Bat Conservation Trust. We then worked in trios to construct a mind map sharing our new-found knowledge. Finally, we used these mind maps as plans for our writing. We wrote non-chronological reports on bats.

Opportunities for home learning

Here is a video explaining more. Once you have watched it you could try to write your own report around an area of your interest.

How to write a non-chronological report – BBC Teach

Maths

We have been learning about quadrilaterals.  This is a useful summary of the key points in our learning this week.

Classifying quadrilaterals – Year 5 – P6 – Maths – Home Learning with BBC Bitesize – BBC Bitesize

Opportunities for home learning

• Can you see any quadrilaterals around your home? Draw and label the types of quadrilaterals you find.
• Extra challenge- here is an interactive quiz to test your knowledge.

Math Game: Quadrilaterals (iknowit.com)

HWB

• We have been dribbling using hockey sticks and balls in preparation for the P6 competition Games@thehub 2021.
• We have been taking part in circle times around the themes of friendship and bullying. In particular, we talked about the role of witnesses.
• We found out more about puberty using the new RSHP resource.

Learning Stories are being sent home today. These have the term 3 overview/newsletter along with targets for this term.

Term 2’s work was completed when Learning Together at Home. We loved seeing the photos and uploaded worksheets on Teams and know that a huge amount of effort was put into completing tasks at home. The pupils have chosen a couple of pieces of work (from school) which they are proud of but if you would like to add any worksheets or photos completed at home then please do.

Mrs McFarlane

A few reminders for next week.

Monday – HOLIDAY

Tuesday – HOLIDAY (for pupils)

Wednesday – Normal school day

Thursday – Learning Together at Home (please make sure you can still access Teams). Some hard copies of work will be sent home on Wednesday so please check school bags!

Friday- Normal school day

Here is a summary of our learning this week. The pupils created mind maps to show the skills we have been working on, the challenges they encountered and what they feel the next steps are in their learning.

Literacy 

Spelling

Listening and Talking and Writing

We looked at the #freecuthbert story that has been circulating recently. We discussed the impact of social media and wrote persuasive letters to either M&S or Aldi depending on our point of view. 

Opportunities for home learning: 

Keep an eye on current events and the way that social media can be used to influence our feelings. For example, with the upcoming election. You might see political party broadcasts on the TV or on the internet. Identify how the different parties try to persuade you to agree with their point of view. Can you use the skills from our persuasive writing this week to persuade someone to agree with your view on who should be elected? 

Maths

We began our maths lessons with core numeracy revision (multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000 as well as times tables).  We talked about the importance of revisiting these key skills frequently even though our main focus is on a different area of maths.

The main area covered in maths this week was investigating how to construct triangles when you are given 3 pieces of information (SAS- Side, angle, side and ASA- Angle, side, angle). 

Opportunities for home learning: 

Here are some videos we watched in class, which you may find useful to watch again. Please only watch video 81 and 82, WE DID NOT COVER SSS triangles (video 83).

https://corbettmaths.com/2019/02/12/constructing-triangles/

If you have a protractor and ruler at home you could try some further examples.

Remember, it is also really important to keep revising times tables and other core numeracy skills. We will be doing more of this on Thursday.

Please read our mind maps to find out about our learning in other areas of the curriculum.

We have had a great week in P6NM.  

It was great to speak to so many parents for the consultations over the last few days. Some parents mentioned how successful the book study on Kensuke’s Kingdom had been over Learning Together at Home. It certainly seems to have been one of the books that the class have enjoyed most. If your child liked reading it, they might consider reading The Wreck of Zanzibar (another Michael Morpurgo book) or, to explore the theme of friendship, an excellent book is The boy at the back of the class.  

Here is a summary of our learning this week. 

HWB 

We have been reading The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse. Everyone has been really engaged with this book and we are enjoying the fact that it is a different style to the books we have read recently. This week we have discussed some of the issues raised: 

• Comparing ourselves to others. 
• We are all different and have our own unique set of character traits and skills. 
• What do you think success is? 
• What would life be like if we listened less to our fears and more to our dreams? 

Opportunities for home learning: 

Do you have any favourite sayings in your family? Why are they so good? 

What do you want to be when you grow up? “Kind” said the boy. This was a surprising answer. What do you want to be? Why is that important to you? Write a few sentences and draw a picture. Include a job and a quality.  

Literacy 

• We made a plan for a story for our P1 buddies. We read a picture book then followed the same story structure to create our own versions. We had to consider our audience when planning which words and phrases to use, we had to correctly use speech marks and we had to make the central message/moral of the story clear. 
• We revisited how to use colons to introduce lists.   
• We developed our listening and talking skills when we presented our STEM projects. 

Ideas for home learning: 

Choose one of the options below and write a list using colons and bullet points correctly. 

Things to pack for a camping holiday                                       Favourite ingredients for a smoothie 

Think back to a story you enjoyed when you were younger. Did it have a central message or a theme like the one we read together? Can you think of any other texts which encourage you to be yourself? 

Maths

In maths we have been learning about angles.

We can use the words acute, obtuse, reflex and right angle to classify different angles. Here are some posters we made.

We also started to measure angles using protractors. To do this accurately we know that we must:

• Estimate the size of the angle first
• Line up the protractor correctly
• Read accurately from the correct scale
• Compare our answer to our estimate. Is it reasonable?

There is a fantastic lesson on BBC bitesize which reinforces the learning we have been doing in class this week. There are two videos to watch and a follow up worksheet.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdp8bqt

You could also:

• Find some leaflets that have been delivered at home.
• Find angles in the pictures and diagrams.
• Use different colours to indicate acute, obtuse and reflex angles.
• Look for angles in the environment (see photo below). Use the correct vocabulary to name different angles that you can see.

• Try to make angles with your body (knee, elbow, arms, fingers). Can you name each one accurately?
• This website has information on different types of angles.

https://www.mathsisfun.com/angles.html

• This is a very useful website which demonstrates how to use a protractor accurately. There are also interactive questions to test your knowledge.

https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/protractor-using.html

Other  

• We worked in trios or groups of 4 to complete and present a STEM project.

Important Notes:

PLEASE BRING IN AN EMPTY MILK JUG OR PLASTIC BOTTLE ON MONDAY

Thank you!

We hope you have enjoyed looking through your child’s Learning Story. Please sign or comment in the box provided and return to school next week.

Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

Spelling

See Monday’s blog post for this week’s rule.

Novel

We completed the final chapter of Friend or Foe. We discussed the overall effect of the book and reflected on our predictions from the first chapter.

Writing

We imagined that we had travelled into the future when Space Tourism is taking place. We designed brochures to advertise a holiday on a planet.

We reflected on the work we did during lockdown on adverts and tried to employ these techniques in our brochures.

•  adverts use positive words, ignoring negatives
•  adverts often contain promises
•  adverts have BOSSY VERBS
•  adverts use rhetorical questions
•  adverts use eye catching, memorable pictures
•  adverts use catch phrases
•  adverts provide product information
•  adverts may have a celebrity endorsement
•  adverts may make offers e.g. discounts, vouchers and competitions

Opportunities for home learning:

• Create a billboard advert for a Christmas themed attraction (e.g. a Christmas market/fun fair). Try to use some of the techniques above.
• Make sure that you are fully prepared to complete your literature circle role. Have you read the assigned pages? Could you record some notes or useful page numbers?

Maths

This week we have been focussing on:

• Finding a fraction of a number. For example:

• The link between decimals, fractions and percentages.

We know that a percentage is another way to show hundredths. We looked at pictures split into hundredths and discussed them using percentages for each section. 

We can change a decimal fraction into a percentage and change a simple fraction into a percentage.

Opportunities for home learning:

Opportunities for home learning:

• Can you explain to an adult at home what the links between percentages, fractions and decimals are?
• Look for food/clothing labels or newspaper/magazine cuttings that involve percentages, e.g. 10% less fat, 95% cotton. Can you write the percentages as fractions and decimals in their simplest form?
• Which of these would you rather have?

Here is how you would calculate A.

Other areas of the curriculum:

• In art we made our own planets.
• In ICT we used powerpoint to present facts about our imaginary planets.
• We enjoyed wearing our Christmas jumpers on Friday.
• We enjoyed watching the pantomime on Thursday.
• We played a Christmas Cluedo game during Outdoor Learning time.
• We made pop up Christmas cards.
• We enjoyed watching the P1 nativity.
• We made a weather diary for our RSPB Wild Challenge.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs McFarlane

We have had a great week in P6NM. Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

Spelling Rule

• To change a word ending in y to a plural, change y to i and add es.

e.g.    memory = memor(y) ies

• If the letter before the y is the singular word is a vowel, simply add s

e.g.    kidney + s

Grammar

We have been learning how to use apostrophes to show possession.

Here is a document which explains the use of apostrophes in this way.

d

H

Writing

We have been learning how to build tension and suspense in our story writing.

Some examples of techniques are:

• Short, sharp sentences to shock the reader.
• ‘Show, don’t tell’ (describe feelings/senses/physical reactions rather than simply what is happening).
• Adding extra information to sentences to make the reader wait even longer.
• Ellipsis (…)
• Onomatopoeia (bang/crash etc.)

Opportunities for home learning:

• Look out for authors using the techniques above in their books.
• Remember to prepare for the next Literature Circle meeting.
• Write these sentences adding in the apostrophes in the correct places.

Plural Possessive Nouns

1. The ___________________ roars filled the air as they flew together.  (Noun: dragon)
2. During the flight, the __________________ cases were stored in the hold. (Noun: pilot)
3. In Autumn, the ______________ leaves change colour. (Noun: tree)

Singular Possessive Nouns

1. Kims mum bought some cakes from the shop.
2. The butterflys wings flapped as it flew.
3. The dogs tail wagged excitedly.

Maths

We have been learning about fractions and decimals (tenths, hundredths and thousandths).

Here is a link to a really useful BBC Bitesize page. There is a video, an explanation of decimal numbers and several activities which will reinforce the work we have been doing in class.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zsjqtfr/articles/zsbd7p3

Opportunities for home learning:

• Complete the activities and quiz on the link above.
• Put these decimal numbers in order: 1.97    1.09    2.01   1.9  Ask an adult to check if you are right.

Other areas of the curriculum:

• We used magnifying glasses to look closely at natural materials during outdoor learning time. This was one of the activities which we can put towards gaining our RSPB Wild Challenge award.
• We completed our Space Missions. We have been working in trios to research a planet and make a poster to display our findings.Have a look at this powerpoint to see the fantastic posters!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs McFarlane