Year 6 Girls’ STEM Project
On Tuesday this week, a group of Year 6 girls went to Exeter to take part in a STEM activity. STEM is a grouping of subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), that is under represented by girls.
At the session we learnt how to use minecraft to code. We wrote a series of instructions that trained an in game character to help stop fires by recognising what was a fire source and what was not.
We also learnt to use Paint3D. This piece of software enables you to create a 2-D object, transform it into 3-D and then see that object in the room with you – this is called Mixed Reality.
Today in Year 6 we were learning some new words as a part of our Literacy unit. For our lesson, we had to write the word (spelling it correctly), find and write the definition and use the word in context.
We discussed why we should use these words and one of the main reasons is to make our writing as exciting as possible for the reader.
Do you know what all these words mean?
To start our new topic ‘Blood Heart’ we were able to explore the human body using AR (augmented reality).
Using a ‘super QR code’ we were able to see the internal systems of the human body over the top of our actual body. We were able to travel down arteries, move around the lungs and much more.
Even Mr Goodenough come and explored with us.
As part of our maths learning, we had to mark some of Miss Tapp’s work.
It was quite tricky for us to see where she had gone wrong – and explain how she had gone wrong.
Here is an example:
First of all can I say a huge thank you to all of the children and parents of Year 6 for making such an effort with dressing up for Victorian day. We all had an amazing day. It was interesting to see just how far education has come since the Victorian days, even though some of us loved the strict rules and detention!
The day was full of T.O.L.E. (Teacher Organised Learning Environment), with lots of the three Rs (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic).
We also took part in a Victorian style D.P.A. called drilling!
In our literacy lesson today, we started with a discussion.
We tried to think why we might be using the story ‘A Christmas Carol’ to inspire our story writing. Here are some of the whys we came up with:
We are studying the Victorians and the story is set in the Victorian time so links other areas of the curriculum which helps us build links between subjects.
Christmas is coming and we will be doing our big write close to Christmas time.
The story ‘A Christmas Carol’ is a good story. We know this from all of the versions that have been made from the storyline (Bugs Bunny, Muppets, Disney, Barbie and more).
Charles Dickens was a good writer. He used high quality vocabulary and punctuation that really paints a picture and builds the suspense in our minds.
Hopefully this will inspire us to write our own ‘change’ themed story. Please have a look at the extract below to see the quality of his writing.
We are towards the end of our biography unit in Literacy.
As a part of this, we are putting all of our skills and knowledge together in our ‘Big Write’.
It was interesting to wander around the classroom and see all of the resources that are being used by the class.
These include: communicate in print words, Year 5 and 6 words, success criteria, ISPACE openers and spell checkers.
Last week, Year 4/5/6 pupils were invited to apply to be a digital leader at Hazeldown Primary School.
Being a digital leader involves a range of things including: helping troubleshoot problems with technology, assisting others with apps, learning how to use the iPad management software (Mobile Guardian) and much more.
The applications have been of such high quality that tt has been very hard for Mr Pattison and Mr Evans to pick!
Here is an extract from one application:
Why do you want to become a digital leader?
I would love to be a digital leader so I could help others and learn more about technology. I wonder to myself: What would it be like to be a digital leader? Why is technology so important? How could I help others?
What knowledge can you share with others in school?
Although I aspire to be better with iPads – which I hope being a digital leader will help with – I feel I am best with chromebooks (especially site settings). I can handle almost everything in setting flash player, wall papers and lots of other things.
Well done to all of the applicants, the digital leaders will be announced on Wednesday.
Mr Evans and Mr Pattison.
As one of the musts in S.O.L.E. this week, some of the Year 6 children created an iMovie about the industrial revolution. Once they had recorded the audio, they needed to split the sound from the video and add static pictures.
What do you think?
We are incredibly proud of Noah for showing courage, confidence and the upmost respect as he played ‘The Last Post’ as part of our act of remembrance.
Well done Noah and thank you for making it an extra special dedication to those who fought for our country.
In our maths lesson recently, some of the class were given some very complicated problems to solve. They involved calculating the angles of compound shapes. The part that made it tricky was that not all of the information was shown, so we had to work out the missing information before we could solve the problem.
Some of the class spent a whole lesson (45 minutes) trying to solve a single problem (unsuccessfully).
In Hazeldown, we call this being in the learning pit. This struggle is very important as it makes our brains work very hard and deeper learning takes place.
Today we discussed the learning pit. We discussed the fact that whilst it is good to be in the learning pit, there is a time limit.We think that in Year 6, if we are still in the learning pit after about 25 minutes, we should change task.
On the flip side, if a task is too easy, we should change to a more challenging task – putting ourselves into the learning pit where the deeper learning can take place.
Every morning in Year 6 we solve a variety of calculations. This slows the forgetting curve so we create permanent knowledge about a range of mathematical approaches.
Some of the calculations we do have a variety of solutions.
Today we had the calculation 23 x 1 1/2 (Twenty three multiplied by one and a half).
Here are some of the solutions we discussed:
23 x 15 = 345 then 345 / 10 = 34.5
Here someone converted the one and a half into decimals (1.5) then adjusted that to 15 by multiplying by 10.
After the calculation was done, they adjusted back by dividing by ten.
23 x 1 = 23 and 23 x 1/2 = 11.5 23+11.5 = 34.5
Here someone noticed that they could split the one and a half into one and one half, they then multiplied 23 by these and combined the solutions to get the answer.
One person converted both numbers into fractions and multiplied them!
23/1 x 3/2 = 69/2 = 34.5
We must make sure we are using the most efficient method, but we can use one of the other methods to check our work.
In Ebony class we have been developing our dances in our small groups. We thought about how different animals moved and tried to create a dance using these animal movements.
Some of us got a little further and split our dances up into several different scenes.
What do you think?
As a part of our topic ‘ Frozen Kingdom’, we have been learning about the North Lights. As a part of this, we have had a go at re-recreating them in either water colours or pastels.
This week in Year 6, we have been looking at writing features to help our writing engage the reader. One focus has been on advanced punctuation including the colon and semi colon. If you are not sure how to use these, why not listen to Year 6 sing you an explanation!
As a part of our arithmetic, we have been calculating fractions of whole numbers.
We either work this out by drawing it out (not very efficient), or by dividing the whole number by the denominator to get a unit fraction then multiplying by the numerator (efficient).
We looked at a simple calculation (what is two sevenths of fourteen) and then looked at some of the other calculations we can work out from this fact.
In Year 6 we are getting ready to write our non-chronological report about an animal from the polar regions.
Today, we have been creating a first draft of the introduction.
Ebony class had a go at creating an introduction for a non-chronological report about children:
Children in Ebony class (some of the best children in the world) are beautiful. According to their teachers, 80% of children in Hazeldown Primary School look up to Year 6 – who are at the top of the school. They range from 10-11 years old so they are working towards being responsible members of society.
In this paragraph we used facts and figures, brackets for parenthesis, dashes, relative clauses, generalising vocabulary and much more.
In Literacy we have been learning about non-chronological reports. As a part of this we have been looking at a range of examples.
In one of our sessions we became features detectives. We were looking for ‘generalising vocabulary’ (such as some, mostly, sometimes, often), and technical vocabulary (such as habitat, environment, resources).
Some of us then tried to find synonyms for some of the words. Synonyms are words that have the same meaning (happy, joyful etc).
This week, Year 6 have been looking at maths in a different way!
One of the areas we looked at was speed. Speed is not always the best way – sometimes mathematicians need to think deeply.
We played a game called 25. If you are interested – please ask your child to explain. It was a game that seemed very simple but made us think deeply about each move to ensure we won.
When we played this game, we used physical equipment, recorded it visually and with digits. All of these methods helped us think more deeply about what we were doing.
We had an amazing time at West Town Farm, even in the wet! We learned all about the importance of soil, what grass really is and why poo is so important.
As a part of our SOLE, we are learning how to use Scratch Junior. Some of the pupils have already learnt how to do it so they are being the experts. Later on, we are going to make a piece of code to tell our Literacy story.
Wow, what a day!
Today we started off at Tamakele Island. We took part in a series of problem solving activities that tested our resilience, problem solving and leadership. It was lovely to see so many of the children thinking outside the box to solve tricky situations.
After a lovely lunch we went off to the low adventure. This was an amazing experience that involved using team work to get through, across and under various obstacles. This ended up with a yomp across the swamp and a clamber up the river to the water slide.
Another amazing day thanks to the staff at Heatree and the wonderfully behaved children of Hazeldown Primary School.
We hope you enjoy a small selection of the pictures.
We have had such an amazing start to our Year 4 residential at Heatree.
After arriving at nearly 11 o’clock, we had a talk and then lunch on the field. After a play we went off to our first activities. Some of us made shelters whilst others learnt how to make a fire then cooked Bannock Bread on it.
After our activity, we came back and moved into our rooms, much excitement and not too much falling out about top bunks!
Then it was time for tea (sausages, chips and beans). A huge thank you to the Yellow Group who cleaned all the dishes and tidied up after tea.
We then went for a magical walk in the early evening, listening to the bird song, exploring nature, building shelters and then running across the field back to the house.
We finished off with a lovely cup of hot chocolate and rocky road.
As we write this at 10:30pm, all pupils are asleep in bed, shortly to be followed by the staff!
More to follow tomorrow…
We are pleased to report that all of the Year 4 pupils who left on the bus have arrived safely at Heatree.
We are all currently enjoying the amazing surroundings.
One of our homework activities this time was to listen to a piece of music and then express it as a piece of art. One of the Year 4 pupils created this wonderful painting. He also created a booklet to go with it, the booklet explained some things about the painting as well as the artist that inspired it.
