Friday 24th March
This week has been filled with things to keep us busy including our practises for our Way of the Cross Service which is on Tuesday 28th March at 7pm at Our Lady and St Vincent’s Church.
In Maths, we have been looking at specific areas in number and practising our mental maths skills. The children are doing well with this focus and next week, we will be looking at applying our knowledge and skills by examining reasoning questions.
On Wednesday we were visited by Mr Friedlander from Dame Alice Owens. He taught us how to extract DNA from a kiwi fruit. The children listened well and were sensible with the equipment provided.
Next Monday, we are planning to take the children on a walk and will require them to bring a change of footwear for this (they may get muddy!) and their coat.
For those of you who were not able to attend the PGL meeting on Monday, it can be found on our class page. Forms were sent home with your children this week. Please sign and return these as soon as possible.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines.
Home Learning:
Learn by hear the words and songs for the Way of the Cross Service
Soloists – please practise your songs
I have uploaded some example reasoning papers which your child can try. Answers are at the end of each paper.
spag.com- I have reset any tests from this year that children achieved below 50% on. Children have until after the Easter break to have completed all tasks on this platform.
Parents’ Meeting – Monday 20th March, 2023 Y6 School Trip
Dear Parents/Carers,
Please find below a copy of the presentation about the Year 6 Trip to Bawdsey Manor (PGL) in May and information about SATs.
If you were unable to make it to the meeting on Monday 20th May and have questions about it, please do get in touch with myself or Mrs Lines.
Click here for the presentation
Click here for a map of Bawsdsey Manor
Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines
Year 5 – 17/03/23 – Science Week
This year’s British Science Week theme was Connections, so we spent the week exploring lots of different ways that things are connected in science. We spent much of Monday designing and engineering ‘vehicles’ using forces to send a message. Some pairs increased the air resistance of their vehicle; some engineered ziplines and ramps to take advantage of gravity; some created vehicles with wheels with as little friction as possible. There was so much invention and creativity involved, and we had a lot of fun testing them out!
This afternoon, the children had their final Science Week challenge: Set up a sequence of linked events so that initial movement leads to another then another. They displayed great teamwork and innovation!
We also welcomed parents into the school to hear about how they use science in their professions. Thank you to Naomi and Julia’s mum for speaking to us about mental health, to Christoph’s parents for their session about their jobs as vets, and to Mrs Wilson for showing us a range of reptiles and even a couple of dead tarantulas!
Please continue to practise last week’s spellings, and to revise the song words for The Way of the Cross (link to blog post with lyrics and youtube links can be found here).
Have a lovely weekend and a particularly happy Mothers’ Day! 💐
Friday 17th March 2023
We have been incredibly lucky this week as we were visited by 5 Pope Paul parents to support our science learning. On Monday, Julia and Naomi’s mum (Year 5) spoke to us about her role as a mental health nurse. Year 6 asked some very interesting questions about some of the disorders mentioned. On Tuesday, Christoph and Anna’s parents (Year 5 and 2) came to talk to us about their roles as veterinarians. They quizzed us on what skulls belonged to which animals and taught us about what they look for when viewing blood under microscopes. To finish the week, Luca’s mum (Reception) described what she did as a microbiologist, giving us great information about bacteria and antibiotics. Jamie and Charlie’s mum ( Year 4 and 3) also visited with her array of animals. Despite being unsure at first, Year 6 got stuck in, handling the scaly creatures! Photos to follow…
Have a great weekend
Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara
Home Learning:
Spag.com
Spellings on spellingshed
Mathletics
Learn your Way of Cross songs
3rd March, 2023
This week, the children celebrated the sacrament of reconciliation with Fr Shaun and Fr Robert who talked to the children individually about God’s love and help. In class the children chatted about reconciliation and the importance of reflecting on the times when they did not live as Jesus asked them.
In RE the children have been designing their own lenten calendars and alongside our focus question of ‘How does the church celebrate Lent?’ the children recognised and explained the three practices of Lent: Praying, Fasting and Almsgiving. Next week, we will spend time learning why almsgiving is an important ritual in our Catholic Faith.
In Maths the children looked back over work on fractions and worked on multiplying and dividing fractions.
In Science, we looked at how animals adapt to their environment. We saw how they can camouflage and took part in a practical activity where Year 6 searched our field for pieces of different coloured wool. We ended up with many pieces of the brightly coloured wool, but few of the darker and more muted colours.
On Thursday, World Book Day, the children immersed themselves into the activities across the day. Thank you to the children who shared their reading books with the rest of the class. It was a pleasure to hear them talk about their chosen book that they have read or are currently reading. Well done to the children who participated in our whole school book swap. The house captains took turns to guide the younger year groups during their ‘book swap’ time and at lunchtime and home time, encouraged the children to take a book home and enjoy!
Today, the Fairtrade Leaders lead an assembly on Fairtrade to the rest of the school. They spoke about the importance of supporting Fairtrade products which in turn helps those farmers around the world get a fair share for their goods produced.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines
This week’s home learning:
TTRs – please log on and increase your recap speed of your timestables. There is always room to improve!!
Mathletics: I have reassigned some children the activities that were set last week. This week the focus is on fractions and completing a short assessment (in number, geometry and measurement).
Spelling Shed
Reading – read for 20 minutes daily
Spag.com- complete the activity set
Spring 2 Week 1
Welcome back! We have been busy this week preparing for Lent. At the start of the week we made our Lenten promises, then we took part in an Ash Wednesday Service at school. This gave us time to reflect on our promises and ask God to forgive our sins.
In Maths we have been using different strategies for addition. I have been very impressed with the reasoning children have used when explaining their mathematical thinking.
In English we have written list poems about our favourite colours. The children have been very imaginative and descriptive.
In Science we have looked closely at microhabitats in the school grounds. The children have enjoyed researching some of the minibeasts and plants they have found.
We were fortunate enough to be invited to watch the Dame Alice Owens Gym and Dance dress rehearsal on Tuesday. This was an inspirational way to conclude our gymnastics unit. We are now moving on to invasion games in PE.
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Pringle
Home learning
Spelling and handwriting – ‘ment’ and tricky words
excitement, enjoyment, placement, oh, they, with, people, could, would, some.
Maths – mathletics activities have been set.
English – please check your child’s bag for a spag.com letter with instructions and passwords. I have set two suffix activities online.
Spring Term 2 Week 1
On Tuesday, Year 2 and 3 were invited to watch a gymnastics and dance show at Dame Alice Owen. The children enjoyed the show, and it was wonderful to see them dancing in the playground after. Then we made pancakes to celebrate Shrove Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the children went to church to celebrate Ash Wednesday. They sang and responded beautifully. The children thought about how they are going to journey with Jesus to the cross. They added these to the school display on Friday during assembly.
In Maths, the children have been learning about angles. The children went on an angle walk using a right-angle finder to identify objects with right angles. They made shapes and identified whether they had right angles, acute angles or obtuse angles. We have also been solving problems, identifying the start, the change and the result of a problems. The children have been drawing bar models to solve problems.
In English, we started a new unit of persuasive writing. We read the story Stella and the Seagull and identified how she persuaded people to make a difference to the environment. The children thought about what people thought of Stella and how Stella felt about herself following her wonderful ideas. Then the children wrote a persuasive letter to their parents to try to persuade them to let them stay up later at night. They thought carefully about reasons to encourage parents to think about it.
In Science, we did an investigation to find out how permeable soil is.
Home Learning
| Spellings -complete spelling shed and practise words in their handwriting book. | arrival, burial, comical, emotional, national, magical, personal, optional, survival, tropical |
| Timestables | Practise using timetable rockstars. |
| Mathsletics | Complete the activities |
| Read Theory | Complete two activities |
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Carey
