Pupils have been enjoying the practical aspects of science over the past week during our topic on materials and their properties.  

Not long now until our visit from Zoolab (Fri 1st February)!  Any outstanding permission slips and payments to the office please before the day.  Thank you.

Homework pages for this week:

Year 5  Maths: p30-31       Year 5 English: p12-13

Year 6 Maths: p20-21       Year 6 English: p38-39

Pupils have been learning about percentages this week in mathematics.  Look out for how percentages are used in everyday life! Pupils have been working really hard in PE lessons to rehearse a dance routine and the results have been outstanding!
HOMEWORK PAGES FOR THIS WEEK:
Year 5 - Maths p40-41 English p16-17
Year 6 - Maths p34-35 English p12-13

This week in 5/6

Today has been Christmas Jumper Day and the children (and staff) all looked fabulous in their range of jumpers. 

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to our chosen charity. We have raised £289.02.

This year the School Council decided to donate the proceeds of our Christmas jumper day to Action Aid. Through this scheme we will sponsor a child to go to school and help support their community. We have already been paired up with a 6 year old girl from Malawi in Africa. Her name is Thoko and we have raised enough funds to support her education for an entire year! We will receive updates throughout the year of her progress which we will share with you and our children. Many thanks to you all for your continued support in supporting children's rights on a global scale.

This week in English we have been writing a description narrative with a Christmas theme. 

In Maths the children got quite a treat when we asked them to draw on the tables - and yes, we said draw ON the tables!The children asked us a few times if we meant actually on the tables. They were amazing at working collaboratively and rather enjoyed this lesson. We wanted them to use their knowledge of rectangles and other shapes to find missing angles and lengths. 

I wonder how many you can find.....?

The homework pages this week are: 

Year 5

Maths p58-59  English p64

Year 6 

Maths p60-61  English p70-71

THIS WEEK IN YEAR 5/6...

Christmas has arrived at Down Hall!  The tree is up and the postbox is already being used.  Christmas jumper day next Friday! Ho ho ho!

Homework pages:

English: Y5 p48-49     Y6 p44-45

Maths: Y5 p50-51       Y6 p50-51

This week in Year 5 and 6...

Most of Year 5 and some Year 6s attended and performed at Rayleigh Lights this week. We were all a bit nervous at first. The songs that we sung were O Little Town of Bethlehem, Auld Lang Syne and The 12 Days of Christmas. The teachers were proud of us just like all of our parents. All of us were full of pride when we stood up there and for our performance. 

By Amy and Josef (Year 5)

The homework pages this week are:

Year 5: Maths page 23 and English page 86

Year 6: Maths page 13 and English page 88

This week in 5/6

This week started off with an assembly by Mr Richards for Anti-Bullying Week which supports Article 39: You have the right to help if you've been hurt, neglected or badly treated.

We have used this stimulus when writing this week in English. The children read a story about a girl called Frankie who was being bullied at school. We discussed the scenario in class and what Frankie should have done. After this, the children have then written the story in their own words focusing on using dialogue to convey character and advance action.

We also had a non-uniform day today for Children in Need.


The homework pages this week are:

Year 5:   Maths page 15 and English pages 62-63
Year 6:   Maths page 25 and English pages 56-57

This week in 5/6 ... 2.11.18

In Maths this week we have been looking at the written methods for addition and subtraction. We will be continuing this next week and then moving on to multiplication and division. 

Our school calculation policy can be found here: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1F37T8TVQJWNXBybkRKWEFZNkE/view

You can support your child at home by following our calculation method and playing a game that the children have been playing in class this week called dicey operations: (More ideas are available on the Nrich website)

Take turns to throw the dice and decide which of your cells to fill.
This can be done in two ways: either fill in each cell as you throw the dice, or collect all your numbers and then decide where to place them.
 

Game 1

Each of you draw an addition grid like this:



Throw the dice nine times each until all the cells are full.

Whoever has the sum closest to 1000 wins.

There are two possible scoring systems:

• A point for a win. The first person to reach 10 wins the game.
• Each player keeps a running total of their "penalty points", the difference between their result and 1000 after each round. First to 5000 loses.

You can vary the target to make it easier or more difficult.

Game 2

Each of you draw a subtraction grid like this:



Throw the dice eight times each until all the cells are full.

Whoever has the difference closest to 1000 wins.

There are two possible scoring systems:

• A point for a win. The first person to reach 10 wins the game.
• Each player keeps a running total of their "penalty points", the difference between their result and 1000 after each round. First to 5000 loses.

You can vary the target to make it easier or more difficult, perhaps including negative numbers as your target.

If you do not have dice at home, there are apps that can generate numbers such as 'Dice Roll' available on apple and android devices.

In English this week we have been looking at information texts and learning about tanks that were first used in WW1. Next week we will be continuing this and the children will be writing their own information text.



Homework this week:
English Y5 26-27   Y6 16-17
Maths   Y5 12-13   Y6 7