Welcome to Class 5's Learning Blog
Hello Class 5. Now that some children are back in school I am going to change this page a little bit. I am going to update it at the end of each day so that you can see what we have learned. This way you can keep up to date with what we have been doing AND you can try the lessons out for yourself.
For enquiries or to contact staff, please email using: class5@stgerardsprimary.org
Video Diaries: Suggestions and Ideas
Hello Class 5. As we get closer to the end of the year I have started thinking about ways that the Year 6's could celebrate their time at St. Gerard's. I think it would be great to put together some video memories from you all.
Basically I would like you to film yourself talking about your memories. The video should be in LANDSCAPE orientation (like a TV) and last for no more than a minute. You could talk about: Funniest Memories, Earliest Memories, Best Experience, Favourite Place in School, A Memorable Trip... Anything really. Send in your videos to our class email address by Friday 10th June and I will edit them together! Happy Filming!
Learning Blog: Monday 6th July
Below I have uploaded a leaflet about the "Mega Travel Pass" which you will need to apply for.
ENGLISH
St. Gerard's: Today we spent some time on this reading comprehension activity from "The Borrowers". It is quite a tricky one, and there is some unfamiliar vocabulary. I asked the children to explain their answers - and give me evidence that proved their answers.
MATHS
We continued with the Tea Cups Challenge from Friday. How many solutions have you found?
Learning Blog: Friday 3rd July
ENGLISH
St. Gerard's: Today we continued with our discussion writing: "Should SATS be cancelled forever?" - the children made sure they had used the sentence starters to scaffold their writing and completed the first paragraph - "Yes, SATS should be cancelled forever...."
I have included the sentence starters below here...
Above: Reasons why SATS should be cancelled
Above: Reaons why SATS should NOT be cancelled
MATHS
Today we started looking at a Maths Challenge. I have included the details below...
Learning Blog: Thursday 2nd July
ENGLISH
Coming Soon
MATHS
St. Gerard's: Today we looked at the logic problems that I set on here a few weeks ago. If you haven't already had a go at them, I highly recommend them! I will also include a link to an online version of some of them which you might like to try...
CLICK ABOVE FOR MORE!
Learning Blog: Tuesday 30th June
ENGLISH
Focus: Planning a Discussion Text
Today I asked the children to think about the subject of SATS. I wanted to know their opinions about the idea that SATS should be abolished (got rid of forever).
Surprisingly, the children in class found it easier to think of ideas why SAYS should return next year, but what do you think. Our ideas are below. Could you add any others to the sheets?
Should SATS be abolished?
MATHS
Focus: Simplifying Ratio
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zqsjcmn
St. Gerard's: Today the children carried on with their work on ratio from yesterday. Thank you to the parents that got in touch to ask about answering a couple of those tricky questions - I hope my explanation was fairly straightforward. The sheets on the Bitesize Pages today were actually easier than yesterdays. What did you think?
Learning Blog: Monday 29th June
MATHS
Focus: Understanding Ratio
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6tcf82
St. Gerard's: We looked at ratio quite a while back. Do you remember that we did work based on Ellery's bracelet? The video on the BBC Page above is a great way of revising the topic - and the worksheet is pretty good too!
As a reminder...
The ratio of circles to squares in this bracelet is 5:3
There are 5 circles for every 3 squares.
In TWO bracelets you would need to multiply these numbers by 2, so there would be:
10 circles and 6 squares
LANGUAGES: FRENCH
St. Gerard's: Today we watched the French Video from the BBC Bitesize site. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z93n7yc
It briefly talks about different subjects at school. We didn't do any of the work from the page, but we did listen to the vocabulary.
In class we started to produce an information page about ourselves. I will include a sample below....
We started by writing:
Bonjour
Je m'appelle.... (my name is)
J'ai .... ans (ten or eleven)
And then the children created sentences from the menu below, taking one part from each column...
Learning Blog: Friday 26th June
MATHS
Today we focussed on the volume work from yesterday, but the BBC Bitesize page has their regular Friday Challenges, which you can find at the follpwing link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/ztcsm39
Learning Blog: Thursday 25th June
MATHS
Focus: Learn how to calculate, estimate and compare the volume of cubes and cuboids.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zb2n2v4
St. Gerard's: We worked on the lesson as you can see it on the BBC Bitesize page. I gave the children in class a quick reminder about volume - It's a bit like area... but in 3D. Actually it's nothing like it, but I know what I mean.
If you look at the cuboid below, the first row of cubes is 4 X 3. This means that there are 12 cubes on the bottom row. There are TWO rows, so you need to multiply by 2 to find out the total number of cubes. 4 X 3 X 2 = 24.
You can actually multiply these numbers in whichever way is easiest as the answer is always the same:
4X3X2 = 24
2X3X4 = 24
3X4X2 = 24
And so on.
There are "special" cuboids, where all the measurements are the same. Think of a shape 3X3X3. This is known as a CUBE
Learning Blog: Monday 22nd June
ENGLISH
St. Gerard's: Today the children have looked at the comprehension activity below. It is a newspaper report. You might find it useful to talk it through with a grown-up before answering the questions. In class we had a dictionary on stand-by to find out the meaning of unfamiliar words.
MATHS
Focus: Finding the Perimeter of Rectilinear Shapes
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/znt3hcw
St. Gerard's: Today we concentrated on finding the perimeter of rectilinear shapes - You know, the ones made out of rectangles that you have to split up? We did these way back in October. The sheet we looked at was Activity 1 on the Bitesize site. We will be looking at the area part tomorrow!
Learning Blog: Friday 19th June
Today in class the children caught up on any outstanding Maths and Science work. If you haven't read about the Science from this week, then please look at the orange boxes from this week (below) as they explain what we have been up to. After that, "Shhhhh" - don't tell the dads, we made Father's Day cards - You can see a few examples below!
We didn't do the English and Maths work that I have linked to here, but lots of you seem to be enjoying the Friday Bitesize activities, so I have included them for you. I will be asking the children the Maths questions on Monday morning to see who has been looking at the blog!
If you're not in class, please do keep sending me pictures of what you're getting up to. Even though we're not producing SGTV every week now, we will be doing one in the future and all our your photos are great to see. I will also try to post them on our blog.
Enjoy your weekend everyone - and don't forget Father's Day!
ENGLISH
Focus: how to summarise a character and share your opinion
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfkrn9q
St. Gerard's: We didn't get time for this activity on characters, but it might be something that you want to look at - even if you just watch the videos!
MATHS
Focus: Weekly Challenges
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkywr2p
St. Gerard's: Many of you have said that you are enjoying doing these questions as they make you think. Why not test your family?
Learning Blog: Thursday 18th June
Today the children were visited by a member of staff from St. Bernard's to show them a powerpoint about what to expect next year. I have included the videos below. We also completed more of the Maths work from yesterday AND we did a write-up of our Science work, but if you are at home then you don't need to do that. I will include further information about evaporation that you could read though!
Transition Session - Part 1
Transition Session - Part 2
SCIENCE
Focus: Evaporation to recover solids from solutions
St. Gerard's: If you weren't in school, but want to find out more about evaporation, or if you want another example of an experiment that you can try at home, then reading the following "Evaporation" sheet will be useful. We will be using this as the basis of our learning next week.
Learning Blog: Wednesday 17th June
Today we focussed on Maths and Science again. See the boxes below to find out what we were looking at...
MATHS
Focus: Converting metric measurements
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zt883j6
St. Gerard's:
We started our lesson by looking at this sheet from the textbook. I asked the children what had happened to the numbers in the chocolate cake example....
942g = 0.942kg
They spotted that the number had been divided by 1000. We then talked about the idea of "converting measures"...
I asked the children about different "metric measures" and we made a list of examples...
Weight / Mass: g and kg
Length: mm, cm, m, km
Volume: ml, l
We then started looking at the learning on the BITESIZE page.
We looked at Activity 1, which is a quick revision quiz about measures.
You need to remember how the measurements are related to each other. For example....
There are 100cm in 1 metre - so to convert between cm and m you have to divide by 100
e.g. 456cm = 4.56m
There are 10mm in a cm - so to convert between mm and cm you have to divide by 10
e.g. 56mm = 5.6cm
There are 1000ml in a litre - so to convert between ml and l you have to divide by 1000
e.g. 678ml = 0.678l
As 1m can be split into 100cm - to convert between m and cm you have to multiply by 100
e.g. 6.2m = 620cm
We looked at Activity 2 sheet on the Bitesize Page, and it was really good as there are "number problems" and some "converting" questions.
SCIENCE
In Science today we built on the learning from yesterday and we looked at our SALT SOLUTION. I asked the children how we could get the salt back out of the water. This is all linked to the page from the science textbook that I posted yesterday. I'm going to tell you about two experiments that we carried out in class..
We started by FILTERING the salt solution - You can see the set-up we used in the photo below... Filtering works a bit like a sieve - there are tiny holes in the paper that lets the water flow through. We wondered how much salt would be collected...
We had a lot of fun trying it out - You could do the same thing using a coffee filter and a funnel. Sadly, when we finished, there was no salt collected in the filter paper and the water was just as salty!
Next we set up some equipment as in this next photographs, and we tried warming up the salt solution...
If you wanted to repliate this experiment at home you could mix a salt solution and then leave it on a radiator, or in the sunshine to warm up. The water evaporates, leaving the salt behind!
Learning Blog: Tuesday 16th June
Today we didn't do an English lesson. We spent a lot of time looking at yesterday's maths "solving equations" and today's maths "adding negative numbers". After lunch we carried out a science experiemnt, which I have explained below...
MATHS
Focus: Adding negative numbers
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zk6mkty
St. Gerard's: In class today we are going to look at the "adding negative numbers" work from the Year 7 section of Bitesize. This is what I was calling the "Year 6+" work.
If you work through the page on Bitesize it does explain things really clearly. Let me know if you need any help with it.
The "QUIZ" - activity 1 is really good - and you should be able to have a go at this independently - You should ALL try to focus on this.
Activity 2 is a little harder and you may find this diffiult, but take a look - you DON'T have to do it!
You need to understand how to add negative numbers - I will talk about this below..
EXPLANATION:
Sometimes a calculation will have two signs,
either + or –, next to each other.
For example:
6 + –3 (6 plus minus three)
4 – –3 (4 take-away minus three)
6 – +3 (six take
away positive "normal" three
RULE:
If the signs are different, you always
subtract.
If the signs are the same, you always add the numbers together. The
pictures below will help with this...
So... to take our first example of 6 + -3.....
Looking at our second example of 4 - -3....
SCIENCE
Focus: Learn about
dissolving, creating a solution and "saturation
point"
In class today we carried out an experiment to see how much salt we could dissolve in a beaker of water.
First we put 500ml of water into a beaker.
Next we added a level teaspoon of salt.
Then we stirred the water until the salt dissolved - to create a "salt solution"
We kept adding teaspoons of salt until they wouldn't dissolve.
We talked about how the salt was still in the water even though we couldn't see it any more.
We talked about sea water, and how it has lots of
salt dissolved in it.
We tried to predict how many teaspoons of salt we
could add until they stopped dissolving. Our first prediction was
between 10 and 12.
How many teaspoons do you think we could add? It was actually 45! Only then did it stop dissolving.
When you can't dissolve any more salt, we call this the "saturation point"
Isaac asked whether we would get the same result with sugar. Maybe you could try this for yourself?
The chidlren in class then looked at the pages below from the science textbook...
Learning Blog: Monday 15th June
Today in class was all about settling in the new children so that they could get used to the routines in class. We also spent a really long time discussing the recent news stories: Black Lives Matter protests, the removal of statues and the history of slavery in Britain. Quite complicated! If you want to find out more about this, the NEWSROUND pages have some interesting material: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/52813673
We didn't get around to the ENGLISH and HISTORY topics below, but you might like to look at them. We concentrated on the MATHS only.
ENGLISH:
Focus: Analysing and performing poems
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdw83j6
MATHS
Focus: Forming and solving two-step equations
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmw83j6
St. Gerard's: In class today we watched the videos on the link above, and took a look at the worksheets that are provided. On the whole we found the videos useful, but a little confusing in places, so we also looked at the worksheet at the bottom of this section.
I talked to the children about how to solve equations by doing exactly the same to the left and the right sides of the equals sign...
HISTORY:
Focus: Who were the Vikings?
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zsggp4j
St. Gerard's: We didn't get round to looking at this today, but you might find it useful. You could create your own quiz or powerpoint. If you do, send it in and I will add it to our site.
Friday 12th June
ENGLISH
St. Gerard's: We have a lot to finish this week, so we won't be looking at this lesson, but if you want to access it...
Focus: Book Club: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
MATHS
St. Gerard's: Well you wouldn't believe it, but the children in class have actually asked to do one of these - so here it is.... Arithmetic 5. Enjoy!
ART
Focus: Learn the basics of exciting paintings.
Thursday 11th June
ENGLISH
St. Gerard's: Today we are
going to ignore the BBC Bitesize activity and have a go at a
comprehension. See below...
MATHS
IN CLASS TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING...
Year 6 Focus: Forming and solving one-step equations
Year 6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkkts4j
St. Gerard's: In class we will be looking at the YEAR 6 Focus BBC Bitesize lessons from Tuesday, Wednesday and today.
Although Tuesday's acivity was rather complicated, the work from Wednesday and today should be OK for you. Let me know if you get stuck.
OR....
If you want to continue with the percentages
theme that we have been looking at over the past few days, then the
Year 6+ Focus calculator activities below are
quite good, but we won't be looking at them in
class.
Year 6+ Focus: Finding the percentage of an amount with a calculator
Year 6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbxfbwx
SCIENCE (AGAIN)
Focus: Reversible and Irreversible Changes (AGAIN)
Yesterday in class we started talking about the SCIENCE topic below but we didn't get around to doing the activity so we will do that today instead.
We actually took a step back and produced the piece of work that I am including here.
Please take a look at the example of the work that we produced. You could do your own version...
MFL: SPANISH
NOTE: The BBC Biteszie site contains a link to a Spanish Lesson, but we will NOT be looking at that in class today
Wednesday 10th June
ENGLISH
Focus: Using commas
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdy8qnb
St. Gerard's: If you want to revise our Grammar Club work, the sheet is below
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Substitute into simple expressions and formulae
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjs9whv
St. Gerard's: Although this sounds very difficult it really isn't. In fact you have seen questions like this in your arithmetic papers for monhs...
Take a look and see what you think....
If j=4
What is 2j + 3?
Remember that there is no "X" symbol between 2 and j - but you do need to multiply
Remember BIDMAS - The M comes before the A (Multiply first - Add second)
The answer is 11 by the way!
IN CLASS TODAY WE LOOKED AT THE FOLLOWING...
Y6+ Focus: Finding the percentage of an amount
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkng9mn
St. Gerard's: We have calculated percentages before, so there's very little to say about this. We started with the activties on the BBC Bitesize page and then we also looked at the following sheet, which I have added before...
SCIENCE
Focus: Reversible and irreversible changes
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zndmhg8
St. Gerard's: The information on the BBC Bitesize is given in a different form on the sheets below - You may want to print / save these to read.
EDIT - I've just noticed that I have put these pages in the wrong order! It should be page... 1, 4, 3, 2
Tuesday 9th June
ENGLISH
Focus: Using direct and indirect speech
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmy8qnb
St. Gerard's: Take a look at this session and see if you have included direct and indirect speech into your "Abandoned School" stories. Our Grammar Club pages on Direct Speech are included below...
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Forming expressions and understanding algebraic conventions
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/ztqdbqt
St. Gerard's: I
actually think the Year 6 Focus work on
the Bitesize site is rather difficult today - in fact I would
suggest that you give it a miss - unless you really want to do it!
Once you have watched the slides etc, take a look at the equations
activity that I have added below. We HAVE looked at these sheets
before, but they may be useful to you!
IN CLASS TODAY WE LOOKED AT THE FOLLOWING...
Y6+ Focus: Given a fraction of an amount, find the whole
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z73kjp3
St. Gerard's: We looked at the sheet on the BBC Bitesize page today.
GEOGRAPHY
Focus: The Alps including their weather, climate, animals and tourist industry
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfnkjp3
Monday 8th June
ENGLISH
Focus: How to use apostrophes
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrprkxs
St. Gerard's: Well the time has finally come. I wondered how long it would take for our old favourite to appear - and here it is. Apostrophes!
Now I won't mention anyone's name, but you know who you are!
Actually, the sentence above contains BOTH types of apostrophe:
WON'T - Here is the contraction, where the apostrophe is standing in the place of a letter. This is the easy type...
ANYONE'S - Here is the possession - because the name belongs to someone. This is the harder type...
COMMON MISTAKE:
When you're out and about, you often see this type of apostrophe:
TODAY'S is correct, as the special belongs to today (possession)
AVOCADO'S is incorrect as there is no contraction - and the avocado doesn't own anything. This is sometimes called the "Grocer's Apostrope" - in other words, the apostrophe belonging to the grocer - and it is incorrect.
Quite often people put apostrophes where there shouldn't be one - just because the word ends in "s" - often when there are plurals (more than one)
e.g.
one dog
two dog's
three dog's
In fact - the "grocer's apostrophe" is the one that most of you were using when you came into Class 5 way back in September.
The problem is, that PLURALS ARE important when it comes to the possessive apostrophe, as it tells you how many the thing belongs to...
The dog's toy - (The toy belonging to one dog - the apostrophe is before the s)
The dogs' toy - (The toy belonging to more than one dog - the apostrophe is after the s)
Anyway, I'll add the grammar club sheets about apostrophe's here. (JUST KIDDING - THERE SHOULDN'T BE ONE IN APOSTROPHES)
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Finding a rule with one and two steps
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zm6296f
St. Gerard's: Aha! It looks like the Y6 Focus has finally got round to the work we did right at the start of the lockdown. If you remember, I did two video lessons about number sequences and rules. I will add the video here - It is called Number Sequences 2.
There are resources that match this in the archive at the bottom of the page... I approach it slightly differently to the BBC Bitesize page, but you can see how they fit in together!
IN CLASS TODAY WE LOOKED AT THE
FOLLOWING...
Y6+ Focus: Finding Fractions of an Amount
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6rw2fr
Year 6+ Focus is "Finding Fractions of Amounts" - and we have done this in class. We also looked at this on 14th May below. Check it out!
The lesson on the BBC Bitesize is complicated, but it does explain what is going on in detail.
To be honest, all you need to do is remember what
we talked about in class...."divide by the bottom, and times by the
top" - In other words, divide by the denominator, and multiply by
the numerator... I will add some resources for this here
later...
HISTORY:
Focus: Art and culture in the Anglo-Saxon times
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zxqkvwx
St. Gerard's: I will try to add some more to this section on Monday
Friday 5th June
ENGLISH
Focus: how to plan and write a story
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zv8dqp3
St. Gerard's: The activity on the BBC Bitesize pages asks you to plan a story, which is what we've been doing as our "long term project" right from before the lockdown. I don't want you to write a new story, but it would be worth watching the videos the page. It asks you to think about the resolution (or ending) to your story...
If you have continued with your story, then you could use this opportunity to think about the "next chapter" - What happens when your characters go further into the abandoned school? What will they find? What will they see? HOW WILL THEY FEEL? WHAT WILL THEY SAY TO EACH OTHER?
Again - no supernatural elements, no blood, no murder or ghosts... any fear must come from the emotions of the characters.
And of course, you're not ending your story yet - merely getting to the climax. So far each of your chapters has been about 3/4 to a full page long so this will be your fourth side of A4. Keep going!
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
Focus: the basics of design skills
Thursday 4th June
ENGLISH
Focus: Using parenthesis
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zm7w7nb
St. Gerard's: You should look at the link above then try the parenthesis activity from our Grammar Club - see below.
MATHS
Year 6 Focus: how to find percentages of amounts
Year 6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvxnv82
Year 6+ Focus: how to use formulas to calculate the areas of rectangles, parallelograms and triangles
Year 6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjbr92p
St. Gerard's: Right - let's start with the Year 6 + Focus first - We have already looked at calculating the area of rectangles and triangle so this should be revision for you.
Remember:
To calculate the area of rectangles you multiply the length by the width.
To calculate the area of parallelograms you do the same (but here it is base x height)
To calculate the area of triangles, you multiply the base by the height and divide the answer by two.
The videos on the page will help. The sheets we looked at in class are below if you want to revise what we did.
The Year 6 Focus work is finding percentages of amounts. We did loads of these on our arithmetic tests - e.g. Find 30% of 500.
When we did this in class I asked you to find "the key" percentages first:
e.g. 46% of 500
100% = 500
10% = 50
1% = 5
(This uses the dividing by 10 skill from yesterday)
You can then multiply up:
10% = 50
20% = 100 (double)
40% = 200 (double again)
1%=5
2%=10
4%=20
5%=25 ( 4% + 1%)
I'm sure you remember! Anyway - once you have had a look at the BBC Bitesize stuff, take a look at what I have added below!
MFL: FRENCH
Focus: How to talk about your hobbies and your school in French
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z93n7yc
St. Gerard's: I have had a look at these resources and they're OK for a bit of fun. It would probably be more useful to watch the two videos then try writing about school. I have included a sheet below, which you can use as a "menu" to select words and phrases from.
The twinkl activity at the bottom of the BBC Bitesize page has some good vocabulary about school, which you might like to learn too.
Wednesday 3rd June
ENGLISH
Focus: Learn how to use settings and fronted adverbials.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zv67xyc
St. Gerard's: You can probably guess what I'm about to say - maybe you could add some fronted adverbials to your abandoned school story...
Even if you can't - the activities on here are useful. I will also add the "Adverbials" revision pages from Grammar Club (which includes some fronted adverbials) so that you can go over this learning.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: How to order and compare fractions, decimals and percentages by converting them
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrkw2fr
Y6+ Focus: Multiplying and dividing by powers of 10
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zngbcqt
St. Gerard's: The Year 6+ Focus is multiplying and dividing by 10, which we have done a lot over the year. This should be useful revision for you. I think that this is a little easier than the Y6 work again - but both activities are things we've looked at before...
There is a print-out version of this grid on the BBC site, which you might find useful. I have also added some work from our books here too, which will give you the chance to go over multiplying and dividing by 10. As you can see, it is a useful skill for converting measures - in this case, from mm to cm...
SCIENCE
Focus: Life cycles in humans and animals
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7ww7nb
St. Gerard's: I have included an additional sheet about the life-cycles of animals and plants.
Parents, please note that this material does not go into the topics covered in our "Health and Relationships" education.
Tuesday 2nd June
ENGLISH
Focus: how to create characters and complex sentences.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvmw7nb
St. Gerard's: Hey - remember our story about the abandoned school? Well one of the things I told you that I would be looking for was characterisation - through complex sentences. Why not try adding to your story? It would probably be more useful than the activity on the page - but the page will give you some good revision.
Despite the pouring rain outisde, Alan felt hesitant to enter the building and his feeling of unease was too strong.
or
Even though she knew that there was probably nothing to be scared of, Lisa couldn't rid herself of the feeling that it would be better to leave.
MATHS
Year 6 Focus: how to find equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages
Year 6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjckjp3
Year 6+ Focus: finding multiples of numbers and the lowest common multiple of two numbers
Year 6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7jg47h
St. Gerard's: For the second day in a row, I actually think the Year 6+ lessons are easier than the Year 6 lessons. On Tuesday evening I will add some further resources to this section.
GEOGRAPHY
Focus: fossil fuels and renewable energy.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zr9ckmn
St. Gerard's: Why not produce a powerpoint or poster that talks about different types of renewable energy?
Monday 1st June
ENGLISH
Focus: how to use synonyms and antonyms.
MATHS
Year 6 Focus: How to convert fractions to percentages
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvcny9q
Year 6+ Focus: factors, square numbers and prime numbers
Year 6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrcny9q
St. Gerard's: I have had a few people contact me about the Year 6 work today. I do think some of it is particularly challenging so I will try to set out my advice in detail here. The answers are on the BBC page, but some of you might like some advice on how to get them!
HISTORY
Focus: Learn about who the Anglo Saxons were and how they lived
Friday 22nd May
ENGLISH
Focus: How to investigate a text, compare extracts and to write from a character's perspective
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvhhnrd
St. Gerard's: This work is
based on "A Pocketful Of Stars" by Aisha Bushby
"Safiya loves playing video games. She and her mum do not see eye-to-eye, especially since her parents have split up. When her mum falls into a coma and Safiya sits by her bedside, she finds herself in an alternative world that looks a bit like one of her games."
NOTE: The BBC site contains this warning:
The second extract in this
lesson contains themes which some of our audience may find
distressing. It is appropriate for the age group, but as every
child is individual, parents may wish to read and watch ahead of,
or with, their children if they are concerned by the content
outlined.
So please check with your parents before going ahead with this work.
We have done loads of work on writing from a character's perspective and this should follow on really well. Do you remember when we did "Adam and Paradise Island" and the air-raid diary? You were writing from a character's perspective then so you have had a lot of practice.
MATHS
Focus: Challenge Day!
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z489d6f
St. Gerard's: Have a go at these challenges - the answers are at the bottom of the page though - so don't be tempted to peek!
MUSIC:
Focus: Composing Music with Found Sounds
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdh8jhv
St. Gerard's: When I play around with sounds I use a program called "audacity" but it is a bit complicated if you've never used it before. The Bitesize page suggests playing around with the Dr Who theme and there is a great website that lets you play around with the elements.
Link: https://www.dwtheme.com/
You can listen to the bassline, melody and structure of the parts that were recorded way back in 1963.
I have also experimented a little bit with the online page: https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/ which looks like it might be fun.
(When I looked at these pages they were absolutely fine, but remember we are not responsible for the content of other sites. Please use caution when visiting them)
Thursday 21st May
ENGLISH
Focus: Writing a Formal Letter
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z69mt39
St. Gerard's: This work follows on from what you looked at yesterday and the checklist on the BBC page includes many of the features that are included in our Steps To Success sheet - so if you have based your planning around that then you shouldn't be too far off. This is a chance to take a quiz and continue with your letters. If you would like to send your letters in to me when they are finished, we can publish some of them on our website and Twitter page...
MATHS
Y6 Focus: how to convert decimals into fractions in their simplest form
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z67r92p
Y6+ Focus: how to use addition and subtraction to complete tables and frequency diagrams
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zk4tnrd
St. Gerard's: Before we closed school, we were going to look at some data handling and frequency charts - You did a little bit of this for me way back near the bottom of this page.
COMPUTING
Focus: Learn what goes into making a good computer game and try making your own simple game
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6n7xyc
St. Gerard's: I put you a link to the SCRATCH website on the 7th May post below - Please visit that site for more acvtivity ideas.
Wednesday 20th May
ENGLISH
Focus: Preparing and Drafting a letter
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmbr47h
St. Gerard's: We have written quite a lot of letters this year - although ours were letters of complaint - so this would be a great opportunity to write a positive letter. Watch the videos and have a go. I will include our Steps To Success sheet here as a reminder too!
MATHS
Y6 Focus: How to divide decimals by integers (whole numbers)
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmbxhbk
Y6+ Focus: How to calculate the perimiter of shapes
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrsr92p
St. Gerard's: Wow - I remember the Y6+ Focus lessons like they were yesterday - Do you remember that I got out my strips of paper to show how to calculate those missing lengths? I will add some further work for you to look at later.
SCIENCE
Focus: Magnets
Link:https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfrxhbk
St. Gerard's: I have included an extract from the Science Sampling SATS test from 2016 about magnetism for you to look at:
Tuesday 19th May
ENGLISH
Focus: How to use semicolons
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdtny9q
St. Gerard's: We have done quite a lot on this. I will add a Grammar Club revision sheet here later.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: How to multiply a decimal number by a whole number
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhfj2sg
Y6+ FOcus: how to add and subtract decimals using the column method
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7s48xs
St. Gerard's: Y6+ Focus - there is nothing difficult or different about using columns and decimals. We have done lots of this. Remember my video about addition - I will include it here again as a reminder...
GEOGRAPHY
Focus: Natural resources including agricultural and geological resources
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6p8jhv
Monday 18th May
ENGLISH
Focus: Learn how to use hyperbole, similes and metaphors.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhcc92p
St. Gerard's: These are great features of writing that we have actually used a lot of in our work this year.
Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration:
David was rooted to the spot with fear.
Simile: Comparing something to something else:
The metal fire escape wound up the side of the building like a giant, black snake.
Metaphor: Describing something AS IF it was something else:
"A wave of terror washed over him"
How about including some of these features in your abandoned school story?
MATHS
Y6 Focus: how to multiply and divide decimals by 10, 100 and 1000
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbvkwty
Y6+ Focus: Using mental strategies to add and subtract
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4q6pg8
St. Gerard's: Well it's finally appeared - our old favourite, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. Do yoiu remember our song? When you multiply or divide by ten, the digits jump, the digits jump. When you multiply or divide by ten, the decimal point.... It never moves!
Hopefully you remember this as it is one of the really important things in maths. I will add some further work on this later on Monday.
HISTORY
Fpcus: The life of Henry VIII and how he changed England forever.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4b8jhv
St. Gerard's: You might know the "Horrible Histories" song on this page and you might know what happened to his wives, but Henry changed England, and had a lasting impact on religion that continues today. I will try to add some more resources to this page on Monday.
Friday 15th May
ENGLISH
Focus: Giving your opinion and summarising information
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zj74kmn
St. Gerard's: My son tells me that the "Percy Jackson" series of books is amazing - In fact he has read the whole lot and has gone onto the sequel series. Let me know what you think of it!
Thursday 14th May
ENGLISH
Focus: To write a recount
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6698x
St. Gerard's: This lesson is all about writing a recount. Normally we would do this about our trips or a special event. Maybe you could write a recount about the first seven weeks of lockdown - it would be great to share this - or look back on it - in future.
I have included one of our "Steps To Success" sheets as a reminder...
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Finding fractions of amounts
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjhtpg8
Y6+ Focus: Converting fractions, decimals and percentages
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z64vbdm
St. Gerard's:
Y6 Focus: We have done some work on finding fractions of amounts - remember, "divide by the bottom and times by the top". I will include some sheets to remind you about this later on Thursday morning.
Y6+ Focus: The "Percentages 2" sheet I posted yesterday had a preview of this work. You could take a look at the bottom of that sheet as extra practise if you need to.
Fractions of Amounts Reminder:
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
Focus: Learning about extreme designs and how they are tested, using elements of science and maths.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhypscw
St. Gerards: I really love the idea of the balloon powered car. Why not take a video or photo of your car and we can share it on the website? I've just got to drink 2 litres of cola first...
If you haven't got bamboo barbecue skewers, you could use garden canes. You could try rounded pencils and a smaller bottle...
Wednesday 13th May
ENGLISH
Foucs: How to write a debate / argument
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhmdjhv
St. Gerard's: Do you remember we debated whether Paradise Island should be changed? Why not write a list of pros and cons about that topic - You could then go on to write a debate about it...
On the one hand, many people in town believe that ...
They say that.....
Many residents are worried that.....
They feel that.....
There is also the issue that.....
On the other hand, there are many people who think that....
They argue that.....
They point out that....
Many people within the community say that...
etc.
MATHS:
Y6 Focus: Divide fractions by integers (whole numbers)
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhw8wty
Y6+ Focus: how to show percentages on a hundred square.
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zksxt39
St. Gerard's:
SCIENCE
Focus: Explore adaptations in animals and plants.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjf3rj6
St. Gerard's:
Tuesday 12th May
ENGLISH:
Focus: how to write powerful speeches.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/znn2xyc
St. Gerard's: It might be a good idea to listen to some other famous speeches:
Wintston Churchill: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/winston-churchill-broadcast--finest-hour-speech/zrvky9q
MATHS:
Y6 Focus: how to find the product of two fractions. (Multiply them together)
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrspscw
Y6+ Focus: how to convert equivalent fractions.
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zn8gcqt
St. Gerard's: Everybody should be OK with the Y6 and Y6+ focus work as we have looked at multipliying fractions in class AND we have also looked at equivalent fractions. Remember, whatever you do to the top, do to the bottom!
GEOGRAPHY:
Focus: Learn about sustainability, plastics and recycling.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6dj7nb
St. Gerards:
Monday 11th May
ENGLISH
Focus: how to write a report
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/znq4kmn
St. Gerard's: Why not write a report about World War 2? Evacuation would be a good topic since we have read Goodnight Mister Tom. You could also think about writing a report on Tutankhamun and combine the two subjects!
MATHS
Y6 Foucs: how to multiply fractions (including mixed numbers) by a whole number
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbh6hbk
Y6+ Foucs: Representing tenths and hundredths as fractions and decimals on diagrams
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6gsy9q
St. Gerard's: I have some more useful sheets that you could use on these topics. i will add them tomorrow
HISTORY
Focus: Who was Tutankhamun?
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zr2tnrd
St. Gerard's: I will add further materials here later.
Friday 8th May
HISTORY - VE DAY
There are no specific set tasks today from BBC Bitesize, but you might like to visit this VE day site from BBC Teach.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ve-day-teaching-resources/znvy382/
There are versions of "Carrie's War" and "The Machine Gunners" which you can listen to.
There are also follow-up Activities from the BBC to do as well...Optional!
This follows up our World War II topic quite nicely. Don't forget the video for "Goodnight Mister Tom" which is still at the bottom of this page.
Thursday 7th May
ENGLISH
Focus: Retrieving information accurately from the text, using inference skills about characterisation and writing in the style of an author.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdnkd6f
St. Gerard's: I think these are great activities so I am not going to suggest anything else for this today.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Adding and Subtracting Mixed Numbers
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfp4kmn
Y6+ Focus: Ordering decimal numbers
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhvq2sg
COMPUTING
Focus: Learn about programming and debugging
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhdr47h
St. Gerard's: At school you should have done some Scratch programming in Year 5. This is just another form of coding that you might like to try. You can find this at: https://scratch.mit.edu/
Wednesday 6th May
ENGLISH
Focus: Learn how to use relative clauses to add detail to a setting description.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6g98xs
St. Gerard's: These lessons are a great way of remembering the work we did on relative clauses. This information will be useful in your "Abandoned School" writing - you can add a few in there too. I will also add some Grammar Club reminders here later today.
e.g. The paint, which was peeling from the door in delicate curls, was the only splash of colour in the darkness of the corridor
MATHS
Y6 Focus: To add and subtract different types of fractions
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7ty382
Y6+ Focus: The place value of decimals.
Y6+ Focus: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4ktpg8
St. Gerard's: I will add some further materials here later today.
SCIENCE
Y6 Focus: How plants reproduce
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrcpscw
St. Gerard's: I will add further materials here shortly.
Tuesday 5th May
ENGLISH
Focus: Learn how to use personification in a setting description.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbd7mfr
St. Gerard's: I think this is a really good activity to link to our Abandoned School work. On the BBC page it gives the example of:
"The rain stomped angrily on the fragile roof like an angry giant." - and I think the rain could feature in your stories - Maybe it could pound down, or stomp down like in the example.
How about the following examples:
The missing tiles on the roof / A toothless grin
The squeal of the rusty gate / A crying child
I also spotted a bit of work on noun-phrases and I will add some grammar revision here for that too!
MATHS
Y6 Focus: understand and order fractions with different denominators
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkk6hbk
Y6+ Focus: Rounding to significant figures and how to estimate.
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkknf4j
St. Gerard's: Y6 Focus - there is an "ordering fractions" sheet below. When we did this in class, we drew the arrows pointing downwards. If you choose to do this sheet, you could include the arrows in your working out.
GEOGRAPHY
Y6 Focus: Learn about trade and economic activity including export and import, supply and demand.
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfcnf4j
St. Gerard's: Resources coming soon...
Monday 4th May
ENGLISH
Y6 Focus: How to use and analyse setting descriptions and context.
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6py382
St. Gerard's: If you think back to our "Abandoned School" work we have already done a lot on story settings. Use this activity as revision only. If you want to go back to your story and add more description to the corridor from Chapter 3, that would be a good idea.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: To simplify fractions using knowledge of common factors
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkkm6v4
Y6+ Focus: To round decimals and integers to powers of 10
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkk2xyc
St. Gerards: I will add further resources for this topic later on Monday
HISTORY
Y6 Focus: Learn about ancient Egyptian beliefs and practices
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdq3gwx
St. Gerard's: I have added an information sheet about Gods and Goddesses. You could use this to research a poster or information sheet.
Friday 1st May
ENGLISH
Foucs: Learn how to use and analyse an extract using the novel The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd.
The extracts in this lesson will help you consider and explain why the writer chooses specific language.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfx6t39
St. Gerard's: Activity 2 is what we were focussing on in class. It is all about the impact of words on the reader. Consider why the writer has chosen a particular word or phrase. How do they want you to feel?
If you want to find out about the whole book, you can download it for free (with a 30 day free trial from audible) by clicking on the link below:
https://www.audiobooks.co.uk/audiobook/london-eye-mystery/155533
MATHS
Focus: Challenge
Day!
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4tc92p
St. Gerard's:
I absolutely love these challenges - Share them with your parents and try to do as many as you can. The answers are at the bottom of the page though - so no scrolling!
Challenge 5 should be easy for us as we've looked at the angles in teh corners of squares, equilateral triangles and complete turns....
Remember some of my rules for solving challenges
1. Draw on the question - it always helps.
2. Add up what you know and take away from the total (missing angles questions)
MUSIC
Focus: Learn about duration, tempo and Beethoven
Thursday 30th April
ENGLISH
Focus: How to use hyphens and dashes
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmnwjhv
St. Gerard's: I will add some
Grammar Club resources here later today
Y6+ Focus: How to spot when a writer changes tense.
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zh222sg
St. Gerard's: Although the BBC describe this as a Year 7 lesson, it is something that we have spent quite a lot of time looking at - especially as some of you change tense (unintentionally) in the middle of your writing! Remember when we did our "Highwayman" writing and I asked you to go from speaking in the present tense to the flashback in the past tense? Well this is all about that. I will add some Grammar Club resources later to jog your memories!
MATHS
Y6 Focus: how to complete calculations using the correct order of operations
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zb48d6f
St. Gerard's: Who could forget the famous BIDMAS video that we found online? I will include a link to that below. There are lots of good videos on youtube about BIDMAS (Sometimes called BODMAS) which you can look at as well. I will add some activities to this page later today.
Y6+ Focus: how to solve two-step equations involving decimals or fractions
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Focus: How and why Muslims participate in the month of Ramadan
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdgrcqt
St. Gerard's: I will add further information here later today.
Wednesday 29th April
ENGLISH
Focus: how to use bullet points.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdmc47h
St. Gerard's: We have used bullet points many times - in our recipe, our hotel advert and a our persuasive letters so this should be revision for you - but it is still worth looking at as it will enable you to practice the skill.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Learn how to identify common factors, common multiples and prime numbers
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zd8j7nb
Y6+ Focus: how to solve two-step equations where the solution is positive
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvnhpg8
St. Gerard's: Y6 Focus Resources Coming Soon
St. Gerard's Y6+: This links with our "Number Sequences 2" work from below
Y6+ Focus - Function Machines / Number Sequences
SCIENCE
Focus: Learn about mixing and dissolving and separation
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zky3bdm
St. Gerard's: Resources Below
Tuesday 28th April
ENGLISH
Focus: To use commas, brackets and dashes to make
your writing clear.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrdyvk7
St. Gerard's: As yesterday really, the activities above are really great revision, but after you have completed them you should look at your Abandoned School writing - Maybe include a sentence that uses commas for clauses -
Jack, feeling hopeful, looked at his brother but deep down he knew that there was no way that would change his mind.
or
After what seemed like hours, Freddie heard his brother calling from the darkness.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Learn how to solve short and long multiplication problems.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/znx2mfr
Y6+ Focus: "like" terms in algebra.
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjn72sg
St. Gerard's: Although I ask you to use Grid Method for multiplication early in the year, to ensure that you are working out each part correctly, the methods described above are actually much more efficient. We started to look at short multiplication, and I know that many of you were getting quite good at using it in our arithmetic questions - Take a look at all of the unit and practice some questions. I will add some here later in the week.
GEOGRAPHY
Focus: Learn about
the seven continents and five oceans of the world and how to map
them using a globe and an atlas.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4dxt39
St. Gerard's: We looked at some of this information when we started our World War II topic I really like using Google Earth, and you can find that at the following link: https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/earth/versions/
Monday 27th April
ENGLISH
Focus: To recap basic punctuation and understand
how to use paragraphs
effectively.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhy72sg
St. Gerard's: We still have your Abandoned School writing on the back-burner, and I would advise you all to check through your basic punctuation - in light of this lesson to make sure that you have punctuated your sentences correctly.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Learn how to complete multi-step
addition and subtraction
calculations.
Y6 Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6ynscw
Y6+ Focus: how to solve algebraic equations.
Y6+ Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zb6tt39
St: Gerard's: The Y6+ Focus for today gets into
the nittyt-gritty of the algebra work that we have already looked
at in class, but might start getting a bit tricky if yuou can't
remember our lessons. In some ways it is like we used to do when we
were getting ready for SATS - so the word problems might be easier
if you draw pictures to help you think about what is happening in
each question.
HISTORY
Y6 Focus: Learn about the Ancient Egyptian Civilization.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbp6t39
Although this is not our History topic, it is really interesting and definitely worth a look!
Friday 24th April
ENGLISH
Focus: To select key pieces of
information from a text and evaluate the
text
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbkbgwx
St. Gerard's:
Activity 1 on the Bitesize page looks at dialogue (speech) - and just like we talked about with our "Abandoned School" writing - the dialogue is designed to tell you about the characters and to move the action forward. I think this would be a good place to start. I also think that Activity 2 is good to look at. It is similar to some of the questions in the Reading Tests from last year and is an interesting way of thinking about how writers use language effectively.
Activity 3 is a writing activity - and I don't think you need to look at that as we will be continuing with your Abandoned School writing later.
If you want to find out more about the story, it is available for free - if you take out a trial with audible:
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/To-Be-a-Cat-Audiobook/B007IVYZTG
Matt Haig's website also contains information about the book, and some more sample pages:
http://www.matthaig.com/tobeacat/
MATHS
Focus: Challenge Day!
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhvx6v4
St. Gerard's:
I absolutely love these challenges - Share them with your parents and try to do as many as you can. I know that Koral has looked at some of these kinds of problems already so this should be right up your street!
I have added a selection of some of my favourite logic problems in the pdf below - definitely worth looking at! I'll put up the answers in about a week...
WELLBEING
Focus: Learn about the transition from primary to secondary school
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zj2grj6
St. Gerards:
At the moment the transition arrangements for those pupils moving on to St. Bernard's (or any other secondary schools) are impossible to know. We will work very closely with the staff there to ensure that your move is as smooth as possible. Please talk to your parents about any worries or concerns you have - or get in touch with us by email and we will try to help if we can. When we know more we will let you know. Remember that children move on to Secondary school every year - it is just another part of your education journey.
You can find the St. Bernard's transition page at:
https://www.sbch.org.uk/welcome-sbcs/transition-the-st-bernards-way/
Thursday 23rd April 2020
ENGLISH
Focus: Learn how to make your writing and descriptive by using adjectives, synonyms and antonyms.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6wthbk
St. Gerard's: I will include the relevant pages from Grammar Club so that you can go over this learning as well.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Learn about how addition and subtraction can be done in different ways.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6jhpg8
Y6+ Focus: To simplify algebraic expressions involving multiplication and powers.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zffwjhv
St. Gerards:
Y6 Focus - Addition and Subtraction Sheets below.
I will upload an answer sheet at the end of the week.
This should be revision for you and you can complete the questions in your yellow book. Remember "Can't Do It YET" from the lessons!
Video: Column Addition Revision
MUSIC
Focus: To learn techniques to develop singing with confidence.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkx3bdm
Wednesday 22nd April 2020
ENGLISH
Focus: To identify and use passive and active verbs
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbngrj6
St. Gerard's: I will include the relevant pages from Grammar Club so that you can go over this learning as well.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Understand the position of negative numbers on a number line, as well as some contexts in which they are used
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjbk8xs
Y6+ Focus: How to write algebraic notation
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdqyvk7
St. Gerard's:
Y6+ Maths: This follows on from the video lesson I prepared below (Number Sequences 2)
Y6 Maths: The sheet below contains some more Negative Number Activities which you can complete in your Yellow Books.
SCIENCE:
Focus: The movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zk7fy9q
St. Gerard's: This should build on the work you did in Class 4 last year. I have also included a page from our textbook for you which you will find below.
You could complete an information page about the information using the BBC videos and KEY FACTS sections from the textbook. There are some questions that you can answer too. The answers are all in the text. (Note: These texts were written when Pluto was thought to be a full planet. It is now classified as a dwarf planet!)
Tuesday 21st April 2020
ENGLISH
Focus: To understand verbs and modal verbs
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4y492p
St. Gerard's: I will include the relevant pages from Grammar Club so that you can go over this learning as well.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Learn how to round decimals to the nearest whole number using examples like money and weight.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6g8d6f
Y6+ Focus: The nth term in linear sequences
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zj2pnrd
St. Gerard's: There is a video lesson that I prepared below that links to this. Number Sequences 2. The worksheets that match this are in the archive below.
GEOGRAPHY
Focus: Learn about the different types of settlements including a hamlet, a village, a town and a city.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrkx6v4
Monday 20th April 2020
ENGLISH
Focus: To identify and use nouns and pronouns
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbv492p
St. Gerard's: I will include the relevant pages from Grammar Club so that you can go over this learning as well.
MATHS
Y6 Focus: Learn to compare, order and round any number. Including rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrjx6v4
Y6+ Focus: Linear Sequences. These are number patterns that increase, or decrease, by the same amount each time.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zjsv382
St. Gerard's: There is a video lesson that I prepared below that links to this. Number Sequences 1. The worksheets that match this are in the archive below.
HISTORY
Y6 Focus: Learn about the Ancient Egyptian Civilization.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4tyvk7
Although this is not our History topic, it is really interesting and definitely worth a look!
Previous Learning Resources / Archive
MATHS
You can find out more about Number Sequences by visiting the BBC Bitesize site HERE
NUMBER SEQUENCES 1 - (Uploaded 22-03-20)
This unit of work was what we were looking at last week so it is probably going to be more like revision for most of you. There are 6 activity sheets to go along with this unit. You can either print the sheets off to fill in, or you can copy the work into your book a page at a time. You will be able to return work to me to look at by attaching your answers to the section in Google Classrom as photographs, but this is not compulsory!
You can try some more missing number problems by visiting this site HERE
NUMBER SEQUENCES 2 - (Uploaded 26/03/20)
This unit of work will build on our previous session "Number Sequences 1". It would be easier if you completed the previous unit first. There are several activity sheets to go along with this unit. You can either print the sheets off to fill in, or you can copy the work into your book a page at a time. You will be able to return work to me to look at by attaching your answers to the section in Google Classrom as photographs, but this is not compulsory!
DATA HANDLING - (Uploaded 17/04/20)
This unit of work will involve reading graphs and should be familiar to you. Sometimes you need to start by looking at the horizontal axis first, and sometimes you need to start by looking at the vertical axis.
For example, using the "Channel 9" graph...
Question 1.
How many people are watching at 8 o'clock?
Find 8:00 on the horizontal axis.
Move your finger up the graph until you reach the line.
Move your finger to the left, towards the vertical axis.
When you reach the vertical axis, your finger should be at 11, meaning 11,000 viewers.
Question 11
At what time are 14,000 watching?
Find "14" (meaning 14,000) on the vertical axis
Move your finger horizontally across until you reach the red dot.
Move your finger downwards until you get to the horizontal axis.
When you reach the horizontal axis, your finger should be on 9:00, meaning 9 o'clock.
The document below contains three different graphs for you to look at. You do not need to print off the graphs, but you will need to look at them to answer the questions. Please write your answers in your yellow books.
ENGLISH / READING / GRAMMAR
Stig Of The Dump - (Uploaded 22-03-20)
One of the books in the Year 6 Reading Challenge is "Stig Of The Dump". I have included here a comprehension for you to do, based on the first chapter.
You can write the answers to the questions in the answer box in Google Classroom OR you can upload a photo of your answers to Google Classroom using the paperclip attachment feature - but this is not compulsary.
This document has slightly more of the opening to the story, which you might like to read so that you can find out what happens next. It also suggests building a den of your own... Sounds like a great plan to me!
If you search on YouTube, you can find the 1980's version that I watched when I was younger - I remember it like it was yesterday!
"Stig Of The Dump" is also available on AUDIBLE if you start a 30 day free trial. Click HERE.
Descriptive Story Writing - (Uploaded 26-03-20)
Before we had to close we were thinking about writing Chapter 3 of our descriptive stories about the abandoned school. It doesn't matter where you got up to as I want you to think about what would happen when your characters make it into the building.
What would they say to each other? Remember your speech punctuation.
What would they really be feeling? Remember to include emotions and thoughts.
What would it look like? Remember to describe the setting.
Link it to your opening paragraphs in some way.
I want you to focus on the first 30 seconds inside the corridor - THAT. IS. ALL.... Don't be tempted to rush this work. Go SLOWLY. Include all the ideas and techniques we talked about.
I expect that this should last one page in your yellow book... No more! Remember that it is like hitting the "pause" button on a video - You STOP to tell your reader all the details.
Remember also NOT to do too much speech. I am looking for a mixture of speech and description, combined with character details and emotions. You can refresh your memory about writing speech by clicking HERE to visit the BBC Bitesize page.
Oh yes..... No ghosts or supernatural stuff. Your characters can imagine whatever they like, but it must all be REAL!
You can do a draft version first if you like - and send it to me on Google Classroom. I can then give you some advice before you do a final version.
I'll post a WAGOLL in a few days, when you've had chance to think about it for yourself - but for now get thinking. There's a photo to jog your memory and a planning sheet to help!
Tom's Midnight Garden - (Uploaded 10-04-20)
One of the books I really enjoyed reading as a child was "Tom's Midnight Garden" - Strangely, the idea of a boy being quarantined quite appropriate for us today!
You can write the answers to the questions in the answer box in Google Classroom OR you can upload a photo of your answers to Google Classroom using the paperclip attachment feature - but this is not compulsary. If you do send me the answers, please, please, please write in full sentences that include the question in them - just like we do in class. Also - please, please, please check your spellings and grammar (including punctuation!)
has slightly more of the opening to the story, which you might like to read so that you can find out more about what leads Tom to being sent to live with Aunt Gwen.
If you search on YouTube for "BBC: Tom's Midnight Garden (1989)" you can find the 1980's version that I watched when I was younger.
"Tom's Midnight Garden" is also available on AUDIBLE if you start a 30 day free trial. Click HERE.
VIDEOS
In this section I will post videos that you might like to watch. They will be related to the work that we have done in class this year. Please note that many of these videos will be hosted on YouTube and do not belong to the school. As always, use caution, and if you see anything you don't like, or that upsets you, tell an adult.
Five Children and It - Episode 1
Five Children and It - Episode 2
Five Children and It - Episode 3
Five Children and It - Episode 4
Five Children and It - Episode 5
Five Children and It - Episode 6
Goodnight Mister Tom
Tom's Midnight Garden - Episode 1