Welcome to Year 6!
Mrs Webster and I have absolutely loved getting to know your children this week, and my, what a start to Year 6 have they made. Mrs Webster has had the pleasure of working with your children before and she keeps on telling me just how much they have grown into the children we now have. The first two weeks in Year 6 are always a whirl wind but I am looking forward to meeting you all on Wednesday night at induction Evening. Please make it a priority to come as Year 6 is such an important year with lots of new experiences for the children.
‘Feel the fear, and do it anyway.’
This has been a bit of a slogan in our classroom this week! On Tuesday, a group of nervous children entered the classroom all eager to ask lots of questions about the year ahead. After a lovely liturgy, we all discussed our worries for the year and also the things that we were looking forward to. No surprise that The Pleasure Beach and Water Parks were mentioned.
I told the children the story about, ‘The Jesus Nut,’ a nut that was used in the Vietnam War to hold the blades in place. If the nut ever came loose, the blades would fall off and the helicopter would crash to the ground. This small, hexagonal nut was referred to as the Jesus Nut - something that holds everything together. I have made all of the children in class a key ring with a Jesus Nut on. When things get challenging this year and the children find things hard, they need to just remember the story and that no matter what, everything will be OK if Christ is with us. He holds us together! Ask your children to see the key ring and see if they can tell you the story.
Bravery is so important this year. The children will be given lots of opportunities and I really want to challenge them to overcome any worries that they have. So many children have already done this exact thing this week - we are in for an exciting year!
Diving straight into learning
Year 6 is such a busy year, it was important that we dived straight into learning this week. One of the first jobs that the children had to do was to write their letter of application for a position of responsibility. Listening to what the children have written has brought a tear to my eye. They really care about Our Ladys and see their final year as an opportunity to give something back and provide real service to their community. Once house captain speeches have been completed on Monday, the final decisions and positions will be awarded in assembly on Thursday afternoon.
We started to dip our feet into maths this week. The children completed an arithmetic challenge and we started to look at place value and numbers up to 10 million! Place Value underpins all mathematical concepts - it is such an important skill.
On Thursday we started to read our novel - Skellig. We spent 50 minutes predicting what the book was about before reading the first chapter. We were all on the edge of our seats and wanted to read on. Mrs Webster has continued to read the book with the children today. We also started our science topic, electricity. It is fascinating to discuss electricity usage in our world today.
Homework will be set on a Wednesday next week and then due in on a Tuesday. The children have access to the computers in school for support.
New Year Mass
On Thursday we shared a lovely welcome mass with our school community to pray for our year ahead. We also gave thanks for all mothers as it is Our Lady’s birthday this Sunday. Well done to all of the children who read and carried the gifts in the offertory. You acted with such reverence and spoke so beautifully.
Welcome the the new members of our class
We have got two new members of our class who will be joining us for the final year. Marwa has joined us this week from Syria, along with her sisters lower down the school. The children have been so supportive, helping her to develop her English and to get to know our class routines. On Monday we will be welcoming Hirumi from Yorkshire. We look forward to having a full cohort of 30 ready to continue our year together.
Reminders
Induction Night - Wednesday 11th September at 6pm
Netball and football starts next week and dance the week after. Please check the sport page on the website to see the timetable for this half term.
Our Assembly is coming up on Tuesday 24th September - date for your diary.
Apologies for the really long blog. I think it is nice to know what has happened this week when it is such a special year for your children.
Have a wonderful weekend
Mrs Gregan & Mrs Webster