Year 6 Class Photo Collage

We Need Your Photos!

Since your journey through year 6 has ended up taking a slightly different path to previous year groups, we realise that the end of your junior school experience will not quite be the same. However, we won’t be letting you go without making a fuss!

At school, we have been planning ways that we can celebrate the end of your primary schooling whether you are at home or in school! The first of these is going to be a class photo collage!

As we are not able to have our usual end of year class photos, we would like each of you to send in a photo of yourselves that us teachers will then use to create a class photo collage. These will then be printed out on photo paper and handed out at the end of the school year. For those children who are learning at home, you will be told nearer the time of a slot where you are able to come and collect this along with any other items you have left behind.

Your photo can be either horizontal or vertical but we would prefer it to just be a head shot (it could even be a selfie!).

Underneath each photo we would like to include each child’s name. If you would prefer your child’s name not to be included on the collage please state this in the email when you send your photo in.

So whether you are home learning or at school, get snapping away and send us in your best shot! Anyone who wishes to contribute a photo, they must be emailed in to year6@Alderwood.hants.sch.uk by Friday the 26^th June. Please make sure the subject of your email is year 6 class photo so we do not miss any in our inbox!

The Covid Letters

Good morning all,

I hope you all had a lovely half term break in the sunshine.

As the year 6 children are not in school today (but we are looking forward to seeing them tomorrow!), I have a lovely little task that they could participate in. Hampshire CAMHS need your help! They are looking to compile a book of letters written by young people about their experiences during the coronavirus lockdown. It could be a letter to their future selves, a loved one or an open letter about something they want to say.

If you do write a contribution, you can email it to spnt.hantscamhsinnovation@nhs.net Please title the message 'Covid letters FAO Helen Dove'. You need to include your child's name, age and contact details.

Please note that they may not be able to include all submissions, and they may ask for parents to submit consent to share the work.

Submissions need to be received by October 10th 2020 so you have plenty of time.

You may want to consider the following the questions in your letter:

• How long have you been in lockdown for?
• Can you remember your first thought when you heard schools were closing? Were you thrilled? Concerned? Frightened? Why?
• What about your feelings when you heard we were going into lockdown?
• What do you miss most? What do you not miss at all?
• How have your feelings changed during lockdown?
• What is a day in your life during lockdown?
• What have been your highlights of lockdown? 
• What have been the most difficult aspects of lockdown?
• How have yours and your families lives changed since lockdown?
• What have you found out about yourself during lockdown that you didn't know before? E.g. are you more easily bored than you thought?
• How have you kept yourself happy during lockdown?
• How have you managed to stay in touch with your family and friends?
• How do you feel about the Government's decisions during the coronavirus pandemic?
• Looking back, would you have done anything differently during lockdown?
• What will you remember most about this moment in history?

Remember to start your letter with who you are writing to; it could be a loved one, your 30-year-old self or to whom it may concern and to write in paragraphs!

Sadly, this will be my last daily blog as from tomorrow I will be back working with the year 6 children in school but thank you all for reading and I hope you have enjoyed the activities. It has been great to be able to reach out to some of you while the school has been closed.

To the year 6 children who are back in school tomorrow, we are excited to see you! And to those year 6 children who are remaining at home, don't worry we haven't forgotten you! You will still be receiving a home learning pack each week via Parentmail and we will be in contact with you soon!

Miss Parker

I'm Bored Jars and Wow Wall Work

Well done for completing another half-term of home learning! As a reward we are giving you a week off! Well, we do anyway as it is May half-term next week!

This week saw us year 6 teachers return, briefly, to the junior site to prepare our classrooms for the potential return of the year 6 children on the 2nd June. I decided that my bitmoji should make an appearance and have created some new posters to display:

I am pretty sure that since the schools closed weeks ago, there has been one phrase that has been said in nearly every household across the country and it probably isn’t ‘Mum, would you like me to help with the cleaning?’! The phrase I am talking about is ‘I’m bored!’ I am sure there has been times over the last few weeks where nearly every adult and child has been bored at some point!

So today, my blog is about setting up your very own ‘I’m bored’ jar! These are very simple to make you either can recycle a jar you have finished with or an old pot or tub, whatever you can get your hands on, and then some paper or lolly pop sticks to write your ideas on. It is entirely up to you what you want to include as your activities. I have put some ideas below to get you started but there are many more on the internet if you are stuck.

Cooking:

• Make pizzas
• Bake cookies
• Bake cupcakes
• Make fruit smoothies
• Make fruit kebabs
• Have a cake decorating contest
• Make fruit ice lollies
• Chop veggies to make a snack platter
• Make a fruit salad
• Help prepare dinner
• Read a cook book
• Make your own cook book
• Plan a day of meals to make
• Make a shopping list

Things to do:

• Listen to an audiobook
• Put on a talent show or play
• Play outside
• Colour a picture
• Set up an art gallery
• Play schools – I know you all want to be!
• Play a board game
• Read a book
• Make a blanket fort
• Do face painting
• Do a science experiment 
• Play hide and seek
• Build with Lego

Things to make:

• Do junk modelling
• Decorate a jam jar
• Do a painting
• Do a self-portrait
• Draw around your body
• Make a puzzle book
• Make an activity book
• Make a magazine
• Make a fortune teller 
• Make a musical instrument
• Draw a flower or animal
• Make a rainbow
• Make jewellery
• Try Sharpie and watercolour art
• Make folded picture paintings

Acts of kindness:

• Make someone else’s bed
• Give someone a hug
• Do a chore for a sibling
• Paint someone a picture

Next time you are bored, take an activity out of your I’m bored jar!

We know that you have still be working hard and deserve your half term break as we have had some more excellent work sent in this week. Take a look below:

Have a lovely half term and I hope your jars will keep you busy over the next week!

Miss Parker

Family Fun with Board Games!

Good morning everyone,

Has anyone else being watching Work in the Wild on Channel 4? I absolutely love it! The show follows a group of UK vets and volunteers who gave up their day jobs in the UK and moved to South Africa to work with some of the world's most endangered animals - including rhinos! My favourite part so far has been Weigh in Wednesday's with the rhinos! If you want to watch it, it is on every week day at 4pm (best part for you parents is that it is on for a whole hour so you might get some piece and quiet!) for the next 4 weeks!

Also, yesterday evening I was sent in these incredible photos of the Year 6 Flat Teachers from Alfie! Not only do we supervise him doing work and Joe Wicks PE but Mr Knight is watching his keepy uppies and I am dreaming of New York which I do often! Please do keep sending in your Flat Teacher images we love seeing them! 

Similar to last week’s blog about jigsaw puzzles, today’s blog is about what you can do when you are bored of playing the same old board games during lockdown.

Over the last few weeks, I am sure families have often been playing board games like Monopoly and there has probably been plenty of tears, laughter and arguments. But are you now board of playing the same games?

It is time to take matters into your own hands and have a go at creating your own board game. It could be your own version of Monopoly (maybe an Aldershot edition) or a quiz game like Trivia Pursuit or your own adaptation of Cluedo. Alternatively, you could come up with your own game from scratch! I have included some templates below to help get you started.

There is one very important think that your board game must have and that is a set of rules! Make sure you have written some rules of how your game works and include how someone wins otherwise there may be lots of arguments! You may need to change these rules as you play the first time when you find out what works and what does not work.

Once you have made your game, have fun playing it with your family.

Miss Parker

Ninja School!

Wednesday can only mean one thing – it is time for a workout!

Some my question for you all today is: Who wants to be a ninja?!

If you have always been a fan of martial arts then today’s activity will interest you. If you have access to YouTube, head over to the links below where you can join in with an instructor to learn basic karate skills suitable for kids and start your Ninja life journey!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRNQulicqo4&list=PLENtKuZxXbME57HhYcNpg64h3Kn8ueigA

Please make sure you practise these safely and be aware of any furniture that may be in your way! We do not want any injuries!

In other news the year 6 Flat Teachers have been very busy at Mrs Wiseman's house! Including some cleaning, gardening and social distancing at the butchers!

 Social distancing at the butchers when we went to buy our dinner!

 I had to step in and help Mrs Woodward with her baking!

 Mr Knight tried his hand at a spot of gardening but I'm pretty sure he stopped for a break!

 I had been busy hinching (cleaning) but then my dog was very naughty!

Mr Knight's Online Shopping Purchases!

Stay safe,

Miss Parker

30 Day Dish Challenge!

Good morning everyone!

Firstly, I just want to say that I have got a bit carried away with the bitmoji app - there are so many stickers on there! So you may see a bitmoji of me appearing every now and again on the blog this week!

I have already been sent in a great picture of a Flat Mrs Woodward, who is trying her hand at baking! Thank you Mrs Wiseman for this; I can't wait to see what Mr Knight and I get up to! Remember to send in your Flat Teacher pictures to the year 6 email!

Now I know during lockdown a lot of people have been baking including myself! I have made some delicious white chocolate shortbread and salted caramel blondies! The skills involved with baking and cooking are very important for you to know as you progress into adult life – at some point you are going to have to cook for yourself! Below are some of the kitchen skills that it has been suggested you know by a certain age. Can you do all the skills included for your age group?

My challenge for you today is one I have stolen from Sainsbury’s which I am also going to be trying! A 30 day dish challenge! It may take a bit of planning but the end results should be tasty! Let me know how you get on!

Obviously, I couldn’t leave without sharing the recipe I used for my salted caramel blondies because I know there is going to be someone out there who wants to make them! So below is the link for the recipe I used:

https://www.janespatisserie.com/2019/07/27/white-chocolate-caramel-blondies/

Enjoy,

Miss Parker

Flat Teachers!

Good morning everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

I have another Monday morning treat for you today! I have had a busy weekend turning the year 6 teachers into Bitmojis! Mrs Woodward and Mr Knight are not aware that I have done this so let’s hope they are happy with the results! You will find our three bitmojis below!

Inspired by the book Flat Stanley, the idea is that you print our bitmojis off (or just one of us) and we become your Flat Teachers to carry around with you! You can use us to help with your school work, take us on a walk, show us around your house or any other ideas you might have! You might even like to make us a new outfit - Mr Knight has always wanted a Chelsea FC shirt! Even though we are year 6 teachers, we do hope that all year groups will print us off and use us - it could give us some training in case Mrs de Sausmarez decides to change the year groups that we teach in next year or if we stay in year 6 it will give us a chance to get to know the current year 5's before they join us.

We just have one condition! If you do print us off, please take pictures of what we get up to and email them into our year 6 team (year6@Alderwood.hants.sch.uk) so that we can see what we have been doing and share the photos on a later blog for everyone else to see!

I also have another treat this morning for all you gamers out there! This idea was actually given to me by my partner as he spends a lot of time on the Xbox! Many of you would have heard of the game Assassins Creed and although the original game is not appropriate for your age group and I would not expect any of you to playing it, the makers have released two discovery tours of their Origins and Odyssey games where you can explore Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece at an age appropriate level. I am sure you will agree that this fits in perfectly with our year 6 topic. The best part about it is that they are free to download on your PCs until the 21^st May! You will need to ask your parents to register in order to download the games on the link below:

https://free.ubisoft.com/

Don’t forget to send in your Flat Teacher pictures; we are looking forward to seeing what we get up to!

Miss Parker

Sending a Virtual Hug

Hello everyone!

Once again we have made it to Friday which means we are thinking ahead to the weekend!

Why not have some family fun with a board game this weekend, it could be one that you create yourself using the idea on our non-screen activities in aprevious blog or it could be one that you already have at home. I quite like this adapted version of Jenga that I found where you have to complete an activity for each Jenga block you take out. If you have Jenga at home, you just need to take a marker pen and write your activities on the side of each block but please ask your parents before you do this!

Secondly, we know that as you are on lockdown in your homes at the moment you are unable to visit some important people in your life so why not mail them a virtual hug like the ones below. You could attach a photo of yourself to it or paint your handprints on. You could even attach a little message to it.

 

Take care,
 

Miss Parker

Puzzling Jigsaws!

Morning everyone!

So we have been in lockdown for quite a few weeks now and I know a lot of families have been completing jigsaw puzzles like me! However, I have encountered a problem in that I have run out of them! I have completed all the ones I have at home so was wondering what I should do?

If you are in the same position as me then you have a couple of options, you could swap puzzles with someone you know (making sure you follow social distancing restrictions!) or I have managed to find some online puzzle websites that I am going to try myself. Here are some of the best ones that I have found below:

http://www.jigzone.com/ - there are some good animal ones on here

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/games/photo-puzzle-jigsaw/

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/

https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/

There is even one on Xbox called Microsoft Jigsaw – I am going to have to get permission to go on my partners Xbox for this one!

If you are feeling creative you could have a go at creating your own jigsaw puzzle using one of the many blank jigsaw templates that can be found online.

Have fun!

Miss Parker

Workout Wednesday Returns!

It is Workout Wednesday again!

Another active blog for you today and a new activity for you to try! It is one of my favourite keep fit activities and I used to attend classes so I am really excited to give this a go!

Below is the link to the family Go Noodle Zumba Kids channel so you can join in with a Zumba workout today! There are some good backing tunes to choose from and it is definitely an activity for all the family to take part in! Perhaps you want to add in your own dance offs?

How many workouts are you able to complete before you run out of energy?!

https://family.gonoodle.com/channels/zumba-kids

If you manage to make your way through them all, why not pick your own song and create your own Zumba workout for it. Maybe your family will try it with you as the instructor! Remember you need to pick an upbeat song for a high intensity work out!

Until tomorrow,

Miss Parker

#bemorerhino!

Hello all,

So I am pretty sure most of you know that I love rhinos so today’s blog is a personal favourite of mine and I have called it #bemorerhino! I wonder what today’s blog could be about?!

#bemorerhino was created by the charity Helping Rhinos and has lots of activities for everyone to do at home to learn more about rhinos and rhino conservation. I particularly know that Ethan B in my class will be interested in this one!

Helping Rhinos upload a range of factsheets, quizzes and activities on a weekly basis so have a look through and see what takes your fancy. There is even a few activities linked to the orphan hippos that they look after – Mrs Shuttleworth’s favourite animal!

As well as this there are two drawing competitions on the blog where you can either win a rhino (a soft toy not the real thing to look after, don’t worry parents!) or win a trip to visit a rhino. Unfortunately, I am too old to enter so it is over to you guys for this one! If you do happen to take part in the rhino drawing competition, please also send your artwork in to year6@Alderwood.hants.sch.uk as I would love to see them!

All the activities to download can be found on the following website: https://www.helpingrhinos.org/bemorerhino/

I hope you join the rhino crash and you will #bemorerhino in no time!

Miss Parker

A message from the year 6 team and competitions for all you historians out there!

Good morning everyone!

Welcome to the start of another week of home learning! One that, had we been at school, would have been year 6 SATs week! There is probably a mixture of emotions today about this some may be happy whilst other may be disappointed that they can't show off what they have been working so hard for all year. No matter how you are feeling, we have a special video for you today - a message from the year 6 team! Head over to the school Facebook page to see it!

On today’s blog I also have two competitions for all you budding historians out there! We haven’t had a history blog yet and I feel as a lot of you will be doing history tasks in your home learning packs these competitions will be an exciting task to go alongside them.

First up we have a competition by the Historical Association where you write your own historical fiction. For this you need to write a historical story that has a convincing setting in a past time and place e.g. The Tudors or Ancient Egyptians. You can set your story in any time period or place in the past. The link below has all the details of the competition and how your parents can send in your entry. The winner will receive a £25 cash prize and an engraved Bath Aqua Blue glass paperweight to display with pride in your house! Find out more on the following link:

https://www.history.org.uk/primary/categories/530/news/3451/write-your-own-historical-fiction-competition-2020

Our second competition is run by the Women’s History Network who are inviting you to join them in celebrating women’s history month which occurred back in March. They are challenging young researchers to create a piece of art inspired by one of history’s heroines- perhaps Florence Nightingale or Emily Pankhurst. The good news is that the deadline for the competition has been extended to the 1^st June. Details of how to enter can be found on the following link:

https://womenshistorynetwork.org/whn-schools-history-prize-2020/

Have fun historians!

Miss Parker

Celebrating VE Day and our Year 6 Wow Work

It is bank holiday Friday which means… no school work!

There may be no school today but why not join people across the country in celebrating VE day – following social distancing restrictions of course!

Today marks the 75^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War so what are you going to do to celebrate and to say thank you to those that gave so much? Perhaps join your neighbourhood in a unique ‘Stay at Home’ socially distanced street party or plan your outfit so that you wear red, white and blue.

There are plenty of ideas on the Rushmoor website for how you and your families can get involved with VE day activities from workshops to games there is plenty for everyone. And, if that isn't enough for you, there is also further events on the National Army Museum website. 

https://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/VEDay

http://www.nam.ac.uk/series/ve-day-75 

And we couldn't end this blog without celebrating some of the wonderful work year 6 have been up to below. We have had a selection of art, history, English and maths sent in this week. Keep up the hard work!

Whatever you decide to do today, we hope you have fun and I will be back next week with more stay at home activity ideas!

Miss Parker

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Good morning!

Firstly, I wanted to share with you my biggest achievement this week! I have managed to grow multi-headed tulips! Apparently, these are quite rare! Normally, tulips only have one flower but mine have 3 or 4! Also, last year, these tulips were pink and now they are yellow with a pink tinge! I have no idea what I have done but I had to share them with you!

Today’s blog is for all you Harry Potter fans out there including you Mrs Woodward!

You may have already heard about this but J.K. Rowling has launched her own website called the Wizarding World and it brings Hogwarts right to your computer screen!

There are articles, quizzes, puzzles and lots of other magical treats for you to complete. There is lots of activities for you to complete even if you aren’t the biggest Harry Potter fan! The link to the website is below:

https://www.wizardingworld.com/collections/harry-potter-at-home

I hope there isn’t a section where you practise how to cast spells on your teachers when you are back at school! Should I be worried?!

Miss Parker