This morning, Year 6 had a very exciting smiley reward! Our reward this term was a bouncy obstacle course that we had to climb, run and slide through! We cheered each other on and raced against each other. It is definitely one of our favourite rewards and everyone had a fantastic time. What was your favourite part, Year 6?
Today, the digital leaders lead a presentation about what it means to be kind online, recognising the difference between helpful and hurtful online behaviour and understanding that words typed online affect people. The children discussed how one act of kindness can create a chain reaction throughout our school. Can you give me an example of how we can spread kindness?
The leaders introduced ‘Operation Kindness’ and told us about their mission. They highlighted the key questions we should ask ourselves before posting or commenting. Take a look:
We then watched a video which showed us some examples of being kind. What rules did the video highlight for us to follow online?
Finally, we were given our mission. We need to ensure we are completing some of these by the end of this week. Good luck and thank you to our digital leadership for informing us all about being kind online.
Can you give examples of how you could complete these?
Today, a lady called Miss Russell came to visit us from the University Collegiate School to talk about what it is like to be in Year 7 at her school. She introduced the values of the school and we watched a video which showed how unique their school was and what it had to offer beyond Maths and English. Can you tell me what UCS offers to its students?
We then heard from some of the students who talked us through their day and told us what they liked the most about their school. It was great to see some familiar faces on the video.
How was this helpful to you Year 6?
Today, we watched a google assembly which was all about AI. It told us about what AI can do and where it can be found in real life. Google reminded us that AI is not a human so we are not to treat it like one. It receives its information from data (not from books like we do). This data can make mistakes too so make sure you are checking and verifying information you find on there. Can you think about something AI is in control of?
This afternoon, we took part in a fantastic workshop where Bart Gee revealed his life story all about his disability! When he was younger, he was told he wouldn’t be able to walk, yet he proved people wrong by walking with the help of his mum! He also takes part in many sporting events like swimming, running and cycling. He has even completed a triathlon!
To add to his many talents, he can even play the piano and he played some brilliant music for us to listen too. Bart has shown true resilience throughout his life, never giving up even when things got hard. He always had the support of his friends and family and was never afraid to try something new just because he had a disability.
We enjoyed this workshop so much because we learnt that anything is possible and differences should be celebrated.
This afternoon, Year 6 took part in an online safety workshop from Smoothwall. We began by discussing what technology we use at home and how it makes us feel when we use it. We looked at misinformation and disinformation and discussed the difference between them and what we should do if we think something that we see or read online is not real.
We were reminded us how to stay safe online and that AI tools are there to help us with questions we have but they are not our friends and do not have our best interests in mind when interacting with us. They do not have any emotions or feelings! It is important to remember that AI is just a TOOL we use to help us and it is not a real human being. Finally, we talked about making sure we share things with trusted adults so that we can stay safe and healthy.
What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation?
This morning, Year 6 had our computing open morning where we had the chance to show our adults our amazing Computer Science skills! We began with a Project Evolve starter which we have at the start of every computing lesson to recap key messages about online safety. Next, we showed our adults some of the online learning platforms we use in school such as IXL and TTRockstars which help us with our learning. Our adults were amazed at how fast we could recall our times tables facts on TTRockstars and we challenged them to have a go as well. They did their best but they weren’t as quick as us!
Finally, we showcased our coding skills using Scratch to build a times table quiz using variables. Thank you to all parents who joined us this morning.
In the UK, Black History Month happens every October. It gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture. People from African and Caribbean backgrounds have been a fundamental part of British history for centuries and we are celebrating all these amazing people.
Mrs Johnston-Sweeney has launched a competition linked to this where children can create posters, models, PowerPoints and lots more about key black people who have made a difference! There are so many to choose from – Rosa Parks, Katherine Johnson, Mary Seacole, Michael Jordon, Beyonce, Martin Luther King and Stormzy to name but a few.
Good luck Year 6 I am looking forward to seeing who you have chosen and how you have showcased them.
Today, we looked at different types of microorganisms. Microorganisms are living things that do not fit into the plants or animals groups. We found out that there are 3 main types of microorganisms, fungi, bacteria and viruses.
We explored different types of mushrooms (fungi) using magnifying glasses. We looked at the similarities and differences between them. We used our oracy skills and language stems to discuss this with our partners. Take a look:
Can you tell me a similarity and a difference using the sentence stems below.
Today, Year 6 had a visit from an author and poet, Ros Roberts. First, she introduced us to some of her amazing books and read us some of her favourite poems. Then we played a game where we guessed a book from when we were younger using some clues.
We then looked at different types of poems. First we looked at limerick and identified some of the rule. Another type of poem was a shape poem which was in the shape of something that the poem was linked to. Then we looked at a haiku poem.
After that, Ros read us her poem called Eight Minutes and it was our task to write about what we could do in eight minutes. Finally, we had a go at writing some of our own poems. Which poem was your favourite Year 6?
Today, we took part in a workshop where we were able to travel all around the world visiting lots of biomes. The first biome we visited was the tundra where we saw lots of open space covered in snow and ice. If we looked up, we could see the Northern Lights in the sky. The next experience brought an arctic fox towards us; we saw how its characteristics made it perfect for the conditions within the tundra biome.
The next biome we visited was the desert where everything looked very dry and hot. It was in Southern Africa. We then visited another desert but this was a polar desert where we could see penguins.
Off we then went to a hotter but wetter biome – a tropical rainforest. We were swarmed by ants carrying leaves and tall trees that towered over us! A jaguar then came out of nowhere prowling around looking for its prey on the understory layer!
We visited the marine biome where we saw lots of fish and sea creatures swimming around.
Finally, we visited the savannah grassland biome where we saw a pride of lions exploring their natural habitat and one came so close to us we could almost touch it!!
Which biome did you enjoy visiting the most?
Today, our parents came to look at our the work we have been doing in Geography and we got showcase everything we’ve learnt so far. We started off by playing the globe game – passing the globe around to find key locations in the world like the Tropics! We even challenged our parents!
We then looked at the different biomes that we have been learning- Tundra, Taiga, Grasslands, Deciduous forest and Desert. The one we were focusing on was the tropical rainforest biome. We looked at were they are located around the world and recapped the four layers.
We then encouraged our adults join in our discussion about how deforestation has been affecting rainforests all over the world. Our adults were suitable impressed with our oracy skills as we confidently debated whether we agreed or disagreed with this act and respected everyone’s opinions.
We would like to thank our adults for joining us today and taking part in our learning.
Do you agree or disagree with deforestation? Why?
This afternoon our Digital leaders led an assembly all about how to stay safe online. It is important that we check everything we see online as sometimes there can be fake news! Our class took part in the true or false quiz looking at whether the statements were true or false. We also looked at how we need to make sure we are always kind to each other online. We also recapped the internet legend code: be sharp, alert, secure, kind and brave!
Can you remember a key fact we learnt?
Within school we have many different pupil leadership roles. We take our responsibilities very seriously and support our teachers at whole at whole school events, assemblies and within the classroom. These roles include:
Which leadership roles do you have?
Today, we presented our class assembly to our parents after only being back in school for one week! Well done everyone for learning their lines! Our assembly showcased what we are going to be learning about this year. We showed them examples of how we chant our key words and targets as well as how we use actions to help us remember these.
A big focus for our assembly was working on our oracy skills. As part of our rehearsals and our performance, we discussed the following:
Physical skills – standing tall when saying our lines, facing the audience and using purposeful gestures whilst also thinking about our tone, pace and projection.
Linguistic skills – using our key vocabulary within our lines and explaining what these mean to our parents and also using full sentences.
Cognitive skills – using our memory to recall the information we have been learning.
Social and emotional – listening well to our peers when they are speaking and working together when chanting.
Which oracy skill did you use well? What could you improve next time?
Take a look at some of our pictures:
This morning Year 6 took part in a STEM day at School’s ICT. To begin the day, we had to follow a set of instructions to make a catapult. This enabled us to become familiar with the equipment that we would be using throughout the day. We discussed the pros and cons of the design then put our engineering skills to practise improving it using the straws and connectors.
Next we used the construction kits to design and build our robots. We had to work together in pairs one of us building the body and the other the head of our robots. Once we had constructed them we had to attach them together.
Our next challenge was to connect the cradle, battery and servo to our robots so that we could make them move. We added an arm and designed the faces for our robots. It was then time to put our programming skills to the test! We had to program a microbit to control our robots showing a welcome message, the temperature, play music, wave their arm and animation, evaluate the effectiveness and debug our programmes as necessary.
We wrote our programs using repeat blocks(loops), event blocks, input blocks, strings blocks and extensions (Strawbees) Finally we had to create a control panel that worked correctly.
Take a look at our “Friendbots”
For our Year 6 D and T topic, we have made pizzas! During the process, we conducted some market research based on children’s favourite pizzas and then designed our own pizza thinking about how we could make it healthy and balanced. We used the Eatwell plate to help us create this.
During the making, we focused on three main skills: kneading and using the claw and bridge cutting technique to help us prepare the ingredients.
We rolled out our dough, added our toppings and waited patiently for our pizzas to cook and WOW they were definitely worth the wait! They looked, smelt and tasted delicious! Michelin stars all round – Master Chef here we come!
Today, Year 6 took part in our sports assembly. We were very lucky with the weather as the rain held off and we were able to use the astro turf. We proudly showed off our skills in four different races: a sprint race, a beanbag race, an obstacle course and a dribbling race. We really enjoyed taking part in all of our races and putting our skills to the test!
Thank you to our school sporty crew for helping out and all parents who attended and helped us celebrate our success! Which race was your favourite Year 6?
Today, Year 6 watched our Google assembly all about staying safe online over the summer. We learnt that it is really important for us to think before you tap, and to ask a trusted adult if we see anything online that makes us feel upset or worried. We also found out that it is really important to stick to age limits online to help us stay safe. What did you learn Year 6?
Today in computing, Year 5 have been learning about how free apps and online services use our information for advertising. We talked about lots of different apps which are free to use and we thought about how the companies that make them might make money. We learnt that free apps and services often collect personal information and sell it to companies for advertising. We now know it is really important to read the terms and conditions and ask a trusted adult before downloading a new app. What did you learn Year 5?
We looked at the different today between Misinformation and Disinformation. Can you recall what each word means? We were shown different webpages and had to work out whether it was showing false information. How could you tell? Sometimes webpages include a mix of true and false information so it is super important to remember not to believe everything you read online! Tell me what you learnt today….
Today Year 5 looked at how search engines rank their results! We started off by looking at features of a website in order to try and create our own. Which features did you have? We looked at how different webpages have links to other pages in order to create more views. We then looked at how many times ‘Oxford Grove’ appeared when we searched in using a search engine. We then looked at how to refine our searches to make them easier to find what we are looking for! We looked at the three different points of view in the searching process: ‘the searcher, the search engine company and the webpage creator’.
Year 5 if you were to create a webpage, what would you have on it to make sure your webpage ranks highly?
Today, we had a and T workshop where we created our own working fairground rides. We then had to measure and saw a piece of wood to create the bottom of the ride. We then used the drill to create 2 holes in one of our feet, the base and the turntable. During this time, we were designing our fairground rides and thinking about themes we might like to use for them. Once we had glued the feet on, it was time to transfer our design to our fairground ride. We had to line up our pulley with the hole in the turntable then added dowel and a wheel.
In the afternoon, we built our circuit using a battery clip and motor. We attached it to our fairground to enable it to spin around. The final part was to design the canopy and add it to the top.
We had a very busy day and were extremely proud of our finished products.
What was your favourite part of the day Year 6?
In Year 6, we started our new maths learning on place value. We started with learning about place value up to 1,000,000, then learnt how to read and write numbers up to 7 digit numbers. We have been learning how to compare and order numbers including decimals. We have rounded whole and decimals numbers. We have revisited the Roman Numerals song to help us convert Arabic numbers into Roman numerals and vice versa.
What have you learnt Year 6?
This morning , our digital leaders introduced our Internet Legends AI Assembly. It made us think about how AI can affect what we see online. We were given lots of information on how to keep safe and which websites can be trusted. They also reminded us that AI is NOT a real person but uses data patterns to answer our questions.
What did you learn from this assembly today?
It is a very busy first 2 weeks in Year 6. Every afternoon we are going swimming at Horwich Leisure Centre. We are really excited to be getting back into the pool, having swimming lessons and showing the instructors the progress that we have made since they last saw us. Some of us can even dive in and retrieve objects from the bottom of the pool!
Tell me some of the skills you have learned during you swimming lessons.
Today we took part in a zoom call which was promoting jobs in media. We started off by thinking about what media is specifically local media. It tells us in our local community all the big events and news – a bit like the glue of the community. It begins with curiosity and asking questions. What ways can we see and hear about local media?
During the call, three special guests came on to speak to us about their jobs. The first special guest was Lucy from ITV Granada reports. She told us about the awards she has won for her work, her favourite film and who works for her at ITV. Part of her job is finding the best pictures then making sure they come up with great headlines before sharing them with everyone online or on the television. Lucy has to ensure her team work to a deadline, decide which stories to tell and checking that the facts they are sharing are true. Can you remember what her top three skills are that she uses in her job?
The second speaker was Vijay who is a local radio presenter from Leicester. Within his job, he has interviewed people from all over the world. Vijay runs the radio station that broadcasts 24hours a day, 7 days a week. Vijay loves working with people from different cultures and backgrounds. He promoted the fact that we should use our voices well to show our passions. As part of Vijay’s job, he finds stories that matter to the community and he works with different people – schools, community groups and volunteers. Amazingly, the radio station uses different languages! Subjects like English, Maths, Computing and Geography and History help within his job. Can you remember anyone Vijay has met? What were his top tips?
The third guest was Alice. Her role is to write stories about the community that people will enjoy like her report on the cat that lived in a car home for two decades! Can you remember her favourite news stories?
Would you like to work within media?
Over the last few weeks, we have been focusing on our new class authors and poets! We have researched each one of them and used our research to either create a biography or PowerPoint presentation. Our biographies are displayed in our our class library alongside our book recommendations.
Our class authors are Michael Morpurgo and Philip Pullman! Can you tell me anything about them? What books have they written? Have they received any awards?
This week, we have started settling into our new classes! We have been learning our new class rules, looking at our class prayer and promise and creating our welcome book. We have written our applications letters for the class jobs and are eagerly waiting to find out who has been chosen for each one.
We have also discussed our personal targets thinking about what they might be, who can help us achieve them and how will we know if we have met them or not? We have copied them out and displayed them in our classroom.
What are you looking forward to in Year 6?
Today, we took part in the digital leader assembly. The topic was wellbeing and talked about how we feel when we are online. It gave us a range of tips on how to make sure we are protecting our mental health when we are spending time on games or social media. One tip it gave us was to always check if something we see is real. There is a lot of fake content and information online that we need to make sure it’s real before we let it affect us. We also learnt about the SMAART rule in PSHRE to help us stay safe online! How do you look after your wellbeing when you are online?
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