Week 13th - 17th July 2020

Hello to those of you at home!

It's the final week of your time at Hertford St. Andrew School! 

Therefore, this week, your tasks are themed around our school motto 'Love Learning. Aim High. Trust God'.

It has been wonderful teaching you this year and I wish you all the best on your next learning adventure in secondary school. 

Remember if you have any questions you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk - it would be lovely to hear from you!

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

Support for Maths

Simplifying fractions

Look at the fraction numerator and denominator. Can these be simplified by a common factor?

12

24  

12 and 24 are both divisible by 12 so this fraction can be simplified to 1

 2

Equivalent fractions

Remember to divide the numerator and denominator by the same amount.

5  (divide by 5)   1

25                       5

Compare and order denominators

Convert the fractions to a common denominator. This will make them easier to compare.

Remember that the lowest common denominator is the smallest number that is a multiple of two or more given numbers.

For example, the lowest common multiple of 6 and 12 is 12.

Adding and subtracting fractions

1. Convert mixed numbers into improper fractions: 1 2/3 becomes 5/3.
2. Find a common denominator and convert the fractions to this.
3. Solve the addition or subtraction.
4. Look to see if the answer can be simplified or written as a mixed number.

Week 6th - 10th July 2020

Hello to those of you at home!

I can't believe how close we are now to the end of your time at Hertford St. Andrew School. We spent some time in class last week thinking about our favourite memories. I wonder what yours are?

This week your tasks are themed around plants and seeds; there are some fascinating adaptations that plants have to survive!

Remember if you have any questions you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk - it would be lovely to hear from you!

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

Support for this week's maths

Vertically opposite angles

Vertically opposite angles are the angles opposite one another when two lines cross. They are equal in size.

Remember, angles on a straight line total 180˚ and angles around a point total 360˚.

Angles in a triangle

The internal angles of a triangle total 180˚. Short lines, or hatch marks, on the sides of a triangle show that these sides are equal.

Equilateral triangles – 3 equal sides and 3 equal angles.

Isosceles triangles – 2 equal sides and 2 equal angles.

Scalene triangles – no equal sides and no equal angles.

Right-angled triangles – 1 angle that is 90˚.

Angles in quadrilaterals

The interior angles of a quadrilateral add up to 360˚.

Remember, hatch lines show sides are equal in length.

Missing interior and exterior angles

Remember, angles on a straight line total 180˚.

Support for this week's English

Modal verbs change and affect the verb by expressing degrees of possibility, obligation and permission, for example, might, will, must.

Prepositions tell you where or when something is in relation to something else, for example, under, after, over.

Conjunctions are words used to join two clauses.

Determiners are words before a noun or noun phrase, such as the, a, two.

Week 29th June - 3rd July 2020

Hello to those of you at home!

I hope that you and your family are well and had a lovely weekend. 

This week your tasks will be focused on your next steps as you move to Secondary school. 

Remember if you have any questions about activities, or you would like to share any learning or crafts you have made, you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk – I am still giving out merit marks!

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

Support for this week's maths

Ratio

Ratio shows the relationship between 2 values.

A colon is used to show that ‘for every…, there are…’

You might have 2 squares and 3 triangles. This could be written as 2:3 (for every 2 squares, there are 3 triangles).

Ratios can also be simplified, for example, 4:2 could be written as 2:1 (as both amounts are divisible by 2).

Monday Question 2 – Think about the denominator for the fraction.

If you have the ratio 1:4, the fraction denominator would be 5 (1+4 = 5).

Calculating ratio

The ratio of apples to bananas is 1:3. If there are 4 apples, how many bananas will there be?

There are 3 times as many bananas as apples, so 4 x 3 = 12 bananas.

Scale factor

This is used when enlarging the size of 2D shapes.

If a rectangle had the measurements 4cm and 3cm and was enlarged by a scale factor of 2, the new measurements would be 8cm (4x2) and 6cm (3x2).

Support for English tasks

Personal pronouns – him, her, it.

Indefinite pronouns – anybody, everybody, something.

Relative pronouns (refer to a noun already mentioned) – who, whose, while, that.

A relative clause adds extra information to a sentence using a relative pronoun such as who, that or which.

Week 22nd - 26th June 2020

Hello to those of you at home!

I hope that you and your family are well and had a lovely weekend. 

This week your tasks will be focused on a journey to India!

Remember if you have any questions about activities, or you would like to share any learning or crafts you have made, you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk – I am still giving out merit marks!

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

The subjunctive form

The English tasks in this week’s learning pack focus on the subjunctive form.

The subjunctive is a verb form used to express a hypothetical situation, or something you wish would happen, rather than an actual situation.

‘Were’ is used in these types of sentences.

For example: I wish I were older….

  If I were a teacher, I would….

  Sally acts as if she were the boss.

Finding perimeter, area and volume

These formulas will help you with this week's maths tasks. 

Perimeter: the total length of the outside of a shape (add all of the lengths of the sides together).

Area of rectilinear shapes: length x width. Remember you might need to split a shape into rectangles and work out the area of each of these first, before adding the total of these together to find the complete area of the shape.

Area of a triangle: (perpendicular height x base) ÷ 2

Area of a parallelogram: perpendicular height x base

Volume of a cuboid: length x width x height

Hello to those of you at home!

I hope you had a good weekend and are pleased to see the sunnier weather again!

This week your tasks will be focused on fossils and dinosaurs!

Remember if you have any questions about tasks, or you would like to share any learning or crafts you have made, you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk – I am still giving out merit marks!

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

Word endings – the ‘shul’ sound

The ‘shul’ sound can be spelt with either ‘-cial’ or ‘-tial’.

-cial is common after a vowel: special

-tial is common after a consonant: martial

Remember there might be exceptions to this so think: what was the root word and which spelling looks correct?

1) Identify the correct spelling of each word in the following sentences:

• Flour is an essential/essencial ingredient for baking bread.
• The teacher didn’t give any pupil preferential/preferencial treatment.
• Heather is going on a residencial/residential trip to the Lake District.
• Karen is partial/parcial to pickle and cucumber sandwiches.
• Last Saturday, Miriam set the sacrificial/sacrifitial lamb free.

2) Add the correct ‘shul’ ending to each of these word beginnings:

• Confiden
• Artifi
• So
• Impar
• Influen
• Unsubstan

Fossil hunting!

It is 1811. You are a journalist working during the reign of George III. You have been asked to write a newspaper report about the Mary Anning’s discovery of an ichthyosaur fossil in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

Mary was just 12 years old when she made the discovery. Use the information on the following webpage to learn more about this event.

Structure for your newspaper report

• Begin with a formal statement explaining what the article will be about (the discovery of the fossil - you can choose the day and month for the year 1811 as this is unknown).
• Recount how Mary made the discovery. What had she been taught by her father? How did Elizabeth Philpot help Mary? You might like to include a quote from Mary.

Remember to punctuate the speech accurately.

• Describe the reactions to Mary’s discovery of the ichthyosaur. You could include a quote from Elizabeth Philpot and the scientist she brought from London.
• End with a simple statement informing readers where they might view Mary’s discovery (Lyme Regis in Dorset).

Steps to success

• Use a formal tone (no contractions)
• Use the present tense to describe current events (the discovery of the fossil and people’s reactions) and the past tense to describe how Mary learnt to find fossils with her father
• Use a range of punctuation
• Use adverbials for cohesion (eventually, consequently, therefore, because of this discovery, similarly, as a result, in fact, most importantly, quite understandably, obviously)
• Indent paragraphs

Year 6 spellings that could be used: ancient, curiosity, existence, marvellous, opportunity, recognised, recommended

Modern-day fossil hunters

Use the following webpage to learn more about modern-day fossil hunters.

Create a poster to show what you have found out.

How are modern palaeontologists different to Mary Anning?

Dippy Maths

Dippy is the name of the diplodocus who arrived at the Natural History Museum in 1905.

He was on a 3-year tour around the UK, although his tour has currently been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Dippy was 26 metres long, you can imagine that he had to eat quite a lot of food. But how much? Future Scientists need to prove that they are good with numbers too.

We estimate that Dippy was so huge he needed to eat 20 kilogrammes of vegetation every hour. That’s the same weight as a two-year-old human child!

So if we know that Dippy ate 20 kilogrammes of food per hour:

• How many kilogrammes did Dippy eat in one day?
• How many kilogrammes did Dippy eat in one week?
• How many kilogrammes did Dippy eat in one year?

Which was the fastest dinosaur?

A dinosaur’s leg was as long as four of its foot lengths.

From head to tail, a dinosaur was as long as ten of its foot lengths.

Use this information to complete the following table, calculating which dinosaur was the fastest.

Work out your answers to two decimal places.

Is there any relationship between the size of a dinosaur and its speed?

Subtract decimal numbers

Remember to line up the place value of each digit accurately to solve the calculations.

1) 38.43 – 27.82

2) 26.55 – 18.73

3) 35.27 – 26.13

4) 43.49 – 37.77

5) 59.58 – 46.05

6) 63.32 – 54.88

7) 65.72 – 48.69

8) 72.08 – 66.45

Jelly Fossils!

You might like to create your own edible jelly fossils model to complete your week’s learning.

You will need: different flavours of jelly, small sweets and a clear heat-proof container (a Pyrex measuring jug or small glass oven dish would work well).

1) Make up one flavour of jelly following the instructions on the packet (you might like to only make up half or a third of this jelly to allow you to add more layers of this flavour to the fossil model later!)

Please ask an adult to supervise and help as you will need to use boiled water to melt the jelly cubes. Thank you.

2) Pour the jelly into the jug or glass and add the sweets to represent fossils.

3) Allow this layer to set and then continue the process.

4) Enjoy eating your jelly and layers of fossils!

Science link

The jelly represents different layers of rock and the sweets represent the fossils of different living things.

If the layer of jelly at the top is the younger rock, then the fossils in this layer will be more recent living things. The oldest layer of ‘rock’ at the bottom will contain the fossils of things that existed in the past, such as dinosaurs!

Hello to those of you at home!

I hope you had a good weekend and are ready for another week of activities.

Remember if you have any questions about tasks, or you would like to share any learning or crafts you have made, you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk – I am still giving out merit marks!

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

Present and past progressive tense

When you want to write about something that’s still happening, use the present form of the verb ‘to be’ and add the suffix ‘-ing’ to the verb.

Present form of ‘to be’: are, am, is

For example: Chloe is chatting.

The past progressive is formed in the same way, but the verb ‘to be’ has to be in the past tense.

Past form of ‘to be’: was, were

For example: Leo was frying an egg.

1) Identify the correct verbs to form the past progressive.

We (are/is/were) (plant/planting/plants) seeds.

I (am/was/were) (looking/look/looks) for my dad.

He (is/were/was) (ride/ridden/riding) a horse.

2) Form the present and past progressive by using the correct form of ‘to be’ and the ‘ing’ form of each verb.

We are now going to look for opportunities to apply the present progressive tense in a diary entry for a concert. This tense will allow you to write about events as they are happening.

Grażyna Bacewicz: Overture

Use the following link as an introduction to the Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz.

Imagine you are the composer Grażyna Bacewicz. Write a diary entry describing the opening moments of the Overture’s performance.

• How do you feel as you wait for the concert to begin?
• What is it like to have been chosen to open the concert?
• Can you include any flashbacks to the period when the piece was written and how you felt then?
• Which Morse code message did you include in the music and why is this important to you?
• How do you hope the audience will respond?

Steps to success:

• Choose language and punctuation effectively to build up drama and atmosphere as you wait for your piece to be performed.
• Use a variety of sentence structures and lengths to build tension.
• Look for opportunities to use the present progressive tense to write about events as they are happening (I am waiting…, they are listening….)

Year 6 spellings that could be used: achieve, appreciate, community, conscious, determined, foreign, occupied, queue, rhythm, soldiers, symbol.

Multiplying decimal numbers

Remember to line digits up accurately in the correct place value columns to find the answer, e.g.

12.8

  6.0 x

1) 5 x 1.3

2) 3 x 2.7

3) 4 x 3.9

4) 3 x 7.6

5) 6 x 4.8

6) 5 x 11.7

7) 4 x 11.6

8) 5 x 12.9

Magritte ‘The Human Condition’

In class we have been looking at the Surrealist artist Rene Magritte.

You can learn more about the artist here:

We took an outline of the window and easel in his painting ‘The Human Condition’ and created our own landscape!

You might like to include some of Magritte’s favourite objects in your version, such as apples, eggs, clocks and clouds!

Hello to those of you at home!

I hope you and your families are all well and had a lovely sunny half term.

Remember if you have any questions about tasks, or you would like to share any learning or crafts you have made, you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk – I am still giving out merit marks!

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

Daffodils

The poet William Wordsworth wrote the following beautiful poem all about daffodils:

I wander’d lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch’d in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed – and gazed – but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Here are the definitions for the new vocabulary:

vales = valleys

host = large number

margin = border or edge

sprightly = lively 

glee = happiness or delight

gay = light-hearted

jocund = cheerful and light-hearted

oft = often

pensive = deep in thought

solitude = alone

Handwriting practice

Copy the poem out to practise your joined handwriting.

You might like to write in different colours and create a colourful border of daffodils.

Cloud similes

In the classroom we have created our own similes for clouds based on Wordsworth’s idea ‘lonely as a cloud’.

How many similes for clouds can you create?

I’ve created five to help you, thinking about clouds seen in different types of weather:

Solitary as a cloud

Menacing as a storm cloud

Peaceful as a cloud

Delicate as a cloud

Melancholy as a rain cloud

You might like to present your similes in a cloud shape!

Flower acrostic poem

Choose your favourite flower and create your own acrostic poem about it.

You might use similes (like/as) or metaphors (is) and personification (giving the flower, garden or weather human qualities) to develop your description.

Ruby petals dancing merrily

On a stem as sharp as steel.

Sunlight greets the beautiful flower

Enchanting all who visit the garden!

Times table bingo

We have been playing times table bingo in class. You can play this with members of your family too!

1) Choose a times table you would like to practise.

2) Draw a grid with 6 squares and record 6 multiples of this times table in each square, such as 0, 72, 66, 36, 24, 30 for the 6 times table.

3) Ask a member of your family to call out multiplication facts from this times table, such as 2 x 6 = 12.

4) If you have that multiple recorded, mark the square with a cross.

5) The first player to have marked all six numbers in their grid is the winner!

Hello Year 6,

As we have one week left until half term and I know how imaginative you all are, I thought I’d plan some activities inspired by art!

Has anyone created some meringue clouds? I know I enjoyed eating mine in the sunshine!

Enjoy being creative and have a rest over half term.

Best wishes,

Miss Raw

Art and nature

Artists create pieces because they are inspired by different things. The inspiration for the artists we are exploring, Barbara Hepworth and Andy Goldsworthy, is nature and the natural landscape.

Barbara Hepworth

Use the following link to find out more about the life of Barbara Hepworth:

Having read about her life and inspiration, present this information for other Year 6 children. You might like to make an interactive poster with flaps and fact boxes, or draw a comic strip about her life.

Andy Goldsworthy

Watch the following clip about the artist Andy Goldsworthy:

What is your response to the artwork created on the slate?

Write a letter to Andy Goldsworthy, explaining your response.

You might like to use these questions to structure your letter:

• What do you think about the use of natural materials?
• What are your thoughts on the abstract pattern created on the slate? What does it remind you of?
• What do you think about the impermanence of the artwork? Do you like the fact it can be revived and developed?
• What would you create on the slate in that landscape? Why?
• What do you think of the rain shadows?
• What else would you like to know about the artist, his work or inspiration?

Extension: How might you create art in the natural landscape? This might be in your garden, park or local wood like Panshanger.

What would your inspiration be?

Would you construct a 3D sculpture or a 2D picture?

What would the title of your piece be?

If you are able, create a piece of natural art and take a picture. Remember to move materials safely and carefully so you don’t hurt yourself or damage the environment. 

Nature haikus

Art can also include language and poetry is a good example of this.

Haikus are a Japanese form of poetry and have a three-line structure with a total of seventeen syllables: five for the first line, seven for the second line and then five for the final line. The purpose of haikus is to create a ‘word-picture’ for the reader, like a photograph of a moment.

Here the poet John Foster has used haikus to create a beautiful snap-shot of nature:

Swaying in the breeze,

Their heads nodding, bluebells ring,

Heralding summer.

Grey as steel, the sea

Shimmers in the fading light

Day slides into night.

Use this poetic structure and the theme of nature to create your own haikus!

I presented mine on a collage of leaf prints and shadows.

Leaf printing and paint shadows

Inspired by the variety of leaves in my garden, I decided to create some leaf prints. I picked some leaves and then chose a side to paint, looking for the most interesting details in the structure and veins. I painted the leaf and then placed a piece of paper on top, pressing down firmly. Next, I peeled back the paper to reveal the print. You might like to experiment printing with different mixtures of colours or on different types of paper to create a leaf print collage.

I really liked the rain shadow created by Andy Goldsworthy so I decided to make paint shadows of the leaves. Hold the leaf down on the paper and paint over onto the paper. You can decide which way to sweep the brush as different directions create different patterns. Then remove the leaf and you are left with a paint shadow. You might like to create a leaf print in a contrasting colour within the shadow to create layers in your artwork.

Rounding to 2 decimal places

Look at the digit in the thousandths column. If it is 0.004 or less, you round down and the tenths digit doesn’t change. If it is 0.005 or more, you round up and the tenths digit changes,                                                                                                           e.g. 4.672 = 4.67 (round down)

                                                    8.938 = 8.94 (round up)

                                                    2.999 = 3.000 (round up)

1) 1.124

2) 0.455

3) 7.724

4) 2.054

5) 4.781

6) 4.996

7) 1.015

8) 6.505

9) 1.078

10) Max took 8.903 seconds to complete the speed stacking challenge. Round his time to 2 decimal places.

Hello Year 6,

I hope you and your family enjoyed the Bank holiday weekend and continue to stay safe and well.  

Remember if you have any questions about tasks, or you would like to share any learning or crafts you have made, you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk – I am still giving out merit marks!

Have a great week,

Miss Raw

‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo

Kensuke’s Kingdom tells the story of a boy called Michael who sets off with his parents and dog Stella on an exciting journey around the world in their yacht Peggy Sue.

However, the adventure takes an unexpected turn when Michael is swept overboard and washed up on an isolated Pacific island…

Descriptive writing

Here is an extract from the story, describing Michael after he falls into the sea:

The terrors came fast, one upon another. The lights of the Peggy Sue went away into the dark of the night, leaving me alone in the ocean, alone with the certainty that they were already too far away, that my cries for help could not possibly be heard. I thought then of the sharks cruising the black water beneath me – scenting me, already searching me out, homing in on me – and I knew there could be no hope. I would be eaten alive. Either that or I would drown slowly. Nothing could save me.

          I trod water, frantically searching the impenetrable darkness about me for something, anything to swim towards. There was nothing.

Impenetrable in this context means you can’t get through.

Choose one of the following pictures as a stimulus and create a piece of descriptive writing, either about being in the sea or arriving on an unknown island.

You could write in the third person, describing what Michael sees and feels, or in the first person, from your own perspective.

Steps to success

• Include a range of sentence lengths to build drama.
• Include powerful descriptive language – how can you show your reader how your character is feeling in this situation?
• Think about how you might use similes (like/as) or metaphors (is) and personification (giving the environment or weather human qualities) to develop the atmosphere.
• Use cohesive devices, such as fronted adverbials, to link sentences.
• Use a range of punctuation.

Challenge: Can you include a flashback in your descriptive writing? What might your character be remembering or thinking about in their current situation?

Year 6 spellings that could be used: aggressive, attached, available, bruise, conscious, desperate, determined, disastrous, hindrance, lightning, muscle, nuisance, yacht.

Animal encounter recount

Later in the story, Michael sees an amazing sight on the beach:

And then I saw it.

          I thought it was a crab at first. It wasn’t. It was a minuscule turtle, tinier than a terrapin, clambering out of a hole in the sand and then beetling off down the beach towards the sea. Then another, and another, and further down the beach dozens of them, hundreds I could see now, maybe thousands, all scuttling across the moonlit sand into the sea. Everywhere the beach was alive with them. Stella was nosing at one, so I warned her off. She yawned and looked innocently up at the moon.

Beetling is a synonym for hurrying.

Think of an amazing animal encounter you have had, either in the wild or at a park or zoo.

My example would be helping to fly a kestrel called Bill onto the head of my music teacher at primary school! Write a recount of this experience.

Why is it so memorable? How did you feel? What did the animal look like? What did it do?

You might like to present your recount as an informal letter or postcard to a friend or family member.

Create your own sea turtle!

I made my very own sea turtle inspired by this description from the book. Here are my instructions so you can have a go too!

You will need:

• Light and dark green paint (or you can mix a lighter green by adding yellow to some green paint).
• An egg box.
• Scissors.
• Glue or tape (masking tape is best as you can paint this).
• A paintbrush.
• A black pen.

1) Paint the egg boxes as instructed in the photograph.

2) Once dry, draw and cut out an oval shape on the light green box as the base for the shell.

3) Cut the ‘face section’ off the ‘shell’ egg box. Draw the eyes onto the turtle. Make two cuts as indicated by the paper clips in the photo. This allows you to bend the head together, making it 3D. Secure with tape or glue. To complete the head, you can add a small section from the ‘base for shell’ box in the gap created by the fold.

4) Cut the six diamond shaped sections off the ‘shell’ box. Arrange to make the shell on the ‘base for shell’ card. I glued these pieces on and then cut around the shape of the shell. I then used the smaller pieces I had trimmed off to fill any gaps and complete the pattern of the shell. 

5) The tall sections inside the ‘shell’ egg box can be cut in half and then folded and secured to form the flippers. They also have a good texture and make the turtle more realistic.

6) Attach the flippers and head to the shell to complete your sea turtle. I then found another egg box and painted it blue to create an aquarium for my completed model.

Punctuation and Spelling: Hyphenating prefixes

Hyphens are used to join words together or add a prefix. We write some words with hyphens to avoid ambiguity and ensure that their meaning is clear.

For example: re-sent and resent

I re-sent the email. ‘Re-sent’ means ‘to send again’.

I resent that remark. ‘Resent’ means ‘to feel bitter’.

Hyphens are often used if the prefix ends in a vowel and the root word begins with a vowel, for example, co-operate. The hyphen makes the word easier to read.

Write the following words with the hyphen in the correct place.

1) reestablish

2) preinstall

3) coexistence

4) reenact

5) reevaluate

6) coordinate

7) deice

8) reedit

9) coown

Identify the correct spelling of each word to complete the following sentences:

10) Ronald didn’t react/re-act well to the bad news.

11) The play was on three nights in a row, so Finn had to react/re-act his role.

12) The teacher had to remark/re-mark the tests after noticing a mistake. 

13) Mrs. Brown made a nasty remark/re-mark to the postman.

14) Jim’s wound got infected, so the nurse had to retreat/re-treat it.

15) The soldiers had no option but to retreat/re-treat to their bunker.

Multiplying fractions  

Multiply the numerators together and multiply the denominators together to find the answer. Remember ‘of’ is another word for ‘times’.

Addition

Choose the most efficient method to solve the following additions. Remember to line digits up carefully according to their place value.

1) 13.08 + 5.9

2) 5,152,357 + 33,500

3) 8500.5 + 487

4) 4.76 + 7.99

5) 15.146 + 6.7

6) 8.3 + 6.6 + 5.7

7) 68.37 + 0.509

8) 103,204 + 26,740

9) 13.99 + 6.08

10) 64,003 + 2,950

11) 36.9 + 12.7

12) 57,000 + 26,000

Reach 100 (an ‘Nrich’ Challenge!)

Here is a grid of four "boxes":
 

You must choose four different digits from 1−9 and put one in each box. For example:

This gives four two-digit numbers:

In this case their sum is 151.

Try a few examples of your own.
Is there a quick way to tell if the total is going to be even or odd?


Your challenge is to find four different digits that give four two-digit numbers which add to a total of 100.

How many ways can you find of doing it?

This problem is adapted from Make 200 from 'Mathematical Challenges for Able Pupils Key Stages 1 and 2', published by DfES. 

Hello Year 6,

I hope you are all well and are pleased to see the return of the bright sunny weather.

Remember I am very proud of you so keep going!

If you have any questions about tasks, or you would like to share any learning or crafts you have made, you can send a message to teacher@hertfordstandrew.herts.sch.uk.

Take care and stay safe and happy,

Miss Raw

Comparative writing

This week we are going to review our learning about how animals are adapted to live in different biomes and write some comparative paragraphs, using the sub-headings of ‘temperature’ and ‘landscape’.

You have looked at camels and fringe-toed lizards in desert biomes and last week you wrote a diary about visiting the Arctic, where you might find Arctic terns, walruses, polar bears and Arctic foxes.

You can use the following links to remind you about these animals and their adaptations for survival in their biome.

Paragraph 1: Temperature

Write a paragraph to explain what the temperature is like in each of these biomes and compare how the animals are adapted to survive.

What special features do the animals have to help them survive in their biome’s heat or cold? How are these adaptations similar or different?

Look for opportunities to use adverbials for cohesion to begin and link ideas:

Paragraph 2: Landscape

Write a paragraph to explain what the landscape is like in each of these biomes and compare how the animals are adapted to survive.

What special features do the animals have to help them move across the landscape and fit in with their surroundings? How are these adaptations similar or different?

Remember to use a range punctuation and indent your paragraphs.

Year 6 spellings that could be used: available, develop, environment, equipped, especially, necessary, sufficient, temperature.

‘Cloudland’ by John Burningham

Cloudland is a magical place for children to visit and play games!

You can:

• Jump across the clouds.
• Play ‘cloud ball’.
• Perform music to accompany thunder storms.
• Swim around in the raindrops.
• Paint beautiful pictures using the colours of the rainbow.
• Use the breeze to race your friends on little clouds!

Unfortunately, London Luton Airport would like to develop a new flight path through Cloudland!

Write a letter to our local councillor Mrs. Redfern, protesting against this plan.

Structure for your letter

• Use the first paragraph to explain the purpose of the letter.
• Use at least 2 short paragraphs to explain why Cloudland should be saved, thinking about its value to children. What can they do in Cloudland? Why are these activities worth protecting?
• Include a paragraph containing a counter argument from London Luton Airport and your response. Is there a solution? Can you think of a more suitable place for their flight path?
• Use the final paragraph to summarise your reasons for saving Cloudland. Create a strong message to make your reader think.

Steps to success

Consider persuasive devices to help her stop this from happening, such as:

• Persuasive noun phrases – ‘Not a single child would…’
• Rhetorical questions – ‘Where will future children..?’
• Modal verbs – ‘Surely you would not want…?’ ‘Can you imagine…?’
• Formal language (no contractions)
• Offering solutions to counter arguments that London Luton Airport might give – ‘Although there are many play areas in our community, none are…’

Remember to use a range of punctuation, indent new paragraphs and use cohesive sentence starters (firstly, secondly, in addition, now, therefore, finally, in conclusion).

Year 6 spellings that could be used: community, controversy, criticise, determined, disastrous, excellent, frequently, leisure, marvellous, persuade, recommend, suggest.

Clouds!

The fantastic cloud formations last week inspired me to create some pictures using different materials. If you can, try the activity outside, observing some real clouds. 

You might like to try finger painting clouds and sky. I put a small amount of dark blue, light blue, black, dark yellow and light yellow on my paper and then made marks using my fingertips. You can blend and layer the colours on the paper. I left the white of the paper showing for the lighter areas of clouds but you could also use white paint.

I also used colouring pencils and pastels to create some pictures. Again you can use your finger to gently blend the different colours together. I was amazed at just how many different colours I could see in a cloud!

Finally, I created a sketch using pencils. I used different amounts of pressure on the paper to show areas of light and shadow. This works really well if there are some big storm or rainclouds gathering.

Have fun creating!

Make your own meringue clouds

The cloud theme can be taken further to cooking!

You will need adult supervision and the following ingredients and equipment if you would like to create some meringue clouds:

• 100g caster sugar
• 2 egg whites (ask an adult to help you separate the egg yolks and whites)
• Some food colouring and a skewer (optional)
• An electric whisk or beaters
• A baking tray covered with a sheet of baking parchment

1) Set your oven to fan 150˚C.

1) Using the electric whisk or beaters, whisk the egg whites in a bowl until they form peaks (when you switch off the beaters and lift them through the egg whites, they should form little peaks like a mountain).

2) Whisk in a little of the sugar at a time. Fold the remaining sugar into the mixture. The mixture should form peaks when you drag the whisk through it.

3) If you would like to colour your meringue clouds, add a little food colouring (1 or 2 drops) to the meringue mixture. Gently mix this in, creating swirls and ripples of colour.

4) Take a tablespoon and spoon the mixture onto the baking parchment. You should have enough to make 16 little clouds!

5) Put a little food colouring in a bowl. Using the end of a skewer, add more colour to the tops of your clouds. You can also use the skewer to swirl the mixture into cloud shapes.

6) Bake the meringues in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Once cooked, they will have a soft, chewy texture like marshmallow!

You can eat them with fresh fruit and ice cream.

If you have lots of different coloured food dyes, you might like to separate the mixture, dying each bowl a different colour to create a meringue rainbow!

Multiplying decimal numbers

Remember to line your digits up in the correct place value columns to solve the following:

1) 5 x 1.3

2) 3 x 2.7

3) 4 x 3.9

4) 3 x 7.6

5) 6 x 4.8

6) 5 x 11.7

7) 4 x 11.6

8) 5 x 12.9

9) 3 x 12.8

10) 4 x 11.5

Hello Year 6,

Hope you are all well and had a great weekend.  

I thought I would introduce this week’s learning with a quiz for fun (and merit marks!)

In the autumn term we looked at bananas grown in South America. Can you remember all 13 South American countries?

There are two ways to complete the quiz:

1) Write down as many of the countries as you can remember independently!

2) I have written the countries below with missing letters. Can you complete them?

At the end of this week’s learning I’ll give you the answers so you can self-mark and see how many merits you have earned! Good luck!

Have a super week,

Miss Raw

South American Countries

1) –ra---

2) Bo-iv--

3) Sur-n-m-

4) Fr-n-h G--an-

5) –en-z-el-

6) C--o-b--

7) E-u-d-r

8) –er-

9) G-y-n-

10) C-il-

11) Arg--t--a

12) P-r-gu--

13) Ur-g-a-

The tundra biome

Last week I introduced you to our new topic on biomes and you completed tasks about a desert biome.

Biomes are areas of our planet with similar climates (weather and temperature), landscapes, animals and plants. Deserts, rainforests and woodlands are just some examples of biomes.

We are now going to consider the tundra biome and use this as a stimulus for some descriptive diary writing.

The tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. In these environments there is very little rain or snow and the temperatures are freezing. Winters are long and summers are short. As a result of the temperature, part of the soil is frozen all year around, although the top part defrosts in summer and plants, like mosses, can grow.

The Arctic is an example of a tundra biome.

Imagine you are an intrepid geographer and have just landed in the Arctic for the summer. During this season, you will have 24 hours of daylight and the ocean will be full of tiny plants and animals called plankton. The temperature might be between freezing (0˚C) and 10˚C.

Write a descriptive diary entry for your first day in this environment.

Here are some question prompts to help you:

What can you see and hear? What is it like travelling over the ice? What is the temperature like? Which animals have travelled to this environment in the summer? What surprises you about the appearance of the Arctic fox in this season?  

Remember to use a range of descriptive devices and punctuation.

Year 6 spellings that could be used: accompany, according, average, communicate, community, curiosity, determined, environment, equipment, frequently, hindrance, temperature, variety.

Darwin’s discovery!

It is 24^th November 1859. You are a journalist working in Victorian England. You have been asked to write a newspaper report about the publication of Charles Darwin’s new book ‘The Origin of the Species’.

Charles Darwin travelled with his friend on a ship called HMS Beagle for 5 years. His role was to collect and make notes about the plants and animals that they saw. The ship stopped in the Galapagos Islands near Ecuador, South America in 1835 and Charles was amazed by the fascinating animals he saw, particularly the finches…

Structure for your newspaper report

• Begin with a formal statement explaining what the article will be about (the publication of the book).
• Explain Darwin’s journey to the Galapagos Islands and his observations about the finches.
• Introduce Darwin’s initial concerns about publishing his observations. You might like to include a quote from Darwin. Remember to punctuate the speech accurately.
• Describe the mixed reactions to the publication of his book. You could include a quote from his friend Alfred Russel Wallace supporting his work and someone who is upset by his ideas.
• End with a simple statement informing readers where they might purchase a copy of Darwin’s new book.

Steps to success

• Use a formal tone (no contractions)
• Use the present tense to describe current events (the publication of the book and people’s reactions) and the past tense to describe how Darwin developed his ideas (his journey to the Galapagos islands)
• Use a range of punctuation
• Use adverbials for cohesion (eventually, consequently, therefore, because of this discovery, similarly, as a result, in fact, most importantly, despite this, quite understandably, obviously angry, however, for this reason)
• Indent paragraphs

Year 6 spellings that could be used: available, controversy, criticise, determined, excellent, explanation, suggest.

Odd One Out Environments

Look at these images of three different environments.

Image 1 is a hot desert.

Image 2 is a salt flat. Salt flats are covered in salt and minerals and are formed when a lake or pond evaporates.

Image 3 is a polar region, like the tundra biome in the Arctic you have been learning about.

How are these environments similar? How are they different?

Which one do you believe is the odd one out? Why?

You might like to present your learning in thought bubbles or bullet points. Alternatively, you could write your response from the perspective of one of the environments, explaining why you are the odd one out.

Spring sketches

When I was in my garden I noticed just how many flowers were appearing so this inspired me to collect some and create some observational pictures using different art materials. Use whichever materials you like to create your pictures but here are some ideas:

I created the purple clematis by using pastels (but chalks would work as well). I used my finger to blend the pastels to show the layers of colour in the petals and then went back over the finished piece with stronger lines of purple to show the details.

For the blue forget-me-nots, I used colouring pencils. When I looked really closely, I realised that some of the centres were darker yellow than others.

To draw the marguerite (daisy) I used Sharpie pens.

Finally, the dicentra or ‘bleeding hearts’ are one of my favourite flowers. I had some felt and thread so I decided to make a textile version of this flower.

Once you are finished creating your flowers, you could create a window display or string them together to make a garland!

Here are the answers to the South American countries quiz:

South American Countries

1) Brazil

2) Bolivia

3) Suriname

4) French Guiana

5) Venezuela

6) Colombia

7) Ecuador

8) Peru

9) Guyana

10) Chile

11) Argentina

12) Paraguay

13) Uruguay

When I tried this independently, I remembered 11/13 (I muddled Guyana and French Guiana up!)

Under 5 = 1 merit mark

5-8 = 3 merit marks

9-12 = 5 merit marks

13 = 13 merit marks

Hello Year 6,

I hope you all had a great rest over the Easter break, enjoyed some delicious chocolate and are now ready to start some learning activities again!

I know we are now starting our third week of learning away from school and our friends, and this is both strange and challenging, so I wanted to share with you something I was told that helps me when things feel really tricky…

Compare life and being on a train journey. As with a train, most of the time we are travelling in the light and we can see what’s happening and we know where we will go next. Sometimes a train will go into a tunnel and it can feel dark, scary and like it’s never going to end. But tunnels do end and so do uncertain times.

Keep going! Miss Raw

The desert biome

We are going to start a new geography topic about biomes.

Biomes are areas of our planet with similar climates (weather and temperature), landscapes, animals and plants. Deserts, rainforests and woodlands are just some examples of biomes.

We are going to begin by focusing on the desert biome and considering how animals are plants are adapted to live in this particular environment.

Desert biomes are hot and dry all year round. Cacti and small shrubs are the only plants that will grow because the soil is shallow and rocky. Animals come out at dusk when the temperatures are cooler.

You can use the link here to see where deserts are found:

https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/earth/deserts/where-are-deserts-found/ 

Adaptations to survive

The following video tells you how the fringe-toed lizard and camel are adapted to live in these conditions.

You can now choose how you present what you have found out. You might like to create a labelled diagram of the animals, explaining how specific parts of their body are adapted to help them survive, or you could pretend you are a biologist interviewing the animals to find out how they live in the desert.

Year 6 spellings that could be used: available, awkward, develop, environment, equipped, necessary, temperature.

Cacti!

The following link provides information about the Saguaro cactus that grows in the Sonoran Desert in North and Central America.

Use this information to create your own information text about the cactus.

You might like to use the following sub-headings to organise your writing:

• introduction (brief definition of the Saguaro cactus)
• habitat
• structure of the cactus
• adaptations to survive

Remember that paragraphs might only be 2/3 sentences long but should be indented (leave a gap from the margin).

Steps to success

• Use the present tense (is, are)
• Use a range of punctuation
• Use adverbials for cohesion (consequently, therefore, because of this adaptation, similarly, as a result, in fact, most importantly, despite this)

Year 6 spellings that could be used: ancient, average, develop, environment, especially, excellent, necessary, symbol, variety.

Prickly pictures!

To make a further link with the Saguaro cactus and desert biomes, I’m going to share with you some ideas for cactus themed art projects.

However, if you can think of your own way to create a cactus, please do!

For my first idea, I used paint and sharpie pens to draw different cacti onto pieces of stone I found in my garden. I have now put them as a garden display in my window!

For my second idea, I took toilet rolls and corrugated card from some packaging and painted these both green. Using scissors, I created holes in the toilet roll once it was dry. I then rolled the card into tubes, secured with tape and inserted these into the holes. Next I bent the cardboard to form the arms of the cactus. Finally, I used some pink sugar paper to make a little flower and added this to the arm of the cactus.

I used the same technique to create the prickly cactus, making smaller holes and then adding strips of cardboard that I had painted yellow.

Enjoy being creative!

What if…?

We are now going to consider the question ‘what if there were no deserts?’

1. What might be some plus points?
2. What might be some negatives to a lack of deserts?
3. What other questions does this question create for you, for example, where might certain animals live? Could they evolve to live in a different habitat or would they die out?

You might like to present your thoughts in thought bubbles or in a table like this:

Here are some thinking points to get you started…

• What kind of plants live in a desert?
• Where would camels live?
• Are there any useful materials in a desert?

I open a packet of sequins. There are 25 sequins in total and the following amount of each colour:

Blue = 5         Silver = 6       Gold = 5      Red = 3    Pink = 4    Green = 2

1) Write these as fractions (look at how many sequins were in the packet to find the denominator).

Can any be simplified? Why? Think about common factors.

2) Now convert these fractions into percentages. Remember that ‘per cent’ means ‘out of 100’.

What can you multiply 25 by to make the denominator 100? Remember to multiply the numerator by the same amount.

3) Now write these as decimals. Think: if 50% is equivalent to 0.5 and 25% is equivalent to 0.25, what must you divide each percentage by to write its decimal equivalent?

Challenge:

If 40% of the total were blue, how many sequins would this be?

20g equals 25 sequins. How many sequins would there be in:

40g?        100g?     125g?

I have 75 sequins. How many g is this?

Scaling

I have a recipe to make a madeira cake. The following ingredient quantities are to make a cake that serves 10 people.

• 225g self-raising flour
• 150g butter
• 150g caster sugar

Use this information to calculate the quantities of ingredients needed to serve:

20 people            40 people            80 people

I now would like to make a cake to feed all the children in our class (13).

What do you need to work out now to help you solve this?

Clue: If those are the quantities for 10 people, how can you find out the quantity of each ingredient for 1 person?

Hello Year 6,

Here we are in another week of lovely warm weather and just 4 days away from the start of the Easter break!

Below are some new activities for you to explore.

Remember to pace yourself with your learning and take a well-deserved break over Easter.

Take care, Miss Raw

Super Scientists!

Using the following website, choose 4 famous scientists to research:

https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/science/famous-scientists/

You can then present your findings in one of the following ways:

• An interview between yourself and the scientists, asking them about their discoveries and their importance to the world today;
• An interactive poster with flaps and mini-quizzes;
• An information text for KS2 children. You might like to adopt a friendly and informal tone to present the facts in a more amusing way, like a ‘Horrible Histories’ book.

‘Eric’ by Shaun Tan

          Some years ago we had a foreign exchange student come to live with us. We found it very difficult to pronounce his name correctly, but he didn’t mind.

          He told us to just call him ‘Eric’.

          We had repainted the spare room, bought new rugs and furniture and generally made sure everything would be comfortable for him. So I can’t say why it was that Eric chose to sleep and study most of the time in our kitchen pantry (a kitchen cupboard).

          “It must be a cultural thing,” said Mum. “As long as he is happy.”

          We started storing food and kitchen things in other cupboards so we wouldn’t disturb him.

          But sometimes I wondered if Eric was happy; he was so polite that I’m not sure he would have told us if something bothered him. A few times I saw him through the pantry door gap, studying with silent intensity, and imagined what it might be like for him here in our country.

          Secretly I had been looking forward to having a foreign visitor – I had so many things to show him. For once I could be a local expert, a fountain of interesting facts and opinions. Fortunately, Eric was very curious and always had plenty of questions.

          However, they weren’t the kind of questions I was expecting….

1) Look at the picture of Eric. What does he look like? What do you think his bags and luggage are made from? Are they natural materials or man-made? Where do you think he might come from and why?

Write a response, using evidence from the text so far and illustrations to support your ideas.

2) Look at the pictures of Eric asking questions.

Create a conversation between yourself and Eric, explaining what each item is. Remember to punctuate your speech accurately and include interesting synonyms for said and adverbs to show how you are both speaking.

3) Imagine you now go on an exchange visit to Eric’s country. What will it be like? What will his home and family look like?

You might like to create a short written description or comic strip.

Two Primes Make One Square

Flora had a challenge for her friends.  
She asked, "Can you make square numbers by adding two prime numbers together?"

Ollie had a think.
"Well, let me see...  I know that 4 = 2 + 2. That's a good start!"

Have a go yourself.  Try with the squares of the numbers from 4 to 20.

Remember: prime numbers only have two factors which are one and itself.  

Square numbers are the product of two identical whole numbers, e.g. 1 x 1 = 1, 2 x 2 = 4 (1 and 4 are square numbers).

I’ve attached a prime number grid to help you begin.

Calculate the mean

The mean is an average. Remember, to calculate it you need to add the quantities together and divide by the number of quantities.

Example: Find the mean of 3, 3, 4, 6 and 9.

3 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 9  = 25

25 divided by 5 = 5

The mean is 5.

1) 5, 7, 4, 7, 7.

2) 8, 2, 7, 4, 4.

3) 3, 2, 5, 4, 4, 6.

4) 8, 7, 7, 6.

5) 6, 10, 8, 9, 9, 9, 5.

6) 4, 3, 6, 5, 5, 7.

Pottery, 1969

This is a picture called ‘Pottery’, made by the British artist Patrick Caulfield in 1969.

What can you see?

Are the objects the same size, shape and colour?

Which pot do you think Caulfield drew first?

Here are some instructions so you can create your own overlapping pattern inspired by Caulfield.

1) Draw some simple templates of household objects onto cereal box card and cut out. I chose some plant pots and the watering can from my garden. As it's nearly Easter, you might like to create a pattern using different sized Easter eggs!

2) Arrange the templates on paper, thinking which will be in the background, mid-ground and foreground. Draw around them in pencil, using a rubber to remove the lines of objects that will be hidden by the next layer.

3) Go around the outlines of the objects in a black pen, thinking carefully about which are behind and which are in front.

4) Colour the objects in using bright, bold colours, adding simple detail in black. If there are gaps, colour these in black.

Hello Year 6!

I hope you are all well and enjoying the beautiful sunshine!

I'm going to post activities here on a Tuesday so do check in once a week for new learning. 

Take care, Miss Raw

Marvellous Maths 

Addition

Choose the most appropriate method but remember to show workings to earn marks!

1) 3407 + 23050

2) 45251 + 2104

3) 34 + 62

4) 426 + 299

5) 3.4 + 24.6

6) 4.7 + 23.3

7) 4632 + 31230

8) 3406 + 2344

9) 73 + 26

10) 352 + 201

Column subtraction

Remember to line up digits in their place value columns accurately.

1) 96978 – 84891

2) 69964 – 23285

3) 57718 – 49824

4) 285683 – 163609

5) 619179 – 376864

Problem Solving!

Rob and Jennie were making necklaces to sell at the school fair.
They decided to make them very mathematical.
Each necklace was to have eight beads, four of one colour and four of another.
And each had to be symmetrical (one half of the necklace is the reflection of the other half).

• How many different necklaces could they make? 
• Can you find them all?
• How do you know there aren't any others?
• What if they had 9 beads, five of one colour and four of another?
• What if they had 10 beads, five of each?

I’ve attached a necklace template sheet that you could use to help you.

Alternatively, you might like to use colouring pencils and draw/colour the symmetrical combinations, or use colour initial letters, e.g. RYYRRYYR

‘The Giant’s Necklace’ Artwork

The following is an extract from Michael Morpurgo’s ‘The Giant’s Necklace’.

11-year-old Cherry is on holiday with her family and wants to complete a cowrie shell necklace. She visits the following beach with her family to collect shells:

          Boat Cove just below Zennor Head was the beach they had found and occupied. Every year for as long as Cherry could remember they had rented the same granite cottage, set back in the fields below the Eagle’s Nest, and every year they came to the same beach because no one else did. In two weeks not another soul had ventured down the winding track through the bracken from the coastal path. It was a long climb down and a very much longer one up. The beach itself was almost hidden from the path that ran along the cliff top a hundred feet above. It was private and perfect and theirs. The boys swam in amongst the rocks, diving and snorkelling for hours on end. Her mother and father would sit side by side on stripy deckchairs. She would read endlessly and he would close his eyes against the sun and dream for hours on end.

How do you imagine Boat Cove to look?

Make your own picture. You could use pencils, paints, crayons or create it using different objects, such as blue clothes for the sea and pens or pencils for the path! Take a picture of your collage creation if you can!

Tourist Information

Imagine you are the tourist information office and need to persuade others to visit Boat Cove.

Make a persuasive poster or leaflet, encouraging people to visit.

• What can they see?
• What activities will they be able to do?

Remember to use persuasive and positive language in your writing!

Here are some adjectives you might like to use:

incredible, serene, breath-taking, extraordinary, ancient, excellent, marvellous.

And some relevant Year 6 spellings:

environment, yacht, appreciate, leisure, opportunity, recommend, temperature.

Reading

There are lots of free books that you can read online!

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page?view=image&query=&type=book&age_group=&level=&level_select=&book_type=&series#

Common Exception Words/ Statutory Spellings

Children must learn to read and spell all of these words by the end of Year 6. At this point in the year children should be able to read and spell all of Year 5 and most of the Year 6 words.

Maths

TT Rockstars

https://play.ttrockstars.com/

Please let us know if your child cannot remember their log in.