SPaG Quiz 3

Hi all, 

Open this post to for the third Year 6 SPaG Quiz- it might help you identify any areas of spelling, punctuation or grammar that you still need to work on. Feel free to make it fun by challenging friends and family- who can get the highest score?!

I'll post more of these in coming posts. Answers will be posted separately for an adult/family member/friend to check your answers. Remember- don't look ahead! You'll only cheat yourself. Give it a go and check after 👍

Enjoy!

SPaG Quiz 2

Hi all, 

Open this post to for a Year 6 SPaG Quiz- it might help you identify any areas in spelling, punctuation or grammar that you still need to work on. Feel free to make it fun by challenging friends and family- who can get the highest score?!

I'll post more of these in coming posts. Answers will be posted separately for an adult/family member/friend to check your answers. Remember- don't look ahead! You'll only cheat yourself. Give it a go and check after 👍

Enjoy!

This week's homework...

Hi all,

I mentioned yesterday that your focus for the next week, with only 4 school days until SATs, should be on revising. Focus, not on the things you are good at, but on the things you know you don't feel as secure with so that, by the time testing week arrives, you will be full of confidence knowing you have given it your best shot. That is all we ask.

I have delayed putting this up as I didn't want to distract you from the lovely sunny weather we have been enjoying this bank holiday Saturday. Balance is important; make sure you build in rest to recharge your batteries.

So, in between your rest intervals:

• Practise any arithmetic skills you make errors in.
• Apply your arithmetic skills to reasoning questions.
• READ!! Read on a wide range of topics- science, history, geography etc. as well as narrative and poetry- exposing yourself to new and varied vocabulary and practise figuring out what unfamiliar words mean.
• Revise any grammar terms you are less confident about- can you tell a phrase from a clause?!
• Learn your spellings! On Friday I gave you all the spellings you didn't get right from across this term- keep working on them.
• Make use of the blog posts from across the year as well as revision guides and online resources.

Open this post to read more as I have attached a practise SPaG test below for you to try- give it a go and if there's anything on there you struggle with then revise it! 

Similarly with maths, I have put up some questions for you to try.

LASTLY, comment on this post if you want me to put anything in particular up to help you or to timetable in for next week's lessons.

Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday and I'll see you Tuesday,

Miss Barrell x

Spellings WC 30.4.18

Hi all,


A little disappointing this week on the spelling front I'm afraid...
We have now covered everything we need to in terms of spellings- looking at different rules, patterns, exceptions etc. but nobody got full marks every week so it's really important, now that we are revisiting them, that we take the time to learn the words that are provided as we are going to focus on the ones that caused us problems first time round!


Here are some links that might help you with this week's focus and there is a game below the spelling sheet that you might find quite fun (let me know if you struggle as I can give you clues)!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en01soun-game-silent-invaders
https://howtospell.co.uk/silent.php

Spellings WC 23.4.18

Hi all,

Here are this week's spellings. Given that we have covered everything we need to, we are going in with revision- starting with some of the words/ rules/ patterns that proved tricky for some of us earlier in the year.

Start with this recap:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zp7dk7h 

Try the 'Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check' activity here:

• https://www.spellzone.com/word_lists/learn_practise_test.cfm?wordlist=9765 

These activities are also fun ways to practise:

• https://www.spellzone.com/games/against_clock/index.cfm?wordlist=9765 
• https://www.spellzone.com/games/bouncing_anagram/index.cfm?wordlist=9765&speed=2 

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 

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

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

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

Spellings WC: 26.2.18

Hi all,

Here is your spelling focus for the week: we are concentrating on a very common letter string- ough.
Please ensure you learn these spellings thoroughly as you may be tested on any 10 of them as well as an additional 2 words from the core 5/6 spelling words.

In your homework books this week, please write sentences incorporating these spelling words so you are developing your understanding of how to use them in context,
e.g. In order to make bread, we need to make the dough.

See you Monday x

SPaG homework 23.2.18

Morning all,

Here is this week's SPaG homework- I have checked and double checked following my mix up over half term where I posted the same activity mat! 🙈

There is nothing in here that we haven't covered so you should be in a perfect position to revise these elements of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

If you are unsure, please come and see me (before Wednesday when homework is due) so I can support you.

Enjoy your weekend, 

Miss Barrell x

Verb forms revision

This week we have been getting stuck in to verb tenses in all their various forms...


We have explored:

• past
• present
• future

We have looked at the general spelling rules for simple regular verbs:

• looked
• looks
• will look

But we understand that some verbs are irregular so their spellings change rather than suffixes being added on when they are turned in to past tense:

• go --> went
• have --> had
• think --> thought
• throw --> threw
• is --> was

Some verbs come in continuous or progressive form- these indicate that something is still happening:

• was looking
• is laughing
• will be going

Finally we looked at perfect verb forms which are used when writing/talking about things that happened in the past.

Now we have looked back over our week of learning about verb forms and tenses, have a look at the activity below and let's see how you get on...

SPaG homework 2.2.18

Here is this week's SPaG homework.

As always, if you are unsure then you can:
a) click the links below to help you with the terminology;
b) check back to earlier blog posts with helpful content;
c) let me know and we can go over whatever necessary until you feel confident.

• Prepositions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byszemY8Pl8 
• Fronted adverbials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiAzTmVQ5rk 
• Possessive pronouns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euQWu0tQW14

Have a nice weekend,

Miss Barrell x

Spellings WC: 5th February 2018

Hi all,

It seems many of us found the 'i before e' rule rather tricky this week!

So, rather than ploughing on through the spellings without securing them, we are going to have a revision week next week.
Instead of learning a new set of words and exploring new patterns/ rules, you will be given a collection of words that you have not spelt correctly during spelling tests this half term. You will be tested on these words through next week from Tuesday onwards in the hope that you will be able to cross them off the list this time round.
When you get your words, please make sure you practise them- they will not learn themselves!

In the meantime, or for those of you who do not have many spellings to go over, I have chosen a selection of words from the 5/6 core list. I have selected these words as I feel they may come in useful for your work in English at the moment- re-writing 'The Ice Bear' from the perspective of either the mother bear or the raven.

Practise these words by using them in context- build them in to a sentence which you may then be able to include in your work! They won't necessarily all work in your piece but I'm sure you can include some.
If you are unsure of a word meaning, look up and record its definition from a dictionary.

For example:

Feeling mischievous, I swooped down and plucked the cub from the sanctuary of his mothers embrace.

See you Monday!

Miss Barrell x

Spellings WC: 29th January 2018

Here are this week's spellings- please explore the rule and learn them ahead of Friday's spelling test:

Also, as we approach the final fortnight of this half term, please remember that incorrectly spelt words from previous weeks will continue to be re-tested. Please ensure you continue to work on these so we can check them off as quickly as possible. We will update these lists for you at the end of this half term so you have a record of the words you need to continue to practise.

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Barrell x

SPaG homework 26.1.18

Apologies for the delay everybody- a busy schedule and technical difficulties delayed the upload of this, but here is this week's SPaG homework to complete in your homework books.

There are a few links below to help you revise the terminology below should you need it:

* Fronted adverbials- http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zp937p3#zt937p3

* Synonyms/ Antonyms- http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z8t8pbk#zydvjty

* Inverted commas- https: //www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zvftsbk;                http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/ztcp97h

* Relative clauses- http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zsrt4qt#zpx4tv4

I hope these help.

Last, but not least, please remember to maintain high standards in your homework books:

          * complete work in pencil

          * use a ruler/ straight edge to draw lines etc.

          * best effort at all times.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I look forward to seeing you on Monday!

Miss Barrell x

SPaG homework 19.1.18

Hi all,

Here is this week's homework for Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG). The following questions are intended to help you revise and reinforce your understanding of the different elements of SPaG and should be recorded and completed in your homework books. Homework is due in on Wednesday (along with your maths homework).
If you are unsure about anything, try referring to the glossary of terms also available on this blog to help you. Failing that, please don't hesitate if you would like some additional support- I'm always happy to help.

Miss Barrell x

Spelling, punctuation and grammar glossary

Hi all,

As you are aware, we are fast approaching that time of year all year 6 pupils (and their families) anticipate... SATs.

It's no secret that the curriculum has come a long way since most of us were at school ourselves and many of the topics taught will be unrecognisable to you. But here at Sutton Park we understand that and we want to help you to support your child as fully as possible in the lead up to this important milestone in your child's education.

If you are unsure of the difference between a superlative and a subjunctive; not sure about nouns and are confused about conjunctions, then this glossary of terms is for you!

We hope it is useful for you in supporting our child to secure their spelling, punctuation and grammar understanding.

If you would like any further support, please get in touch.

Many thanks for your continued support,

Miss Barrell

Spellings WC: 22nd January 2018

Below are this week's spelling words.


Please support your child in exploring the rules and patterns each week in order to help them learn the words provided.


It's worth noting that when year 6 pupils sit their spelling test as part of the SATs, they are not given a list of words to learn beforehand (if only). Spellings will be based on the rules and patterns covered throughout their school careers. The more secure they are with these fundamentals, the easier spelling will be for them- with or without a spelling list- both now and in the years to come, in secondary school and beyond.


Thank you for your continued support x

WC 22/1/18	I can spell words with hyphenated prefixes
A prefix is a part word (e.g., anti-, ex-, post-, pre-) placed before a word to modify its meaning.
In general we try to avoid a hyphen with a prefix. However, if the word doesn’t look/sound as it should, leading to confusion, then add a hyphen.
Hyphens tend to be used if the prefix ends in a vowel letter and the root word also begins with one. This is especially true if these vowels are the same.
This is a really interesting one to explore…   Below are a number of words that you will need to learn over the coming week. As there are only a small selection compared to normal, your child will be tested on them all at the end of the week so please support them in exploring them so they are prepared and ready for anything!   The remainder of this week’s spellings will be made up of 7 words from the core 5/6 word list to take the total up to 12 spellings.   Many thanks,   Miss Barrell and Mr. Storr
* co-ordinate             *re-enter          *co-operate        *co-own          *pro-active