Year 6 – 19/12/17

Firstly, thank you very much for the generous Christmas gifts; I am extremely grateful.

I haven’t blogged for a few weeks, so this post will be a round-up of the last few weeks of a very busy half term!

Year 6 had the privilege of watching the dress rehearsal of Reception’s Nativity play. They also helped their reading partners get changed into and out of their costumes, which they did ever so slickly!

At the closure of our 50 Years of Pope Paul celebrations, Bishop John Wilson came into our class to answer questions. It was fascinating to hear how he had met Mother Teresa of Calcutta, his favourite saint.

To coincide with our Science topic on the human body, we welcomed Mr Dalal into our classroom to hear about his work as an osteopath. He talked to us specifically about our vertebrae and explained the importance of good posture. We were intrigued to learn that you slightly shrink over the course of the day due to impact and gravity ‘squashing’ the water from the discs, which then re-hydrate and ‘pad out’ again when we’re lying horizontally at night. Unsurprisingly, we put this to the test and were excited to see that the majority of us were indeed a bit taller in the morning!

In Science, we have also been investigating our pulse. In groups, the children came up with their own lines of enquiry about what might affect heart rate, and then designed their own investigations. Examples of questions included:

• Do nerves have an effect on pulse? (this involved Jan performing Man’s Not Hot to a small group and then to the whole class!)
• Does drinking water affect pulse?
• Do long, slow movements or short, quick movements cause our heart to beat faster?

As the countdown to Christmas continued, Year 6 exchanged Christmas presents with their Reception reading partners.

Everyone enjoyed the Christmas Dinner, with many going back for seconds!

Christmas Dinner was followed by in-house entertainment in the form of Pope Paul’s Got Talent.

Finally, to top off a fantastic week of festivities, the Year 6s accompanied their reading partners to The Wyllyotts to watch Cinderella along with the rest of the school.

It’s been a wonderful term in which the children have pushed themselves with their learning and have excelled in being the leaders of the school. Needless to say, they all thoroughly deserve a rest this Christmas (although I am keeping regular checks on who’s been on readtheory.org!).

Merry Christmas, and I will see you all in the New Year!

Miss Donatantonio