We are readers

15th September 2024Hannah McLoughlin

Our new text this half term is a non fiction book called Space Explorers, which included 25 extraordinary stories of space exploration.

In our book talk sessions we have learnt new vocabulary such as, ‘conflict’ ‘devoted’ ‘override’, ‘pacing’, ‘vast’, ‘mesmerised’ and ‘observation’. We ensure that we all know what the words mean and discuss how they had been used in the text by the author. Miss models reading the first couple of pages then we practise our fluency by taking it in turns to read paragraphs/whole pages each. We listen and observe carefully so that we can critique how well our partner had used the punctuation such as commas and full stops in the text. We then go through some reasons to read together which required us to use our skimming and scanning skills to allow us to retrieve information from the text. As a class we need to improve on explaining how we go about finding the answer to a question.

We take it in turns to read the different questions and unpick the vocabulary used to help us to understand what information was required such as, ‘How long…’ meaning that we needed to look for a time (minutes, years, months, years etc.). We use our skimming and scanning skills (with a little help from miss thinking aloud) to retrieve the answers from the text. Once we have located the information we check the amount of marks required and if 2/3 marks we explain our answers using the evidence that we had found to support our answer (A.P.E). Later on in the week in demonstration comprehension, we have unpicked questions and accuracy with answers. Miss can already see an improvement from our first Demonstration Comprehension lesson!

Scotties

15th September 2024Hannah McLoughlin

We were put through our paces in our Scotties session – not just testing our physical ability but also our ability to work in partners to communicate and accomplish goals together. Great effort Crew Mcloughlin and I am sure we will improve next session!

Establishing Crew

2nd September 2024Hannah McLoughlin

Crew Mcloughlin really delved into ‘what is crew?’ last week. The children came up with their own definition and discussed their expectations of what they would want their crew to be like in order to adopt good habits and be the best versions of themselves. We spoke about Year 6 expectations and we just know this year is going to be a good one!

Throughout the week we have also been answering our Crew guiding question ‘How can Crew be strengthened through acts of service?’ We unpacked this question and discussed acts of service further – giving but not expecting to receive. As a Crew we decided to create postcards and bake in order to spread happiness around Carcroft. I was quite impressed with our beautiful work but even more so to see some children used their initiative and further carry this on throughout the week – giving cake and compliments to staff members and pupils. How lovely!

We participated in Challenge Crew on Tuesday where Mrs Rhodes (the queen of Challenge Crew) wrote a shopping list – It was the team leaders job to read the list and try to remember the five items, then go back to their teammates and verbally pass this down the line. The winning team was the first person at the back of the line to recite the shopping list exactly. We had lots of fun! When debriefing we realised we had used team working, listening and communication skills and critiqued how we performed at these specific skills.

As a morning task we also thoroughly enjoyed reading First News – we found lots of articles that linked to expedition and reading newspapers reminded us of our grandads.

This year we have the great opportunity of Y11 pen pals and got to meet them on hangout! We introduced ourselves and asked them lots of questions. We cannot wait to write to them further into the year, watch this space!

Overall, a very productive and successful week focusing on establishing Crew!

Blasting into immersion week

1st September 2024Hannah McLoughlin

This week we have engaged with a range of tasks in order to guess the title and guiding question for the expedition. We have been scientists by exploring our solar system, naming and ordering planets, learning all about forces and to top it off going in the wonder dome, which deepened our understanding. We also painted some beautiful art work of the Sun, Earth and Moon. We researched the artist Andy Warhol, which inspired us to create images with similar techniques and relate to outer space. We used a variety of skills and tools in order to produce these including the use of varying brush strokes, dabbing of a sponge and flicking of a toothbrush to create different elements of our image.

Wonderdome

30th August 2024Laura Hamill

To kick start our expedition, Upper Key Stage 2 were whisked off to the Milky Way within the amazing Wonderdome. We were able to fully immerse ourselves into our solar system, exploring each of the planets and learning in-depth information about the Sun, Earth and Moon. Matt, our space expert, was extremely knowledgable about all things space – past, present and future. We were able to discover that Earth is the only planet that humans can live on as it is in the habitable zone (also known as the Goldilocks zone) where the conditions – temperature, water and oxygen – are just right! We were also taught about the first astronauts to travel into space and land on the moon. Did you know there were THREE astronauts? Interestingly, it wasn’t just Neil Armstrong (the first man to step on the Moon) but it was also Buzz Aldrin, who walked on the Moon’s surface alongside Neil, and Michael Collins, who stayed in the space craft to keep it safe. We were excited to find out that there will be another attempt to travel to the Moon next year, with 4 new astronauts set to orbit the moon!