Algebra sequences...

Wow!
I just want everyone to know how incredibly 6SB have taken to the concept of algebra this week! If I'm honest, I remember not liking algebra to begin with when I was younger but not you guys!


We have been exploring number sequences this week, looking for similarities and differences and noticing patterns in the terms of the sequence to help us come up with the 'rule', 'expression' or 'formula' for the nth term.


Here you can see some of the sequences we have explored so far:

So here are a couple more for you to take a look at... Can you think of a formula for the different sequences below? Can you find the 25th, 50th and 80th terms?


1)

2)

Enjoy exploring and maybe you can come up with a sequence of your own for others to explore!


Miss Barrell x

Easter craft afternoon...

Good afternoon everyone!


Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is Easter Craft afternoon. You can bring in materials for a design to decorate and create a scene for your (hard boiled) eggs. If you are short on ideas and are in need of inspiration, take a look at the pictures below- they might not be quite what you're looking to produce but they might spark an idea off!

I can't wait to see what you produce!


Miss Barrell x

Last week's attendance...

Happy Monday everyone!




So, last week I updated you on our seemingly improving attendance trend. I am pleased to announce that this trend appears to be continuing.
Last week's attendance rose to 94.2% (from 93.8% the previous week) which is good news, so thank you for your continued efforts.




I was a little disappointed to learn however that this was the lowest attendance in Upper Key Stage 2... Remember, we are working towards a minimum of 96% This is especially important for all of our year 6s as we are fast approaching a very important time of year for them and we really don't want them missing out on a thing.


Keep going 6SB- we can do it! We've done it before and we will do it again- team 100!


Miss Barrell x

Spellings: Homophones

Hi all,

 

So this week we really focussed in on homophones: words that sound the same (or very similar) but have different meanings.
We have been working on developing our understanding our understanding of the different words in context as this is what enables us to tell them apart using the spelling homework resource I put on the blog last week. This is really beginning to help and there have been some really good conversations happening about whether a word is a noun or a verb or an adjective and all sorts of other reasoning about which word is the right one to use.
The key message we have come away with this week however is that: homophones will not learn themselves- you must put the effort in to learn them properly. Not only are we facing the challenge of spelling them correctly but because we have to know the difference between 2 or more spellings to begin with, meaning the whole thing is twice as hard!

 

The words we tested on this week were:
Advice, devise, guest, steel, aisle, prophet, weary, mourning, herd, stationary, father, proceed and guessed.
The bold words that have been underlined were the most commonly misspelt words.

 

To make working on homophones a bit more fun, click the links below to take you to games and other online resources:

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zsvnp39 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw4IjeGPaz0 
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en21watc-game-paris-word 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJUqJyX5NSA 
• http://www.galacticphonics.com/homonyms/interactive/theretheirtheyre/theretheirtheyre.htm 

Reading homework 16.3.18

Hi all,


A little something extra this week... Reading!

First of all, a HUGE well done to all of our keen readers from this week, bringing their home reading books in every single day- very impressive! One more week until Easter break now so keep it up and fingers crossed- it could be your name being drawn out of our reading raffle next week- you've got to be in it to win it!

Secondly, this week we have been focussing on how to write a strong '3 mark answer' to maximise the points we achieve in comprehension tests. Sooooo...

As part of your homework, based on an extract from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone- Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass. I have set 3 questions for you to answer for which I have devised a mark scheme of plausible responses (just as they would in a test) which we will use next week to see how many marks we achieve.

You each have a booklet- these can be stuck in to your homework books; there's no need to write anything extra out; just work straight on to the sheet.


Use the skills we have practised as a checklist:


* Clarify the question in your mind: What is it asking me? e.g. What impression are you given of character A?


* Think of synonyms or generalisations for the point(s) you want to make, e.g. He is unkind


* Text mark to find your evidence but remember to only take what you need.


* Don't waffle and repeat yourself- be concise!


* Check that your evidence supports the point(s) you're making, e.g. He is unkind because he deliberately kicked the ball at her.


* Ask yourself: Have I answered the question?




As always, let me know if you need any help, but otherwise- happy reading!


Miss Barrell x

Maths homework 16.3.18

Hi all,


Maths homework this week is to go over your maths arithmetic test from today, focussing particularly on questions that you lost marks on and practise these skills!


In addition to your revision, take a look at the following:

If you need any help or want me to go over anything with you then please let me know early next week.


Have a lovely weekend,


Miss Barrell x

Last week's attendance...

Hello again!


So... We appear to have an improving trend- thank goodness- but we're still not quite where we need to be (the holy grail of 96% or above).


Last week's attendance, from the 5th- 9th March, for 6SB was:

 93.8%

Please, please, please help us to get up to our minimum target and beyond! We've done it before and we can, and need to, do it again!

Thanks for your continued support,

Miss Barrell x

R.I.P. Stephen Hawking

Hi all,


So as dawn broke this morning, the World woke up to the news that Professor Stephen Hawking, a world renowned scientist, had died.

During our circle this morning, we looked at exactly who this man was and why his death is such a loss.

 

We watched a short animation about his 'Big Ideas' and learnt a lot along the way- click his image below for the link to take you there to watch it yourself.

When we had finished, we talked about how, whilst some people may not agree with his theories because of how they clash with their religious beliefs for example- Creation Story vs. The Big Bang and evolution- that we could learn a lot from his outlook on life...

Some of the words used to describe him and his achievements by the children in our class included: determined, inspiring, incredible.

Below is the link to a video of his most inspiring speeches- I'm sure you'll agree we can all take something away from it...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2iWuquZDUI 

Leave us a comment with your thoughts.

Miss Barrell and 6SB x

Spellings WC: 12.3.18

Hi all,

Sooooooo, for the final 2 weeks before Easter break, we are going to be focussing on homophones! These are words that sound the same (or very similar) but have different meanings. They regularly trip us up in ur writing so it's incredibly important that we get to know which spelling to use when.

It starts with the every day basics:

• There/ their/ they're
• Where/ wear/ were
• Too/ to/ two

However it doesn't stop there (as you will see from the spelling sheet below) so please, please, please make time to work on these at home as well as with us in school.

Miss Barrell x

Maths homework 9.3.18

Hello again,

Following on from this week's mock SATs, despite everyone doing incredibly well, coming on leaps and bounds in terms of their progress, it was frustrating to see some pupils dropping marks because of silly mistakes so this week's homework draws on a number of arithmetic areas we have covered this year. There's nothing new so you should be fine with everything here- it's revision to make sure you are accurate in your calculations.
If there's something you're finding tricky then make that skill a priority: look back to see if there are any supporting materials on the blogs or come to me to go over it again.

Here is this week's maths homework:

As always, work should be presented neatly in homework books (1 digit per square) in pencil.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

See you Monday, 

Miss Barrell x

Reflections and translations revision...

Hi all (again),

So another area of maths we went over this week was transformations, particularly the reflection and translation of shapes. We got really hands on with how to do these things but to help you revise these concepts and further secure them in your mind, take a look at the link below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/maths/shape_space/transformation/read/1/

Here's a cool activity to have a go at for some extra practise too:

http://www.teacherled.com/iresources/symmetry/symmetryshapes/ 

As always, if there's anything you're unsure of, come to me and ask :)

Miss Barrell x

Volume revision...

Hi all,

So this week, as we took a look ahead to shape, we did some work on calculating volume. To help us, we used cubes to help us investigate the idea of:

length x width x depth

We all really enjoyed this and put our developing understanding to good use by applying it in context, see...

To help you revise and secure this understanding, follow the links below to work through some clips and activities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJwecTgce6c

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zcrxtyc 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3jrxfr

Enjoy, 

Miss Barrell x

Circles revision...

Hi all,

Following on from our revision session on Thursday when we looked at shape, focussing particularly on circles, here is an activity for you to try to further consolidate your understanding on this topic:

I have linked some sites below for you to take a look at too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z8c7qty

https://www.mathgames.com/skill/7.1-circles-calculate-area-radius-circumference 

http://files.pbslearningmedia.org/dlos/wnet/dlo7.html 

These games should help you have fun whilst building your confidence so take some time and enjoy!

As always, if there's something you're finding tricky and want me to go over then just let me know.

Miss Barrell x

SPaG homework 9.3.18

Hi all,

First of all I want to say a big well done- you worked your socks off this week for our mock SATs and the progress you are all making speaks volumes about your dedication and commitment to succeed- you'll all be secondary ready in no time!

Now is the time to reflect on how you did before pushing on- you are still capable of more. So- with that in mind- here is this week's SPaG homework activity mat. Remember- if you are unsure and would like/ need some support then just come to me.

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you next week!

Miss Barrell x

Last week's attendance...

Unfortunately, following our super attendance last month, last week it really suffered...
Last week's average total was only:

91.5%

We really cannot stress enough how important it is that you are in school everyday wherever possible and that you are on time- otherwise you miss sessions and miss learning.

We understand that last week's weather was less than ideal and caused delays but please can we work together and have a really big push to get our attendance up again. We are aiming to exceed 96%.

Come on 6SB- we can do it!

Thanks,

Miss Barrell x

Testing week

Hi all,

Next week we will be completing a mock testing week in order to prepare pupils for test conditions when they get to SATs. This will be a good opportunity to assess how well they are applying the things they are learning and give us an idea of any areas that need further work.

As we encourage for the actual SATs tests, revision is a good idea.
Below is our intended timetable to help you target your revision before each test but we will remind pupils each day, especially if this structure changes.

Monday         * SPaG
                       * Maths arithmetic

Tuesday         * Reading
                       * Maths Paper 2 (reasoning)

Wednesday    *Maths Paper 3 (reasoning)

Make use of the resources available to you- revision guides you might have, activities/ links on the blog etc.- to help you revise.
I will do my best to update these more over the weekend- you will be able to find them under the tabs at the top of the blog, e.g. grammar, punctuation, spelling (please check them all for all areas of SPaG), maths, reading.

See you next week,

Miss Barrell x

Spellings WC: 5.3.18

Hi all,

Here are next week's spelling words:

It was clear from this week's spelling test that the words we are focussing on each week are being learnt, BUT- the words that are letting some of us down are the words that are randomly selected from the core 5/6 spellings. We only choose 2 of these each week, but it is still important to still learn them. Figure out which words you can already spell confidently and accurately and then focus on the others. Try splitting them in to groups of 5 to focus on each week.

Good luck,

Miss Barrell x

SPaG homework 2.3.18

Hi all,

Here is your SPaG homework for this week:

The following links might help you if you need to secure your understanding of what some of these things are, BUT there should be nothing new here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqk37p3 (subordinating conjunctions)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_foMADqjSc (statements/ commands/ questions/ exclamations)

If, after looking at these resources, you still don't understand something or want me to go over it with you then let me know on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend,

Miss Barrell x

Maths homework 2.3.18

Hi all,

Here is your maths homework for the week. It's nothing new- you are literally drawing on the concepts we have been covering in class for the last couple of months, weeks and days.
As always, please record your answers in your homework book neatly (1 digit per square).

If you are unsure and want some support, just let me know and I will be more than happy to go through things with you. In the meantime though, these might help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn2pdkvdbGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gB1y-PMWfs

Have a fun, safe weekend enjoying the snow and I'll see you Monday :) 

Miss Barrell x