Monday 16 December 2013

Last week began with James and Cat, our head boy and girl, accompanying me down to St. Nicholas' Church to decorate our Christmas tree- year 6 had made some amazing salt dough creations, miniature crackers and a variety of paper chains with which to festoon our tree. A photo appeared in last week's news letter and I hope that some of you were able to visit the tree and see for yourself their efforts alongside all the other 70 trees as part of the Christmas Tree Festival.

Tuesday saw the whole school participating in our Christmas Celebration- The Magical Christmas Jigsaw. Year 6 took some leading roles within the celebration and there were many wonderful comments from parents on their performances. Certainly a last Christmas at Crabtree to remember.

This week sees the final week of the Autumn term and still plenty going on in year 6.

We await with anticipation the Christmas dinner on Wednesday and the imaginative Christmas hats that the children create prior to lunch time. Don't forget- if you ordered a school Christmas lunch you won't need your usual packed lunch on Wednesday.

Thursday is the now regular Christmas gym/ dance assembly to the school. This year it will be just years 5 and 6 competing with their Christmas displays to amaze us with their talent and again, their creativity- the children have choreographed their own class dances. A brilliant example of how well prepared they are by Miss Thomas for team challenges.

Following this extravaganza is the year 6 Christmas party.
Children should come in uniform as usual and may bring a change of clothes for  the afternoon if they wish. Please make sure that any outfits are in clearly named carrier bags and if you collect your child at the end of the day do ask them if they have got all their uniform including their shoes!!

Friday- our last day children may bring in appropriately rated DVDs to share in the class and games to play at some point during the day. Nothing electrical please- phones i pads etc are too valuable to be brought in to school as toys.

Here's to the last few days of term.

The year 6 team.

Friday 6 December 2013

Christmas has begun!

Christmas has certainly begun at Crabtree this week.  The children have been very busy making Christmas decorations for the hall and their classrooms.  The result is very festive.  Elm must have broken a record for the number of paper chain links in one room (1132 at the last count) and in Elder the line of dancing santas is a sight to behold!

The children have also been working hard to learn the lines for all of the songs in the Christmas Celebration.  Some children have speaking parts in the celebration and we are keen that they know their lines by heart by Monday.  So, if you find yourself with a quiet moment (!) over the weekend please do encourage the children to learn their lines.

As you are probably aware the school is hosting the Christmas Fayre on Saturday and as a result the children have been asked to bring their PE kits home for a much needed wash.  Please could you ensure that the children have their PE kits back in school on Monday.

Finally, in literacy the children have started a new unit of work on journalistic writing.  This week the children spent some time looking at newspaper articles (many taken from the very popular children's newspaper First News).  Next week we will continue this work by looking at news broadcasts.  We will focus on those aimed at children and so will spend some part of the week watching and analysing Newsround.

We hope you have an enjoyable weekend and find some time to relax in this very busy season!

Thank you for your support.

The Year 6 Team. 

Sunday 17 November 2013

Anderson Shelters

We hope that you had a lovely weekend. 

Next week the children will be designing and building Anderson Shelters as part of their World War II topic. For this to happen we would ask that you begin to collect old cereal packets, corrugated card, aluminium foil and small boxes that might be useful in the construction of these.  Please bring them in to school on Monday 25th November.

Many thanks

The year 6 team.

Friday 15 November 2013

Thank you to all those parents who were able to join us this morning for our year group assembly- I think we would all agree that the children enjoyed presenting what they have learnt over the term so far and we hope that you enjoyed watching. The number of parents who were able to visit the classrooms to share the 'Make do and mend' displays was really great to see.

Moving away from the assembly, it was lovely to meet so many parents this week during our parent teacher consultations and as a result of some queries we will be sourcing a book list of suitable authors and titles to publish in the near future. We will publish this on here or the school website under year 6.

Over the next few weeks we will be continuing with our literacy unit on persuasive writing- the children will be creating their own speeches designed to persuade others to their point of view- beware, with Christmas on the horizon they may well be fine tuning their persuasive skils in the direction of a Christmas list!

Friday 25 October 2013

Half term is now upon us!  We hope that you and your children enjoy the break.  We are aware that many of the children will be celebrating Halloween during the holiday and hope that they have a suitably ghoulish time!  However, we are aware of the dangers that can arise at this time of year and so have included the poster below with some top tips for enjoying a happy and safe halloween.

 
 
You will have received details of our creative half term homework project by now. If you child has chosen to make a peg doll they will bring a peg home from school this evening.

Our focus in literacy this week has been on imagery in poetry. We have had great fun writing alliteration poems and searching for powerful similes, metaphors and personification in poems. We will continue with this work in the first week back after half term.  Also in the first week back after the holiday the children will be visiting the synagogue in St Albans as part of their RE work.  We are looking forward to a stimulating visit.

With best wishes

The Year 6 Team.

Tuesday 22 October 2013


Year 6 homework for half term

Over the half term week we would like you to become creative!

In our topic on WWII we have been talking about the need to ‘make do and mend’.

In today’s world many of us have become a throwaway society which goes totally against this idea.

So, we are asking you to make something new out of something old.

You could:

Use a wooden peg to make a peg doll- sized for a dolls house. You could use old scraps of fabric and or ribbon to make clothing for your doll, wool scraps to make hair etc. (School will provide a suitable peg for this) Maybe you could create something for your peg doll to play with…

 

 Use old cardboard boxes or plastic bottles to make a vehicle which has plastic bottle top wheels.
 www.youtube.com/watch?v=S66P0bonAT8‎

 Make a frame from cardboard and string to weave a rag rug out of scraps of wool, ribbon or material. 
  www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbtKnvc_9No‎

When we went to Hendon we saw examples of these in the room where we had our workshop.

We look forward to seeing your efforts.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Before half term

Well, this last week certainly saw the children working extremely hard. Everyone tried their best during assessment week and after a tiring week for all, teachers included as they marked all the assessments, it was nice to get to Friday and have a slightly more light-hearted day. A huge well done to everyone!

As we look head to the final week before half term we still have plenty going on to keep us busy.
In literacy this week we will be looking at poetry and having fun with using words in a slightly different way. Topic sees us completing our work on the Battle of Britain- soon to be raging above the art areas in both classrooms.

This week will see a return to the usual homework format with maths set on Monday and literacy on Wednesday.
Over half term we will be asking the children to do something linked to our topic that requires a little more creativity. We will be setting a make do and mend project. As many of you will have heard there was a great bid to recycle during world war II as there weren't the raw materials around to make new things- we are going to ask the children to create something new out of something old over the holiday week- perhaps using old wool to knit or crochet something new. Use a wooden peg to make a peg doll dressed in recycled clothing or a rag rug, using a string and cardboard frame to weave a rug out of old pieces of material or ribbon. If your powers of creativity are really good then maybe a toy vehicle made from bottle tops and cardboard boxes.
We will be sending more information out with the children this week, but in the meantime please start collecting and thinking about possible ideas with your children.
We look forward to seeing their creations.It is their work remember!

The Year 6 Team

Friday 11 October 2013

Book Day

Today saw an amazing array of costumes representing many characters from various poems. well done to everyone who dressed up. Mrs Wellham and myself, without any consultation managed to both arrive at school dressed as Little Miss Muffet- so in tune it is unnerving!

We were thoroughly entertained in our morning assembly by a visiting poet/ stand up comedian who then ran a workshop on poetry writing for each year group throughout the day. Year 6 enjoyed their session this afternoon.

We have made a start on our assessments this week and everyone has worked really hard to do their best so far. The assessments continue into next week and for those more able readers a final level 6 reading test, if we feel it is appropriate, will take place on Monday 21st October.

As we try to make our afternoon sessions a bit more relaxed we would ask you to save empty cereal packets and bring them into school so that we can make World War II aeroplanes. Thank you to those who have already done so- keep eating the cereal!

The Year 6 Team

Friday 4 October 2013

Autumn has arrived!

As the weather changes and the rainy days become more frequent we still aim to get the children out to play as often as possible- it would be really helpful if you could ensure that all children have some sort of waterproof coat so that they do not get fleeces wet which many of them then wear in the classroom in place of a sweatshirt.

This week we have been looking at fiction genres in literacy- there have been some great book reviews this week- look out for them over the term in the newsletter. In addition we have begun to set the scene for the creation of a short story written by the children and we shall be building upon the setting description already written by exploring the development of characters and creating tension to engage our reader in stories.

Over the next few weeks we will be starting the termly assessments in year 6. We would ask therefore that where possible, unless your child is unwell, appointments for dentist, doctor etc are made out of school hours so that children are not playing catch up with assessments. Tests will begin on Thursday 10th October and run through the whole of the following week.

During the afternoons of these days we will be trying to make the lessons more lighthearted so children can have a more relaxing time than normal inthe afternoons.

In order to help with this, could we ask that you begin to collect empty cereal packets as we will be needing the cardboard for the creation of World War II aeroplanes. If you have any empty boxes, please flatten them and then when children bring them in they can be put in the art area at the back of their classrooms.

Thank you in advance for your support with this.

The year 6 team.

Sunday 22 September 2013

Well already we are half way through the first half term and the time is positively whizzing by.
All children are now well and truly settled into their new routines in year 6 and are working hard.

The trip to launch our topic seems a very long time ago and the children are fully immersed in the World War II topic. There have been some amazing stories researched about life in WWII and we have shared some of the artifacts brought in.

This week we are looking at writing biographies based upon one of the many 2012 Olympic gold medal winners- children should have been researching their information over the weekend ready to share their findings with a partner in Monday's literacy session. Throughout their lessons they will be presenting their biography orally and then writing it up during Big Writing later in the week.

On Thursday we shall be celebrating European Day of Languages, Elm will be studying Germany and Elder, Denmark. Due to time tabling we shall be working on this at Wednesday afternoon and presenting our findings during an afternoon assembly on Thursday.

We're looking forward to hearing and reading the information the children have found for their biographies.

The Year 6 Team

Thursday 5 September 2013

Welcome to Year 6

We have had a very busy week so far and are all set to finish with our visit to Hendon tomorrow.

Below is the homework set by Mme Baikie:

French Homework for the weekend. Due in on Monday ready for French on Tuesday:
Your homework this weekend is to create a cover for your French book using the computer.
You can either print this out at home or save it to the learning platform and then print it out in school.
There are some words that you must include in your cover and they appear below.
You will need to search, using Google or such, Second World War posters in French, type in
2ème Guerre Mondiale Posters en français- some examples are on the sheet you were given in school.
In order to get the letters with the accents you need to insert symbol and select appropriately.
Make sure that you save your cover, either at home or to the learning platform so that if you need a new book you will be able to print out a new cover.
Wording for your front cover should include:


CM2
 
2013- 2014 

Cours Moyen Deuxième Année 

Madame Baikie

Then add your name and any relevant picture from the above web site.

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Finally...

Well the long awaited end of term has arrived and we have said goodbye for the final time to our year 6.

The last few weeks of term certainly were packed full- I hope that you all enjoyed the concert on Monday evening- it was lovely to see such great support on the night and the children displayed their varying talents magnificently. Your children certainly made me proud of what they achieved and how they have grown in confidence as they have gone through the school.

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you  for my very generous gifts. I wish you a very happy summer which I hope is a warm and sunny one wherever you are headed, be it the parks of Harpenden or further afield.

I look forward to seeing some very smartly dressed year sevens as I drive to school in September and maybe one or two will pop in to let us know how the new term is going.

Once again, thank you and enjoy your summer. I'm off for a glass of something lightly chilled!

Pamela Doran

Friday 12 July 2013

Silent Auction


An opportunity to purchase a piece of your child's artwork- well a piece that they have worked on in a group of four!

Last term as part of their Harry Potter topic the children created some canvases based on the idea of Quidditch and movement in art. You can now purchase their artwork. Place your silent bid in a sealed envelope with your name and the name of your child so we know which picture it relates to and drop it in to the school office.
Bids need to be received by Friday 19th July. Winning bids will be announced on the evening of Monday 22nd July at the Leavers' Concert when we will need your payments and you will be able to take your new masterpiece away with you.
















Thursday 4 July 2013

Thursday's news

Well Thursday has arrived and this afternoon the sun has finally returned, let's hope it stays out longer than this morning when the sight of Mr Pattrick's sunglasses frightened it back behind the clouds!

Yesterday ended with a great game of ambush in the woods- split into three groups, two went to hide and one had to find and ambush the others to earn points. How 21 children can hide so successfully in the centre of a hollybush without giving themselves away by talking I would never have believed if I hadn't been hiding with them. Very prickly underfoot it was too!

Thursday began with another epic breakfast- some of these children may well arrive home with great expectations of Saturday mornig's offerings! Following breakfast the groups set off for a variety of team games, giant swing, zip wire and a bit more quad biking.

The general consensus of opinion seems to be that Harpenden's roads should be very wary in 6 years time when this lot get their first licences as not many of them seem to be able to find the brakes... Consequently, there were quite a few crashes with the tyre barriers. Still, everyone lived to tell the tale and move onto another exciting afternoon's activties.

Challenge champions of the week so far must go to Scott, Charlie H and Angelika who would never have imagined three days ago that they could fly off the top of a 15 metre high tower dangling on a rope. Zip wire has definitely stretched some children to their limits, but their determination to succeed despite their fear of heights has on occasion brought a tear to the eye!
We do have the video and photo evidence to prove it so look out for some of these on open evening next week.

Everyone has been fantastic while we have been away- sporting and willing to have a go, considerate of other people's feelings and well behaved- a credit to Crabtree. I am sure that when you get them home tomorrow they will have many of their own anecdotes to share aswell as a suitcase of dirty washing!

I must say the biggest thank you of all to the adults without whom this trip really would not have been possible. a more game group of people could not have been asked for.

On that note I will end my final update from PGL.

See you all tomorrow afternoon.

Mrs Doran and the Marchant's Hill team

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Hello from Marchant's Hill.

Marchant's Hill: Wednesday

We are all having a great time here, although this morning the weather could be warmer!

Tuesday began with a variety of climbing, abseiling, hiking, fencing and other exciting activities which saw many of the children overcoming fears of heights and general misgivings about their own abilities.
Charlie K, we discovered, is our resident expert on fencing and was coaching alongside the instructor- a talent none us knew about. It was quite amusing to see some of the quieter members of the year challenge their partner to a duel by slapping their opponents helmeted face from side to side with a fencing glove- some got quite carried away, but all in good fun!

We saw a new side to Angelika on the trampoline playing aeroball and Charlie H has proved to be a real bouncing bean- he nearly bounced hinself into the goal!

Last night was spent singing and dancing to songs around the campfire, finishing off with toasted marshmallows and an interactive story.

After a short night's sleep the first night everyone, including the adults were all too glad to climb into their cosy beds on Tuesday while the rain hammered down overnight.

Today instead of the children waking up the adults- I'm sure some of them turned into tap dancing fairy elephants in the room above me on Tuesday night- we were waking up some very bleary eyed children!

This morning saw the end of the rain, although it is still very grey, and after another hearty breakfast (no one can complain about the choice or amount of food available here) the children have all headed off to their first activities of the day- today we have more hiking, problem solving- not maths problems set by Mrs Doran and Mr Pattrick as some of the children thought!- the giant swing, zip wire and archery.

That's all for now as there's a giant swing to be had if I'm quick!

Mrs Doran and the Super Star Team of Adults from Marchants Hill



Saturday 29 June 2013

We have had a really busy week celebrating different aspects of China.
On Monday we began with an introduction to China- where in the world it is, major cities, etc. Elm went on to discover the Terracotta Army whilst Elder made colourful dragons.

Tuesday brought Rui Liu from St. George's, currently on secondment there from China. She spent some time teaching year 6 how to introduce themselves in Mandarin and then they all learnt an amusing song in Chinese- ask if they remember any of the phrases.
Alongside learning Chinese, the whole year group also took part in the construction of a fantastic dragon, now flying around the hall!



Wednesday saw the return of Rui Liu who taught us all how to write beautiful Chinese calligraphy using brushes and special Chinese ink.
Elm went on to play Chinese games of strategy and Elder to paint in the Chinese style.


On Thursday the activities continued combined with watching the story behind the names of the years of the Chinese calendar. Everyone now knows which year they were born in and have made a decision as to whether they have any of the characteristics from that year. I wonder if you recognise any listed here in your off spring!

Snakes are deep thinkers and tend toward the mystical. They are intelligent but can be secretive. They are good communicators and can put others at ease with just a word.

Horses are warm-hearted and interested in improving themselves. A horse is the spotlight of his community and likes to help others. They like to stay active and are kind to most people that they meet.

The culmination of the week was the building of the Great Wall of Crabtree, built in the hall due to the traditional summer weather. It was great to see all those parents who were able to join us on Friday afternoon- for those who were not everything will be available to view on the evening of 10th July, our annual open evening.

We now look forward to our school visit on Monday- keep your fingers crossed that the weather  lives up to the forecast!

The Year 6 Team






Tuesday 11 June 2013

The children are now well into their cycling proficiency activities and are all progressing well. Let's hope that the dry weather continues to hold for the duration of the week.

Wednesday sees the inter school rounders competition with a group of children from year 6 representing Crabtree over at Redbourn Junior School. We wish them luck.

The week of the 24th June is our school Multi Cultural Week- the focus of our week will be China. we would like all the children to bring in an empty shoe box with lid for one of the activities that the whole school will be involved with- we intend to try and create our own Great Wall of Crabtree!

Many thanks to all of those parents who came to the meeting earlier in the week about school journey and the planned sessions with the school nurse. if you were unable to make the meeting and have any questions regarding either topic please see one of the year 6 teachers at the end of the day.

The Year 6 Team

Tuesday 4 June 2013

The Final Countdown!

As year 6 enter their last half term at Crabtree Junior School the pace of activities keeps going.

This week sees the return of Mrs Renier- Elm were very excited to  see her on Monday morning.

We have begun our new topic; rainforests and deserts with the creation of classroom rainforests, dry versions only! Alongside this topic the children are also preparing for their cycling proficiency next week, highway codes for this should be coming home this afternoon via pupil post- a little bit of homework prior to the practical sessions. If you haven't yet dusted off those bikes and helmets now is the time. Let's hope that the good weather holds. On that note; please ensure that children do have waterproofs, gloves and trousers for cycling if needed.

Please remember the meeting next Monday in Elder regarding school journey and the fast approaching sessions with the school nurse. There will be an opportunity to preview the DVD that the children will be watching and raise any questions you may have.

The Year 6 Team
A message from Mrs Carter

I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to the parents and children of Elm for their lovely card, plant and chocolate (Thanks to the delicious chocolate, I am still well protected from those desk corners!).

It really was very thoughtful and I was very touched. I very much enjoyed working with you all and was very proud of how hard you all worked in the build up to your SATs. You're a great bunch!



Mrs Carter

Sunday 19 May 2013

So, SATs week is done and dusted and all of the children worked extremely hard. We now have that lull in the term where we await the results of their hard work. A huge well done to every single one of you year 6!

As we wind down slightly towards the half term break we kick off the new week with our annual Eisteddfod- we eagerly await the delights of the display items on Monday along with the cake tasting experience- something we staff always look forward to. Please come along at the end of the afternoon on Monday and view the displays in the hall. The creativity of our pupils never fails to impress and as year 6 arrive at their final Eisteddfod week we are sure that they will leave a memorable impression.
Don't forget to check your timetables and come along and support your children in their performances.

We begin a mini topic in year 6 this week- Pattern. we will be looking at pattern in nature, pattern in history, pattern in maths and pattern in literacy. The real challenge is fitting all our many ideas into such a short busy week.

After half term we will be launching our main topic for this term, with a geography focus, deserts and rain forests. Planning for some exciting sessions is well under way and we look forward to sharing the outcomes with you all on open evening in July.

A final reminder to the children to remember your cushions to sit on during the performances during the afternoons. Bring them in on Tuesday ready for the first performances.

Meanwhile, enjoy the sunshine, long may it last!

The Year 6 Team

Friday 10 May 2013

Week 4 is over and we finished it in style with a treat at reward time whilst basking in the sun in the front garden area- hopefully everyone enjoyed it.

Don't forget to bring your T-shirts in on Monday.
Along with the hard work we look forward to the children designing and making T-shirts to reflect their true personalities. Perhaps we'll discover new sides to some of our pupils that we don't currently know about!

Please make sure that all children have their PE kit in school on a daily basis next week as there may be times when we go out for extra sessions that don't fall on a usual PE day.

Today was the last day for returning cycling proficiency forms as the numbers have to be submitted on Monday- now is the time to clean up those bikes, oil the chain and polish your helmets ready for the start of the course after half term.

Hopefully the sun will continue to shine over the weekend, we wish everyone a restful time with some early nights to help prepare for next week. There is no homework set!!!

We look forward to seeing you bright eyed and raring to go on Monday morning.

Just in case you have mislaid your copy here is the timetable for the week ahead...

MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Registration
Silent Reading
Registration
Silent Reading
Registration
Silent Reading
Registration
Silent Reading
Registration
Silent Reading
English
Reading Paper
15 mins reading time
45 mins for the paper
English
Grammar and Punctuation Test
And Spelling Test
Maths
Paper A
No Calculator, 45 mins
Maths
Paper B
Calculator 45 mins
Science A
45 mins
BREAK

BREAK

BREAK

BREAK

BREAK

PE?

Mental Maths

ART

Science B
45 mins
LUNCH TIME
LUNCH TIME
LUNCH TIME
LUNCH TIME
LUNCH TIME
PICNIC?
English
Level 6 Reading Paper

ART

Grammar and Punctuation Paper/

FRENCH
ART

Level 6 Maths Papers 1 and 2
PE
GAMES
(Miss Thomas)

Reward Time


The Year 6 Team.

Friday 3 May 2013

Another week is almost over and they really are speeding by. All year 6 are continuing to work very hard- Elder have successfully been investigating and growing mould! Elm have begun to create their own animations- we look forward to the finished results and possibly being able to share some of them via our blog.
In art we have been looking closely at faces and drawing some fantastic self portraits. With a little help from technology we have now gone on to make a new version of that portrait in the style of Picasso- some very different looking children have appeared over the last day or so!

Today a third of our year group head off to Woollam's, the OAs ground, to play in the Tag Rugby competition promoted by Saracens. An exciting event, long awaited for after the snow put paid to the original date. We wish all our teams good luck in that.

As we move towards the SATs week, Monday 13th May, we are sending home an important letter giving details of times of particular tests and some of the activities that we will be doing alongside. Please take the time to read this carefully and stick it up somewhere useful, we will also put a copy of it here on  the blog. Now is the time to start encouraging your children to eat and sleep well so they are truly on top of things when we go into that week. All the children have worked continuously hard throughout the year and are more than ready for the week; we are already proud of them and what they have achieved whatever the outcomes.

Looking beyond that week we have also sent out the Cycling Proficiency letters this week- we have to submit the numbers very soon so please ensure that this is returned on time, by Friday 10th May.

So, heading into a long weekend let's hope that the sun continues to shine and that everyone has an enjoyable break, albeit a mini one!

The Year 6 Team

Monday 22 April 2013

See what Mrs Renier has been up to in Uganda...

Mrs Renier has sent us a  link to a short video that she has posted on YouTube- hope a few of you can have look to see what she is up to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Meqi8MWov6M&feature=youtu.be

Thursday 18 April 2013

A Quick Update from Mrs Renier....

We had a photo from Mrs Renier yesterday on her travels and thought you'd like to see....

 
Can you spot Mrs Renier?
 
 
She emailed yesterday in which she said:
 
"Days very intensive here so not got much time for writing postcards etc but please tell my children I am thinking of them lots and that their money they have given my charity is making such an amazing difference.

I coached a couple of hundred children today and half a dozen of teachers. Very very hot, but loving every minute of it."
 
Sounds like Mrs Renier is working hard and really enjoying her time.  She will have lots of things to share with us when she gets back!
 
We will keep you posted of any other news from Arua, Uganda!
 
 

Monday 15 April 2013

Well, spring has finally arrived and alongside the increase in temperatures we warmly welcome all of year 6 back to school after what we hope has been an enjoyable Easter break- Miss Thomas hopes that you are all raring to go and have been following her rule of one chocolate egg= one mile!

On a more serious note, there are some very busy weeks ahead of us now as we enter the final term of this year. As well as the opportunity to prove your cycling skills during the cycling proficiency week there will be time to share your more creative talents in this year's Eisteddfod, learn some basic first aid skills and show your adventurous side when away in Surrey at PGL- more information on this will follow later. Oh, and there are also some tests thrown in for good measure!

We hope that this quick resume of what lies ahead will encourage the children to work hard and think ahead to all the exciting things planned. As we are working towards the SATs tests in May we will not be sending home a topic plan this half term. We will launch our new topic once the half term break is over.

As we return to school, Mrs Renier has arrived safely in Africa and has spent her first day travelling out to one of the villages where she is to teach cricket. Before we lost wifi contact she had sampled some interesting foods and seen her first straw huts! When she returns to a more developed area we look forward to an update!

The Year 6 Team

Tuesday 19 March 2013

The quest stories have finally been completed and how amazing they are!

As a finale to the main topic work on Harry Potter the children will be experiencing a day of Junior Apprentice. Whilst no one will be fired, the children will be expected to work together to generate a board game linked to our topic. In order for this to go ahead successfully we will need a few things from your recycling!

Bottle tops, cardboard, small, empty plastic bottles or other appropriate containers, ribbon, string, fancy paper and anything else that you think might be useful in the manufacturing process.

At the end of the project the children will be swapping classrooms to apprasie each other's games.

The house who gains the most points for their game and the way that they have developed their ideas will be crowned Junior Apprentice Champions.

Whilst all this is going on the majority of the children will also be perfoming in the annual gym display. Having had sneaky previews we know that all of you who have requested tickets are going to be amazed by the gymnastic prowess of your children.

Thank you again for your ongoing support in all school matters.

The Year 6 team.

Wednesday 6 March 2013


Literacy Homework: Wednesday 6th, Friday 8th , Wednesday 13th and Friday 15th

The children have been starting their quest stories this week in literacy. These are written in groups. To put all the chapters back together, we need the children to type these up. This term, the Year 6 team is also heavily focussing on the use of editing and re-drafting skills, showing the children how to improve their writing skills, ready for secondary school.

Therefore, the children’s homework for the next weeks is to edit, improve and type up their quest stories.

In order for the group stories to be effectively collated back together, each chapter needs to be:

·         Typed up each on a separate sheet

·         Font size 12

·         Font style: Comic Sans

·         Top Right Hand corner header:

o   Number of chapter (Chapter 1)

o   Title of chapter

o   Name of child

The children must follow these instructions otherwise it will be very difficult for the Year 6 team to put their stories back together.

Thank you very much for your co-operation.
The Year 6 Team

Sunday 24 February 2013

Welcome back after what we hope was a restful and fun packed week away from school.

As ever in year 6 the pace of life continues at speed. This week sees the final year 6 assembly. Children will be getting their scripts to learn on Monday and this will be their homework. In keeping with the theme of our topic this term our assembly will have a Harry Potter base and we would appreciate it if your child could magic up a wizard costume for the assembly on Friday; a simple cloak to be worn over school uniform with a hat and a wand if possible. We would like these to be in school by Thursday for a dress rehearsal.

We hope many of you are able to come along to watch on Friday morning.

On a slightly different note, the time for consultations is also fast approaching and your child should have brought home your appointment time on the Friday before half term. If you have not yet returned a request slip and would like an appointment please see class teachers to arrange a time as there are very limited times still available.

We look forward to seeing everyone back, bright eyed and raring to go on Monday.

The Year 6 Team.

Friday 8 February 2013

Friday again!

The end of a long week of assessments for all the children who have worked exceptionally hard throughout. The level of commitment to their papers has been really pleasing to see and the results achieved reflect their efforts. We look forward to sharing these results with you at consultations.

As we move into the final week of this half term we will be back to our normal routine of literacy and maths groups.
One highlight to look forward to next week is the Gym and Dance Display at Sir John Lawes on Monday afternoon. As we will be walking to and from SJL in whatever conditions the weather throws at us please ensure that your child has suitable shoes and a warm, waterproof coat to wear.

Many thanks in anticipation of the event to those parents who have volunteered to walk with us. We hope you enjoy the display. Having been in previous years we can promise you a real treat and we are sure that all those children who are involved in our own gym display later this term will come away inspired to try something new.

One week to go and we'll be half way through the year! Where has that time gone?

The year 6 team

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Just a quick message today- please note that year 6 assembly is on Friday 1st March NOT this Friday 1st February.

Today was our session with the happy Puzzle company and the children met the challenges with great determination. Below you will find a few pictures of their activities.




Thank you for your support in this activity

The Year 6 Team

Friday 25 January 2013

Well, the snow finally arrived and we hope that you all a had a good time last weekend playing in it before it turned to ice.

Despite the excitement of the white stuff, year 6 have been working just as hard as ever.

We spent an afternoon doing magical science, some of which we await the results- hopefully over the next week or so crystals will appear where once there was just liquid. Icing sugar transformed into something zingy on our taste buds- sherbet and the children were all highly entertained with teacher led coca cola volcanoes!
An integral part of all our topic work this term involves the children learning about working together in successful groups- more will follow as they move through the term's activities.

New groupings with Mrs Morris and Mrs Carter are proving very successful with children eagerly going off to maths and literacy with a change of teacher. We hope that the effort they are all putting into practice in the classrooms will be reflected in our up and coming assessment week.

Assessment week is the week beginning 4th February when assessments will take place in the mornings throughout the week. Please try to avoid taking your children out of school for appointments during this week.

Nearly the end of January and half way through the first half term already- time really does fly!

The year 6 team.

Tuesday 15 January 2013


As requested a copy of the on-going homework for literacy this term.
 
Your Friday homework for this half-term: Due in on every Monday.

 From now on, you will be compiling your very own Daily Prophet. Each week and only once a week, you will need to watch BBC Newsround. Whilst you watch it, you will need to choose one news story about an important happening and take notes. With these notes, you will then need to write a paragraph about this news report/article as well as provide a picture or an illustration to go with your summary. Each of these pieces of work will be kept at school and eventually be made into a newspaper, which will be called “My Daily Prophet”. The cover for this newspaper will be made and laminated at school, so the only pieces of work you have to do at home are the summary and reviews of the actual news articles. If you can’t watch BBC Newsround, then you can choose an article in a newspaper or online. You will need to base your reports on stories happening around the world. Week 1: Europe, Week 2: Africa, Week 3: North America, Week 4: South America, Week 5: Asia, Week 6: Australasia

 
Your page must include:

·         A title for the newspaper article

·         A summary of the article

·         Answers to the 5Ws (What? Why? Who? Where? When?)

·         An illustration (either drawn or a printed picture)

·         Your work can be typed but it must be written in your own words

·         If not typed, your work must be handwritten on blank A4 in ink. If you need to, use pencil lines to make your writing straight.

·         YOU ARE NOT BEING ASKED TO WRITE A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE. YOU ARE ASKED TO SUMMARISE IT.

·         Evidence that you are trying to meet your personal literacy target.

Finally, a kind reminder regarding standards of presentation. We expect you to take pride in your work and ensure that your homework fulfils the points above. If the work looks like it has been cut and paste from the internet, you will be asked to do it again. Thank you.