Thomas Willingale School and Nursery
Autumn Term
Week of 14.10.2024
Well, the excitement has been building in Maths this week towards long division - we finally got to get started on it on Thursday and by the end of Friday's lesson, the progress from everyone was fantastic. What started out as being quite tough, quickly became very achievable through grit, determination and hard work. We look forward to more practice next week and some tricky word problems too - we love a challenge in Year 6!
If you thought Maths was busy, well, we got to writing our gladiator stories in English. Spurred on by some stirring music, we enjoyed putting all our planning together and bringing our ideas to life. Art tied in with English and History this week and we sketched the Colosseum - some amazing artwork has been created.
We had a fantastic Online Safety Workshop on Tuesday. We watched actors play out a scenario where one was going to meet up with someone that they had been gaming with online. The Y6 children got involved and were able to tell the characters how they wanted the story to unfold and end. Thankfully, the character chose not to go and meet this stranger but the reality of this was brought home to us with Break's story. A boy, from Essex who sadly did go and meet a stranger (a 'friend' from his online gaming world) and Breck was tragically murdered. Y6 were extremely mature in how they received this shocking story, we hope that they shared this experience with you.
Well, that's it for now, time for the weekend and enjoy it, a long one for you and us Teachers are looking forward to meeting with parents on Monday!
Our online safety assembly
Long Division
Week of 7.10.2024
Here we are, into October and the weather has certainly turned colder. We kept our brains warm though this week with some tests in our first Assessment Week in Year 6. Everyone tried very hard, used their growth mindsets and tried their best. We will now spend time looking at the papers and seeing how we can learn from our mistakes. This will prepare for us for our next round testing (before Christmas) and focus us on our scaled scores.
As a break from testing, it was great to get started on planning our gladiator stories. We have been filling in our 5 point plan and using the story mountain to guide through our planning. Lots of great ideas and the children cannot wait to get writing next week.
We started division in Maths this week and are looking forward to long division next week - more new learning in Year 6.
Congratulations to the mixed football team who came 2nd today, out of 20 teams - fantastic!
Have a great weekend everyone and see you next week.
Week of 30.09.2024
In maths this week we have been busy revising short and long multiplication. We got through short, very quickly and then spent more time focusing on fluency and accuracy when it comes to long multiplication. Once again, our times tables are the cornerstone to ensure accuracy. We’re looking forward to some problem solving next week and then onto division!
In English, we have continued our history focus by looking at Roman Gladiators, learning about the different types and their weaponry. We wrote some character descriptions, in preparation for some story writing next week.
Our work on the heart in science continued with us making some clay sculptures. Have a look at the photos, we think they look great and we will be painting them next week.
We had an excellent Parliamentary Assembly on Tuesday, learning all about both Houses in Westminster. We got the opportunity to see how a Bill gets debated and voted on and through both The House of Commons and The House of Lords, it was very informative.
Have a great weekend and see you next week.
Week of 23.09.24
Are we the only ones thinking how quickly the weeks are going?!
In English, this week, we continued to write our chronological reports about The Battle of Marathon. The children wrote some very detailed reports, with lots of historical information. The legacy of this battle is certainly something that everyone has really understood. Our focus now is on our grammar, punctuation and spelling and how we can make our writing even better.
Maths fun continued this week with addition and subtraction and really perfecting our accuracy as well as looking as missing number questions. We will move on next week to multiplication and then division - long division is a Year 6 treat.
The best fun of the week was in Science - we dissected lambs' hearts! There was great excitement mixed with trepidation but what fun we had. The children cut through and were able to look at the 2 atria and 2 ventricles as well as arteries, veins and the heartstrings - have a look at the photos, if you dare!
Have a great weekend everyone and see you next week - October already!
Heart Dissection
Week of 16.09.2024
Another busy, but a lovely sunny week in Year 6. In Maths, we have been learning to round as well as looking at negative numbers - so much great effort from everyone. We will consolidate our learning on negative numbers next week, look at Roman numerals and get cracking on addition and subtraction.
This week in English, we planned and began writing our chronological reports about The Battle of Marathon. We know you will learn so much from the children, they have loved learning about this very famous battle.
Science proved exciting in that we have looked at the heart and learned about the 4 chambers. We will be looking at real (animal) hearts next week so that we can actually see the chambers.
Some of the children in Year 6 had the opportunity to attend a cricket event with Mrs Evans. As a school, we came second and the children were very proud of their medals.
Our topic in Music this term is called Happy and so far we have been listening to and appraising Happy by Pharell Williams and Top of the World by The Carpenters. Wonder what next week's song will be?
On that note, have a great weekend and enjoy this sun while it lasts!
Cricket Event
Week of 9.09.2024
Here we are at the end of Week 2 already! In Maths we got to work on Place Value, looking at each digit up to 1 million. We then compared and ordered numbers in ascending and descending order and ended the week rounding numbers. This rounding work will continue next week as we improve our accuracy and look at rounding in real-life contexts.
In English, we concentrated on our topic and as historians we looked at Conflict, Crime and Punishment through the ages: The Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Tudors and Victorians. We have also started learning about The Battle of Marathon and we are looking forward to writing chronological reports about it next week.
In PSHE, we looked at British Values and Christmas came to Year 6 as we made Christmas cards for publication.
PE was fun in the sun today, more tag rugby skills on the field.
We promised you our fantastic Transition Day art displays last week, well, they're up and here for you to have a look at and enjoy.
Have a great weekend everyone and see you again next week.
Here's the powerpoint that was shared at the parent information evening.
Parent Information Evening
Our Displays
Week of 2.09.2023
Well here we are, a new school year and a new Year 6 crew! Our first week done and all have settled so very well. We've spent the week getting to know each other, setting rules and expectations, finding out what's ahead and having some fun! Many of the children have put themselves forward for the many jobs available to them in Y6 - it has been great to see such enthusiasm and dedication.
Following on from our Transition Day, we completed some lovely art that will be our first Year 6 displays - watch out for those next week.
We have created some fantastic posters about our new topic: Conflict, Crime and Punishment and the children have generated lots of questions which will fuel our curiosity as we work through the term. We also have a new Connections Display with all of these questions and we will build connections in our learning, as we go.
We finished the week with some PE on the field, refreshing our tag rugby skills and managed some class photos for you to see too!
Well done everyone for a fabulous first week, have a super weekend and see you all next week.
Connections!
