Year 6 Blog

In Year 6, we’ve been learning about microorganisms. We found out that there are three main types:

Bacteria                      Fungi                     Viruses

So far, we have learned that:

• microorganisms are living things
• they are invisible to the naked eye
• there are good and bad microorganisms

Microorganisms are all around us and are constantly feeding and multiplying. As well as making us ill, one of the other most noticeable things they do is cause our food to go mouldy (that’s why I always eat mine up before they can get to it; it’s a dog eat dog world out there).

In our classes, we’re going to examine and identify the factors that affect how well mould grows on bread and apples. We’ve been packing up pieces of bread and chunks of apples and depositing them around the Year 6 corridor.

Mrs. Smith and I have got our nosepegs at the ready as we’re expecting a few nasty odours to be permeating the top floor of the Upper Juniors (maybe it’s time to relocate to one of the other corridors).

We’ll keep you posted with photos. In the meantime, here’s one to whet your appetite:

On a good note, outdoors, mould is an important part of the ecosystem. It destroys what it comes in contact with; breaking down decaying organic matter, such as dead leaves and timber.

Without it, we’d be swamped with waste!

On the main page for the Upper Junior weblogs, Mr. Handisyde is looking for lookalikes.

I think that Mrs. Smith and I look like Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.

What do you think?

Any ideas of your own about who we look like?

TRY TO BE NICE!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, we had a visit from Philip and Amy Rose who came to speak to us about forces. Philip has been a regular visitor to the BSA over the past few years and has shown the children some wonderful things that really bring science alive for them.

We had a  laugh- especially when Charlotte from Year 5 managed to lift the whole Heavy Gang by herself (and they were big Year Sixes!). Of course, there’s a good explanation for why she was able to do that.

Science can be really baffling but we all try to make our own sense of it- some better than others. What do you think about these childrens’ views about natural phenomena?:

- A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go.

- Many dead animals of the past changed to fossils, others preferred to be oil.

- Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let them know we know they’re there.

- Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers.

- We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.

- I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and that is the important thing.

- Rain is saved up in cloud banks.

- Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dog’s tongue will kill the strongest man.

- Thunder is a rich source of loudness.

- Isotherms and isobars are even more important than their names sound.

- It is so hot in some parts of the world that the people there have to live in other places.

We’ve only just got rid of the snow and then along comes the rain…

I could complain about it (very easily) but I’ve decided not to. Instead, I’m trying to challenge myself as to how many songs I can think of that are about rain or have got rain in the title.

I’ve got quite a comprehensive list so far (it sounds as though everybody likes to sing about rain).

Here are three of mine:

‘Why Does it Always Rain on Me?’ by Travis

‘Purple Rain’ by Prince

‘Here Comes the Rain Again’ by The Eurythmics

Can you think of any more?

Maybe Bob Marley can give you some inspiration…….

Welcome back!

This week is anti-bullying week so we’re going to be talking a lot about bullying and the forms it takes. We’ll also be discussing strategies to help us deal with bullies.

This topic fits in quite well with the book we have been reading in Year 6. In ‘The Eighteenth Emergency’, we learn about Benji ‘Mouse’ Fawley who is trying his best to avoid Marv Hammerman, the school bully. In 6B, we had a very good discussion about Hammerman and why he bullies people. Ruairi also raised the fact that he felt Mouse had bullied Hammerman, in a way.

Why not leave a comment here to explain what you think?

Have a great break, everybody! We hope you have a relaxing week.

Mrs. Smith is already out in Australia, recharging her batteries and I’m flying out to England tomorrow to catch up with some old friends. Well, young old friends.

Enjoy your Valentine’s Day; just remember that Mrs. Smith and I love you all!

Miss you already!

Last week, we read about a skydiver who had escaped death when his parachute didn’t open. We imagined what could have happened to save him and wrote radio reports about it. We then saved these as podcasts.

So far, I’ve managed to get one uploaded onto the weblog (but am now worried that I may have grey hairs where before I had none).

Keep your eyes peeled for some more over the coming days. Hopefully, we’ll have them all up by the end of the week.

pauline\’s-group

Frank: My wife’s just gone on a sunny Caribbean holiday.

Paul: Jamaica?

Frank: No, it was her own decision.

Don’t forget that part of your homework this week involves making a Jamaican style musical instrument. We’re looking for creativity and a little bit of originality so get those brains working.

We’ll post some photos of your efforts on the weblog next week.

This week, in Science, we’ve been revising and extending our knowledge of circuits. We know all there is to know about conductors and insulators (but maybe not enough to be trusted to rewire our houses….yet) and have been learning how to draw circuit diagrams using the correct symbols.

We’re going to use some of our knowledge to help us with our Design Technology projects over the next few weeks. More about that later in the week.

In the meantime, if you want to test your own knowledge, join the Blobz at the link below.

http://www.andythelwell.com/blobz/

We’re going coordinate crazy in Year 6 this week.

If you want to test your skills at plotting coordinates (and driving!), go to the BBC Bitesize website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/shape_space/grids/play.shtml

I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t read the instructions carefully so I crashed on my first attempt.

Let that be a lesson to you all!!!!