Shwmae everyone,
This feels like a strange Blog as we begin this time of
uncertainty but as has already been discussed I will be doing my best to ensure
that children can continue their learning at home.
As Mrs Harries mentioned in her newsletter I understand there will be lots of challenges in the way of
getting the children to work on a daily basis and as a lot of their normal
routines and other clubs and social events that they use to give them comfort
and enjoyment are removed then having lots of downtime to balance the fact they
they are going to be stuck indoors a lot is inevitable.
However, we had a discussion in class about using a bit of
time to do work as being important to help break up their day and the children
were quite sensible to recognise that playing on the computers and watching too
much TV in the day wouldn’t be good for them and we discussed the importance of
doing different things in moderation.
The plan from my part will be to upload some tasks on a
weekly basis for the children to carry out but I would like to ensure they get
their ‘Easter holiday time.’ So if they can try to complete the tasks posted
below over the following fortnight and then I will make sure we have some free
time over Easter as we would have had normally.
Daily tasks to complete whilst at home:
Oxford reading
buddy. I would like the children to aim to read a minimum of one book a
week. Having looking at the books on offer I did notice that there are several
books in Stage 17 and Stage 18 that I think would be both suitable and of
interest to the children so have a look at those as well. Can they please
complete their reading log (saved on HWB) so I can see what they thought of the
books. If anybody has difficulty logging on let me know and I can contact
Oxford reading tree for you – but all accounts work in school.
J2E Blast
(SpellBlast and TimestablesBlast): This will give the children chance to
practice their tables and spellings. Lots of the children have used this in the
past and I know still are still using it but it will be a useful way of
practicing both spellings and tables. As well as practicing by themselves they
also have the opportunity to play ‘live’ against other children (from all
around the world in a competition). They get points recorded for their scores
and I will monitor how they have been progressing – they can also see how many
points they accumulated compared to their classmates.
J2 Stars: The
children have all been allocated a brand new Avatar that is hosted on J2E. I
will be using these to offer rewards for the children whilst they are working
from home for the work they have completed.
Work for the next two weeks
I have added resources to our class Team folder. If you
are still unable to get access on a tablet or an i-Pad to our Teams folders
please make sure you have downloaded The Microsoft Teams App for your device.
If anybody is still having difficulty please let me know via email.
Teams chat (Posts) – I am happy for us to use the chat
page to talk about work related things. If you want to ask a question to see
what other people think about something or need help from a friend please post
on the chat.
- Reply tab – remember if you are replying to a
comment made by somebody else press the reply tab under the comment – (if there
are already multiple comments you can click the previous comments tab to see
what others have responded.
- Appropriate comments – remember this is a HWB
based chatroom that I can see – so if you wouldn’t say it in class don’t post
it on the thread. Try to use full sentences where possible and avoid using text
slang eg ‘ur’ instead of your or ‘u’ instead of you.
- Emoji’s – You can use emoji’s when you type
something but they must have writing to accompany them.
- Group chat – I will make myself available for
a live chat on Friday morning at 10am if anybody wants to join in to catch up
on how we are doing. It is fine to post questions (for me on the Chat before
then but, I will not be online all the time so cannot guarantee an instant reply.
Literacy – Writing
LO: To plan and write a balanced argument
Balanced argument: As we discussed in class I would like you
to write another balanced argument. In class we discussed writing argument:
Should schools have closed to all pupils because of
COVID-19?
However, even though there are lots of points to consider, I
appreciate some might find that topic difficult to discuss.
So I will give you an option of writing either of these
instead if you would prefer:
‘Should homework be banned in schools?’
‘Should it be compulsory for all schools to wear school
uniform?’
Once you have decided what you would like to write about you
need to plan your points – try and aim for 5 points to consider in your
argument
I would like you to plan your argument before you write –
points for and against (I have included the planning sheet we used for the
Titanic argument and also the balanced argument vocab sheet so use these to
help you plan.
In addition, I have added some other resources that you can
look at yourself and a Powerpoint that explains about Balanced arguments if you
want to look through that on your own or with an adult before you begin. There
is a good example argument about the homework question.
After you have planned your argument, write your first draft
in your homework learning logs. Then complete DIRT on your writing as we would
do in class – try and get an adult to read through it with you and look through
the resources again -could you improve it by including more of the balanced
argument vocabulary as openers and connectives? Then when you have checked through it get on to your second draft
Second draft – After you have checked through your
writing can you please type up your second draft so that I can read it. For a
change can you use J2Office on J2E instead of Word on Office 365 – it looks
very similar to Word but will save directly to your J2E files – this will allow
me to read it and offer you a reward sticker – I will also share the folder
with the whole class so that we can read each other’s arguments and perhaps do some peer assessment.
Oracy - Team Debates
LO: To plan your role in a Team debate
Please continue planning your section of the team debate –
use the planning tools I have added to the folder. If you were not in school on
Wed-Fri of last week your team should have shared with you the planning document
about your role in the debate. Speak to the other people in your group to
explain what your task is. There are resources in the Debating folder to help
you.
If you are unsure about what to do after speaking to your classmates
send me a message me and I will go through it with you.
Communication with me – I will aim to pick up emails daily
if you have any questions about the work or technical difficulties
(particularly anybody that still hasn’t managed to navigate getting into Teams.
Remember you will only be able to speak for a maximum of two
minutes. By all means write up your argument (use the balanced argument
resources if they help) but when you are delivering your part of the debate you
will have needed to learn your part so you can only have the key points in front
of you as prompts.
It is very likely that you are going to have to film
yourself completing your part of the debate and we will upload them to make the
debate (we will do this after Easter – so don’t do any filming over the next
few weeks)
Mathematics
LO: To answer data handling questions
In the maths folder I have uploaded 2 booklets for you to
complete about data analysis. You must all complete all the first booklet before
attempting booklet 2.
You can all have a try at the second booklet if you wish
but you do not have to answer all the questions if they are too difficult – if you
had some support from an adult to go through it put SS by the question
like we would in class.
You can print the booklet / s if you wish but you do not
have to print them. Answer the questions in your Learning Log.
I have purposefully removed some questions from the booklets
so you will notice that some questions will not jump on to the next question
numerically. Please write the questions numbers as they appear on the booklets I
have given you as I will be providing the answer books for you as well and you
will need t reference the exact question numbers (ignoring the ones taken out);
Along with practicing your tables on J2Blast this will be
your maths work for this week.
I will post the answers next week and some new work for you
to complete.
Welsh
Miss Parfitt has kindly posted about some Welsh work for you
to complete as well.
STEM Project
I am going to upload another Blog during
this week specifically about the STEM project – those who were in class Wed –
Fri know you will be designing your own boats but please wait until my blog
before beginning anything as you will need to go through a design stage before
you make anything.
As I said in the introduction to the Blog it is up to you how you manage your time but even if you do not complete much of the the tasks during a day please aim to have some time on J2Blast and also complete some online reading using your Oxford Reading Buddy account.
I will catch up with you all during the week.
Take care,
Mr Ball
