Otters

Otter Class Page

Teacher: Mrs Chantelle Clarke

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Cathy Jameson

Key Information:

PE - Monday and Friday  

Please make sure PE kits are in school on these days.

Homework - Will be given out on Thursday. 

Please make sure this is back in school by the following Tuesday. Homework page numbers will be posted on the class page every Thursday. 

Friday 15th May 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 20th May 2020.

• Maths: Line Graphs - pages 102-103
• SPaG: Progress Test 1- pages 30-31
• Reading: Inference in Non-Fiction 2 - pages 35-36
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday (completed by your parents).

Friday 8th May 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 13th May 2020.

• Maths: 3D Shapes and Nets - pages 90-91
• SPaG: Modal verbs- pages 14-15
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday (completed by your parents).

Friday 1st May 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 6th May 2020.

• Maths: 2D Shapes - pages 88-89
• SPaG: Verb Tenses 2- pages 28-29
• Reading: Predicting Events - pages 38-39
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday (completed by your parents).

Friday 24th April 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 29th April 2020.

• Maths: Missing Angles - pages 94-95
• SPaG: Verb Tenses 1- pages 26-27
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday (completed by your parents).

Friday 3rd April 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 22nd April 2020.

• Maths: Scale Factor - pages 70-71
• SPaG: Sentence Types - pages 24-25
• Reading: Summarising Main Ideas - Pages 24-25
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday (completed by your parents).

Friday 27th March 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 1st April 2020.

• Maths: Ratio - pages 68-69
• SPaG: Expanded Noun Phrases - pages 22-23
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday (completed by your parents).

Friday 20th March 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 25th March 2020.

• Maths: Prime, square and cube numbers - pages 34-35
• SPaG: Full stops, capital letters, exclamation and question marks - pages 32-33
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday (completed by your parents).

Friday 13th March 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 18th March 2020

• Maths: Perimeter and Area - pages 80-81
• Reading: Finding Information in Non-Fiction 2 (Love your heart) - pages 22-23
• SPaG: Semi colons, colons and commas- pages 42-43
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

STEM Festival hosted by Thurston Community College

Today, Otters have been fortunate enough to attend a STEM festival at Thurston Community College, led by amazing Year 10 Thurston pupils. The children were able to explore a range of scientific activities that widen and broadened their scientific inquiry skills. In addition to this, the children also had the opportunity to take part in solving a carousel of Mastery Maths problems; these problems were very tricky but the children tackled them with determination and resilience. I am one very proud teacher. 

Computing

This week Otters have explored the software 'Google Sheets' located on Google Drive. They have learnt that google sheets can store data within a database and that this data can be filtered and sorted. To start this unit of work, the children were given a range of cell coordinates (for example, C5, D6, H7) and the children had to fill the cell with a specific colour to create a shape, icon or person. Can you guess who it is?

Friday 6th March 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 11th March 2020

• Maths: Linear Number Sequences - pages 76-77
• Reading: Explaining the meaning of words in context - pages 8-9
• SPaG: Brackets, dashes and commas - pages 34-35
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

Friday 28th February 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 4th March 2020

• Maths: Formulae and equations - pages 74-75
• Reading: Finding information in Non-Fiction 1 - pages 20-21
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

Polar Scott Museum

This term's topic 'Polar Pioneers' and given Otters many successful learning opportunities, and today, they were fortunate enough to visit the Polar Scott Museum! The children took part in a workshop and they have learnt lots of fascinating facts about Shackleton and Scott. 

Geography

Otters have been learning about the different climates and climate zones with Mr Holman. They have been analysing the climate here (in the UK) and comparing this with an specific area in the Arctic (near Greenland). As well as analysing data, the children have created graphs that show the annual precipitation, and then produced a written report on their findings!

Computing

Today was an exciting day for Otters; we managed to set up our google accounts on the new Chromebooks!! 

Friday 14th February 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 26th February 2020

• Maths: Units of measurement - pages 78-79
• SPaG: Active and Passive Voice - pages 20 - 21 
• Reading: Inference in Poetry (through the woods and friends) - pages 36-37
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

Literacy 

Next week, Otters will be writing a non-chronological report to on an Arctic or Antarctic animal. To be able to complete this task successfully, the children have been reading 'Seven Worlds One Planet' and we have watched the David Attenborough documentary on Antarctica to build up a bank of facts and collate a range of technical high level vocabulary. I am so excited to see the outcome next week...stay tuned in...

Geography 

This week, Otters have been exploring climate zones; they have learnt what climates zone are and then identified a range of climate zones using the globe and atlases. 

Friday 7th February 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 12th February 2020

• Maths: Mixed fractions, decimals and percentage problems - pages 62-63 
• Reading: Finding information in poetry (The way through the woods and Friends) - pages 18-19
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

Science

After exploring the concepts of characteristics and inheritance last week; this week, we have focused on animal adaptations. The children have researched an Arctic or Antarctic animal and identified the characteristics that animal has that shows an adaptation to the environment where it lives.   

Writing

Last week, Otters wrote newspaper reports for a purpose. This purposeful piece of writing gave the children the opportunity to inform the public of recent tragic events that have occurred at Horsey Beach. The reports that the children wrote were absolutely amazing, they showed great formal tone that included direct and indirect speech. 

Reading

This week, the children have been improving their deduction and inference skills. To achieve this goal, they had to: read the question; pick out key words and vocabulary from the question; scan the text to identifying any key words or vocabulary from the question; read around the text and then determine the answer. I tricky concept that, once again, Otters have nailed! 

Friday 31st January 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 5th February 2020

• Maths: Percentages - pages 60-61 
• SPaG: Subject, Object and Verb-agreement - pages 16-17.
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

Friday 24th January 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 29th January 2020

• Maths: Decimal Fractions - pages 56-57 
• SPaG: Inverted commas - pages 36-37.
• Reading: Finding meaning from words; The Olympic Games - Page 10
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

Our trip to Fakenham Racecourse

Year 5 and 6 absolutely loved our trip to Fakenham Racecourse today; this amazing opportunity exposed the children to real life, purposeful Maths. Each child measured the perimeter of the parade ring, with varying answers, the children found the mean, median and mode. This information, along with the length of a racehorse and the length of a safe distance between each racehorse, allowed the children to determine how many racehorses can fit in the parade ring at once! 

In addition to this, the children went into the weighing room where they observed the use of the scales that measures the jockeys, then, they used imperial measurements to weigh themselves. 

Friday 17th January 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Wednesday 22nd January 2020

• Maths: Number Problems - pages 18-19 
• SPaG: Prepositions - pages 10-11.
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Wednesday.

Our trip to Horsey Beach

Our topic for this term is 'Polar Pioneers', which means that the children will be learning about animals (that live in Antarctica) and their habitats as well as evolution and adaptation.

This learning focus has provided us with the perfect opportunity to visit Horsey Beach! We had the pleasure of observing (up close) seals and seal pups. The wardens filled our heads with the most amazing facts about these remarkable creatures. We now know so much about how the seals adapt and evolve within their habitat!

It is days like these, I realise how much I love my job; Otter Class are the BEST class to take on these wonderful educational visits that provide us with enriched and purposeful learning. 

Our focus text for this half term:

This half term, we will be reading extracts from the non-fiction book, 'Seven Worlds One Planet'. As a class, we are so excited to explore the continent of Antarctica, following the animals that have made these iconic environments their home, it discovers spectacular wildlife stories that reveal what makes each of these seven worlds unique.

Science

For part of our science topic, 'Evolution and Inheritance' the children have been learning about inherited characteristics. We have explored shared characteristics between siblings and discussed variation, as well as looking at characteristics that we have inherited from our parents. 

Thursday 9th January 2020: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Tuesday 14th January 2020

• Maths: Translation - pages 98-99 and Reflection 100-101. 
• Reading: Choosing the meaning of words in context (The Secret Garden) - pages 4-5.
• SPaG: Adverbs and Adverbials - pages 12-13.

Otter class would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Nativity 

Year 5 and 6 truly embraced the joys of Christmas by performing a strictly special nativity. We were able to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus through singing, dancing, judging and hosting; what an amazing night it was. 

Science

After carrying out our recent science investigation 'the incident ray is reflected at a different angle to the reflection ray', we concluded that this hypothesis is incorrect. The incident ray IS reflected at the same angle as the reflection ray! This is called the Law of Reflection.

After concluding our results, we soon realised that reflection is used to help us in everyday life; for example, a car's review mirror, dental mirrors, disco balls and periscopes. We then decided to design and make our own periscopes!

Science

This term we have been learning about light. As a class, we have investigated the following hypothesis: the incident ray is reflected at a different angle to the reflection ray.

Each child has written their own predictions, listed the equipment they needed and written a thorough method. Today, the children have carried out the investigation and recorded their results - take a look at our amazing pictures. Next week we will be concluding our results!

Religious Education

This term we have been learning about 'How Christians show their belief that Jesus is God Incarnate'. Otters were thrilled that Vicar Karen managed to visit our classroom this afternoon; our role was to be detectives and ask Vicar Karen what evidence there is locally that Christians believe in Jesus as God incarnate or the Son of God.

Thursday 12th December 2019: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Tuesday 17th December 2019

• Maths: Coordinates - pages 96-97 
• Reading: Inference in Non-Fiction (The Olympic Games) - pages 33-34
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Tuesday

Thursday 5th December 2019: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Tuesday 10th December 2019

• Maths: Multiplying and dividing fractions - pages 54-55 
• SPaG: Apostrophes to show possession - pages 38-39
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Tuesday

Thursday 28th November 2019: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Tuesday 3rd December 2019

• Maths: Fractions of amounts - pages 50-51 
• SPaG: Apostrophes to show contractions - pages 40-41
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Tuesday

Thursday 21st November 2019: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Tuesday 26th November 2019

• Maths: Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers - pages 58-59 
• Reading: Finding meaning from words (Moonfleet) - page 11 only
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Tuesday

Thursday 14th November 2019: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Tuesday 19th November 2019

• Maths: Adding and Subtracting Fractions - pages 52-52 
• Reading: Inference in Fiction 2 (Moonfleet) - pages 31-32
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Tuesday

Thursday 7th November 2019: Homework Update

The following pages need to be completed by Tuesday 12th November 2019

• Maths: Fractions - pages 48-49 
• SPaG: Conjunctions and relative pronouns - pages 18-19
• Spelling: Practice the ten words given, ready for a spelling assessment on Tuesday