Have a great Easter :-) A Few Revision Ideas!

Ideas for revision

The children have worked exceedingly hard over the last term so there is NO expectation that the children spend time revising. In fact it is imperative that they are well rested ready for next half term. However since some children / parents have expressed an interest in wanting to do some additional work, the following might be of assistance:

Maths – there is a very strong emphasis on number and they will need to know how to use all four operations.

·         CGP produce a great 10 minute SAT Buster revision guide. Amazon link below but it will also be available via book shops.

Standard copy:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Targeted-Buster-10-Minute-Tests/dp/1782946829/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1522154570&sr=8-8&keywords=cgp+sats+revision+books+ks2+2018+10+minuteAdvanced

Advanced copy:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Targeted-Buster-10-Minute-Tests/dp/1782946810/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1522154408&sr=8-9&keywords=cgp+sats+revision+books+ks2+2018

Reading

·         There is a third CGP book that we have not used that could be purchased: pacing children through the test is one of the biggest challenges!

·         The focus needs to be on really reading the question carefully and answering with clear explanation and using evidence from the text. Underlining key words is useful and focuses children on what is being asked.

·         Read a text together – discuss how the writing makes the READER feel and reasons for the author’s language choices. If there is an unfamiliar word, allow your child to read around the word and discuss what it might mean within the context of the text.

·         Encourage children to spend some time looking at non-narrative texts as well as narrative.

·         Encourage children to justify their ideas – How do you know that? Is there anything in the text that indicates…? How do you think x is feeling at the moment?

SPAG

·         There are published SATs buster books from CGP and others. For example:

o   https://www.amazon.co.uk/KS2-English-Buster-10-Minute-Tests/dp/1782942386/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522154809&sr=1-2&keywords=cgp+sats+revision+books+grammar

·         We have sent home a list of key words that it is valuable to know, dictation using the words in context is more valuable than learning words in isolation. (Year 3/4 and 5/6 words.)

·         BBC Bitesize has not been completely revised for the new curriculum but the punctuation exercises would still be valid. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/english/spelling_grammar/

·         SPAG daily workout - is a power point presentation. 1 slide a day – keep it quick! Link on the blog. SPAG daily workout PowerPoint

NB: Gremlin verbs are:  be, am and are. The children often do not recognise these as verbs.

Please also refer to the targets that you were given at our recent consultation evening.

Have a lovely and restful break. J

The Year 6 team

Crucial Crew

We had a very informative and thought-provoking afternoon yesterday at Crucial Crew with issues that we will be discussing in class over the next few months. If you would like to talk to your child any more about what they learnt about, the following pit-stops were discussed:

1) Anti-social behaviour - having an awareness of how you can come across to the public if you are being loud, wearing hoodies and hanging around in parks or on corners late at night. Also, knowing places you can go to if you feel scared or intimidated by older children who are doing those things (go to a supermarket or shop, home or a public place and tell an adult you feel unsafe).

2) RNLI - how to be safe in the water.

3) Road safety - don't text and cross roads.

4) Samaritans - who to call/text when you feel like you can't talk to anyone you know.

5) Rail safety - don't cross lines or throw rubbish onto them as they are electrical

6) Billy Dove's Wish - a young boy who died when he got mixed up with a bad group of boys so Billy's wish is to help others stay safe by remembering to tell adults if problems feel too big, not get involved in violent behaviour and support my friends and help them to not get into any problems too. 

7) Cyber-bullying - how to spot cyber-bullying, what it is and how to not become and cyberbully/be a victim of it alone. 

8) First-Aid training - how to put people into the recovery position.

9) Alcohol awareness - it can have many negative side effects if you're not responsible. 

10) Fire safety/hazards in the house - don't leave hairdryers on beds, don't leave phones charging on pillows etc. 

Easter around the corner!

Hello all,

Apologies for there not being a blog for a while. We have had a few snow days, a few poorly members of staff and many busy days so have not been able to post but we are back at it now!

Well, where to start! We have been beavering away in our English lessons doing a variety of topics such as looking at narrative with The Giants Necklace and Henry's Freedom Box, both beautifully emotive books that have allowed the children to fully immerse themselves into their characters. We've had diary entries, letters written and so many wonderfully skills woven in to engage the reader. We have also looked at a range of non-fiction writing where children have reviewed items and judged whether they are fit for purpose - which they have loved as it has been so relevant to them.

To continue to support them in their English at home, we really recommend revision guides to cover all our punctuation and grammar terminology. As much practise on that as possible is very beneficial at the moment.

In maths, we have been doing geometry. We have looked at angles inside shapes and what they add up to, different types of angles, properties of shapes, area, perimeter, missing angles, 2D shapes 3D shapes, making them, looking at nets, all sorts! If it is geometry - we're covering it. It's a great unit, very visual and whilst there is a lot of terminology (again!) the children always seem to enjoy building on their prior knowledge.

To continue to support your children in maths at home please continue to recap geometry. The children need lots of reminders of sides and corners, vertices and edges, shape properties and visualising shapes too.

We had a brilliant Science Day yesterday! We have had to stagger our Science Day English lesson as we wanted to continue with our unit in English and not have that interrupted as many of us were near the end of writing up a final piece so we are going to have a fin science themed lesson on Thursday afternoon. The children loved discovering what biscuit was best for dunking yesterday and enjoyed nibbling on some left-overs too! I'll post some pictures below.

Just to remind you that we have Gym Display today and tomorrow, Eistedfodd is next week (remind the children to be prepared) and parents evening is next week too so please return any forms to the office or your child's class teachers.

Enjoy the countdown to Easter!
Mrs Bath and the Year 6 Team :-)