Welcome to the Year Six Page

Croeso i'r Tudalen Blwyddyn Chwech

Athrawes / Teacher: Ms. D. Houston

Religion / Crefydd - Come and See - RE Topic: 'Loving'

Science / Gwyddoniaeth

This week the children in year six had the opportunity to participate in a space workshop where they were able to focus on Science in the news with the British astronaut Tim Peak working on the International Space Station. Children used robots to move objects around ‘space’, beebots were used to map out a route for the astronauts in space and used circuits to make equipment that could be used by the astronauts to complete their tasks on the space station. 

Mis Iownar22 / January 22nd

Saesneg / English

On Tuesday 19th the children in year six participated in an English Creative Writing workshop. As parents will have observed in the children’s books I will often give the next step of asking the children to write in more detail and to use more ambitious vocabulary within their independent writing. To support the children in achieving these targets Mr Chapman from the authority and an author Ms. Farr came to provide learning strategies to help the children achieve this goal.

Children began by listing as many ambitious words that they can use for said. This was extended to the use of ambitious adverbs that could be used to describe the way in which the words were spoken. Using a technique called ‘Quopying’ the children took an extract from the book ‘Moon Chase’ and used these techniques to re write a section of the text. Children were encouraged to use a range of pronouns in order to enhance the atmosphere of the writing that they produced and to create a sense of suspense. Below are examples of the extended writing produced as one of the literacy activities undertaken within the workshop.

Extended writing produced from the creative writing workshop

Niamh

Amelia woke up in her school hall. She was cold and tired. She found some of the old tennis balls that they had been using earlier and threw them aggressively at the wall.  Nobody would believe her. They said that she had hit Amy, but she hadn’t. She reflected on how furious the teacher had been when someone had informed her of what she had supposedly done.

Amelia thought she was dreaming. It couldn’t really be happening. Just to make sure she pinched herself, no it was real. She stared at the bright red mark on her skin and the pain burned.

She thought how her mother would be feeling. She would be worried about where she was. She would be anxious. Amelia wished she had listened to her friends to just leave Amelia alone after she had been told off.

Then the heavy door of the silent school hall opened, creaking ominously as it did. The light from the corridor behand illuminated the floor of the hall and somebody walked in. It was a tall man with dark hair and as he walked in Amelia could hear his shoes, one step after another. As he came in he closed the door quietly behind him. Amelia could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer... everything else was silent.

Kristof

Max sat silently in his cell. Everything was dead silent … nothing moved. He was quite, tired and hungry. There were bits of damp on the walls. He was also annoyed. He picked up twigs and stone off the floor and in a moment of anger, disappointment and heed he threw them all and all of them broke. Nobody knew he was only trying to help his twin brother. His parents were disappointed and just yelled. They wouldn’t let me even speak. This was all about a silly argument between his brother. I don’t deserve this – I know the truth!

Just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming he bit his lip and pinched his arm. Everything still hurt and there was blood dripping like raindrops. He was wide awake; he thought about his brother he knew he would be worried. I’d began to think he wished he listened to his brother.

At the end of this empty jail a door knob turned and the door blasted open. The shining light of the moon reflected on the cold dark floor. An older looking man came through the door; he looked around the jail and just continued walking. I thought he was the caretaker he had a bucket behind him

He made no sound and was as quite as a mouse. No footsteps were heard as he went towards Max’s cell. All that was heard was the small round wheels rolling across the floor and …

Photographs of the creative writing workshops are below.

DT and Science - Model Planes for Science Investigation

The children in year six have designed and made the model of a paper plane. The children have designed a plane that they believe will travel the furthest distance in a flight experiment being conducted in a science next week. They have written a report to describe how they made their model and used their mathematics skills to calculate perimeters of the model and record in decimal form the dimensions of their plane. Below are photographs of their final models..

 Amelia Earhart - Context for learning - Flight - Art and Design

The children have used their line, mark and tone art and design skills to make a portrait using charcoal and pastels  of Emilia Earhart the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo She later died under mysterious circumstances on a solo flight over the central Pacific Ocean. In addition the children used the same mediums to create a sunset showing silhouettes of birds in flight to provide a contrast as to how the Art and Design skills can be used in different contexts.

Corpus Christi Transition Project

Flight

All the year six classes from the feeder school to Corpus Christi participate in this project. The topic is centred on the theme of flight and will focus on English, mathematics and Science. In English writing, reading and oracy activities will focus on the life of Amelia Earhart. Through the English part of the topic the children will focus on biographical newspaper, empathy, report and non fiction writing genres

Let’s Fly - In mathematics the children will be required to complete a series of investigation and reasoning problems similar to those undertaken in Easter as part of the Welsh Assembly Government assessments for eleven year olds in Wales. Each piece of work will be levelled and work produced will be analysed by year six teachers and headteachers’’' from all the Catholic primary schools in cluster meetings to be held at Corpus Christi High School.

Art and Craft on the Topic of Flight

I like to undertake the art and craft and DT activities as soon as possible into the term as is possible so that the classroom is a reflection of the context for learning topic. Activities will require an old t shirt as the children will be engage in a range of painting activities.

Painting projects to be conducted on the topic of ‘Flight’:  

Art and Design Skills: Line mark and tone: Modern artists showing birds in flight

Art and Design Skills: Line mark tone and colour mixing. Aborigine depictions of birds in flight

Art and Design: Form and Tone – 3D Air Balloons

Line and Mark and Tone: Cross hatch /charcoal sketches of Amelia Earhart

Hot Air Balloons: Would parents be kind enough to provide their child with an empty paper cup and a large round balloon – the colour is not important as we will be using paper mache to create a tonal balloon. In addition we will need lots of newspaper for the project so donations would be much appreciated.

Gwyddoniaeth / Science / Dylunio a Thechnoleg /   DT

Gwaith Catref / Homework

The children will be required to make a spinner and a model   aeroplane. I will provide the children with the card and paper clips to make the plane. The objective is to create a model paper plane that will travel the longest distance and to identify why the most successful. In addition the children will measure, cut and make a spinner and who can make a spinner that will take the longest to fall to the ground.  There are lots of examples on various websites to give the children ideas about how to approach the task. Once the science investigations have been completed the models will be used to contribute to the flight display in the classroom. Both these models will be required for the children to undertake a science investigation as part of the year six project on ‘Flight’ The children will be assessed on the following criteria within their groups:

• Planning the investigation
• I identifying and being able to apply a fair test
• Identifying variables
• What and how you are going to measure.
• Describing the method to be used in the investigation
• Collect data independently and determine how data collected will be recorded.
• Analysing and drawing conclusions from data- what have they learned/
• Choosing appropriate graphs to present data – using mathematics skills to compare data, find totals, differences, the range, mean, median and mode of the data gathered.

Remember you can decorate your plane models as you so wish, but you must make sure that your name is recorded on each of the models that you make. MODELS to be returned on Monday 11^th January 2016.

Crefydd / Religion / Come and See

Sources

The first theme of the Spring term is entitled ‘Sources’ The children will primarily focus on the Bible with specific studies of the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark Luke and John and their significance in teaching us how to follow the teachings and examples of Christ. Parents are reminded that the first class mass for year six will be on the 21^st of January to be celebrated in year six’s classroom at 10.30a.m. The class assembly will be on Friday 12^th February. It is very much hoped that where possible that all children will have family members or friends to celebrate these acts of collective worship in order to support the children in their faith journey.

Avoid Absence from School

It is very important that with the exception of illness that your child does not miss school. In mathematics and English the children are introduced to new concepts very lesson and occasional ‘days off’ mean that children miss key areas of their learning and often find such a topic as angle very difficult if they are not there for all the lessons on the topic. With the Welsh assembly Government assessments immediately after Easter it is essential that your child is in school so that they can give of their best and not hindered by gaps in their learning that intermittent absence results in.

Maths Investigations

The children in year six were provided with a series of investigation tasks using kits provided by Techniquest. In these investigations the children were required to use their mathematical knowledge and reasoning skills to solve each of the problems. Attached are pictures of the children engaged in these activities.

Happy Puzzle

Mathematics

Problem Solving and Reasoning Investigation

The children in years five and six have participated in a mathematics problem solving workshop and had to work as a team, apply the mathematical knowledge and reasoning skills to solve a series of problems.

Mathematics Investigation One - Balance the Iceberg:

The children were given a loose fitted iceberg and were required to balance a series of penguins all at once on the moving formation.

Kane: We started from the bottom to ensure that each part of the base of the iceberg was relatively balanced and we worked up to the top - we had to do this because if you placed the penguins randomly and not in a systematic manner starting at the widest point first the iceberg would not balance and the penguins would fall off.

Mathematics Investigation Two - Road Map:

Riona.    We were provided with  a jigsaw of a road map, but the jigsaw was unusual because no matter where you placed the pieces they would always fit. So my group had to create a road map that contained no dead ends. This was challenging and we had to work as a team to indentify when we made errors in the making of the road - We learnt that we needed to find the corners first and then the whole investigation would have become easier.

Mathematics Investigation Three - How can we make a huge hexagon from a series of trapeziums?:

Angelo: We were provided with a large hexagonal tray and we had to fill it with trapeziums. However, it was not as simple as that! We had to ensure that no trapezium of any colour actually touched. This was a challenging investigation, but my team really  enjoyed it because we solved the puzzl successfully.

Autumn Term 2015

IT Projects

During this initial term of the academic year the year six children have participated in the following activities as vehicles for developing their computing skills:

Word Processing: Job description for becoming a priest. The children had to type in the text, use bullet points, vary font size and style, copy and paste pictures to illustrate our learning in religion.

Multimedia Project: From previous class articles on work conducted on IT, this multimedia project has focused on using the Aurasma App. The children have concluded the project by uploading their video presentations and providing a PPT on how to use the Aurasma App so that it can be used by other children.

World War Two: What were the causes? Research project on causes of World War Two presented in a PPT form.

Spreadsheets; Excel: The children have applied their learning on the mode, median, range from mathematics and have calculated these aspects of mathematics within their spreadsheets as part of a mathematics investigation on the impact of rationing on the people who experienced this in World War Two.

Graphing Work: Graphs have alo been created using our IT skills in relation to science the length of a shadow, pie chart on the numbers of deaths suffered by different countries during the Second World War and line graphs relating to healthy eating.

Religion – Come and See

Vocations

The children have worked hard on this topic and have produced job descriptions about the role of priest, they have written manifestos outlining their ideas about what our vocations as Christians should be. Below are a series of photographs to illustrate the children’s learning on this topic. Once the project on Hinduism is completed the children will begin the topic on ‘Expectations’ in which the children will learn about and respond in prayer in class worship on the holy season of Advent.

Science / Gwyddoniaeth

Health Education

Dangers of smoking / How to have a healthy heart

As part of our science lessons this week the children have been learning about the dangers of smoking and the impact that it has on having a healthy heart. The children have plotted and compared two sets of data about heart rate in line graphs. Year Six have learnt that the line graph is the only type of data graph that allows them to make sensible estimates about data with which they were not provided. Again children analysed the data finding differences, making estimates, calculating the mean, median, mode and range of the data gathered.

Science / Gwyddoniaeth

Forces Investigation

The children in year six have conducted an investigation on the forces of buoyancy as opposed to weight and gravity. The children were placed in mixed ability groups and were set the challenge of designing a boat that they thought would hold the most marbles before it sank. The children focused on the following science and mathematics skills:

• Making scientific models

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  How could they make the test fair?

• Identifying the variable in their investigation.

• Gathering data independently.

• Plotting data in a graph

• Analysing and drawing conclusions from the data including gathering the mean, median, mode and range of the data.

Religion / Crefydd

Another Faith Tradition

Judaism

As part of our Come and see religious teaching programme is to teach children about another faith tradition. In preparation for our educational visit to a synagogue, the children have learnt about the history of Judaism, the religious furniture contained within a synagogue, the Torah scrolls and the festival of the Jewish new year Rosh Hashannah. Below are pictures of some of the work produced as part of the Judaism project.

Sky Sports Day Event.

On the 11^th of November Mrs Jefferies, Ms Houston and Ms. O’Brien took the children in class eight to Sophia Gardens to participate in the sky sports event. This was the first time the organisation had visited Wales and the children met athletes that had represented their country at a national level, at the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. The children engaged in football skills, healthy eating games, listening to a famous female Welsh rugby players aspirations and triumphs within her sport and developing their rugby skills. The pictures below illustrate what a wonderful time the children had today. However, as we left an organiser of the event approached us and congratulated the children for being so polite, enthusiastic and so well behaved. Indeed they were, and this reflects on the expectations of parents and the school. The adults accompanying the children were as always very proud of the children today. I have placed photographs on the year six class page and more photographs will follow from Ms. Jefferies which will be placed on the school gallery.

Athrawes: Ms. D. Houston

Multimedia  Project

Recap on the Aurasma Map – The children were required to compile a series of questions to explain to other pupils’ how to use. This is the instruction guide created by Angelo:

Information Technology / Computing – Multi Media Project

Ten Ten Theatre

‘The Blitz’

English and Religion Workshop

Years Six – Mrs Houston

On Monday the children in year five and six had the opportunity to watch a performance by the Ten Ten Theatre Company. The play was fantastic and had the children totally engaged for the hour and ten minute performance. The children were able to see and learn about the impact of war in terms of bombings, evacuation, men going off to war and women, who had not worked before, undertaking employment previously considered to be work only to be conducted by men. The children learnt to be grateful for the gifts that God has given them and the importance of helping and supporting others in time of need. The play was ensued by a question and answer forum and the quality of the answers reflected the children’s enjoyment and understanding gained from the performance. At the conclusion of the workshop the children participated in a meditation and were reflective in their responses once more. This was a fantastic learning opportunity for the children.

Year Six comments about the performance:

Luke: The performance by the Ten Ten theatre Company provided me with a moving experience which I think people of all ages would appreciate.

Niamh: I enjoyed learning about the different emotions that the children in World War Two would have experienced especially about evacuation and the Blitz.

Kristof: I thought this was an inspiring story and it reminded us not to take for granted the wonderful gifts of parents and love that God has given us.

For the remainder of the year the children will participate in a two hour computing lesson. These classes will be run by Ms. Jefferies, an ex pupil and graduate from Chichester University, and Mrs. Houston.

Today we had the support of an ex pupil Mr. D. Jones, who has recently graduated from Swansea University and has participated with lessons as part of his PGCE course.

The aim of our initial lesson was to experiment using the Aurazma App. The children read facts about World War Two that they found interesting. This was the children's first attempt at using this multimedia software. Next week we will learn our words off by heart and produce a script about the Blitz in Cardiff.

Please find attached our initial efforts at using the Aurazma App. We know as we become accustomed with this software our work will improve further.

Watch this space!