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

 

 

Friday 10th February

 

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

Year 6 Learning

Maths Learning

Primary Maths Challenge – Bonus Round

Division SATs   click here for reasoning questions on division

 

 

RE: The Beatitudes

WALT: research the life of a Beatitudes person.

Focus on: St Teresa of Calcutta

Activity:

Read over the Life of St Teresa of Calcutta and record in your own words about her life to gain a sense of how she lived her whole life as a beatitudes person.

Click here for the life of St Teresa of Calcutta

 

Activity 2: Quotes by Mother Teresa

 

Friday 20th January 2023

In Year 6 this week, we have begun our new writing unit based on Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World. The children have enjoyed hearing about the different beasts and looking at the impressive illustrations. So far, we have written poems about trolls, made warning posters about cockatrices and written diaries as mischievous boggarts. In maths, we have been looking at our assessments to practise areas we are unsure of.

In PE, we learnt how to leapfrog. Year 6 made sure they provided a sturdy base for their partner and learnt the appropriate technique for leaping.

At Pope Paul this week, our RE learning has been about other faiths; the focus in Year 6 was on Islam. The children have learnt about the 5 pillars of Islam and, in particular, on their pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). I was really impressed with their questions and the way they could see similarities between our faith and theirs. Well done, Year 6.

Have a wonderful weekend

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

 

Home Learning

spag.com- complete activity set

Read for 20 minutes daily

Spellings can be found on spellingshed

ttrockstars

Complete mathletics activities set.

9th January 2023

Monday

Arithmetic Paper

Click here

Main Activity:

WALT: calculate the area of a right=angled triangle

Tuesday 

Arithmetic Paper  Day 3 and 4

Click here

Friday, 9th December 2022

 

The highlight of this week  was the Advent service.  The class through their singing, acting and reading showed how they made this years Advent service special for everyone.

The children clearly shone in their given roles – we are very proud of how they led the Advent service and supported each class with their singing, making the focus on Pilgrimage all the more special.  Well done Year 6!

This week in Maths the children have been introduced to multiplying fractions with fractions or integers .  In our morning prayer and reflection, we have continued to focus on the Jesse tree and have learnt more about Jesus’ ancestors. In English, the children have completed the final story for the Alma unit. The quality of the description and language has been outstanding and the variety of sentence structures has shown their progress so far this year. We will be writing these up next week. Our English topic in January will be based around the Spiderwick Chronicles, so we encourage the children to read the five-part set in preparation. There is also a film based on the books they could watch.

This week, the travelling nativity visited the Year 3 Classroom.  Thank you to Caroline, Vihaan, Kian, Tymon and Johanna who led this prayer service and Lorcan who assisted them with this.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines.

 

This week’s home learning:

TTRs please log on and practice your times tables.

Mathletics – complete the assigned activities on fractions.

Spellings- spelling shed

SPaG- Spag.com

 

Friday 2nd December, 2022

This week in Year 6 we have been busy with not only their learning but practising for the Advent Service which Year 6 have a lead role in.  We have been down to the church this week to practice our parts and solos and the children are refining their roles to ensure that this special event goes well. Well done to those children who have learnt their words by heart either for their singing or their reading part.

In English, the children have  learnt about the subjunctive form and are deep into the end of their writing unit based on the animated version of Alma.  In Maths they have continued their work on fractions and  problem solving. In Science, the children have explored shadows and have developed their understanding of their movement. In RE, the children have been enthusiastic in focusing on the Jesse Tree and have been adding a bauble each day to the school and class Jesse Tree.  The Jesse Tree is a bit like an Advent calendar, but using a daily Bible story about someone in Jesus’ family tree to help children prepare spiritually as they move towards Christmas. We have also spent time as a class discussing the children’s understanding of the story of the birth of Jesus before we examine the Gospels of Luke and Matthew in our next lesson.  In French, the children were introduced to the eight points of a compass and have practised forming sentences to describe towns in relation to where they are from each other.

This week our choir members went along to do carol singing and they were complimented by the people who listened to them and watched them.  We also welcomed the Bishop John Sherrington on Thursday to our school.  Our liturgy leaders greeted him when he arrived and he visited our class to chat with them about his role as bishop and to answer the many interesting questions that the children asked him.  Well done to Kian, Elle, Arthur, VJ, Ela-Maria, Oskar and Violet who stood up and posed their question.

    

Today, mad hair day, the children came in proud styles that have not only been admired by their peers but by the rest of the children in the school.

 

A BIG thank you for those of you who have already sent in items for the class hamper; the collection is still carrying on so if you can, please send in a blue item to contribute to the raffle for FOPPS.

The home learning is mentioned below.  Wishing you and your family a lovely weekend as we move into the second week of advent.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

 

IMPORTANT******

If your child is one of the people listed below in the Advent service, please can they bring into school black trousers/leggings and a black top (short or long sleeved) .  If they wish to bring in further props for their part, please ensure that they are in a bag clearly marked with their name.  If your child is: Mary or a Star, please can they wear a white top and white leggings/trousers.  Thank you you.

ROLES for the Advent Service:   Joseph, Herod, Wisemen, Chief Priest, Teacher, children who hold the stable prop. 

Home Learning :

Please practice your Advent Service song lyrics, your own lines or lyrics if you are singing a solo.  https://popepaul.herts.sch.uk/advent-service-songs/

Spelling– please use  your Edshed account to practice this week’s spelling words.

Times tables– please log onto your TTRs Account and spend 20 minutes practicing your facts. https://ttrockstars.com/

Mathletics:  log onto your account to complete the work set for you this week.

SPaG– Activity set on spag.com

 

Friday 25th November 2022

Preparations for the Advent Service have been well underway this week. Today we even had the chance to head up to church for a rehearsal. Year 6 take a central role for this event and we have been impressed with how well it is coming together. Be sure to continue to practise lines and songs at home.

In English, we have continued to build vocabulary and improve sentence structure in preparation for our end of unit piece. This week, we looked at the story as a duel narrative and considered the events from the dolls perspective. In science, now that we understand that light travels in a straight line, we investigated how images reach our eyes. Year 6 identified that without light, it is not possible and that what we see is due to the light reflecting off the object. The children created light free boxes to explore this, before adding small holes to introduce a light source.

Today we had our usual meet up with Reception Reading partners. It’s wonderful to se how much these relationships have grown. The room is always buzzing with chatter and laughter when they are together. The Year 6 children do an incredible job of supporting the younger children.

 

Have a wonderful weekend

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

Home learning:

Spellings on Spelling Shed

Practise lines and songs for the Advent Service.

 

 

Friday 11th November, 2022

Our Design and Technology Lesson looking at design criterion

 

Our Mass of Remembrance.  A special thank you to Nicholas for assisting with the altar.

 

This week the children continued working in Maths on fractions simplifying and developing their understanding of equivalence.  In English we have begun our new English unit based on the animation Alma.  In RE the children spent time looking at Jesus’ genealogy using the start of Matthew’s Gospel.  They coped well with all the extremely difficult names they had to read about.  Our Design and Technology lesson on designing a mobile phone cover has been met with great enthusiasm and this week, the children talked about design criteria and started designing their own.

On Wednesday we had our class Mass on the theme of Remembrance.  A big thank you to all the class as they were very respectful during it and sang, read and carried out their roles with such maturity.

Today, we we took part in a very reflective remembrance pilgrimage through each classroom to remember family and friends who have died.  The children met with their reception buddies and accompanied them around the school starting in Reception and ending back in the Main Hall after visiting all classes , showing such reverence and respect – well done!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

 

Home Learning:

Maths:  Log onto Mathletics and complete the activities on place value and fractions.

TTRs:  Log on and continue to challenge your times table speed of recall.

SPAG: Log on to SPaG.com

Spellings for this week: dependable, comfortable, understandable, reasonable, enjoyable, reliable, possible, horibble, terrible, incredible.

Please note, children need their swimming kits and pyjamas for next week’s swimming lesson. Children can wear anything that is lightweight and covers full arms and legs. Tracksuit bottoms are not appropriate as they are too heavy when wet.