Year 6: Blog items
Date: 18th Dec 2020 @ 3:00pm
Although it has looked very different from previous years, we have still celebrated the festive season at Boundary, albeit it in our bubbles and via whole school virtual assemblies.
Our carol service was a beautiful event, witnessed, shared and enjoyed (virtually!) by the whole school – a testament to the resilience, patience and determination of both our children and our staff.
During the week, bubbles have enjoyed their Christmas dinner. The hall was set out beautifully with crackers to pull, hats to wear and the odd poor joke to tell for each year group bubble to enjoy their Christmas dinner on their special day! A huge ‘Thank You’ goes to all the staff for making it run smoothly, especially Debbie and all the catering and welfare staff for all their hard work in making our delicious dinner.
Each bubble also enjoyed their party day this week, with children wearing their Christmas jumpers and their best party clothes! Each class spent the last afternoon of this term watching a special virtual pantomime ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and eating popcorn.
Although 2020 has not been the year we would have hoped for, our children, staff and parents and carers have once again united to create a supportive, nurturing environment for the children of Boundary, ensuring that each child continues to receive the best education and start in life despite the events of this year.
We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for your ongoing support during these strange and difficult times and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful, safe and happy New Year and we look forward to welcoming you all back in January.
Religious Education - a summary of our learning so far....
Date: 11th Dec 2020 @ 1:00pm
At Boundary, our curious and tolerant children have had a busy few weeks learning lots about different religions and we can’t wait to share what we have done…
Reception have been busy learning about the Christmas story and filming our nativity in their outdoor area. They loved dressing up and re-enacting the nativity play.
This half term in Year 1 for RE, the children have been learning all about Jesus and the Christmas Story. They have learnt about the roles of a family and why babies are special. They have read the Christmas Story and then ordered the events. This week, they worked together in groups, to sort out Christmas cards into ones with a religious meaning and ones without.
Year 2 having been exploring the question...
Why do Christians say that Jesus is the 'Light of the World'?
They children have learnt about how lights are used by Christians in celebration and to mark special events, what advent means and how they can be a light to other people!
Year 3 have been learning about Islam and who Muslims follow. They have learnt about the characteristics that the prophet Mohammed showed and how Muslims can be charitable. The children have reflected on this and how they can apply it to the role models in our lives.
In Year 4, they have been learning about Christianity and how Christians show love to everyone. The children have done this by looking at parables such as The Good Samaritan and The Unforgiving Servant. These parables have told them that it is important to 'Love thy neighbour' and treat everyone around them with care and respect.
This term in Year 5 they have been learning about Islam. They looked at Ramadan, The 5 Pillars of Islam, The Holy Qur'an and Hajj.
The Holy book of Islam is the Qur'an, Muslims clean themselves in water that has been blessed, before they hold it. - Lacey-Morgan
The pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) is one of the five pillars of Islam and Muslims must do it at least once in their life if they are physically capable of it. Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which pilgrims wear two white sheets of seamless cloth during their pilgrimage. - Myles
Year 6 children have been learning about the Hindu belief in reincarnation, karma and the 4 Ashramas (stages of life). The children have reflected on the milestones they have achieved in their lives already and possible future ones.
Team Work Makes The Dream Work
Date: 7th Dec 2020 @ 6:57pm
What a challenging lesson today's OAA was! The pictures say it all!!!
Our first activity was to split into two groups and run through the hoola hoop obstacle course at the same time as the other team. Once we were face to face with our opponent, we had to play 'rock, papers, scissors' and the winner could carry on their journey as the other person had to go to the back of their line. As soon as one person made it to the other side, they won a point for their team.
Our next task consisted of us getting into groups of 4/5 where we had to balance the hoola hoop on the back of our hands (on our fingers). We then had to follow particular commands whilst the hoola hoop balanced such as: kneel down, raise your arms up, put one arm behind your back, lift one leg up etc... This tested our patience with our team and relied on good communication skills.
Our final task was to get into groups of 8 where we were given a number 1-8. There were 9 cones and we had to get in numerical order but only by moving one space (and person) at a time, and using the blank space. to achieve this This is a similar concept to the game slider puzzle.
We can't wait to see what next week's lesson has in store for us!
Updated COVID Information - Letter to Parents and Carers
Date: 8th Dec 2020 @ 3:20pm
Date: 2nd Dec 2020 @ 10:58am
Today, Year 6 took part in a 90 minute online safety talk with Bernadette from WIRED. The session talked about how we can stay safe online and the dangers of being on social media sites. She went through ways in which APPs like Tik Tok can be dangerous/inappropriate for children and what children should be looking at if they do go on these sites.
We are also having another talk next week to go further into online safety.
Date: 1st Dec 2020 @ 8:00am
Today, we welcomed Hindu visitors (via Zoom!) to Year 6.
They started their talk about being a Hindu in general; they explained about the different types of Hindus, prayer, chants and the special clothes they sometimes wear.
They explained the 4 Ashramas and the stage they are currently in. The main focus was their belief in reincarnation and karma and how this has an impact on the choices and actions they makes in life.
Date: 17th Nov 2020 @ 7:51am
Date: 12th Nov 2020 @ 8:47pm
In our PE session today, we had a great time learning and developing our team-building skills where we had to work on our communication and listening skills. Today's task was to pair up, sit back-to-back and one of us to draw a picture without our partner seeing. We then had to describe what we had drawn to our partner so they could attempt to draw the same. I know what you're thinking, 'You could just tell them what you have drawn!' But, it wasn't as simple as that. We could only describe it in shapes, sizes and position. After that, we teamed up in groups of 4 where 2 people held a mat between two others. The ones on each side of the mat, had to choose a person between them to strike a pose. The two holding the mat, had to describe to the other how the person was positioned. Once they were in position (and it was a mirror of the other person) the mat was removed to reveal them. Were they the same? Did they communicate and listen effectively? On the whole, we did extremely well and we can't wait to see what our next OAA session has in store for us!
Date: 12th Nov 2020 @ 8:36pm
Date: 5th Nov 2020 @ 4:30pm
As part of the work we do for Remembrance Day, we have produced poppy art using water colours. We looked at lots of different examples of poppies and chose our own way of drawing them. We then drew and painted the poppies over a war poem, which we read and discussed.
Date: 5th Nov 2020 @ 4:15pm
Today in PE we took part in an orienteering competition. Spread across the MUGA were 12 posts with a letter attached to each one. In groups of four, we had to work through 8 different routes and write down the letters that we came to on each route. We were timed to see how long it took us to complete all 8 routes. The winning team did it in a time of 12 mins 23 seconds. All of Blackpool schools completed the same course and there will be an overall winner. Stay tuned to see if it was us!!
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 5:23pm
It was great coming back to school after our week off and we kicked it off with our WOW lesson on Electricity.
We had four investigations to complete:
- Identifying symbols used to represent a bulb, buzzer, motor, cell (single), battery (2 cells), simple switch (open and closed), push switch and wires.
- Creating a simple circuit with a bulb, 2 wires, a battery, a buzzer and a motor.
- Investigating insulators and conductors with sever objects: ruler, rubber, pencil, sharpener, scissors, mirror, paper clip, tinfoil and split pin.
- Creating a switch - we used a piece of card, 2 split pins and a paper clip and created our own off/on switch, where we added it to our simple circuits.
During our different investigations we realised that conductors of electricity (lets electricity pass through easily) were all made from metal materials. Amazingly, we quickly realised that the lead of the pencil would conduct electricity, which we thought was really cool!
We can't wait to find out what our other science lessons on Electricity has in store for us!
Watch this space...
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:35am
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:33am
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:32am
Date: 8th Oct 2020 @ 7:55pm
This half term our PE unit has been OAA (Outdoor Adventurous Activities). The main focus has been working together as a team. Today we took part in several activities that required us to work together as a team and communicate so that the team succeeded. The main part of the lesson was a game called 'Crossing the Swamp'. For this, we had to move the entire team from one end of the hall to the other by only using hoops to stand in. We had to make sure that everyone was playing their part and moving the hoops carefully down the team to put at the front so that we could all get across quickly.
Mayan Sacrifice - brutal or civilised?
Date: 7th Oct 2020 @ 7:45pm
In History today we began learning about why Mayans sacrificed animals/humans. We began by exploring a painting of a sacrificial ritual. We discussed what we thought was going on in the photos and generated questions we wanted to ask based on the photo. We found out that some animal sacrifices were carried out by the high priests and was taken very seriously. The animals would be sacrificed as an offering to the gods, usually as part of big event such as a wedding, birth, death.
We then worked as groups to look through a set of photos. We had to discuss whether we thought the pictures showed that the Mayans were either a brutal or civilised people. Many of us thought that even though they were capable of great things, such as creating a number system, developing their own language, using the stars to predict the future etc. we felt that they were a brutal people.
Date: 7th Oct 2020 @ 8:46pm
In Science today we have learned all about refraction. Refraction is where light waves travel at a different speed when they go through other transparent materials, such as water or glass. This causes the rays of light to change direction and bend.
Refraction creates illusions. Because light bends when it travels between air and water or glass, objects seen through these materials look bent or distorted. Objects can look bigger or smaller. They can also look as if they have turned the opposite way or flipped upside down. We carried out several investigations to see refraction in action!
Date: 6th Oct 2020 @ 7:46pm
Today we held another No Pen Day in Year 6. We began the day looking through a set of 'Thunks' - these are statements/questions where this isn't one specific answer. The idea of 'Thunks' is to get us all talking and communicating. We are free to give our own opinions and give reasons for our thinking. Some of the 'Thunks' we discussed were:
- Where does the sky begin?
- Is it better to do the right thing or to do things right?
- Is there more future or more past?
We then took part in Maths challenges and completed sets of tarsias in pairs. A tarsia is a Maths 'jigsaw' - the shapes fit together by matching questions and answers. We enjoyed the sessions and look forward to more throughout the year.
Date: 2nd Oct 2020 @ 7:28pm
This week we have held our annual school council elections. On Thursday, those who wanted to be considered for the role had to present their manifesto to the class - some children read speeches whilst others used slides on the the computer. On Friday, all children were given the opportunity to take part in a democratic vote. The results will be shared on Monday afternoon in assembly.
We are very proud of all those children who put theirselves forward and for showing dedication, courage and leadership.
Date: 2nd Oct 2020 @ 10:56am
Rev Cox and his wife joined us on Zoom for a virtual talk about being a Christian, how they live their lives and their sense of purpose. We explored the Christian belief of life after death and how this affects the decisions they make in life. We reflected on the term purpose, linking it to people we know and also our own lives.
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth!
Date: 28th Sep 2020 @ 4:46pm
Today, in our Music lesson, we listened to and appraised the song ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams. During our ‘Warm up’ game, we found the pulse of the music and then clapped the rhythms in time with the music copying previous instructions. We ended the lesson with playing the glockenspiels. We looked at the notes, A, G and B where we played in time with the music and in time with one another.
Date: 15th Sep 2020 @ 9:26am
Year 6 have taken their RE lesson outside this week. They have explored: What sort of things are we sorry for? Why do we say sorry? Why is it important to say sorry?
What sort of things are we sorry for?
- Breaking things on purpose or accidental
- Hurting feelings
- Falling out
- Stealing
- Being mean
- Online bullying
- Cheating in a test
- Physically hurting someone
- Making fun of someone
- For someone’s loss
- When you let someone down
- When you are late for something
- When you forget to do something
- Making mistakes
Why do we say sorry?
- For forgiveness
- To fix your mistake
- Make somebody feel better
- Make yourself feel less guilty
- To show you care about a person
- To show you regret what you have done
- To be polite
- To show it was an accident
- Acknowledge feelings
- Show empathy
Why is it important to say sorry?
- For healthy relationships
- To make friends again
- To make clear the air
- To restore trust
- To understand what we may have done wrong
- It shows respect
- To take responsibility for your actions
- Shows you care
We also created a forgiveness scale and explored different scenarios. The children placed themselves on the scale according to how challenging that scenario would be to forgive.
The Mayans - What An Advanced Civilisation
Date: 11th Sep 2020 @ 2:32pm
During our History Topic - The Mayans - we have started to look at what made them such an established civilisation. Today, we had to go on a treasure hunt around the playground where we looked at several clues, that helped us gain a better understanding to what made them so amazing.
We learnt:
- They built temples, tools and weapons.
- They were the first ever people to cultivate cocoa beans and added chilli to their chocolate.
- They looked at the stars to help them understand days, months and years.
- They came up with their own symbols, which were used for sounds and words.
- They also came up with their own number system that helped with trading, selling and counting the score of a ball game.
- They even invented the ball, which they made from the tree - rubber.
We can't wait to learn more about The Mighty Mayans.
Changes to Home Time Arrangements
Date: 3rd Sep 2020 @ 4:18pm
Changes to home time arrangements
As we have now been open for a number of days we have noticed a concerning lack of social distancing by parents and carers. Therefore, we are enhancing our COVID Safe rules.
We recommend that face coverings are worn by all parents and carers who are medically able to do so – staff will also be wearing face coverings.
To further ensure safe exiting at the end of the date, we will now stagger the collection times:
Year 3 – finish at 3:15pm
Year 4 – finish at 3:10pm
Year 5 – finish at 3:20pm
Year 6 – finish at 3:25pm
As always, for those parents/carers who have to collect children from Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1, staff will still wait with your child until you can collect them from their designated zone.
Nursery, Reception, Years 1, 2 and 3
There will be no changes to Reception and Key Stage 1 at this time, however, this situation is under constant review. Please remember, do not call your child over to you, they will be brought to you by a member of staff.
Please follow these new procedures to help keep your child safe.
