Year 6 Mr Jaques

Welcome to Falcon Class

Mrs Blakeborough, Mrs Jaques and I would like to offer you a very warm welcome to Year 6 and to our class page.

Please scroll down for new posts, updates and pictures of our learning.

Goodbye and Good Luck!

What a year it has been! You have all worked incredibly hard and you have made all of the staff here at Hawthorn Tree extremely proud! 

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for the past year and for being you!

This year may have not worked out the way we would have hoped, but you have been amazing and have been excellent ambassadors of Hawthorn Tree Primary School.  

I hope you will look back at your time in primary school and will not forgot all of the years you spent here, learning new things, making new friends and enjoying every moment spent here in school - we appreciate that the last few years have not been easy. 

I would also like to thank you all for your cards, presents and kind words. Your thoughtful gifts, of which many were personal gestures, have not been unnoticed and I appreciated them all.

I hope you all have an incredible summer and I wish you all the best for your new adventures at your secondary schools. Please keep it touch! It would be so nice to see you from time to time and hear all about how you are getting on!

Good luck, take care and thank you!

Mr Jaques 

Mrs Blakebrough, Mrs Jaques and Mrs Slawson

Reading Raffle

Congratulations to out final 'Reading Raffle' winners: Mateusz, Laila, Hayden and Sebi. These lucky winners have received a £5 cinema voucher to spend at West End Cinema, Boston. 

Well done and enjoy your visit to the cinema! 

Remember to keep reading!

Mr Jaques 

Preparing for Secondary School

If you are still feeling a little bit worried about starting your new school in September (which is only normal) then remember that you can always visit the BBC Bitesize website to receive testimonies of those who have been through what you are currently going through. 

These websites are very useful and support the transition work we have been completing in school. 

Please see the links below:

Year 6 Reading List

Below are links to two external websites that provide suggested book titles for children in year 6 to read:

Books for Topics: 50 must-reads for Year 6:

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-6

The School Reading List:

https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/reading-lists-for-ks2-school-pupils/suggested-reading-list-for-year-6-pupils-ks2-age-10-11/

Holocaust Educational Trust Outreach Programme

On Friday 2nd July, Education Officer Cat, from the Holocaust Educational Trust, taught our Year 6 students about Pre-War Jewish Life, before inviting Hedi Argent Schnabl to discuss her real-life experiences under the Nazi regime. 

Hedi was born in Vienna in 1929. Both her parents came from Moravia, a region of Czechoslovakia, but chose to live in Austria after the First World War. Her father had served in the war, was taken prisoner by the Russians, and was in Russia during the revolution. Hedi’s family were Zionists, deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition but not religious. Her father was a defence lawyer, her mother looked after the home, and they led modest lives surrounded by extended family. Hedi remained an only child. She was brought up to be proud of her Jewish heritage but struggled to deal with antisemitism in school.

In March 1938, Hedi was turned out of her school; a week later her father’s law practice was taken over by a Nazi lawyer; and before the end of the month, the family’s home was taken to be used for a Nazi family. Hedi’s father was made to scrub streets and clean lavatories and was finally arrested for making anti-Nazi comments. Hedi and her mother watched Kristallnacht from the windows of an apartment.

At the end of our session, our children had to opportunity to ask Hedi questions about her life and incredible life story. 

We thoroughly enjoyed this event and are thankful to HET for the opportunity to hear Hedi's testimony. 

Max Respect

This morning, Delphine, who is a Max Respect Officer, visited our school to speak to our Year 6 pupils about their transition to secondary school. Delphine spoke about transport to secondary schools and focused on how our children can travel to school safely, next year.  

Max Respect (Lincolnshire) services give lessons and assemblies to whole schools, key stage groups or year groups about road and transport safety. 

During our session, the children were able to complete work booklets about how to stay safe, when travelling to school, and what to do if any problems did arise. 

Delphine also spoke about: road safety when walking to and from the bus stop or school, what to do if a child misses the bus or it does not turn up, using a bus pass and how to get it replaced, expected behaviour while waiting for the bus, how to report bad behaviour and problems what could happen when children misbehave on transport. 

The children enjoyed our session with Delphine and we hope that the children take onboard this valuable information, next year. 

Free Summer Maths Club

We have been given the opportunity to offer your child the chance to take part in a Summer Maths Club from Eedi Summer Club. If you sign up before 14^th June, you will receive free access to a 7-week programme of Maths to help motivate and engage your child and help him/her grow in confidence with the subject.

If you have any questions, please contact family@eedi.co.uk directly.

Gleeson Homes - Road Naming Competition

Over the past few months, our pupils in Year 5 and 6 have been working with Gleeson Homes as part of their Community Matters programme. They were asked to suggest street names for the Saxon Grange development’s network of roads, which is currently being built next to our school. With the new names agreed with the council, the lucky winners were announced during a virtual Teams call streamed into the school’s assembly on Friday 23rd April, where a member of the Gleeson regional team presented the winning names to the following classes: Hawthorn Close (Year 5 – Squirrel Class), Sycamore Way (Year 5 – Hedgehog Class), Elm Road (Year 6 – Owl Class) and Cherry Lane (Year 6 - Falcon Class). Well done Year 5 and 6! Gleeson Homes have also kindly donated a £100 book voucher to school in recognition of the children’s efforts.

You may also wish read the full article on the Lincolnshire Live website. Simply follow the link below:

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/children-allowed-name-new-roads-5403599

The Life of David Attenborough

During our Science lesson this week, we were able to find out about David Attenborough and his life.

David Attenborough is a wildlife film-maker and naturalist - this means he is a scientist who studies animals and their behaviour.

Attenborough has been a presence on our television screens for over 60 years and his programmes have brought him international recognition.

As part of our lesson, we were given an activity sheet, which had 12 questions about David Attenborough's life up to the broadcast of his first famous documentary. Our task was to go outside and work together to find the answers to the 12 questions that we were given.

We had to search the school grounds to find all of the answers until we had solved all of the questions on your Activity Sheet.

Even though it was raining, we didn’t let that stop us from our learning!

Next week, we will be working in groups, and by using the information we have found out, we will create a presentation about David Attenborough’s life and also about an animal that he has studied. We will then present these to the class at the end of next week’s lesson.

The Arrival (Ellis Island)

During Term 5, Falcon Class have been looking at immigration and how European immigrants travelled across the Atlantic Ocean in hopes of starting a new life in the United States. We found out that by travelling to the USA did not guarantee that everyone would become Americans. We were able to explore the importance of Ellis Island, which is situated in New York Harbour, and understand that when immigrants arrived, they went through an intense immigration process.

We also researched about Ellis Island and the immigration process and what it was like for those who travelled across the Atlantic in hope of a better life.

After researching about about Ellis Island, we all created FANTASTIC and informative non-chronological reports about the grueling process that immigrants went through in hope for a new life and better opportunities for them and their family in America.

Well done Year 6!

Have a look at some examples below:

Local Area Study

As part of our 'Amazing Americas' topic, the children had the opportunity to explore our local area and identify both Human and Physical Features of the landscape. The children worked in pairs, using a map of the local area, to locate: our school, the route that was taken on our walk, as well as Human and Physical Features of the landscape. The children used their maps to identify key landmarks to help identify their location on the map. 

Physical Geography relates to the natural features of a place or environment.

Human Geography relates to the features of an environment that have been shaped by people.

Over the next few lessons, the children will be comparing Boston, Lincolnshire to New York City, USA.  The children will have the opportunity to explore New York in more detail and discuss similarities and differences between the two locations and how their landscapes differ. 

To find out more about New York City, you can watch the following clip on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGWI98omIbM

Reading Raffle

Congratulations to: James, Nylee, Courtney and Freya who are our Reading Raffle winners. These lucky winners have received an Easter Egg for their contributions towards reading.

Well done and enjoy your Easter Egg! 

Remember to keep reading!

Mr Jaques 

End of Term 4

This term has been very short, but the children and staff of Falcon class have been extremely busy over the past three and a half weeks.

Firstly, I would like to thank the children for their hard work, positive attitudes and enthusiasm towards returning to school, after yet another National Lockdown, and working hard in all that they have done. 

Over the past three and a half weeks, we have learned about Trade and Economics, exploring how goods are imported and exported around the globe. The children also learned about poorer countries in South America and how poverty impacts the lives they live.

In English, we have been learning all about The Titanic. The children researched about her short maiden voyage to New York, before she collided with an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, claiming the lives of many. 

The children have also been learning about different units of measure, converting between metric and imperial measures, area, perimeter and volume. We have also had many of our children completing complex mathematical problems within our maths lessons. 

Next term, we will starting many new topics. In Geography, the children will be looking at the Amazing Americas, making comparisons between different regions in North and South America. The children will explore different biomes as well as comparing our local area with a region in North America - New York. 

Our English topic will be 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan. The children will explore Ellis Island and how many people chose to start a new life in America, travelling to New York from European countries. The children will explore the journey many Europeans chose to make, the immigration process and what would happen to those who were declined citizenship to America. 

In Science, the children will be studying Living Things, which includes micro-organisms. The children will build upon their prior knowledge of Year 4 Science - Living Things- and also explore the life and works of David Attenborough (Please view or Knowledge Organiser above). 

In maths, the children will be learning about Statistics and Geometry.  

For more information about our curriculum for Terms 5 and 6, please look at our Curriculum Newsletter above. 

 A HUGE WELL DONE from all of the Year 6 team and a huge thank you to you all for your continued support.  

Stay safe and have a lovely break! 

We will see you all again on Monday 19th April 2021.

Mr Jaques

English - The Titanic (Term 4)

This term, the children have been learning all about The Titanic.

The children started by researching about the ship, researching about how she was made and who chose to travel on the ship from Southampton (UK) to New York (USA). 

The children were able to explore the different social classes on the ship and how the different classes lived while onboard. 

We found out that on April 14th 1912, at approximately 11:40pm, the ship collided with an iceberg in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, taking just over two hours for the ship to sink to the bottom of the icy ocean, killing many onboard.

Unfortunately, as the Titanic was described as being 'unsinkable' the ship's designers chose to remove many of the lifeboats onboard as they felt the lifeboats took up too much space on the decks and made them appear too cluttered. 

Over the past few weeks, the children have been working extremely hard writing their own newspaper reports about this disaster and have worked hard to plan, draft and edit and improve their own newspaper reports. 

Read some of our newspaper reports below:

Trade and Economics (Term 4)

Our topic this term was Trade and Economics.

Since returning in March, we have been finding out about how goods and services are traded around the world.

Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at how the UK trades with different countries around the world and which goods are imported and exported and the methods of transport used to transport them globally. 

The children have also explored the poorer regions in North and South America and we decided to focus on El Salvador, a country located in Central America. El Salvador is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala to the west, and Honduras to the north and east.

The children researched about the climate in El Salvador and also explored what living in El Salvador was like. The children focused on how many families worked extremely hard to make ends meet and they understood what daily routines both children and adults had to go through, by trading the goods that different families produced on their farms. 

The children focussed on the life of Diego, a 10 year old boy living on the poverty line in El Salvador. The children have written diary entries from the perspective of Diego and captured the daily struggles he and his family face.

Take a look at some of our great, descriptive diary entries below:

Remote Learning - W/C 29th March 2021

If you are having to learn from home this week, them please find below your child's home learning resources, which will include:

English,  Grammar and Punctuation, Maths, Reading and Arithmetic.  

All resources can be found in folders below.

Simply click on the pencil below and this link will take you to all the resources that you will need for each day.

Many Thanks, 

Mr Jaques 

Remote Learning - Term 4

If you are having to learn from home this week, them please find below your child's home learning resources, which will include:

English,  Grammar and Punctuation, Maths, Reading, Geography, and Arithmetic.  

All resources can be found in folders below.

Simply click on the pencil below and this link will take you to all the resources that you will need for each day.

Many Thanks, 

Mr Jaques 

Remote Learning - Spring Term 4 2021

 Welcome back! I hope that you have all had a lovely break and have managed to relax and were able to spend as much time with your family as possible. 

Please find below your child's home learning resources, which will include:

English, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, Maths, Reading, Science, History/Geography, PE, Art, RE and RSE. 

We aim to keep the curriculum as broad and as balanced as possible. 

All resources can be found in folders below.

Simply click on the pencil/file below, which corresponds to the day of the week, and this link will take you to all the resources that you will need each day. 

As I'm sure you are aware, some children in every class require some differentiated learning activities to help them maintain the same sense of achievement as their peers. Therefore, I have also provided a list of useful websites that can be used in support of your child's learning (please find all the appropriate links below).

We hope you take this time to encourage your child to complete the work provided and also listen to them read on a regular basis. We also encourage you to allow for your child to play TT Rock Stars as often as possible. 

My email address can be found below:

adam.jaques@hawthorn-tree.lincs.sch.uk

I will try to respond to your email as soon as possible between the hours of 9:00am -4:30pm (Monday to Friday).

Alternatively, you (or your child) can message me through Microsoft Teams during the times stated above. 

Please keep all the learning that is completed it at home. These learning packs will need to be returned to school and swapped over with a new learning pack, weekly. Please wait to be contacted by the school to return/collect learning packs. 

Many Thanks, 

Mr Jaques, Mrs Blakeborough and Mrs Jaques

Learning Support - Maths

As I'm sure you are aware, some children in every class require some differentiated learning activities to help them maintain the same sense of achievement as their peers.

If you know this is the case for your child, or you are referred to this section, this is where we will be posting activities for these children.

Where possible, I have provided the children with some differentiated worksheets to help support their learning. These can be found in the daily folders above. 

Equally, if you do require further support, or have any questions or concerns, then please do not hesitate to contact me on the email address at the top of our class page.

I have also provided two useful websites below, which also be used to support your child's learning:

Learning Support - English 

It is essential that children continue to read during this time.

Click on the link below from Oxford Owl for a selection of eBooks that are available for free if you sign up to the site.

This is a fantastic resource with an excellent selection of books - I hope you find it useful.

Equally, you can also visit Boston Library online.

From the following website you can access e-books, audiobooks and e-magazines for free. All you need to do is become a member of the library (which is free to join) and a pin number which is available from the library.

Another useful website, which is also free to join, is ReadTheory used to improve children's reading comprehension. 

Lincolnshire Stay Safe Partnership - Year 6 Online Safety

Following on from Internet Safety Day (9th February 2021), Year 6 have the opportunity to attend a live Online Safety workshop with Neil Bontoft, from Lincolnshire Safety Partnership. 

On Tuesday 23rd February 2021, our live sessions will be joined together and both groups will participate in an online safety workshop at 2pm. 

During the session students will be asked questions about information they feel is safe to share on the internet and what information is not safe to share. We will also look to promote the use of privacy settings and check their understanding on how to manage online bullying (blocking and reporting). We will always begin each session looking at the good and the bad side of technology, leaving them with some of our top tips at the end.

We encourage that all of the children in Falcon Class attend this session. 

I will share the link for the children to access, on the day of the workshop -this will be on our Teams class group. We encourage that this link should only be accessed by the children in our class and not shared with anyone else. 

The children will need to simply click on the link provided to join the workshop. 

We look forward to Neil joining us for our live session on the day to promote the importance of staying safe on line. 

Mr Jaques 

World Book Day

Arabian Nights - 3rd March 2021

We have been given the fantastic opportunity to access a free online storytelling performance of Arabian Nights with professional storyteller Alia Alzougbi streamed live.  The magic will begin at 1.30 and finish at 2.15pm.

Book your place for this magical Arabian adventure here. Click 'What's On', and scroll down to the World Book Day event.

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/KS2worldbookday/register

Thank You - End of Term 3

As you are all aware, this term has been very different to a normal term in January.

Firstly, I would like to say a BIG thank you to all the children for your hard work and dedication towards your online learning, your contribution towards your online lessons, for your maturity and for making remote learning such a success - THANK YOU!

To all the parents/carers, A HUGE THANK YOU to you for stepping up into a teacher role and supporting your children through this difficult time. I appreciate that it has not been easy for you, with juggling home schooling and your own workload. Without your help and support, it would not have been possible for remote learning to be the success that it has been with our class -

THANK YOU!

Finally, I would just like to say a HUGE thank you to: Mrs Blakeborough, Mrs Jaques, Mrs Dickings, Miss Ward and Mrs Brennan for their hard work this term and for also supporting the children in the best way possible. Without their hard work and dedication, the past 6 weeks would not have been such a success. 

Please rest and enjoy time with your family. Stay safe and ensure that you enjoy doing the things that you enjoy doing, to the best of your ability, within the current restrictions that we have in place.

Stay safe and have a lovely break! 

I will add the next lot of learning resources to our class page towards the end of the half term break. 

We will see you all again on Monday 22nd February 2021.

Mr Jaques 

Remote Learning - Spring Term 2021

 We hope that this message finds you well. We thank you for your patience during this difficult time. 

It is such a shame that we have had to close our doors again, after only having one day back in school. However, it was lovely to see the children back together again. 

Please find below your child's home learning resources, which will include:

English, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, Maths, Reading, Science, History/Geography, PE, Art, RE and RSE. 

We aim to keep the curriculum as broad and as balanced as possible. 

All resources can be found in folders below.

Simply click on the pencil/file below, which corresponds to the day of the week, and this link will take you to all the resources that you will need each day. 

As I'm sure you are aware, some children in every class require some differentiated learning activities to help them maintain the same sense of achievement as their peers. Therefore, I have also provided a list of useful websites that can be used in support of your child's learning (please find all the appropriate links below).

We hope you take this time to encourage your child to complete the work provided and also listen to them read on a regular basis. We also encourage you to allow for your child to play TT Rock Stars as often as possible. 

My email address can be found below:

adam.jaques@hawthorn-tree.lincs.sch.uk

I will try to respond to your email as soon as possible between the hours of 9:00am -4:30pm (Monday to Friday).

Alternatively, you (or your child) can message me through Microsoft Teams during the times stated above. 

Please keep all the learning that is completed it at home. These learning packs will need to be returned to school and swapped over with a new learning pack, weekly. Please wait to be contacted by the school to return/collect learning packs. 

Many Thanks, 

Mr Jaques, Mrs Blakeborough and Mrs Jaques

Remote Learning Timetable

Please find below our Remote Learning Timetable.

You will notice that our class has been split into 'Group A' and 'Group B'. Each child should be aware of which group they are in. If they are not sure, then please contact me about this or ask me via Teams.

This timetable allows for you to know the times that have been allocated for your child to communicate with myself, each day, via Teams. 

During this time, I will be able to speak with the children about their learning, explain to them the next steps for their learning and also provide them with verbal feedback. We will also be able to go through some of the answers from the work that they have been completing.

Group A will be able to interact with me between 2-3pm. 

Group B will be able to interact with me between 3-4pm. 

It is important that each child sticks to these times and does not swap between groups. 

Children's Mental Health Week

Monday 1st - Sunday 7th February is Children's Mental Health Week. 

The theme this year is ‘Express Yourself’ and to mark the occasion we are encouraging children to dress up to mark the occasion, this coming Friday 5^th February 2021.

They may like to dress up as their favourite book character, football hero or game character.

We are inviting out children to attend their TEAMS session dressed up and explain to their classmates and teachers who they are and why. 

Those who are coming into school are also invited to do the same on Friday 5th February!

We have not chosen to ask for donations at this time and we would simply like to take the opportunity to encourage everyone to get involved and get talking about mental health!

I’ve also attached here some additional resources you may find useful. You can also find these resources on our Parent's Page on the school website. 

www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk

Learning Packs

The learning, which has been placed in these folders, is the same learning which has been provided in your child's learning pack.  

You can collect your child's learning pack tomorrow (Wednesday 6th January 2021) from the school office between 11:00 and 12:00pm. 

(If your child is going to be in school, as part of our key worker/vulnerable child provision, then they will complete this pack during the school day, so you do not need to complete a learning pack for them).

End of Term 2

This term has been extremely busy and the children have worked their socks off and they have really embraced their learning. Over the past seven weeks, we have been writing dual diary entries from the perspective of two soldiers on Christmas Day (1914), learned about The Holocaust in History, written a diary entry from the perspective of Anne Frank in hiding, made felt Christmas decorations in DT, worked extremely hard tackling complex mathematical fraction problems in Maths and finally started to recognise different scientific symbols, alongside conducting our first investigation for the term in Science. 

It is hard to believe that we have managed to do all of this as well as: participate in Orienteering at Witham Country Park, learn about the first Christingle with our virtual Christingle with Father Paul and also have some time to celebrate the end of a long term - this is all alongside saying goodbye to Mr Kelwick. We wish him the best at this new school!

Next term, we will continue our topic on World War Two, looking at the code breakers of Bletchley Park, The Blitz and D-Day, read The Diary of Anne Frank before researching about her life, so that we are able to create a biography, continue our Electricity unit in Science, study Cityscapes in Art and cover Position and Direction in Maths. 

 A HUGE WELL DONE from all of the Year 6 team and a huge thank you for your gifts and cards. 

Stay safe and have a lovely break! 

We will see you all again on Monday 4th January 2021.

Mr Jaques 

A Christmas Day Truce

Christmas Day 1914, the sound of gunfire in the WW1 trenches has fallen silent and has been replaced by the singing of Christmas Carols from both sides.

Here the story of one incredibly brave soldier, Jim, is told as he decides to climb out of his trench onto No Man's Land. Here, stood petrified on this vast, battle ground, he meets a German soldier named Otto. After an initial meeting, Jim and Otto wander into No Man's Land before exchanging conversation about their lives back home and playing football with other soldiers and for just a moment, they forgot about the horrors of war around them. 

Sainsbury's Retelling the Story

2014 commemorated a 100 years since these events of 'The Great War' took place. Sainsburys coupled up the Royal British Legion to bring a wonderful story to life. 

In our English lessons, we have been learning about the Christmas Day Truce. We have watched the Sainsbury's advert many times, before answering a range of comprehension questions about

the advert. 

We then used the information from the story depicted through the advert, to write our own dual diary entries from the perspective of the two brave soldiers, Jim and Otto. 

In the photos below, you can see two excellent examples written by Sebi, Lucy, Gabriele, Jessica and Nylee. 

Well done to you all for your enthusiasm, dedication and attention to detail within your writing.

DT - Felt Christmas Decorations

Since October half term, our Year 6 pupils have been researching about the History of Christmas to help them design their own Christmas decoration. Throughout the term, we have written our own design criteria, designed products with the user in mind, thinking about aesthetics and functionality. We have also annotated our designs so we could use these to communicate ideas as well as create step by step plans to help us make our final product.
Our pupils had to make a paper template and learn how to sew a running stitch, backstitch, whip stitch and blanket stitch, before choosing an appropriate stitch to use for their final design. 

Finally, when we made our felt Christmas decorations, we all wrote a detailed evaluation about our final product.

The children have done a fantastic job creating their felt decorations and learning how to sew. Hopefully, these decorations will be hung on their Christmas tree at home. 

Note to parents: the next time your child needs something sewing, ask them to show you their impressive sewing skills! 

A BIG well done Year 6! 

Science - Electricity 

This term, Year 6 have been learning about Electricity in their Science lessons. This unit will build on each pupil's prior knowledge of Electricity taught in Year 4. Our Year 6 pupils will learn to represent circuits using symbols in a diagram. They will learn about two of the most important scientific inventors in the field of electricity – Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

We will also have the opportunity to develop our pupils' understanding of what electricity is and how to measure it. As well as conducting their own investigations. 

Our Science topic will continue, after Christmas. 

Have a look at our Knowledge Organiser below. This handy resource will allow for your children to revise areas of the topic already covered and also provide an opportunity for pre-learning of the what is still to be covered. 

Creating a Wartime Gas Mask

This term, Year 6 have been working really hard, learning all about WW2. In our DT unit, we have been looking at wartime gas mask and why they were so important during WW2.

We found out that during WW2, everybody was issued with a gas mask to protect them in the event of a gas bomb being dropped during an air raid. Luckily, there was never any need for a gas mask to be used properly. It was essential that everybody carried their gas mask at all times wherever they went and you would be fined if you were caught without it. Posters were also displayed everywhere to remind people to carry their gas masks at all times.

Throughout the term, we have been researching about wartime gas masks, creating our own research questions, asked our peers about the design of a gas mask they would like, created a detailed product design, which shows us the steps we needed to take to be able to make our own gas mask, constructing our own wartime gas mask, before we write a detailed evaluation about our finished product.

This topic also fits in with our English topic, Goodnight Mister Tom, which follows the journey of a young boy from London, William Beech, as he is evacuated to the countryside. William also had a gas mask which he carried with him everywhere he went.

Our gas mask were constructed using, paper, cardboard and we used plastic for the eye holes.

Take a look at our pictures, to see how got on with our learning:

YST After School Sports Club

Every weekday at 5pm, until 18th December 2020, YST are running a 30-minute online club for all children and young people so they are able to partake in exercise, develop skill and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

The club is being run by Youth Sports Trust Athlete Mentors via their YouTube channel at 5pm every weekday. (Previous episodes can be viewed anytime on the YouTube channel).

The different daily themes are below:

Adventure Monday - This might involve getting children to do floor, wall climbing and map reading all within your living room,

Tuesday Play - Imaginative play utilising resources in the house to create games and activities to get active,

Wild Wednesday - Some high tempo competitive activities involving personal challenges,

Thinking Thursday - Introducing cognitive challenges for children through movement. Active noughts and crosses and introducing an element of competition - whether that be against themselves, the clock, their siblings or remotely with friends,

Fun Friday - A chance for children to let loose and have some fun. Dancing and doing what makes them feel good. 

Please ensure that your child asks for your permission to watch these videos and also that they are staying safe online. 

Science Investigations - Light

Last term, Year 6 were learning all about Light.

Last week, we had a Science day to conclude our learning of the topic. 

Throughout the day, we conducted two investigations where we made a colour spinner to prove Isaac Newton's theory about the colour spectrum. We really enjoyed making our colours spinners and conducting this investigation.

We found out that Isaac Newton observed that when light travels from air through a transparent material, it refracts or bends. This is an important fact, as it is this refraction that caused the amazing effects that Newton observed. This made him realise that although light looks white, it is made up of all of the colours of the rainbow. 

We also investigated how filters work and that filers can block certain colours of the colour spectrum passing through them.

Half Term is Here!

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for your continued support over the past term and especially over the past few weeks. I know for some of you it has not been easy, but now it is time for a nice break. 

You should all be pleased with what you have achieved in this short period of time. I hope that all of you have a great half term break and that you are able to have a rest after a long and challenging term. 

A BIG WELL DONE from all of the Year 6 team!

We will see you all again on Monday 2nd November 2020. 

Stay safe and have a good week! 

Mr Jaques 

Top Virtual Excursions

Have you ever wondered what it was like to dive to the bottom of the ocean? Or ever wondered what it was like to visit Paris or Rome? Maybe even find out what it's like on Mars?

Well, now is your chance to experience them from the comfort of your own home.

Simply click on the links below to start exploring.  

If you are looking for something exciting to do over half term, something to pass the time, then why not click on one of the links below and have fun exploring! 

Have fun and send me a postcard! 

Microsoft Teams Test! 

Mrs Blakeborough and I will be running a Microsoft Teams test on Wednesday 21st October 2020 at 2pm. This will allow for all children in our class to access Teams and have a look at how our learning will be displayed and how they can contact staff, if we were to close our Year 6 bubble or the school in the future. 
Hopefully, this will not be the case!
 

Further information has been sent out to you all via Parent Mail.
 

Equally, you will be able to find all of the information you need for downloading Teams and information on how to sign in, by following the link below to the Microsoft Teams section on our school website:

https://www.hawthorntree.co.uk/digital-learning-platform/

 
Please make sure that you have downloaded Teams and have signed in ready for 2pm (on the day) and then I will request a call with the children. There is no expectation for you (adults) to stay with your child during the call, but it is important that you are aware that your child is online. 
 

See you then!

Remote Learning

It was great to receive these images of Corey working hard on his home learning. Corey has been completing his arithmetic questions, SPaG worksheet and has even created a propaganda poster. 

It is great to see that Corey has been completing his learning with a big smile on his face too. 

Well done Corey! 

If you have any examples of work that you or your child are proud of, or any pictures of your child working hard at home, then please email them to me if you wish for them to be shared on our class page. 

Remote Learning W/C 19th October 2020

(Please scroll down for updates and appropriate resources to support your child's learning)

Firstly, we hope this message finds you all well and we hope you have had a lovely weekend. 

Thank you to you all who have accessed our remote learning resources from our class pages. We hope that the resources are easily accessible and are also a help to support the learning that your child has been completing in school, prior to the school closure. 

We have provided you all with some more learning sources for the week ahead, before you put your tools down and have a very well-deserved half term break. 

This week, there are a range of different resources on offer for your child to complete. These resources include: Maths, SPaG, Reading Comprehension, History and Science. 

Maths - football rounding and multiplication and division facts. We have also included another arithmetic paper.  

SPaG - Commas to the Rescue!

Reading - The War Time Diary of Eliza Beale (three different levels).

History - War Propaganda Posters.

Science - Creating a playscript between Mister Tom and William Beech, where they explain in detail how light travels. 

We do appreciate that there is a lot of work for your child to complete. However, we are not expecting that all of the work is to be completed this week. We ask that your child tries their best to complete a range of different activities and does what they can, when they can. 

We have also included support tools to help your child with their learning. 

If you do have any trouble with accessing this learning or need further support, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Year 6 Team. 

We hope that you have a good week!

Additionally, if you or your child is proud of their home learning, I am more than happy to receive photos of their learning through email, which I will happily display on our class page - Mr Jaques

TT Rock Stars Battle of the Bands

A HUGE WELL DONE to you Falcon Class!

You have worked extremely hard to achieve a fantastic result!

Well done to all of those who took part in this battle - there have been some extremely dedicated class members who made this happen.

Keep up the great effort and get ready for the next battle between the two classes.

Mr Jaques 

Remote Learning W/C 12th October 2020

(Please scroll down for updates and appropriate resources to support your child's learning)

Good Evening, I hope that this message finds you well. 

Please find below your child's home learning resources for this week, which include:

Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, Maths, Reading, PE and E-Safety resources. 

Each piece of work is a recap of what your child has been learning in school over the past 5 weeks. We hope that the learning provided will be of use to your child and will also be a revision exercise. 

We have also provided a list of useful website that can be used in support of your child's learning. 

We hope you take this time to encourage your child to complete the work provided and also listen to them read on a regular basis. We also encourage you to allow for your child to play TT Rock Stars as often as possible. 

If you are able to print these resources, then please do so and allow for your child to write on each worksheet. If you are not able to print each resource, then we are more than happy for your child to complete their learning on a Word document or in a notepad/spare paper at home. 

Our school email addresses can be found at the top of each class page and we will respond to any

queries about your child's learning during school hours. 

All we ask is that your child tries their best and has a go at completing their home learning. 

Many Thanks, 

 Mr Jaques, Mrs Brennan and the Year 6 Team.

TT Rock Stars Class Battle Update

A fantastic effort Falcons - keep going!
Only 5 more hours left to battle against Owls. 
 

Here are our class results so far! 
Keep it up! 
A big well done to those (in both classes) who have contributed towards this class battle. 
 

Learning Support - Maths

As I'm sure you are aware, some children in every class require some differentiated learning activities to help them maintain the same sense of achievement as their peers.

If you know this is the case for your child, or you are referred to this section, this is where we will be posting activities for these children.

I have provided you with some multiplication and division worksheets and some links to useful reading websites. 

Equally, if you do require further support, or have any questions or concerns, then please do not hesitate to contact me on the email address at the top of our class page.

Learning Support - Reading

It is essential that children continue to read during this time.

Click on the link below from Oxford Owl for a selection of eBooks that are available for free if you sign up to the site.

This is a fantastic resource with an excellent selection of books - I hope you find it useful.

Equally, you can also visit Boston Library online.

From the following website you can access e-books, audiobooks and e-magazines for free. All you need to do is become a member of the library (which is free to join) and a pin number which is available from the library.

Another useful website, which is also free to join, is ReadTheory used to improve children's reading comprehension. 

All you need to do is click on the links below:

Orienteering

Unfortunately, due to recent events, Year 5 and 6 orienteering could not take place this week (Tuesday 13th October 2020). 
We know that this would have been a disappointment for some, as so many of us were really looking forward to this. 

We will try our best to re-arrange this event for a later date. 

Science Kahoot! Quiz

Test your knowledge of light using our Kahoot! science quiz. Winners to be announced when we return to school.

Good Luck!

Arts Award

Mrs Smith has asked us to remind all the children, who are completing the Arts Award, to please find their next piece of work on the school's website in the Arts Award section. 

Click on the link below which will take you to this page:

https://www.hawthorntree.co.uk/arts-award/

Many Thanks

TT Rock Stars - Class Battle

Owls v Falcons

Calling ALL Year 6 pupils! Battle of the Bands is about to begin!

Owls v Falcons

Tuesday 13th October - Thursday 15th October 2020

Take part between: 09:00 -16:00 each day!

You will need your TT Rock Stars username and password to play. 

Let the battle commence!

Keeping Safe While Working Online

Working from home is likely to mean more time spent on computers, tablets and the internet. Therefore it is incredibly important to ensure you are being safe whilst you are online. Please take some time to look at the slides (PDF) below to make sure you are doing everything you can to stay safe!

If you have some spare time, there are also some activities for our Year 6 pupils to look at and complete. 

Click on the PDF resources below:

Keeping Active at Home

Whilst the school is closed for the next few weeks, it is important to make sure that we are engaged with our remote learning. Equally, it is also important to take a break from time to time and also engage in some physical activities. 

Ms Ingamells has kindly provided us with some useful activities that your children can do over the next two weeks. 

Take a look below. 

All activities can also be found on the sports page of the school's website. Just click on the link below:

https://www.hawthorntree.co.uk/sport/

How many of these challenges can you achieve? 

Numbers to 10,000,000 Scavenger Hunt

This morning, both Year 6 classes took part in a Scavenger Hunt to consolidate our children's understanding of place value in numbers up to 10,000,000.

Mrs Brennan and I gave the children a number of clues and questions that the children had to solve using their knowledge of Number and Place Value.

Each pupil worked in pairs to locate different questions, which were scattered around the playground and on the school field.  Each pair then had to write their answers onto an answer sheet, before having their answers checked by an adult.

There were a range of questions that the children had to complete which involved: reading and writing numbers up to 10,00,000, recognising digits in numbers up to 10,000,000 and recognising numbers displayed on a place value chart.

Negative Numbers Maths Investigation

In our maths lesson today, we have been learning about negative numbers as part of our Number and Place Value unit. 

As part of our lesson, we had to fill in missing numbers on a number line, calculate the difference between different numbers (including negative numbers) and also solve some complex problems involving decimals. 

Once we had a secure understanding of negative numbers, we were set an investigation where we had to locate different countries around the world and compare average temperatures during different months. We then had to explain why these countries had such different or similar climates before calculating the difference between their temperatures. 

See how we got on below. 

Light Travels in a Straight Line

In our Science lesson today, we had to create an informative poster in our pairs, which explained how we are able to see light.

We first recapped about what we could remember from when we were in Year 3, when learned about light. We worked in groups to collect research, so we could create a presentation to the rest of the class explain what we have found out.  We used this information to write in detail about how light travels and how we are able to see items around us.  We know that rays of light travel from a light source and hit objects around us. The rays of light reflect, or bounce, off an object, and then travel into our eyes. This reflection of light allows us to see the object.

Once we had created our posters, we had to work together to present our posters to the rest of the class.

Here is how we got on...

Science Knowledge Organiser - Light 

Here is our Knowledge Organiser for our Science topic Light.

We will be using our Knowledge Oragnisers throughout the year to help us recall key facts and information about each of our Science topics.

Why not ask our learners about their knowledge of Light and see what they can recall! 

Homework and Additional Home Learning

At the bottom of our class page, you will be able to find our weekly homework menu - this will not change throughout the year.

If your child finishes their weekly homework and would like some additional challenges, then please feel to visit the following links for fun maths games. 

Together we can ALL make History!

Each week, our Year 6 children will be receiving some exciting information about an important and influential figure from history. At the end of every week, on Friday afternoon, we will discuss this important figure of world history, discuss how they helped to shape history and see how they are remembered today.  

This week, we are starting with Rosa Parks, known as 'The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.' Rosa fought for racial equality in the 1950's after she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks was arrested for this action on 1st December 1955. Her actions launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 17,000 black citizens. 

Read her story below...

London Residential 2021

Mrs Brennan and I would like to inform you all about an exiting opportunity for our Year 6 pupils. Next year, we would like to take our Year 6 pupils on a three-day residential to London. 

The three day trip will allow for your child to explore London through World War 2. 

Over the three days, we will visit The Imperial War Museum, where we will explore the causes, course and consequences of World War , hop on board the HMS Belfast to explore what life was like at war on the sea, before discovering the secrets beneath the streets of Westminster in the underground nerve centre of the Churchill War Rooms. 

In addition to our war time adventures, we will also be enjoying a stunning 360-degree, panoramic view of London on the London Eye, before taking in the sights from a whole new perspective with a cruise down the River Thames. 

We also have the opportunity to watch a West End Show (show to be confirmed) before rounding off our trip by visiting Warner Bros. Studios - The Making of Harry Potter. Here, the children will take a spellbinding, behind the scenes exploration of the sets used in the massively successful franchise. 

If you would like more information about this trip, then please find more information and payment schedule via Parent Mail or visit our Newsletter section on the school website. 

We hope you can join us! 

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Year 6 team! 

Welcome to Falcon Class

Mrs Blakeborough, Mrs Jaques and I would like to offer you a very warm welcome to Year 6 and to our class page.

We appreciate that the start to this school year is starting off differently to how we would usually start a school year, but we are really excited to be working with your child this year.

Throughout the course of the year, there will be lots of different and exciting challenges which we are going to tackle together as a team, working together and supporting each other. There will also be lots of exciting roles and responsibilities for your child to become involved within, allowing us to grow in confidence, independence, and resilience and more importantly, allow for us to be immersed in fun and develop our love for learning. These include roles in our School Council.

Each week, your child will be set homework which links in with the learning taking place within the classroom that week. We encourage you to support your child with the tasks which have been set, alongside listening to your child read at least twice a week – our homework timetable can be found at the bottom of this page.

Throughout the year, different reading challenges will be set and reading will be celebrated throughout the school. We also have a class reading challenge, where the children can receive raffle tickets for the number of times they read to an adult each week. These tickets will then be entered into a raffle, where you child could win a gift voucher for Boston, West End Cinema.

We also have some fantastic Year 6 texts to read this year including: Anne Frank’s Diary, The Titanic Detective Agency, Hidden Figures and not forgetting our first text of Goodnight Mister Tom in support of our English and History lessons for Term 1. 

If you do have any concerns or queries, then please do not hesitate to contact us (preferably by phone or email) before or after the school day.

If your child is struggling with homework, then please encourage them to come and speak to myself, Mrs Blakeborough or Mrs Jaques BEFORE their homework is due in, this means we can go over the homework together in enough time.

On a Thursday, Miss Neal will be teaching Falcon Class where she will be teaching a range of subjects, which include: PE, French, RE, Read Write Inc Spellings and also Music in the afternoon. 

Please keep browsing our class page for important updates, homework timetables, curriculum newsletters and more importantly, the children's learning – these can all be found at the bottom of our class page.

We hope you enjoy browsing our page and we look forward to working with you closely this academic year.

Many Thanks, 

Mr Jaques