Year 6 - Hawk

VASHTI HARDY - BOOKTASTIC BOOK FESTIVAL

Vashti Hardy's session at Bedford's Virtual Booktastic Festival is FREE and is on SATURDAY 3RD JULY at 1pm.

If you would like to join in, please ask an adult at home to book you a place at https://booktastic.eventsair.com/booktastic2021/tickets/Site/Register

There are other sessions you can book in for as well. The only one that has a cost is the event with Axel Scheffler. Tickets for this session cost £5. All other sessions are free.

Welcome to Hawk Class!

Welcome to Hawk's class page. This will be somewhere for us to share useful information and important updates, as well as celebrating many of the things that we will do throughout the year. As a general rule, if you need it, it will be on here. Having said that, if there is anything else that you would like to see on here, please let me know.

Mrs Dimbleby

Please remember your e-safety rules before clicking on any of the internet links on this page. For more information on how to stay safe, visit the e-safety page.

E-Safety

Useful Class Information

Class Teacher: Mrs Dimbleby

Other adults working with Hawk Class: Miss Flynn & Miss Kidby

Contacting me

If you need to contact me, you can email me using hawk@balliolschool.co.uk

Website

Hawk's class page includes useful information and updates for you and for the children. This is updated regularly. You can find this by visiting https://www.balliolschool.co.uk/ and by clicking on ‘Children’ – ‘Class Pages’ – 'Hawk.'

School Uniform

We expect the children to be in full school uniform (when not wearing their PE kit.) Please ensure that they have their ties with them and are also wearing plain black school shoes or plain black trainers.

PE - Monday & Tuesday

Children should come to school in their school PE kits on these days. As the weather gets warmer, please make sure your children apply sun-tan lotion on these days before they come to school.

Homework

English and Maths homework will be given out weekly on a Friday. We will discuss homework activities with the children and will also put details of these on the class pages.

Mobile Phones

If your child walks to or from school on their own and you would like them to have their mobile phone with them, that is fine. However, it must be turned off when on the school site and kept in your child’s locker. The mobile phone remains the responsibility of your child at all times.

What we are learning this term

We have created an overview to show you the main areas of learning we will focus on during the Spring Term. Please see the document below.

Joke of the Week

Don't spell part backwards.

It's a trap!

Jokes provided by our resident joke teller.

Homework

Homework is a very important part of life in Y6 because it will help to support the learning you are doing in school. We expect you all to complete your homework every week. However, if you need any help, please make sure you ask us. Just remember to do this before the day that your homework is due in!

Date set: Friday 11th June

Date due in / date to be completed: Friday 2nd July

Homework this half term will be a little different. As you know, one of the things we are focussing on is helping you to become 'secondary ready.' As a result, we would like you to take some time to do some revision. This will help you to build your confidence in areas that we have already covered in school and will also help you to become more independent learners at home.

Revision means looking again at things that you have already learned. Our advice would be to focus on things you know a little bit about, but need some more practice with. If you pick things that are too easy, you won't really learn anything. If you pick things that are too hard, you will find it really tricky. There isn't anything that you HAVE to hand in, but if you would like to bring things in that you have been working on, we would love to see them. As always, we are also happy to help you if you need it; you only have to ask.

We have listed some ideas of things you can do to help you revise in both English and Maths below.

English homework:

Reading - Read something that you want to read and enjoy reading as often as you can.

Read Theory - Practise your comprehension skills using https://readtheory.org/auth/login

PERFECT WEBSITE TO BUILD YOUR READING STAMINA FOR NEXT WEEK - https://authorfy.com/extracts/ This is the one we looked at and talked about in class.

Key Word Spellings - Your final key word spelling test is in Week 4, so get practising! Remember the other online spelling resources that are further down this page.

Homework Book - Choose pages to work on that will help you.

Crystal Explorers - The Y6 revision game from BBC Bitesize. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zkbkf4j/articles/zbm8scw

Maths homework:

Homework Book - Choose pages to work on that will help you.

5-A-Day - This website is a great way to practise a little bit every day. https://corbettmathsprimary.com/5-a-day/ (If you want Y6 level questions, aim for Gold or Platinum level.)

Arithmetic Practice - https://myminimaths.co.uk/arithmetic-16-practice-questions/ allows you to click on different arithmetic question types. You can watch a video to help you and also have a go at different examples of similar questions.

CGP Online 10-Minute Tests - https://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/resources/ks2-sats-online-10-minute-tests

Guardians of Mathematica - The KS2 Maths game from BBC Bitesize.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zd2f7nb/articles/zn2y7nb

Times table website recommended by Jamie - https://www.timestables.co.uk/

Remember that you have your revision book which you can use to help you. You can also use any of the other websites in the Maths section of our class page.

Reading in Year 6

In Year 6, we want you to LOVE reading and read books which you ENJOY reading and WANT to read. We have lots of brilliant books in the classroom and there are also great books in the school reading books which you can borrow.

Remember to record the books that you have read on your personal 'Reading Bookshelf' sheet, recommend books to others that you have really enjoyed and ask an adult to photocopy the spine of the book to add to our 'Reading Pile'.

Parents and carers: Please see the letter below about reading in Year 6. This was sent home in the first few weeks of the school year.

This is perfect for practising your reading comprehension.

https://readtheory.org/auth/login

Looking for something to read?

There are some great resources out there to help you choose a book to read. Here are some of the most useful:

#BookMatch - This is part of a fantastic website from 'The Reader Teacher' and has book lists showing you books similar to ones

written by some of the most popular authors at the moment. https://www.thereaderteacher.com/bookmatch

It is worth looking at others parts of this website, there are so many book suggestions, you list will get longer and

longer!

What to read after - You can put the name of books or authors you really like in the search bar and search for other books that you

might like based on what you have already read. https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/our-

recommendations/what-to-read-after/#!?q=tom%20gates&sortOption=MostRecent&pageNo=1

If your favourite author or set of books is on this map, follow the correct 'tube line' for suggestions of other books that you might like:

Reading Tube Map 9+.JPG

#whereweread

Here are some of the interesting and inventive places we have been reading! These photos are really making us .

If you would like to share your photo with us, please email it to Mrs Dimbleby (hawk@balliolschool.co.uk).

Twitter

We have been lucky enough to receive tweets from some authors. We always get very excited when this happens. Here is what we have received so far:

We have also been lucky enough to receive some post from Lindsay Littleson, the author of The Titanic Detective Agency:

Here is the letter that she sent to both classes, telling us all about the characters in her book and how she based them on real passengers from the Titanic:

Lindsay Littleson letter.docx

Spellings in Year 6

Whichever spellings you are working on, this website is really useful: https://spellingframe.co.uk/

You can click on the year groups you want to. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page to practise the words from our word lists.

Another useful website is: http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/spookySpellings/index.html

You can click on the year groups you want to, then click on the books in the background to select different words.

Y6 Spellings letter Autumn 1.docx

Key Stage 2 Spelling Lists

Year 6 Spelling Menu

Year 6 Spelling Menu.docx

Other Useful Websites for English

Synonyms and Antonyms: https://www.abcya.com/games/wordtoss_synonym_antonym

Maths in Year 6

Here are lots useful websites which you can use at home to help you with your Maths:

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student/17733

My Maths - This is not just for homework! You can log on and access lots of lessons and activities as well as games. The lessons are particularly useful as they explain what you need to do and give you examples to try. https://www.mymaths.co.uk/

Corbett Maths Primary - A fantastic website. Many of the resources can be printed, but could also be looked at on screen with

practise being done on paper.

5-a-day: 5 questions to practise every day at different levels. Perfect for practising those important, basic skills as well as other

areas of Year 6 Maths.

Videos: Videos to explain how to tackle different skills, followed by questions to answer.

Worksheets: These link to the videos mentioned above.

Quizzes: Link to Kahoot quizzes.

https://corbettmathsprimary.com/

My Mini Maths - This is a really useful website which can be used every day, or can be used to focus on areas which you would like to practise more. Many areas include videos to watch and there are always questions to have a go at answering.

https://myminimaths.co.uk/year-6-mini-maths/

This part of My Mini Maths is particularly helpful when you are practising for the Arithmetic paper. You can select the types of questions you find tricky, watch a video to help you, then try lots of examples of that type of question:

https://myminimaths.co.uk/arithmetic-16-practice-questions/

IXL - A fantastic website. You can pick an area to work on, look at examples or explanations and also answer some example questions. To use the website for free, you are limited to a certain number of questions, but it's definitely worth looking at every now and then. https://uk.ixl.com/math/year-6

BBC Bitesize - A great website. Again, you can choose an area to look at. There are videos, explanations and short quizzes to help you. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z826n39

Prodigy - This is a fun-packed website mixing games and Maths. https://www.prodigygame.com/

Adults can find out more by looking at https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/parents-guide-to-prodigy/

Guardians of Mathematica - Our new favourite game!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zd2f7nb/articles/zn2y7nb

Topmarks - You can search for games that link to specific areas of Maths. Look out for the age range underneath all games. It will give you a good idea of how useful it is. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

Hit The Button - https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Maths Is Fun - This site is really good at explaining things and gives you practice questions at the bottom of each page.

https://www.mathsisfun.com/

Online Maths Dictionary - http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/dictionary.html

Espresso

To access Espresso from home, go to https://www.discoveryeducation.co.uk/ then click 'Login' in the top right-hand corner.

What we've been up to!

Head Girl and Head Boy Applications:

Well done to all of those children who applied for the positions of Head Girl and Head Boy, we are very proud of all of you. Mrs Youngman and Mrs Bicknell were very impressed with all of your applications and videos. Whichever role you have been given, it is well deserved and we know that you will represent Hawk Class brilliantly!

Iceberg!

We had our own 'iceberg' in the classroom! This led to lot of discussion, questions and predictions and leads perfectly into the work we will be doing on the Polar regions as well as the sinking of the Titanic.

TTRockStars Rock Out 2020

This is real dedication! A number of Hawk Class are keen to score as many points as they can during this week of competition. The steps to the classroom have become a favourite place to sit quietly with an iPad during breaktimes to earn a few more points.

(I must add that this was their idea, it was nothing to do with me!)

The results from the TTRS Rock Out 2020 are in!

Balliol came 440th out of 3,887 schools. (Some of these schools were secondary schools.)

Hawk Class came 1,236th out of 31,039 classes. That is amazing!!

Hawk Class were the top class at Balliol.

A huge well done to everyone who took part.

Polar Explorer Day

We had a fantastic day with Simon, the Polar explorer. He has been to the Arctic and the Antarctic and had so much to show us and tell us about. He also had lots of questions for us and Mrs Dimbleby was VERY impressed with how much we remembered about all of the things we have learned this half term.

Here are the results of the Polar Animals quiz he set us:

1st place - Jaden & Amrit (23.5 points)

2nd place - Jamie & Eduardo (23 points)

3rd place - Emily & Aleks (22 points)