Good morning Fir Class

We hope you are well. We have had some lovely emails and pictures this week. It sounds as though you are having fun with your families, enjoying bike rides, making delicious food and one of you is even training dogs. It is really great hearing about the things you are doing. We even got a letter each this week, delivered to the school. What a lovely surprise.

There are now only four weeks until the holiday. Work hard and stay on top of all the tasks. You will be glad when the summer arrives and you can say you've tried your best with home learning. 

Hope to see you soon. 

Mrs Causer and Miss Miller

English

This week, you will be writing your own story based on a historical setting and time period of your choice. You have examined different time periods and the vocabulary that might be appropriate for a story set at that time. This is the final week on this topic. 

Day 1

You should first of all answer these questions in your head or on paper:

Which stories set in the past have you read and enjoyed?

Why did you enjoy them?

What are the ingredients of a good story?

What clues can you give your reader so they know the story is set in the past? (Think about vocabulary/clothes/setting, etc).

When are you going to set your story? This will take some thinking about. You will have to choose a period of time you are interested in. You should use the internet or books to research a time period you are interested in. You have already thought about this, so use this as your starting point. You should begin finding some pictures that might help you with tomorrow’s task. You will need to be absolutely certain of your time period and the vocabulary that will be needed.

Day 2/3

Go through the attached PowerPoint on story writing.

You should then spend ten minutes thinking through your ideas and making some notes. Then, use the first storyboard template attached (six pictures). You can draw this onto your paper - you do not need to print it off. Now start planning your story in full. You need to find pictures that will help you, sketch them if you want and then label them with vocabulary from that time period. For example, if your story is set during the war, you might first draw a soldier. You will label his uniform, bayonet, pack, bugle, rations, etc. These words will help focus your attention on things to write about. Each picture should be labelled. You can also write notes underneath as to the plot and setting. By day 4, you should be in a position to write your story in full.

Day 4

Go through the attached PDF – What makes a great story.

Write your story in full. Remember - you are not spelling it out to the reader what time period your story is set. Rather, you will use the appropriate vocabulary to let them know. 

Day 5

Go through the editing PDF and now edit your own work. You should also pick five words and use a thesaurus (either a book or internet) to change them to something more sophisticated. You should take thirty minutes now to improve your story by using the checklist and improving the vocabulary. 

Finally, ask someone to read your story and get them to tell you what time period it is set in and how they know. This way, you'll know whether you've achieved your target. 

Religious Studies

Starter: Without looking, can you remember any of the items that are found in a Synagogue? What is the item’s purpose? Please now make sure your work from two weeks ago is to hand. It is the sheet you completed where you sketched or printed the pictures of items found in a Synagogue and then you explained their purpose.  

Main: Please watch the following video of an eleven year old boy explaining about the Jewish religion and what it means to him. The video will last approximately twenty five minutes, so make yourself a drink and get comfortable. 

Task: Which items were mentioned that are not on your worksheet? Can you draw a picture of any new item you have learnt about and add a short description? For example, you have just learnt about how part of the wall in his Synagogue came from the Western Wall. You could add this information on to your sheet. Continue with other facts you learnt about the Synagogue or items in it. 

Oracy

This week you are going to carry out a debate. The debate question is:

Should items be rescued from the Titanic?

Please read the information below. Then, with someone at home, decide which of you will argue for or against. To make this more of a challenge for yourself, you should choose the side which you personally do not agree with and consider that side of the argument. When you have your debate discussion, keep working on your listening skills. Make sure that you fully hear the point made by your opponent and acknowledge it in the way you respond with your next point.

The Titanic was a ship that famously sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912 when it hit an iceberg. Around 1500 people died and it is still considered one of the biggest tragedies to happen at sea. In 1985 an ocean explorer discovered the remains of the Titanic and since then there have been countless visits to the ship to find information and recover relics. US company RMS Titanic Inc claim that the roof of the ship will soon collapse and bury certain artefacts forever unless they are retrieved soon. They have made a bid to cut open part of the ship to rescue artefacts, most especially the radio used to issue distress signals to nearby ships. The nearest ships sadly failed to respond quickly enough to these signals. The RMS Titanic Inc claim that they could potentially restore the radio to working order to hear the 'voice' of the Titanic, more than a century later. 

The Titanic's remains are currently protected by a treaty between the US and UK which prevents people from scaveging relics or damaging the remains of the ship. This latest move would be violating that treaty and many people have campaigned to protect the ship from further plunder. It is widely believed that remains of people still lie inside the ship, therefore cutting open the wreckage would be disturbing their 'grave'. The last survivor of the Titanic, Brit Milvena Dean, died in 2009. Before she died she said she felt that debris left on the sea-bed was fair game for salvaging, but that the inside of the wreck should be left 'in peace'. 

What do you think??

SPaG

Spelling

Please see the attached homework sheet for this week's spelling revision. Remember to practise these for 10 minutes a day and then test your learning at the end of the week. Another useful exercise is to keep testing yourself on previous weeks of spelling, in order to keep those words in your memories. 

Punctuation

This week we are going to be looking at commas. Commas are sometimes necessary if you're going to write clearly. The first main use of commas is to show a pause between parts of a sentence, which makes the meaning clearer. For example:

After I had cashed my cheque, I went to the shops and bought some food.

Or:

Because of the derailment, all the trains were running late. 

Now I'd like you to put commas in these sentences to make them easier to understand.

1. Although I had been up all night I did not feel at all tired but I was very hungry.

2. Since my operation I haven't looked back although this may be because I can't move my neck.

3. As I missed the train I decided to catch the next one which went an hour later.

4. Despite years of effort Cedric had never really understood his brother which made him sad.

Grammar

This week we are going to look at pronouns. Pronouns replace nouns to prevent repeating words clumsily. Instead of, 'When George got up George had breakfast', you'd say, 'When George got up he had breakfast.' The most common pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we and they. 

Now try replacing nouns by pronouns when you need to in the sentence.

1. Celia said that Celia was not going to put up with the situation any longer.

2. The dog opened one eye, and then the dog yawned.

3. Before the coach fell over the cliff, the coach skidded violently.

4. Mr Pronklefink saw the books on the table where Mr Pronklefink had left them.

Topic/Music

L.O. To be able to sing in unison and respond to music in a variety of ways.

This week you are going to be learning about one of, if not THE most famous song from the Tudor period. You are then going to sing along to the tune, with alternative lyrics. Again, this is a lesson we would have had a lot of fun with in class and I hope you enjoy it at home too. Follow the slides attached, which will explain what you need to do.

French

This week I would like you to consolidate the learning from previous weeks. You have looked at the names of French foods and how to say whether you like them or not. You can now choose how you revise these words and phrases. You might want to make a game, such as snap which you can then play after. You may want to make some colourful flash cards, with the name and phrase on one side and the pictures on the other. Alternatively, you could make a poster or a game. You can look at the attached powerpoint again to help you with some of the spellings and use of masculine and feminine words.

Guided Reading

This week I would like you to take a look at the inference task cards attached. You do not need to print them off, but you will need to look at the pictures on the cards and answer the questions that go with it. Pick one a day, each one should take you around 10 minutes to complete.

Mrs Wordsmith

This week I would like you to look at the attached worksheet and complete some of the activities included. This has been shared with us by Year 6, as Year 5 and Year 6 share the same list of powerful words. See their previous week's answers on the sheet to help you understand what to do for the task this week, but do not worry if you are struggling to complete this. The main thing is that you look at the three new words for the week and try to use them in sentences. 

Science - Changes

Cut out the pictures, labels and ages on the two worksheets titled ‘Human life cycles’. Match the picture to the description and then to the age. Can you think of anything else that happens during these stages? Make a note of it next to the picture.