Year 6 Blog

Yesterday, the children began the serious work of chocolate bar design. Having asked children in Year 4 and 5 to complete some questionnaires, they had a good idea of what their potential consumers would like in a chocolate bar.

They then set about making some prototypes.

Once the chocolates were made, it was time to do some further market research. Back down to Year 4 and 5 then!

The groups arranged their chocolates on trays and asked the Year 4 and 5 children what they thought of the appearance of the chocolates. They then asked them to taste them and complete another quick questionnaire.

Today, the groups are using the findings of their questionnaires to make amendments to their recipes. They are then making some samples of their final product.

Once their product is ready, they will need to package and advertise it.

More tomorrow….

Mrs. Smith and I are hard task-masters. So hard that we’ve set the children a dreadful challenge this week; we’ve asked them to design, make and market a new chocolate product.

As you can imagine, the children were absolutely horrified by the task as part of it involved tasting different types of chocolate bars. You should have seen their poor faces as we forced them to eat pieces of Twix, Mars, Milka, Rolo and Lion Bar. However, as we explained to them, it’s all in the name of good market research. Even Mrs. Smith and I had a couple of pieces so that the children would feel we were being fair. How nice are we???????

Watch this space for updates on our progress!!

Thank you so much for all the help and support we received last week. As you can all imagine, organising a show in the space of a few weeks is quite a daunting task. We are incredibly grateful to all who helped out in some way- no matter how small. From costumes to props to make-up, your contribution helped to make the show the success it was.

As promised, here are some photos of the show, courtesy of Mrs. Deenstra.

Enjoy!

HUGE congratulations to all the Year 6 children for last night’s performance. Mrs. Smith and I are extremely proud of you! You all worked incredibly hard and it really showed.

We know that you’re all exhausted as we’ve had a very busy term. Just one more set of exams to go and then we’ll be finished……… only joking!

Have a really relaxing weekend and get some rest! I’m just off to find a table to crawl under and fall asleep….

Photos to follow (of the production, not of me sleeping under a table).

IT’S CAMP TIME!!!!!!!!!!

I doubt that the children have forgotten but I just thought I’d remind all you parents that we’re heading off on our camp trip to Nautilus in Kerkdriel tomorrow morning.

I’ve heard a rumour that some parents have been marking the days off on their calendars but I don’t listen to idle gossip.

Here are some last minute details you might need to check off:

1.Remember to check that your child has packed a sleeping bag.

2.Remember that they need a day bag to carry lunch and a drink in.

3. If your child is taking some money with them, make sure it is NO MORE THAN 25 euros and that they have some change in case they want to buy something from the vending machine on camp.

4. No mobile phones allowed. Please support us in ensuring that your child leaves their phone at home. Camp is an opportunity for the children to develop some independence so please do not try to contact them during the week. If there is an emergency, the staff at camp can be contacted by the School.

5. Please make sure that you are at School by 8.30 a.m. on Monday morning to give your child time to register with their Hut/Tent Leader. Once in the hall, please stay there; we aim to leave promptly at 9 and we wouldn’t like to leave anybody behind! Well, maybe…..

6. Check the main blog for daily updates on our exploits.

7. We will be back at School between 3.15 and 3.30 on Friday 25th June. If we are delayed, we will be in contact with the School but please call another parent before you call the School. This will ensure that the School phone lines are not jammed with calls.

I’ve had a look at the weather forecast for this week and it looks like we might be lucky; sunshine all week! Let’s hope it stays that way.

Have a restful week!

Welcome Back Everybody!

After a week of glorious weather, we should be getting used to high temperatures so it will come as no surprise that things are going to get decidedly warm in Y6 too. Get ready everyone; it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

First up, we’re beginning our serious rehearsals for Bugsy Malone. They production is on June 30th (during the day) and July 1st (in the evening) so we’ve got a lot to get done before we’re ready to take to the stage.

Mrs. Smith is busy trying to organise costumes and props. A letter went out explaining what was needed for each character so it’s really important that the children come to school with their costumes. If you are still unsure about what your child is supposed to be wearing, please contact Mrs Smith and she will be able to help you. A BIG THANK YOU to all the mums who have volunteered their help on this front; we really do appreciate it.

Also this week, I will be finalising plans for the Y6/7 camp.

Thank you to those of you who turned up for our briefing on the last Friday of half term. Hopefully, you will have a clearer picture of what your child can expect from the trip. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I’ll answer them as best as I can.

Please remember that I must have your camp medical forms etc. back by Friday 11th June. This information will all need to be put into a database so that the staff are fully aware of the needs of all children. The forms can be found at the back of your camp pack. If you need another copy, email me at s.brady@britams.nl and I will be happy to pass another copy to you.

Finally, I need to remind you of some dates that you need to remember:

1. Wednesday 9^th June: Deadline for Year 6 parents to sign up for selected Secondary lessons. (Remember that you have been invited to visit a Secondary School lesson to see what goes on).
   
2. Monday the 14^th June: Year 6 parents attend selected Secondary lessons
   
3. Tuesday the 15^th to Thursday 17^th June: Secondary staff deliver transition lessons to Year 6 students. (Year 6 pupils will have some morning lessons in the Secondary School)

Hopefully, that hasn’t been too much of an information overload! If you’ve got any questions about anything that I’ve put on here, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m just off to turn our air conditioning up; we may need it by the end of the day!

1. Friday 14^th May: Year 6 Deadline for Year 6 parents for returning MFL choice forms.
2. Friday 14^th May: Year 6 Deadline for Year 6 parents for returning Transition Open Evening slips.
3. Tuesday 18^th May: 4pm to 4.30 pm Question and Answer Session for Year 6 parents in 106 at the Secondary School.
4. Tuesday 18^th May: 4.30 to 5pm Year 6 parents meet Secondary specialist teachers in the Main Hall
5. Tuesday 18^th May: Year 6 parents can start signing up to attend selected Secondary lessons
6. Wednesday 9^th June: Deadline for Year 6 parents to sign up for selected Secondary lessons.
7. Monday the 14^th June: Year 6 parents attend selected Secondary lessons
8. Tuesday the 15^th to Thursday 17^th June: Secondary staff delivers Transition lessons to Year 6 students.
9. Monday the 28^th June: Year 6 CATs administered by Year 6 teachers at the Upper Juniors’ site.

Dear Year 6 parents

Year 6/7 Transition Open Evening

Tuesday 18th May 2010 4.00pm-5.00pm

We would like to invite you to the BSA Year 6/7 Transition Open Evening on May 18th so that you can familiarise yourselves with the curriculum and opportunities available to Year 7 students at Key Stage 3.

The British School of Amsterdam is striving to provide excellent success rates in National Curriculum SATS, GCSE and A Level examinations.

During the evening you will have the opportunity to talk to Secondary members of staff and existing Year 7 students about the different subjects available and about the life of the Secondary School.

There will be a presentation to parents at 4.00pm in room 106.

A prospectus and application detail will be provided on arrival. Mr Thorniley and I will be available during the course of the evening for further discussion.

I look forward to seeing you.

Yours sincerely

Ms Claude Macko

Key Stage 3 Coordinator

Welcome Back All! We’re glad that you’ve all made it back safe and sound- however you managed to get here.  I, for one, am really glad that Mrs. Smith made it back in one piece. I had worried that she was going to have to swim from Newcastle to Amsterdam!

If any of you have got any interesting stories about how you finally got back to the Netherlands, feel free to share them with us on the blog.

Moving on to other matters; this half term is an extremely busy one, with one thing or another. Firstly, on Tuesday, we’ll be holding auditions for parts in our production of Bugsy Malone. A sign up sheet was stuck on the Y6 notice board today. If you would like to audition for a main part (you can audition for more than one), then just sign your name in the appropriate space on the sheet. Be warned that we will be asking Blousey, Tallulah and Fizzy to sing solos.

The songs are, as follows:

Fizzy: a few lines from ‘Tomorrow’.

Tallulah: a few lines from ‘My name is Tallulah’

Blousey: a few lines from ‘I’m Feeling Fine’

SATs

We’ll be doing our Year 6 SATs in the week of May 24th. Please see the SATs page on this weblog for the dates and times. As we tell our children every year, Mrs. Smith and I don’t want anybody getting worried about these papers. They’re nothing to be scared of and you’re all more than able to tackle them!

Taster Lessons

At this point in the Year 6 school year, we begin to think about transition to Secondary School. Before any of you move up to Year 7, we would like to give you a taste of what life will be like there so, in the coming weeks, you’ll be going to the Secondary School and having some lessons with the staff that will be teaching you next year.

However, before September, you will need to think about the extra language that you would like to learn. These choices have to be made quite quickly. For that reason, we’ve arranged for you all to have an early  taste of Spanish and German. Tomorrow, (Tuesday), Mr. Anderson and Ms. Busch from the Secondary School will be coming to our building to take you for a lesson in each subject. Mr. Anderson will work first with 6B, teaching them Spanish while Ms. Busch will teach 6S some German. They will then swap around so that we have all had a chance to see which we prefer. This will happen tomorrow from 11.30 to 12.30.

Apologies for the slight delay on posting this; I’m sure I’ll be in trouble with some members of my class. I’ve got a good excuse though. I’ll tell you what it is when I remember it…………..

Anyway, here goes!

Auditions for the main parts in our production of Bugsy Malone will be held in the first week back after the holidays. On Tuesday, we will put up a sheet on the Y6 corridor, allowing children to sign up for the character/s they are interested in. After that, we will draw up a timetable for auditions. We anticipate that there may be many children who want to audition so it might take us a couple of days to see everybody.  Please be patient and don’t worry; we will give you at least a day’s notice before you have to audition!

You have all been given a copy of the script to look at over the holidays. We did this so that you could learn the story and understand what the characters are like. You may already have chosen what character you would like to play. We won’t be auditioning for all character; just the main ones. Below, we have made a list of the characters for which there will be auditions and have listed the page on the script that you must practise.

Bugsy or Blousey: starting at the bottom of page 8 and continuing for all of page 9.

Fat Sam: Page 7 

Tallulah: Pages 26 and 27

Dandy Dan: Page 30

Smolsky or O’Dreary: Page 37 & 38

Leroy: Page 40

Knuckles: Bottom of page 38 and top of page 39

The auditions for Fizzy and Tallulah will involve singing solo. Both of the singing auditions will happen the following week, which will allow those children to learn some of the songs.

We’re really looking forward to this production but we know that it’s going to be a lot of hard work. However, we also know that we can count on all of you to help make it a great success.