Year 5 – 17/03/23 – Science Week

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

 

Friday 24th February

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Our Spiderwick learning in English has now progressed to designing our own creature. Next week, Year 6 will create their own entry for the fieldguide. Maths learning this week has focussed on translation and reflection, learning to draw and translate shapes in all four quadrants of the co-ordinate grid and reflect a shape in the mirror line where the mirror line is not only horizontal and vertical but also diagonal.

Our science learning this week was based on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Year 6 learnt about how the finches in the Galapagos islands varied in their beak shape and size depending on what island they were from and the food sources available. We then investigated this by creating our own beaks and saw how effective they were with a range of foods.

 

On Wednesday, we attended the Ash Wednesday mass at Our Lady and St Vincent’s Church.  Well done to Tymon and Albion who read at the mass. In the afternoon, some members of the liturgy group attended the Key Stage 1 Ash Wednesday service and read alongside the Key Stage 1 Class teachers.  Well done to Albion, Caroline, Eric and Maria.  A special thank you to Sophie who kindly stepped in to assist with the power point.

Have a wonderful weekend

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

 

Home Learning:

Reading comprehension provided. Answers can be written on the back. This must be in school by Tuesday 28th February.

SPaG.com

Spellings set on spellingshed

Mathletics log on and complete the activities set.

Times table Rockstars – log on and keep practising your times tables!!

 

Monday Learning 20th February

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Reflection

WALT:  identify, describe and represent the position of a shape following a reflection or translation

Click here for Activity A

Click here for Activity B

Click here for Activity C

 

Group Work: Click here

Revision Aids – Year 6

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  1. Statistics Knowledge Organiser
  2. Ratio  Knowledge Organiser
  3. Properties of Shape  Knowledge Organiser
  4. Position and Direction  Knowledge Organiser
  5. Perimeter, Area and Volume  Knowledge Organiser
  6. Algebra  Knowledge Organiser
  7. Percentages  Knowledge Organiser
  8. Decimals  Knowledge Organiser
  9. Fractions  Knowledge Organiser
  10. Arithmetic Organiser

Friday 10th February

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It was lovely to meet with so many of you at Parent Consultations this week and celebrate your child’s achievements in all areas of their learning. For those parents who were not able to attend, we will be in touch after half-term to arrange a time with you.

This week the children have continued with their work on division: dividing numbers up to 4 digits by a two-digit whole number using the formal written method of long division (and short division where appropriate) and interpreting remainders as whole number remainders, fractions, or by rounding, as appropriate for the context.  They have been answering many worded problems to aid them with their understanding of this topic.

In RE we continued with our work on the Beatitudes and examined the life of a beatitudes person, St Teresa (Mother Teresa of Calcutta) and discussed how she lived her life alongside the beatitudes.

The blessed are filled with God’s joy. Jesus wants all people to be happy. Even if we are not healthy, famous, beautiful, rich, strong or brilliant, the children have learnt that the beatitudes are God’s promise of happiness.

On Thursday the children took part in a very special Liturgy of Preparation with Lorcan for Ash Wednesday.  The palms that were collected from the parishioners who received them from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration were burnt in our peace garden and the children saw how they will become the ashes that will be used on Ash Wednesday this year. Thank you to Caroline, Maria and Johanna who assisted in preparing the palms for this liturgy and to the children who did the readings.

 

In PE, we continued on our theme of motion and before the start of our lesson Vihaan and VJ led us in our warm up.  Well done to them.  The children displayed their sequences to one another and I was pleased to see how they had incorporated leap frog, cat spring, rolling and jumping into their group’s performance.

 

This afternoon, the children spent time with their reading buddies and both classrooms were filled with exciting activities and conversations!  A lovely ending to a very busy week!

Finally, well done to the members of our school choir who showcased their talents brilliantly during the Young Voices concert in Wembley on Tuesday evening.  The choir were buzzing on Wednesday and shared the many experiences they had had from their experience.

There is no home learning for the half-term break but this is a great opportunity for those children to complete any outstanding mathletics or SPAG home learning.  I have also created another blog for any children who would like to have an opportunity to look at revision aids.

Wishing you and your family a lovely half-term break.

 

Mrs Lines    Mrs McNamara