Week 11 (03.05.20)
Hello Chestnut and Maple!
Miss Moffet is in school teaching some of the Year 6 children so I will be updating the weekly blog for both classes for the time being. If you have any questions or queries please email me at craig.warburton@school360.co.uk rather than Miss Moffet.
Hopefully you should now have the work pack with various English and maths worksheets in. There was also a second plastic wallet which had a few blank sheets of lined and squared paper in for working out. As Chestnut and Maple are at different points in maths, we will be covering brand new areas to both: starting with time, followed by position and direction (the squared paper will come in very handy here, especially when we look at coordinates. Don’t worry if you run out, I will post some extra online for when you need them), properties of shape and statistics. Because these areas of maths don’t rely as much on arithmetic skills, I would like it if they could also complete one of the maths worksheets they have been given each week. There are also some worked examples for how to use the methods in the packs in case your child has forgotten, or is not confident with, the method used. There is also a times table mat up to 12x12 which your child can use when multiplying or dividing using the formal written methods so they can focus on the method itself without needing to also remember their times table facts. Of course, if your child knows their times tables, they don’t need to use the mat!
For their English work, both Chestnut and Maple have produced persuasive information texts. Therefore, we are moving onto the next part of the planning: stories with humour. This will be based on the book Mr Stink by David Walliams. Because not everyone has the book at home, I have had a look for some alternatives. It is available as a free audiobook from either Amazon with an Audible trial (although this trial will need to be cancelled before 30 days to avoid a £7.99 charge!) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-Stink/dp/B003OXR01M, or YouTube (the usual warnings apply here with it being on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMM1mVy8OPK1ryUz8ZtHJrvjOm-ro7RuM. Should your child want to read the book themselves, this is also available on Amazon in a number of formats (Kindle or paperback) or from any other book retailer, possibly including Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, although I didn’t see it the last time I was in. There won’t be any reading comprehension set on this book, but it will flavour the English work they do, leading up to writing their own funny story. As Mr Stink would have been the class reader for this half term I would like it if your child could sit and listen for a short period each day and just enjoy the story. If the weather continues to be nice, this could be sat outside or even – if you want – on a walk whilst wearing some headphones. If you’re going out and about in a car for a drive, and you have the ability to connect a smartphone to the car’s entertainment system, you could even listen along too! If you want to watch the TV film adaptation, it is currently available on the BBC iPlayer for free https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0118z9z/mr-stink.
Separate from Mr Stink, every child in Chestnut and Maple has been provided with a free book in their work pack. The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson, who spent most of her adult life in Newcastle, is a heart-warming and funny story about the daughter of an English explorer who gets abducted (maybe that bit isn’t so hear-warming!) by the Yeti who needs some help raising his children. The idea behind sending this book home for your child is that it will work in a similar way to the Guided Reading sessions your child would normally do with Liz, except this is their book to keep. Because I understand that every child is different, I will not be setting a firm page or chapter which your child must get up to each week. Instead, please may your child read and enjoy the book at home at their own pace, but at the same time please ask them questions about what they have read so far (I have posted some suggested examples below). Again, because each child’s confidence to read chapter books like this is different, and some words may be unfamiliar or tricky to decode, the approach you may need to take will differ depending on your child’s confidence. If they are confident to just get on and read it themselves, this is great and they should be encouraged to do so. However, if your child finds it tricky in areas, they may need a little bit of adult support to decode some words before moving on independently. Alternatively, some children may need an adult to read it alongside them, maybe taking it in turns to read a sentence each, or if the words in the text prove far too challenging for your child to read, the book could always be read to them.
Because there are four different spelling groups between the two classes, I have sent home all of the spellings for this half-term for all groups. Since the start of lockdown in March, Miss Moffet and I have been following the same scheme in case of such an eventuality. I have written in the left hand columns the LAST words your child had at the end of last half-term and in the right hand columns their NEW words. Above each group of two columns (three columns in the last instance) is the name of the sheet where you can find their spellings. These sheets are all in the work pack. If you find that you can’t remember what your child’s last spellings were, they can be found on the week 9 blog for Chestnut http://www.swansfield.northumberland.sch.uk/website/week_9_monday_18th_may/482754 and Maple http://www.swansfield.northumberland.sch.uk/website/weeks_9__10_180520_-_030520/482895.
Next week, rather than post the new words online, I will direct you to the next column to the right (headed Week 2) on your child’s sheet and do the same thereafter for weeks 3 and 4 etc. if we are not yet back in school.
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Year 1 Term 3B Overview |
Year 2 Term 3B Overview |
Year 3 Term 3B Overview |
Year 4 Term 3B Overview |
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LAST |
NEW |
LAST |
NEW |
LAST |
NEW |
LAST |
LAST |
NEW |
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Air fair pair hair chair bare dare care share scared |
dolphin alphabet phonics elephant when where which wheel while white |
Megan’s Ravi’s the girl’s the child’s the man’s the woman’s the school’s the dog’s the teacher’s Gus’ |
there their they’re here hear see sea to too two |
scope telescope microscope horoscope periscope inspect spectator respect perspective spectacles |
natural occasional actual accidental medical national capital vocal sensational personal |
calendar grammar regular particular peculiar popular consider remember quarter integer |
non-stick non-stop non-starter non-smoker non-fiction non-drip non-violent non-profit non-believer nonsense
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dangerous poisonous mountainous joyous synonymous hazardous riotous perilous momentous scandalous
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Finally, because this is a short week for the blog (Wednesday to Friday) you will see that I have reduced the number of activities. As previously, I have indicated which pieces of work I would like sent to me as doing so allows me to plan for your child’s next steps and what additional support and guidance I may need to provide later on. It’s not about evidencing that your child is working at home and completing their tasks (I am sure they are!) it’s about enabling me to better plan their learning journey and to know which areas they are confident in and which areas they aren’t. As such, don’t feel that you need to put pressure on yourself to ensure that their work is what an adult would consider perfect, if they have made mistakes in their maths, for example, I would like to see them so that I can provide feedback directly to hopefully correct any misassumptions they may have made.
English
Activity 1 (Spellings)
Please may your child practise their next set of spellings, guided by their sheet in the work pack.
Activity 2 (SPaG)
Please may your child complete page 13 (as shown in the shield in the bottom right hand corner) from the SPaG booklet. It is about writing direct speech as a conversation between two people and is titled ‘I can use speech marks in direct speech’.
Activity 3 (Mr Stink) @EMAIL
Please may your child listen to parts one, two and three of Mr Stink (as broken down in the YouTube playlist) or about 40 minutes on Audible. THIS DOES NOT NEED TO BE DONE IN ONE SITTING! If you or they are reading the book, it is the first five chapters. Then, please may your child think about who or what Mr Stink used to be before he became homeless. In the book, Chloe has her own ideas (posted below). Do they think any of Chloe’s ideas are good or likely? Can they think of some more likely or unlikely ideas?
After this, please may your child write their own short version of Mr Stink’s ‘back story’, which should be about two or three paragraphs in length. Each paragraph could be on a different aspect of Mr Stink’s life, for example the first paragraph could say who or what Mr Stink used to be, the second how he came to be homeless and the third leads up to him sitting on the bench where he was found by Chloe and perhaps even describes his feelings. In school we encourage children to talk about what they are going to write before they put pencil to paper, so it may be helpful if your child tells you what they are going to say in each paragraph, as well as how they are going to say it, before they start. Once they have done so, they should be able to write their two or three paragraphs independently.
Activity 4 (Reading Comprehension)
There are seven reading comprehension texts and questions in the work pack, with all but the seventh (about drones) differentiated into three levels of difficulty. Please do not feel like your child has to do all three versions of the one text, they can choose the one that they feel comfortable with. That said, if you think that they are being too easy or too hard on themselves, you can of course give them the one that you think is best. This week, please may your child read and answer the questions to the text about Planet Earth.
Maths
Activity 1 (Time)@EMAIL
Time is a notoriously tricky concept for children to get their heads around and they often find it difficult. A common mistake is to forget that there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour and read times such as 120 minutes as 1 hour and 20 minutes, rather than 2 hours. Children are also a lot more confident with digital time (less so when they need to convert between 24-hour to 12-hour) than they are reading off an analogue clock face. This week we are looking at hours, minutes and seconds, as well as years, months, weeks and days. Next week we will focus on converting analogue to digital using the 12-hour clock (am and pm) and the 24-hour clock.
Our first step is to order events depending how long they think they will take. You will notice that there are more events than there are rows to put them in, this is because some (such as washing and drying laundry, and travelling to the moon both take more than one hour). Others will differ depending on where you live (travelling to school). Following that, your child will convert time from minutes to seconds, hours to seconds, days to hours etc. before comparing durations of time using <, > and =. If your child forgets, please remind them that the greedy crocodile always eats more. When answering question 4, please also remind your child that .5 is the decimal notation for ½ or half, so 3.5 is 3 and a half minutes. In the next question, the hour hands are drawn on for your child for the first two clocks but they aren’t for the last two. Your child should always start at the given time of 10 past 3 then add on the number of seconds, minutes or hours they have been asked to. You do not add on the time from b) onto the time you have worked out for a), always return to 10 past 3.
Next, your child will look at the number of days in a month and how this changes depending on which month of the year it is, as well as leap years. In case your child does not know, ask them what a leap year is and how often leap years come round. They should hopefully know that they are every 4 years, so counting on in 4s from 2020 will tell them which years are leap years and which are not. If your child asks why we have leap years, this video from Newsround explains it https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/17211067.
Activity 2 (Arithmetic)
Please may your child complete the column addition worksheet from their work pack.
Activity 3 (Big Maths)
Please may your child complete their next Big Maths sheet. As always, if you need more, I can email them to you.
Activity 4 (Times Tables)
Whether your child wants to complete their times tables online at https://ttrockstars.com/ or on the sheets provided in the work pack is up to them. If they choose to complete them on paper, then please may they complete the first three sheets (Week 1, Week 2 and Week 3) focusing on the 3, 4 and 5 times table. If they choose to complete this activity online, then there will be 10 sessions for them to complete. Online games will test all the times tables, however. If, on the other hand, your child wants to complete the games online, there is nothing stopping you giving them some of the sheets to do too!
Science
The Water Cycle
Children in Chestnut and Maple are at slightly different stages with their science investigations but I would like to round off the current focus by looking at the water cycle before moving onto a new area next week.
I have attached a lesson plan, PowerPoint and worksheets to match this area of investigation. As always, please do not feel that you have to follow the lesson plan to the letter.
Thank you all for your continued assistance in home learning during these difficult times. Please may your child continue to email me the two main pieces of work they have completed this week (as shown by @EMAIL) by using their Gmail account in School360, which they can access from their homepage by clicking on ‘Mail’. By them doing so, I can provide feedback direct to your child; telling them what I think they have done well and – if there are any – what misassumptions they may have made. If your child wants to type up their work rather than handwriting it, that is fine too and is actually even easier! They will need to create a new document in Google Docs. If you or your child already know how to do this, you can skip all the writing below in purple:
This too can be accessed from their School360 homepage, but this time click ‘My Files’. They will then be taken to their Google Drive and will need to create a new file by first clicking on the ‘+ New’ icon in the top left, which will open a drop down menu. Click on Google Docs and it will create a new untitled document. To give the document a title, click where it says ‘Untitled document’ in grey lettering towards the top left of the screen. It is helpful for me later on if they give it a name based on what they are doing and also putting their name in it too. Once they have finished their work, click the blue ‘Share’ icon in the top right hand corner of the screen. If they haven’t yet named their document, it will prompt them to do so. Next, they will need to type in my School360 email address, which is craig.warburton@school360.co.uk and click ‘Done’. I will then receive an email notification that your child has shared a document with me. I can add comments directly to the document, highlight sections and even tick correct answers in maths! If I need to add a bit of an explanation to something, I can do this too.
Once again, thank you for all your help. There is a printable version of this blog below saved as a PDF file, which you may find useful rather than needing to keep on referring back to the website. Stay safe,
Mr W