This week in Base 5

Another busy week in Base 5!

In Literacy we have continued with our Novel Wolf Brother and it is getting very exciting now! We left Torak where he had been captured by the raven clan, and even though he had fought for his freedom and won, they still won't let him go! Will he manage to escape? We have been looking at the wonderful language used in the novel to paint a picture in the mind of the reader; in particular personification. We took two of the settings from the novel (the forest, and the waterfall) and have tried to write our own pieces using all the features we have been learning about: metaphor, simile, adjectives, adverbs and personification. The children have then edited their own work and, using a dictionary and thesaurus, have found new and more adventurous vocabulary to use. We have some great pieces of writing to put on our walls and for our learning journeys. The children have also finished their information texts about bears or wolves, and these are now up on our wall and look fantastic next to our display of cave paintings.

In maths we have been working really hard on fractions. We started our work on fractions with some great outdoor learning, building fraction walls with twigs and finding fractions of the autumn leaves we found on the floor. We can now find equivalent fractions, order, add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers that have different denominators. Most children can now find the lowest common denominator for a pair or set of fractions and change improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa. Some children have also been solving some very tricky fraction problems, well done! We discovered that knowing our times tables thoroughly, really helps with fraction work. Keep practising at home Year 6!

In science we have been looking at the kingdom of Fungi; in particular yeast. We discovered that yeast needs water, oxygen and food just like us! We learnt that carbon dioxide is a waste product given off by yeast when it makes energy, and this causes the bubbles we can see in bread. We set up an experiment to investigate which substance makes the best substrate (food) for the yeast. Each group has set up four bottles with yeast and water in them, but a different substrate in each. The children then attached a balloon to the top of the bottles to see how much CO2 gas was being given off. Photographs were taken every hour. When we left on Friday the balloon over the bottle with the sugar in it had started to inflate. We will see what has happened over the weekend when we return on Monday morning. We just hope Mr Eaton hasn't had to be called into school because of balloons flying around the classroom!!!

In Geography we have been looking at the mountain ranges in the UK and the highest peaks in these ranges. We then looked at contour lines on maps and how they show us the heights and shapes of mountains. The children did really well matching the contour lines to the 3D mountain shapes.

We have also been really busy practising for the Harvest Festival next week. Remember to keep learning your part of the poem for Monday. Try to learn it off by heart and remember to speak loudly and clearly.

Just a reminder that homework is due in on Thursday and remember to keep reading at home too!

Can I also take this opportunity to ask that children have a coat in school. We often will go outside to do our learning and some children without coats are feeling the cold. The children love to go outdoors to learn and with the colder weather upon us now I can only do this if all children have the appropriate clothing.

Lots of exciting things planned for next week! Can't wait!

See you all on Monday morning.
Mrs McGhie