Ebony using the metacognition cycle in literacy
This week in Ebony class, we were learning about some new vocabulary for our ‘Holes’ topic. We introduce these words using CIP (Communicate in Print) which is an approach that matches symbols to words to help us remember them better.
Usually, when it comes time for showing our understanding, we write sentences.
This time, we decided to think about, and plan, our learning.
The class were given time to plan what they would do. Once they had done the work, the class were given time to look back at their approach and evaluate it. When using the metacognition cycle, it is important to give the time to evaluate so that we know if an approach works for us or not.
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?
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.
During the first two days back, year 6 have been learning about some of the festivals celebrated in France. Some of which have included:
Jour de l’An (Bonne Annie), L’Epiphanie and La Chandeleur
They have learnt some of the key phrases relating to the food eaten at the festivals.
In addition to the language skills, children have also made Breton Biscuits which are popular in Brittany.
Inspired by our Trash Bash topic, Holly class have written a song to help encourage people to look after our local environment.
Year 5 and 6 will be performing this during our celebration event on Tuesday 17th October.
This week in maths, we have been using our understanding of place value to play this game from Nrich. There are several variations of the game…
You could be nice, or you could be nasty!
Why not challenge a family member?
Ebony class have settled into Year 6 extremely well. They have found their feet and have already had the privilege of sitting on benches in assembly and sitting outside the hall for lunch.
Within the classroom, the children set their own expectations and been learning about what Year 6 entails. They have also been working alongside the school learning values by working collaboratively on movie trailers about year 6, showing resilience on maths reasoning questions and building different relationships with their friends.
Just before the children went on residential, Year 6 were presented with their leavers hoodies by Sandra Reynolds (on behalf of the school governors). All were excited and appreciative to receive a hoodie that had all the names of their year group on it. Many have worn them everyday since and they have been very handy while away!
The evening activities have been great fun and all the children have enjoyed them.
On Monday they got to swim and jump in the lake:
On Wednesday evening, despite the rain, most children headed off to the woods to build shelters and to toast marshmallows on the fire, whilst some stayed back to socialise and play on the games that Colehayes provides
The children are having an amazing time at Colehayes so far! They are loving the activities, loving the house and grounds as well as all the amazing food.
Here are some photos from the week thus far of them conquering fears, building character and resilience alongside developing their teamwork and leadership skills.
With the temperatures soaring and year 6 being hot inside, we decided to take our learning out into the shade where we could feel the cool breeze!
Sewing, mod-roc, GarageBand and reflections all took place outside and the outcomes were fantastic! I’m sure we’ll be doing the same tomorrow if ths heatwave continues!
This afternoon, Year Six have had fun exploring the app ‘Scratch’ on the chrome books. They have learnt how to take photos of themselves, record their own sounds, make a game and create a settings. They have worked collaboratively and independently to develop their programming skills. There has certainly been a lot of laughter and fun with this learning.
Ebony Class have learnt how to deal with medical emergencies today with the help of Geoff from St John’s Ambulance.
They have learnt how to check airways, put people into the recovery position, stop the flow of blood, apply bandages including triangular!
They have also learnt how to dealt with foreign objects and how to help somebody having an asthma attack.
The highlight was being able to make their own fake wounds to deal with.
Would you be able to stay calm and collected in an emergency?
I have been really impressed this afternoon by the maturity and collaborative skills shown by a number of Ebony Class whilst taking part in a spelling intervention. They worked together to look through each other’s writing to identify words that were potential spelt wrong. This was then followed up with them independently choosing a resource to help them find and correct their spelling.
It was great to see the children being critical friends and peer supporters. Keep it up guys!
It was a delightful surprise when Mrs Belfield visited year 6 this afternoon.
Thank you for helping with the sewing!
Ebony Class have spent this morning searching through a thesaurus to find appropriate alternative words to use in our next Big Write. Great discussions have been had, skills have been developed and a bigger bank of vocabulary has now been created to refer to.
Could you you think of alternatives for ‘energising’ or ‘exhilarating’?
A talented writer from year 2, showed great risk taking by coming to share her fabulous story with the whole of year 6! Everyone was amazed at the quality of her writing, her vocabulary choices alongside her beautiful handwriting.
Two hazels were earnt and a very impressed year 6 were left in awe of what a child in year 2 was producing!
A very productive afternoon was had in Year 6 with everybody actively doing something creative linked to our topic of Native Americans. Maps of North America were made that identified the locations of the different tribes, large class totem poles were added to and covered in papier-mâché and the patterns for their moccasins were created in preparation to for their sewing this week.
Ebony Class started this morning with a visit to our fantastic school library to choose new books and to take some time to devour the words from their books quietly. What a great way to start the week!
We’ve had a great afternoon creating some Native American beats together as a class and within groups. We looked at dynamics including crescendos, diminuendos alongside introducing instruments in turn.
Thia afternoon Year 6 have spent time working collaboratively with their peers to create a map of North America. Not only did they have to negotiate with one another, but they also had to identify all of the American states as well as where the different tribes were located within the regions. They have all been very creative in their approach, and problem solved as they went.
A great day was had by all on Friday at Crealy Adventure Park. As we arrived, we raced straight towards the water slides and ‘Twister’. Many overcame their fears by taking risks, people were empathetic with one another and everybody had smiles on their faces, even though they had wet bottoms from going down the slides!
We were threatened by downpours regularly, but none came until 4pm which meant we got to stay outside and play on most of the rides. It wouldn’t have mattered if it rained though as the favourite rides and activities seemed to involve water! Thankfully, everyone bought a change of clothes!
The log flume, the rollercoaster, the flying machine were all but some of the favourites of many, but the massive game of tag played in the indoor area was a highlight for many.
Lots of tired children returned to school after a long, hard day playing, but full to the brim with smiles and ideas for the next writing topic.
Year 6 have had a great afternoon creating some fantastic artwork with the help from Mrs Parr, a professional artist and teacher. She taught them the signifcance of feathers for the Native Americans and how to mono-print with effect. I’m sure you’ll agree that the final outcomes are amazing and really effective.
Every Year 6 child got to experience and learn how to print and how to take their art to the next level. It was great to see them explore and experiment with a different type of media.
This morning the Year 6’s were visited by some current Year 7 pupils from TCS and their new year head: Mrs Mayne. They learnt about what to expect when they start at the school and reassured that everyone is really friendly and will help them, especially if they get lost!
Their visit certainly put the year 6’s at ease, with many more feeling excited about what lies ahead.
Well done year 6! What a fantastic SATs week! You all had super positive attitudes and demonstrated all of our learning values really well to tackle the tests. You’ve made us all really proud.
Ebony Class have had fun exploring the new chromebooks and having a go at coding. They have had great fun getting Red – from AngryBirds – to capture the pigs.
Today Ebony Class have had great fun working with Clive Pig. This morning they were treated to a number of his North American stories and this afternoon he ran a storytelling workshop. All got to take part in creating an ending for a story, sharing their ideas whilst being entertained by more of his magical tales. They all learnt so much, especially on how real facts used within the myths.
Thank you to everyone for taking part and to the parents for the continued support.
Have a look through the photos from today. Do you know any North American facts?
What a great start to Monday morning for year 5 and 6. We were greeted by an amazing story teller, Clive Pig, who shared some amazing stories and songs from North America.
Keep an eye out for photos from the rest of the activities from the rest of the day!
This afternoon, year 6 have been explaining their learning from the last 2 topics: Another Level and Inter Outer Space.
They have thought carefully about presenting their work in a creative way and have used impressive writing techniques to explain their in-depth knowledge of the scientific concepts.
Miss McManus’ Spelling Group Focus – KS2 Homophones
Handed out on Friday 21st April: Tested on Monday 24th April
- alter / altar
- practise / practice
- weather / whether
- proceed / precede
- bridle / bridal
- dissent / descent
- stationery / stationary
- morning / mourning
- principal / principle
- through / threw
Ebony Class had a great morning showing off their knowledge and understanding of the moon phases as well as our solar system to our welcomed parents. They shared what they had learnt, talked about the topic of our Big Write, showed their artwork alongside getting them to join in with their table challenge of a space puzzle prior to a class quiz.
Great fun was had, and the knowledge gained in such a short time was amazing to see!
The children have been working in their triads to complete the tasks included in our topic ‘Another Level.’
With a heavy science focus, children have learnt about food chains, adaptation and plant life. Furthermore, they have developed their art skills by drawing animals and the parts of plants and flowers.
Today’s speed tables!
This afternoon, Year 6 have been working in their trio’s to identify the different parts of a flower, understand what each of their functions are as well as learn about the life cycle of plants.
they had many questions and had to really problem solve each what each of the elements were and the job they do, but all managed it alongside working with their peers collaboratively.
Do you know what the features are for each part of the flower?
Here is today’s speed table.
Sorry it is late guys! Good luck on beating your previous time!
What a great day year 6 have had! Despite the early start, their spirits were high as we set off on our looonnnngggggg coach journey to Bristol. Upon arrival we were whisked off to the planetarium where we travelled to space, to multiple planets, before having a chance to explore the rest of the centre.
So much fun was had and a lot of learning took place also.
Thank you to all the parent helpers, but particularly Mrs Calladine and Mrs Hardee from everybody in year 6.
Here is your next instalment of ‘speed tables’ – see how fast you can get it done!
Have a go at your speed tables. Can you answer these quicker than your last go at them?
Remember you need to practise these words daily to help improve your spelling!
Congratulations to the year 5 and 6 boys who played in the football tournament last night!
Out of the 7 teams who participated, Hazeldown A won the competition and Hazeldown B finished a respectable 4th overall.
It was a fantastic event with some really close games. There were some spectacular individual performances, super collaboration within the teams and most importantly, a great effort from everyone who participated.
Well done!
Ebony Class have had an amazing day at TCS, taking part in the Spring Music Festival. They have learnt two new songs, learnt to play the ukulele and had great fun in their workshops led by year 13 students. All of this, before they came back and performed in the evening to a full audience!
The year thirteens really enjoyed working with them and stated “they are certainly a very talented group and we have loved working with them”. The head of music was blown away by their talent as well as, most importantly, by their manners throughout the whole day, even announcing this on stage!
Well done Ebony Class, a very proud teacher here!
Wow!!
This evening Ebony Class took part in the local community Spring Music Festival and blew everyone away! After a full day of workshops and rehearsals, the children returned to perform to friends and families from around the area. They sung their hearts out, performing 5 songs, two of which they only learnt today alongside playing the ukulele!
They were such a credit to the school, with the head of music announcing on stage how amazed she was by the children’s manners, the year thirteens being blown away by how quick they learnt new skills and Kip Pratt following our performance with just a “wow”.
Well done Ebony Class and a big thank you to all the parents for your continued support.
Have a go at this speed table!!
