Year 6

Monday 15th June

Good morning, Year 6!

Good morning, home learners. We hope that you have had a lovely weekend and enjoyed some of the sunny weather! This week, we'd like you to be going on Doodle every day and make sure you are reading regularly at home as well. On Wednesday, we will be updating your Doodle objectives and adding some transition work to the Class Page, to help you start to prepare for secondary school.

Alongside this work, we have a very important project for you to look at this week, following recent events around the world and as a link to our new school motto: Belong, Believe, Be You: Achieve. Over the past few weeks, we are sure you will have seen many pictures, videos and stories on the news or through social media about the Black Lives Matter protests that are taking place across the world, which are happening in response to the injustices that people face every day, both in the UK and in other countries too. 

This week, we would like you to learn about, and celebrate, the cultural diversity that we have in Britain. We'd like you to research different cultures and the positive aspects that they bring to life in the UK. We'd also like you to spend some time thinking about the inequality that unfortunately still exists in society today, as a result of our past and what has happened throughout history.

As usual, we encourage you to be as creative as you wish, whether it’s producing a report, a poster or art work, looking at recipes or learning songs/dances. There are many ways that you can enjoy learning about a new culture! We welcome any clips or videos of your children talking about or celebrating either their culture or one they have learned about (dancing, artwork, telling stories, clothing etc.) that can be included in this week’s Celebration Assembly on Friday. Please send to advice@mapledeneschool.com by 5pm on Wednesday 17th June.

Please read the PDF of the project below for more information, as well as the information sheet about Black Lives Matter, and why it is so incredibly important.

Miss Smith and Mr Barber

Monday 8th June

Happy Monday, Year 6!

Welcome back to another week of virtual school, home learners! We hope that you have had a lovely weekend and are feeling refreshed and ready to learn. Your Doodle has been updated and the daily stars are waiting to be collected! Who can make it to the top of the leaderboard this week? As always, Doodle first, make sure you're reading every day and then check out this week's themed work.

This week, our focus is on the sea, as today is World Oceans Day 2020! As you know from our I.C.E topic in the Autumn term, the environment is an incredibly important issue for us all, and World Oceans Day aims to encourage people all around the world to join together and work towards a better future with a healthier ocean that sustains us, no matter who we are or where we live. You can find out more information here: https://worldoceansday.org.

So this week, all of the optional theme work is based around the ocean. There are projects and ideas listed on the Y6 Oceans PDF below, including a link to an exciting broadcast that will be shown at 10am, filled with information about the English coastlines and how we can do our bit to help conserve them. There are other suggestions for science activities, art and crafts, and even some sea-inspired writing. We have also added resources from the WWF, which is an organisation that aims to help teach young people about the world and the plants and animals that inhabit it. There are lots of KS2 activities based on the environment, such a true/false quizzes and a 'plastic diary', as well as information posters to help you understand the importance of keeping our oceans clean.

As always, you should be reading and Doodling every day. Keep up all of your efforts at home and please send through any work to advice@mapledeneschool.com.

Miss Smith and Mr Barber

Thursday 4th June

FREE lesson plans and videos based on Alex Rider!

Some of you may have heard of the famous author Anthony Horowitz, who has written books for children, adults, and even scripts for shows on TV! As it is the 20th anniversary of his Alex Rider book, Stormbreaker, he has collaborated with Walker Books to help develop creative writing in learners aged 9-14.

Below you will find some resources based on the book Stormbreaker, that could help teach and inspire you in your own writing. Many of the activities could be used or adapted for other books too, if you are reading something else at the moment and would like to find some book-based activities. Click the link below and sign up for chapter-by-chapter videos of Antony Horowitz himself reading the book from his own home during lockdown! To sign up for the free videos and resources, all you need is a name and email address.

https://bit.ly/Walker_Books

Monday 1st June

Welcome back, home learners!

We hope that you have all had a super half term and have enjoyed the lovely weather that we've had recently. After a well-deserved rest, it's time for home schooling to start up again, and we have lots of ideas and projects for you to complete at home this week. Miss Smith will be making phone calls to all of the Y6 children that are learning at home this week, whether you are in class 6S or 6B. If you have any questions or are finding something tricky, please do not hesitate to ask, or email advice@mapledeneschool.com and it will be forwarded on to us.

Doodle has been updated, so you will have some brand new 'Extras' to complete. If you race through these, remember to focus on collecting your daily stars too, as these questions are tailored to your ability and will help you practise some of the skills at your own level. New Doodle Extras will be added on Wednesday.

We have an exciting optional project for your home learning this week too. Read through some of the suggested activities below. You'll notice our PE work this week encourages you to be a part of our Fit Friday video... could you be the next Joe Wicks?

Mr Mac needs your help! Over the last few weeks, he has started to eat more junk food and is not getting much exercise. He is also staying up very late and often forgets to brush his teeth! Help him to understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle by becoming health experts and producing some information for him.

You should be brilliant at this, after we studied the impact of diet and lifestyle on health in the UK since the 1950s. Here are some things, tailored for Year 6, that you could investigate at home:

Maths (including research and data)

• Look at the nutritional information on the food labels in your cupboards. You might want to focus on the 'sugar' or 'salt' content, amount of 'fat', or compare the amount of each ingredient. Record this and then you can present your findings in a variety of ways, including drawing out a graph or chart.
• Carry out research into people’s favourite treats and people’s favourite fruit/veg. You might ask family and friends and record on a tally chart, this can then be presented on a pictogram/bar chart or written up as a scientific report. Remember how to structure your report as you outline your findings (make a point, back it up with evidence, explain the impact that this might have).
• Look at healthy ways to travel- go for a walk/to the park/look out of your window and record how many people you see walking and riding bikes. Record on a tally chart and present on a graph/chart.

Writing

• Record how much sleep you get a night by keeping a diary of the time you went to bed and woke up.
• Keep a food diary- what is good about your diet and what could be better?
• Keep an exercise diary to find out which day you are most active - remember playing in the garden counts if you are moving!) Try and do the right amount of exercise for your age group https://www.nhs.uk/change4life

Food D&T

• Grow some fruit or vegetables. If you have no seeds from packets, try using fresh seeds from fruit and veg around the house to grow more!
• Cook some recipes from Change 4 Life (see link above).
• Make a shopping list for a healthy picnic.

PE

• Create a fitness circuit for your family to take part in. There are plenty of ideas on YouTube to inspire you!

Art/creativity

• Create a poster/report/video about keeping safe and healthy in the sun and design a summer outfit for keeping safe in the warm weather.
• Film one exercise to be part of the Fit Friday video this week (squats, star jumps, jogging on the spot etc.) keep it short with no props or talking and send to advice@mapledeneschool.com titled ‘Fit Friday’ and you can be included in a special video!

As always, stay safe and keep up the basics... You should be reading and Doodling every day!

Miss Smith and Mr Barber

Children returning to school on Monday 1st June

Good morning, Year 6! From Monday, some of you are planning on returning to school and some of you are going to be continuing with your learning at home. We have plenty of exciting activities planned for you, wherever you are going to be learning!

A quick update...

For those of you staying at home, the Y6 page on the school website will still be updated each week, Doodle extras will continue to be set and there will be optional work based on the whole-school Facebook themes. We'll provide more work on transitioning to secondary school too. We will still be phoning to check in with you regularly and your parents can get in touch with us via advice@mapledeneschool.com.

For those of you that are returning to Mapledene, welcome back! We hope that you are feeling excited about coming back to school for this half term! You will notice that there are going to be some changes at school. There is a PDF document below that outlines some of the most important bits of information that we need to share with you before you arrive. It may also answer some of the questions that you or your family have, so please do read through it.

Keep safe and enjoy the sunny weekend!

Parents, please read:

We know that there has been a great deal of discussion surrounding the potential re-opening of primary schools; this is not yet certain and is dependent on sufficient progress being made on a national level to contain the virus. If school does reopen, it will be for children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 only in the initial stages. It would be very helpful if you could complete the form linked below. It will help us to know how many children we are preparing for. However, it should be noted, that it is only an indicator - we understand that many parents are not yet ready to make a final decision. Thank you to those of you that have completed it already.

Link to online form:

https://forms.gle/KMTqxMBKCaR7y66V9

If the above link does not work, it can also be found on the 'Letters' page:

https://www.mapledene.bham.sch.uk/letters/

Monday 18th May

Good morning, Year 6!

We hope that you and your families are all safe and well and enjoying the warmer weather. This week, we have some super ideas lined up for you all...

Learning this week

Again this week, we will be setting fewer 'Extra' objectives for you to complete; this is so that you can focus on collecting your daily stars for each subject, which is tailored to your ability. We can still see this and check how you're getting on, so it's really important that you log on and complete these as regularly as possible (a super well done to those of you that are still going on Doodle almost every day). We will be phoning lots of you this week, so if there is anything that you would particularly like to work on, or you would like us to set an 'Extra' challenge on Doodle, please let us know.

Our school home learning theme this week is 'Superheroes'. We have attached a PDF document below, which has a few ideas for you to get started on this and 3 different comic-strip templates for you to create your own story! Please ask your parents to share your work with us, via the school Facebook page, or by emailing us at advice@mapledeneschool.com - we love seeing your work!

You'll see we have included the same information for transition to secondary school this week, as some of you have said that it was helpful. As your new schools continue to get in touch with you (and us!), it is completely normal if it makes you feel quite nervous, excited, or both! We’ve included a link to many different and helpful videos that can answer some of your questions about starting secondary school. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/zh4wy9q/starting-secondary-school/1

What should I do first?  

1: Complete any outstanding Doodle Extras.

2: Complete your daily stars for Maths/Tables/Grammar/Spelling.

3: Check the 'Superheroes' Y6 project ideas below and choose an activity (or activities) to complete over the the next four days.

Optional: Share your hard work!

We hope that you are all well. If you have any questions or need any extra support with your work, please do send an email to  advice@mapledeneschool.com. It will be passed on to us and we will do our best to help.

Miss Smith and Mr Barber 

Monday 11th May

Good morning, Year 6!

We hope that you and your families had a lovely and safe VE day, a good weekend, and that you're now feeling ready for another week of learning! 

Learning this week

This week, we will be setting fewer 'Extra' objectives for you to complete; this is so that you can focus on collecting your daily stars for each subject, which is tailored to your ability. We can still see this and check how you're getting on, so it's really important that you log on and complete these as regularly as possible (a super well done to those of you that are still going on Doodle almost every day).

Our school home learning theme this week is 'Around the World in 5 Days'. We have attached a PDF document below, which has a few ideas for you to get started on this. Don't forget to ask your parents to share your work with us, via the school Facebook page, or by emailing us at advice@mapledeneschool.com.

You'll see we have included some work on transition to secondary school this week. Although it may seem like secondary is a long way away at the moment, we know that lots of your new schools are starting to get in touch with you, and this might make you feel quite nervous, excited, or both! Any period of transition can feel a little unsettling and confusing, and preparing to move to secondary school is no different. We’ve included a link to many different and helpful videos that can answer some of your questions about starting secondary school. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/zh4wy9q/starting-secondary-school/1

What should I do first?  

1: Complete any outstanding Doodle Extras.

2: Complete your daily stars for Maths/Tables/Grammar/Spelling.

3: Check the 'Around the World' Y6 project ideas below and choose an activity (or activities) to complete over the the next four days.

Optional: Share your hard work!

We hope that you are all well. If you have any questions or need any extra support with your work, please do send an email to  advice@mapledeneschool.com. It will be passed on to us and we will do our best to help.

Miss Smith and Mr Barber 

And here are some useful links:

https://earth.google.com/web/

http://kidsbookings.wildearth.tv/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pwtsj/africa-2-savannah

https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/community/collection/11076/snow-and-ice

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmh4bdm

Monday 4th May - Good morning Year 6! 

May the fourth be with you... 

Doodle and Celebrations!

Doodle has been updated over the weekend, so there should be some new 'Extras' for you all to complete!

Our school home learning theme this week is 'Celebrations!'. We have attached a PDF document below, which has a few ideas for you to get started on this exciting mini-project. Don't forget to ask your parents to share your work with us, via the school Facebook page, or by emailing us at advice@mapledeneschool.com.

British Red Cross: Five acts of kindness and resilience

In keeping with our 'Celebrating You' work this week, please click on the link below for additional resources that will help you to develop resilience and encourage kindness through activities. They focus on routine building, coping mechanisms and acts of kindness and we recommend you taking a look.

https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-involved/teaching-resources/five-activities-of-kindness-and-resilience 

Remember, if you don't have the resources to complete any 'Celebrations' work, the most important thing over the next few weeks is to keep reading at home, keep working on your arithmetic skills and spend some quality time with your loved ones. 

What should I do first?  

1: Complete any outstanding Doodle Extras.

2: Complete the newly added Doodle Extras (On Wednesday, new 'Extras' will be added).

3: Check the 'Celebrations' Y6 project ideas below and choose an activity (or activities) to complete over the the next four days.

4: Look at the resources available on the British Red Cross website for other ideas.

Optional: Share your hard work!

Remember, you've all got Friday off from home schooling, as it is VE Day! Hopefully, you can tell whoever you live with about the history behind this day, following our WW2 topic in September!

Miss Smith and Mr Barber    

Monday 27th April

Good morning Year 6! 

Doodle and Theme Parks!

Over the weekend, we have updated Doodle by adding new objectives for you to complete, so make sure that you keep working on your skills, especially in the 'Extras' section, and earning those stars! 

Our school home learning theme this week is 'Design and build your own theme park!'. We have attached a PDF document below, which has a few ideas for you to get started on this exciting mini-project.

Say 'Thank You to the NHS'

In addition to our school work, there is an exciting NHS competition which you can enter. Learn about NHS job roles and opportunities available and say a big 'thank you' for all of the work that they do. You can win prizes for yourself and for the school, including a £50 Amazon gift voucher and a Science trip!

For information about the competition, how to enter, the rules and the prizes, follow this link:

https://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/primary-schools/KS2-competition?dm_i=5EPN,6ZOD,1WDJPZ,QSMP,1

For learning resources aimed at KS2 children, including important information about the different jobs within the NHS, how they help our communities, and stories from patients, follow this link:

https://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/primary-schools/KS2-resources

As always, you can share your learning with us by emailing advice@mapledeneschool.com, or ask your parents to post your work on Mapledene's Facebook group.

Remember, if you don't have the resources to complete any 'theme park' work, the most important thing over the next few weeks is to keep reading at home, keep working on your arithmetic skills and spend some quality time with your loved ones. 

What should I do first?

1: Complete any outstanding Doodle Extras.

2: Complete the newly added Doodle Extras (On Wednesday, new 'Extras' will be added).

3: Check the 'Design and build your own theme park' Y6 project ideas below and choose an activity (or activities) to complete over the week.

Optional: Say 'thank you' to the NHS and submit your entry to the competition.

Optional: Share your hard work!

Stay safe and we look forward to seeing all of your hard work,

Miss Smith and Mr Barber  

Here are some fantastic ideas to get you started on designing and building your own theme park!

• Design and build your own theme park!.pdf

Here are some links that you might find useful when working on your 'Horrible Histories' projects:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/horrible-histories

https://www.bclm.co.uk/history-at-home/history-at-home/1.htm

https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/blakesley/see-inside/see-inside-blakesley-hall

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/birmingham-back-to-backs/features/home-learning-resource

https://www.youtube.com/user/EnglishHeritageFilm

https://www.iwm.org.uk/learning/resources/the-1940s-house

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/teaching-resources/ https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/history/

We hope you find these useful! 

Learning at home updates:

• Have a go at the Doodle Easter Challenge https://www.doodlemaths.com/spring-challenge/ 
• PARENTS, join the Facebook group: 'At Mapledene we care and share for our little people' for regular updates from Miss Johnson and Miss Ellgood and a chance to share your children's work.
• Check out our 'Learn it with Mapledene' YouTube channel for stories, handwriting lessons and rhyme time all done by our teachers! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfdasSwHVsKAQ4xO5RGgQSA/videos
• If you are looking for some Maths puzzles and reosurces, then this site is excellent: http://www.iseemaths.com/home-lessons/?fbclid=IwAR1DaYdc1d0lyri1ljv2N1AWJdd6jz54Sdz3PPEmG04RDrGneqhxIcHabyc

Home Learning

Well done on all of your hard work this week Year 6!  

We can see that you have been using Doodle lots; make sure that you continue to do your best at getting those daily stars! We would also encourage everyone to keep working hard on their Maths and Grammar packs. For those of you missing PE, Joe Wicks daily workout every morning on Youtube is a great way to start the day, and helps you to keep those fitness levels up!

Keep making time for yourselves and your family too - do things that help you to relax and enjoy the time with your loved ones!

We will try to update this page every week with anything new for you to have a go at during this time you have at home!

Miss Smith and Mr Barber  

As part of our WW2 topic, Year 6 are constructing their own Anderson shelters in D&T. This afternoon, they had the opportunity to measure and saw the wood, so that the frames to the shelters can be made next week! Watch this space for more pictures from our exciting project... 

WW2 Trip!

Year 6's electricity investigation...