Rivington Avenue, Platt Bridge, Wigan, Lancashire WN2 5NG

01942 487999

enquiries@plattbridge.cfat.org.uk

Platt Bridge Community School

School Values: Promotes Belief Creates Success

Year 6C 

Class of 2019 - 20

February 2020

In February, Year 6 were set a comparative writing challenge. This was an very exciting opportunity that inspired our class to strive to complete their best piece of writing yet! At the end of the month, our writing would be uploaded and shared with lots of other Y6 teachers across the country. We were really eager to get feedback from so many people and to share our fantastic ideas across the UK. 

A week ago, we received our stimulus for writing! It was an image of several hot air balloons, their colourful skins poised silhouetted against the golden horizon, ready to embark on journeys packed full of adventure. We watched a short video clip of a hot air balloon ride to explore what it must be like to go on a voyage across the sky! We were amazed at the amazing views and picturesque scenery that you could see from the sky. 

We gathered vocabulary to describe how we might feel before the journey: apprehensive, nervous, anxious and developed phrases that we felt showed these emotions to our reader. We also explored how we could develop our character's emotions through the use of dialogue and the words that the characters chose to say. 

After this, we began to gather vocabulary to describe the atmosphere and the scenery that we were bound to see during our hot air balloon expedition. We described the clouds as drifting carelessly by; we described the mountains before us as imposing giants that towered in the distance and we described the desolate wastelands of sandy deserts that stretched out beneath our balloons. We explored how our view may change during out balloon ride, talking about how spectators and crew members on the ground would appear to shrink to miniscule proportions as we climbed higher and higher into the sky.

As part of our planning stage, we considered a problem that our characters would face in order to inject tension and drama into our narratives for our readers. The class developed lots of dramatic scenarios including characters tumbling out the basket, the balloon's taut skin tearing and the balloon being attacked by sudden storms and treacherous weather conditions.

The children should be exceptionally proud of their writing. They have worked really hard to produced narratives that are exciting to read and that develop great atmosphere and tension for the reader. They have showcased a wide range of punctuation including semi colons to join related clauses and apostrophes for possession and have used grammatical features for appropriate purposes, for example, expanded noun phrases, metaphorical language and similes to add description to their characters and scenery. 

I am sure you will enjoy reading the extracts of the stories here:

"As I trudged across the endless sea of sand, an array of colours met my eyes. The balloon. I hid behind a dune of sand whilst I watched those who were expected to depart on this airship. Its vivid structure was tethered to the dusty dunes. Subdued, it longed to be up in the sky, drifting away into the clouds, never to be seen again. I shuddered. What was I doing?"

"Traversing the bright desert while I tried not to get my new lab coat dirty, I clutched the powerful antidote close to my chest. "Are you sure there is no other way to get there?" asked Jake. "Come on it's going to be amazing Jay Don't worry," I could tell he was nervous (his hands were shivering uncontrollably) even though he tried to hide it, his body's reactions betrayed him. The airborne journey didn't concern me; I was absorbed by the desire to deliver this precious vial - the key to saving possibly hundreds of thousands of lives - safely. My thoughts of salvation were suddenly interrupted by my colleague's declaration, "We're here!"

"As I dragged my feet across the sea of glittering grains of sand, my eyes squinted to catch a glimpse of our huge vessel: our balloon, standing with pride, towering over us as if we were ants. Its structure consuming the horizon with its vivid spectrum of colours: violet, red, midnight blue and lightening yellow. Tied to the ground, the balloon desperately tried to escape. I shot a look at my friend, Jackson; he was turning pale and sweating, I knew he was nervous. "Don't worry Jackie," I grinned reassuringly, you'll love it, trust me!" His hands were shaking, I squeezed his hand reassuringly. Everywhere around us, the desert lay still, disturbed only by the soft gusts of wind that stroked my face and whispered promised of new land. The roar of flames from the engorged beast became louder as it woke from its deep sleep; the barren desert was waiting for us".

 

January 2020

I hope that all of Year 6 have had a fabulous Winter break and enjoyed celebrating Christmas with friends, family and loved ones. They have all come back raring to go and I have been really impressed by their attitudes to work. We began our Spring term by exploring two poems: Giant Winter and The Snow Monster as part of our Reading studies. The children explored the language of each poem and discussed how the author had used personification to make the winter season and weather sound like a real person or a monster! Some language that we particularly enjoyed was: icy talons, gripped like a vice and frozen jaws - we thought that this made the winter weather sound fierce and dangerous. Our favourite poem was the Snow Monster because even though it started of fierce and disruptive, the weather soon became fun and enjoyable! The snow brought fun and enjoyment for the children in the poem as they enjoyed playing on sledges; making snowballs and tasting snowflakes. We wondered if it would snow in Platt Bridge in January or February?

We've also read a text called, Trapped in the Ice. We loved reading this story as it is based on a true story. It tells of the fascinating expedition to cross the South Pole that Earnest Shackleton embarked on many years ago. Although his ship was dragged under the ice and he and his crew had to survive on the ice floes for several months, not one man died! He managed to protect every one of his men and brought them home safely! We explored how Shackleton must have felt at different points of his expedition and developed our own 'show not tell' phrases to illustrate these feelings. For example, to show that Shackleton felt tired, we suggested he felt exhausted; he dragged his feet wearily across the ice and has sunken eyelids and heavy shoulders. We also talked about Shackleton feeling hungry. We suggested he had aching limbs; a rumbling stomach and dry lips. We planned and wrote our own diary entries in the role of Shackleton to share how he must have felt on that horrific day and in the following months. We wrote our diary entries in the 1st person to pretend to be Shackleton and chose our tenses carefully: we used the simple past and past progressive tenses to talk about what had happened and the present tense to talk about what was happening at that moment. We also explored the subjunctive tense to talk about what we'd like to happen in an ideal situation as though we were dreaming about the future. We used language from the poems that we'd explored to personify the ice and sea that captured Shackleton's ship and used the passive voice too. For example we said that the 'glittering icy talons gripped the ship's stern and dragged her beneath the water'. We are all really pleased with our first piece of writing from 2020 - read some of our writing in the gallery and see what you think!

We have also begun reading a non-fiction text about Polar Bears. We enjoyed finding out interesting facts about these amazing Arctic creatures. Did you know that polar bears are hairless, blind and the size of a rat when they are born? They stay with their mothers for 3 years before moving on. Polar Bears also have water repellent coats that vary in colour from white to pale yellow and had fur on the soles of their feet to enable them to walk on the ice without slipping. We were saddened to hear that the number of polar bears is diminishing because their existence is under threat from climate change, pollution in oceans and over development of their habitats by fuel companies. We enjoyed reading the text as it also had lots of puns in it making it humorous and memorable. Some of our favourite puns were 'Unbearable' and 'Ice-solation' - both these used words associated with the polar bears instead of the true spellings which made us laugh! 

In the next few weeks, we are going to write our own nonfiction texts about other Arctic animals that are under threat - sea leopards and elephant seals. We are going to explore the appearance, diets and threats to these animal's existence and present this to the reader whilst persuading them to help the cause! We can't wait to share these pieces with you!

 

 

December 2019

We have been reading lots of classic texts in Y6C this term. We began by reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which was first written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. We were amazed to discover that the author first got the idea for this gruesome story during a dream - we were all in agreement that this must have been more like a nightmare at the time! We loved reading about the two sides of Dr Jekyll and his struggle to maintain his well-respected reputation in Victorian Britain. After reading the story, we wrote our own narratives of the first time that Dr Jekyll transformed into his inner evil character. Throughout our narratives, we aimed to withhold key details from the reader in order to create suspense and create a dramatic atmosphere for them. We also used different synonyms to create cohesion within and across paragraphs. Some synonyms we used to describe Dr Jekyll were the professor, the gentleman or the scientist; in contrast the character of My Hyde had much more negative synonyms: beast, monster, demonic soul. We experimented with including dialogue within our narratives to further develop the two characters and advance the action for the reader. Our speech helped the reader know that something was about the happen and also encouraged the reader to predict what they thought might happen next. 

Before Christmas, we read another classic text - a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens! This text was notably more difficult to understand as much of the language was archaic and the syntax of words was also a bit tricky to follow at times. The children worked exceptionally hard to explore new vocabulary and define it and were soon using it in there own discussions and writing. We loved meeting Ebenezer Scrooge - a rich yet misery old man who was very lonely in life. We analysed our understanding of his character through exploring his actions, his speech and his relationships with other characters in the story. After exploring the first two staves in the text, we planned and wrote our own diary entries whilst imagining that we were Scrooge himself! We loved taking on his grumpy persona and moaning about Christmas and the festive period! I was amazed to read the children's diary entries! Not only did they reflect Scrooge's educated background by using formal language and vocabulary e.g. destitute, benevolence, forbearance, but they also showed a great background knowledge of what life was like during the Victorian era by talking about 'retiring to bedlam' and 'bestowing a trifle for the needy'. As a special treat before the Christmas break, the children asked to watch the DVD of A Christmas Carol - Mrs Willis and I thought it was a great idea to bring the text to life. It was a great pleasure to watch the children watching the DVD. As they were watching it, I could see them mouthing phrases from the text and eagerly anticipating parts of the story. It was fantastic to see them so immersed in a classic story!

Well done Y6C on a great Autumn term - you've worked exceptionally hard and should be really proud of the beautiful work and interesting pieces of writing you've produced!

 

November 2019
 
November has been a busy month in Y6C! We have been reading extracts from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to gather vocabulary and language about the violent criminal, Sirius Black. We watched a short clip from the film to explore how different characters reacted to the news that he had absconded from the high-security, previously in penetrable prison, Azkaban, in which he was being held for his crimes. Y6c have explored narrative reports in newspapers and the grammatical features that are used in them e.g. passive voice and adverbials. Through our English lessons, the children have gathered vocabulary and synonyms to make their writing more interesting for the reader! Some of the synonyms we came up with for Sirius, the criminal, were fiend, felon and culprit! We also explored the use of inverted commas to punctuate dialogue. We experimented with formal and informal tones of voice to show the difference between different character's being interviewed by the police about the incident. Our Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was a very professional man who spoke in Standard English and didn't use any contractions. In comparison, Mrs Weasley, a parent who was worried about her child's return to school in the wake of Sirius Black's disappearance may use contractions in her voice and may use fillers e.g. 'urm, erm' to show that she is upset and worried when constructing her speech. We are really proud of the children's work! It is an exceptional standard and they have worked really hard to convey the panic that Sirius Black has escaped. I am sure you will enjoy reading their pieces too.
We have also been continuing to learn French this year! We have already learnt how to greet friends, ask them their names and how they are. We have learnt how to count 1-20 and the names of basic colours too. During November, we have been learning the names of the days of the week and months of they year. We sequenced them with our partners and at the front of class by giving our friend instructions to order themselves in French. We have also been learning the names of some popular pets! We used French bi lingual dictionaries to extend our vocabulary and research other nouns for animals. We realised that some words had 'un' and some had 'une' at the start of them! It turns out that French nouns can be feminine or masculine so the determiner (a or the) must reflect this! We have been writing our own sentences in French this week about the animals we prefer and don't like. We extended our sentences using simple conjunctions e.g. et (and), mais (but) and parce que (because). I am really pleased with the children's efforts in French! It is completely new to the children and they are really challenging themselves and enjoying learning about a new culture and new language!
On Monday the 11th November, we took part in a whole school Remembrance assembly on the playground. We had been making our own field of poppies over the previous week and it looked stunning! We took time to pause, hold a minutes silence and remember those fallen soldiers who have given their lives for us in the World Wars and other battles since. We also reflected upon the sacrifices that families, friends and soldiers had made for others.
October 2019
 
Last week, Y6C spent 3 days in the beautiful, historic city of York. Although it was only a short trip, our days and evenings were packed full of exciting activities. 
 
On Wednesday 2nd October, we departed from school aboard our coach and set off for York. After a short journey, we arrived and went straight to the Jorvik Viking Centre on Coppergate in the city centre. What an interesting attraction it was! We journeyed back in time hundreds of years to the Viking period of history on an interactive ride. On the ride, we saw animatronics figures talking to us about their day to day activities during the Viking period. The Vikings had many different jobs: greengrocers, shoemakers, ironmongers and butchers; however, we didn't see any warriors! This is because York was a very peaceful city during the Vikings' reign! It was an expensive city that people chose to explore for holidays and as tourists - much like today! After the ride, we entered the archaeological centre that was packed full of intriguing artefacts that were found during the excavation of Coppergate. We got to meet historians who showed us real Viking artefacts like combs and jewellery. Did you know that combs were a luxury item? If you had long hair you must have been very rich in Viking times, as long hair was much harder to keep clear and look after! The historian explained how combs were made from antlers and explained how they were made with carvings on similar to logos like the Nike tick today to show who had made them - an early Viking brand! We also found out lots about their money. Did you know that in Viking times, Vikings would literally break a coin in half so they could spend half of it? I hope no-one has been cutting five pound notes up at home as sadly this doesn’t still work today! 
 
Our next stop was the DIG! Another hands-on historical adventure, where our pupils got the chance to adopt the role of archaeologists and dig in different pits to find artefacts from the past. We loved digging deep in the troughs and discovering artefacts from different periods of history. We used our prediction skills to identify what the artefacts may have been and suggest what that told us about life in other periods of history. Working with partners, we explored trays of animals bones from sheep, pigs, cows and horses. We managed to sort out which bones belonged to each animal based on their size. We also explored samples of different materials and sorted them into categories e.g. bone, antler, shell, brick etc. We realised that there were lots of shells! This told us that Vikings had lots of fish and shellfish like oysters and mussels in their diet because Britain has a coast and they originate from Scandinavia which also is close to the sea! 
 
Our coach driver, Mark, transported us to our hotel - Hedley House! Wow! What a beautiful place to stay! The rooms were beautifully decorated and the bathrooms were full of luxuries! It was hard to encourage everyone our of their rooms in time for our evening meal. The children enjoyed a delicious dinner of sausage and mash with homemade gravy and a rich chocolate brownie and ice cream! Our day was rounded off by a game of ten-pin bowling too! It was a very competitive atmosphere and there were lots of high scores coming from the children with spares and strikes a plenty! Sadly, the staff didn't do as well!
Day two was just as busy! It started with a delicious breakfast buffet: the children helped themselves to a dish of cereal, fruit juice and toast and jams! They were then served bacon and eggs and devoured the lot! We set off for our first stop of the day - The Castle Museum. We enjoyed exploring the different exhibits in the museum: houses and homes from different periods of history; old school rooms; Victorian streets and Victorian cells in an old police station. The children loved that they could dress up in clothes from the past, play with Victorian toys and crawl through replica WW1 trenches too! We were shocked to find out just how different crime and punishment was in the Victorian times! Did you know that a young boy once missed two weeks of school because he was held in a prison cell for stealing 6 plums from a tree? 
After lunch, we set off walking across York city centre and along the Shambles to York Minster. This fantastic building is not only a Minster but also a cathedral! We were amazed by the stained glass windows inside and listened carefully to the fascinating facts about the building. We realised that only buildings with a Cathedra - a special chair that only the Archbishop of York or Canterbury can sit in - can be called a cathedral! Our tour guide, in the Minster, praised our children for their exemplary behaviour and insightful questions. He said that he hadn't had such a well behaved and interested school group in a long time! We were all very proud of the children's attitudes and behaviour during the visit - they did Platt Bridge proud!
 
Our final stop of the day was York's Chocolate Story. We found out lots of information about the founding families of many of our favourite chocolate bars. Did you know that Kit Kats and Terry’s Chocolate Orange were both invented in York? During our visit we got to taste lots of samples and got to see how chocolate is made from cocoa pods into chocolate. We were shown how to appreciate the taste of chocolate and shown how to taste chocolate properly - has anyone managed to eat a bar of chocolate slowly enough to try this at home? I know I haven't! Finally, the best part of our visit was making our own chocolate lollipops and decorating them with lots of tasty treats to take home as a souvenir!
 
Back at the hotel, we refueled with another delicious dinner. This time, we enjoyed homemade roast chicken dinner with roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy! We then had a tasty slice of rocky road - there were lots of clean plates! After dinner, we traveled back into the city centre where we met our Ghost walk guide, Pat, in the shadows of Clifford’s Tower. We walked around the Shambles and down Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate listening to his scary ghost stories and many children even got to act out his historical tales!
 
Our final day began with another tasty, nutritious breakfast: cereal, toast and jams, fruit juice and even sausage and scrambled eggs! The children checked out of the hotel and loaded their luggage back onto the coach. Unfortunately, due to the rainy weather, we were unable to go on the River Cruise as the River Ouse was heavily flooded and flowing too quickly. We rearranged our morning so we could explore another of York's most famous attractions - the National Railway Museum.  We immersed ourselves in stories from centuries of railway history and explored the world's largest collection of trains and railway memorabilia. Some of the highlights were sitting on a replica of the Japanese bullet trains; seeing the London railway's Mallard steam locomotive which holds the record for fastest steam train at 126mph and seeing a working model railway! 
 
I am sure that all the children returned bursting with stories and memories of York and I am sure lots of them would love to visit this historical city as young adults in their future! During our time in York, we also hid several books to promote a love of reading and share our passion for books in another community! We asked finders of the books to tweet our school twitter account, @CFAT_NEWS with the hashtag #lookforabook. We were amazed to discover, on Friday night, a lady found one of our books and is planning to read it with her 5-year-old this weekend! We hope more people tweet us soon too!

 

September 2019

Welcome back to Platt Bridge - I hope everyone has had a fantastic summer and enjoyed their holidays! What an exciting term we have ahead of us in Year 6C! Our brand new classroom is ready to have fun and learn in. Our new topic, 'What Makes Britain Great?' is packed full of interesting things to learn about too!  With an amazing trip to York to look forward to; visitors and our newly immersed classroom there are lots of surprises and things to look forward to in the new school year... I can't wait for it all!. Even though Year 6 is a tricky and challenging year, I know that you can all rise to it! I guarantee that by the end of the year you will all be extremely proud of your hard work, determination and achievements!

Although we've only been in school a couple of weeks, Y6C have produced amazing work so far! We have been reading 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,' a medieval tale of King Arthur's Round Table written by Michael Morpurgo. We have enjoyed delving into the text and have been in suspense as we await to find out the fate of our favourite fearless knight - Sir Gawain as he battles against the blood-thirsty butcher known as the Green Knight. We have written our first piece of writing in Y6C - a persuasive piece to encourage new knights to apply for a role in the High King's realm. Our pieces used rhetorical questions, direct address and emotive language to persuade the reader to apply. We also explored new punctuation: colons to list, semi colons to join related clauses and apostrophes for possession. The children in Y6C have worked really hard on choosing adventurous vocabulary and varying their sentence openers too. We hope you enjoy reading a short selection of our pieces....

 

1

Class of 2018 - 19

 

July 2019

July has been a fun-packed month for Y6C! We got our SATs results on Tuesday. Both Miss Hindley and Mrs Willis were both exceptionally proud of Y6C's achievements! They have all performed amazingly and should be extremely proud of their scores. I am really pleased that the children's relentless effort and work this year has paid off and they have got the great results that they truly deserve! They have been a pleasure to teach this year as they have always given 100% in every lesson; myself and Mrs Willis would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work and wish them lots of luck and success for their futures at secondary school and beyond. In my class, we have future nurses, teachers, solicitors, air traffic controllers and many more wonderful jobs and careers that have not yet been decided upon - I know that they all have the determination and hard work needed to achieve these dreams! 

On Thursday, we went to Chester Zoo! What an amazing day it was and the perfect way to celebrate our achievements! We started the day with a session led by the zoo about saving the songbirds. We got to go into a room that had been created to replicate the Indonesian bird markets. The heat, humidity and the noise from the bird's cages was unbearable! We couldn't spend long in there and couldn't imagine what the real markets must be like with the added smells from the bird's cages. After this, we finally got to go into the aviaries and see the precious songbirds that we had been learning about. Some of the species that we managed to spot were the Javan Green Magpie and the very rare Black Winged Starling! We were amazed to see these critically endangered birds in real life after learning about them back at school. 

After lunch, we toured around the rest of the zoo to try and see as many different animals as we could fit in before home time! We saw lots and lots of different animals despite the rain showers including tigers basking in the sun; monkeys and gibbons playfully climbing and swinging across their enclosures; flamingos balancing on one leg and giraffes towering high into the sky. Whilst at the zoo, we found out lots of interesting facts. For example, did you know that a Tree Kangaroo can jump 18 metres from tree to tree? We were amazed that Sangria, the 16 year old Tree Kangaroo, at Chester Zoo could do this! Also, a giraffe can run at high speeds of up to 35mph; although, they only do this for short sprinting bursts. Did you know that a flamingos skin and feathers are pinky/orange because of their diet? Flamingos eat algae and tiny shellfish that are rich in  carotenoids, which is why these birds have a pink or orange pigment to their skin and feathers. Carotenoids is what gives carrots their colour too - I wonder if we would turn orange if we ate nothing but carrots? Everyone was exhausted at the end of our busy day at the zoo but we had a great time!

 

July 2019

Year 6 Careers Week

At Platt Bridge Community School, our Year 6 Careers Week aims to raise aspirations by helping children understand the link between learning in school and the world of work.

We launched the start of our Careers Week by inviting a range of professionals into school to take part in a 'What's my line' assembly and a speed networking session. Pupils from Year 6 had the opportunity to ask them questions about their careers and the route they took to get there. All our year 6 pupils have engaged with at least 9 business professionals in the space of an hour and had their horizons broadened.

We would like to thank each one of them for giving up there time to come in and speak to them. The pupils valued and appreciated the knowledge they have gained from each professional.

Miss Hindley: "The children thoroughly enjoyed this morning: they were able to meet lots of professionals and find out about a wide range of career opportunities including being self employed. I am sure that all children are now inspired to start thinking about their own future careers!"

Children's comments:

Jenson - "I was surprised how many different roles there were in Mcdonalds. I love that you can continue to learn there and do university courses with them."

Ewan - "I love finding out about the firefighter's job. I didn't realise that you can travel abroad as a firefighter and that you help out with disasters like earthquakes in other countries."

Adam and Lucie - "I liked finding out about different careers that I've not thought about before like being a rugby referee and flood management."

Patrick - "I liked talking to Rhea the nail technician because she told us all about setting up her own business and I think she must work really hard by herself and can't have a day off sick".

Montanna - "I want to be a nail technician when I'm older so I asked Rhea how to do it and she told me what I can do at college and how to get into it!"

Presentation & Demonstartion Day!

Miss Hindley: "Our careers week continued today with many more professionals giving up their precious time to demonstrate elements of their jobs to the children in Y6. Like the children, I too was amazed at the opportunities for development and progression in different careers. I am sure lots of our pupils are inspired to find out more about these career paths!"

Montanna: "I loved speaking to Adrian about his job as a chef. It was amazing to find out that you can work in lots of different places like schools, prisons, restaurants and hotels. I didn't realise you could work all over the world on cruise ships as a chef too!"

Jenson: "It was great when the HM Prison Service came in: the officers showed us the different equipment they used and we got to look at the baton, handcuffs and helmets."

Bradley: "The dog handlers were amazing. It was really impressive to see how they can control their police dogs using just hand signals".

Adam: "I loved seeing the dog handlers and police dogs up close as I've never done that before!"

Ellie: "It was really suprising finding out about all the different jobs you can do as part of the Police! I didn't know you could be a dog handler and it is suprising how well trained they are".

Platt Bridge Community School Job Centre & Mock Interviews

The pupils had the opportunity to search Platt Bridge Community School Job Centre for the desired role. They were all really excited to find out what careers their friends would like to do, in the future. Once they had chosen which role they would like to apply for, they got to work on their covering letters and took part in mock interviews. 

 

 

 

 

June 2019

This month, we have been preparing for our class visit to Chester Zoo by taking part in different class-based workshops led by members of the Chester Zoo Team. Songbirds, which are known as Passerines as they have specially adapted feet to help them perch on branches, are critically endangered both in the UK and overseas, in Indonesia. These birds also have highly-developed voice boxes (just like humans!) so they can sing beautiful melodies to attract mates. 

We found out about these birds' plight during the sessions: they are being kidnapped from their natural habitats; sold on markets in cramped cages as symbols of status and privilege and forced to compete in singing competitions for prize money. 

In our sessions, we have sang the official songbirds song produced by Chester Zoo to raise awareness of their fight for survival. We also went on a hunt around our school environment to spot British songbirds such as song thrushes, robins and blackbirds with binoculars and an identification key to help us. We created a tally of the birds we'd seen and were amazed at how much wildlife we could see on our school field and in the allotments. 

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a songwriter and singer, Ashley Fayth, to write our own song for songbirds. The children worked very hard in two short sessions to create their own lyrics to communicate key messages about the songbird's fight that fit the melody that Ashley was playing on her guitar. They had to count syllables in words carefully to ensure they fit the melody. The children then performed their song beautifully and recorded it. It will be live on the Chester Zoo website very soon but here is a preview. You might want to sign along with these lyrics...

 

Verse 1 Oh you pretty songbirds

Please don’t disappear

You shouldn’t have to hide away

And live your lives in fear

 

Verse 2 Oh you pretty songbirds

We hope you can stay

The forest will fall silent

If you go away

 

Chorus

Hunters and poachers and deforestation

Are causing a lot of devastation

We need to shout the message really loud

By raising awareness and spreading the word

About all those defenceless birds

We need to help our feathered friends right now

 

Verse 3 Oh you pretty songbirds

Crying in your cage

People forcing you to sing

For status and a wage

 

Verse 4 Oh you pretty songbirds

You’re losing your homes

Locked up in a prison

Scared and all alone

Chorus x 2

 

Oh you pretty songbirds

Please don’t disappear

 

May 2019

May has been a great month in Y6C - the children amazed me and made me so proud during SATS week! Their attitude was outstanding! Every child came into school with a positive outlook and tried their best - they should be really proud of their achievements not only during this week but also throughout the year. 

As a reward for their hard work, we went on a class trip to Ninja Warrior's Adventure Park in Wigan. It was spectacular - just like the course you see on the TV!  We had a great time cheering each other on to "beat the wall!"; swinging across the ride sliders and charging around the challenging obstacles. There was also a huge inflatable section where we enjoyed racing each other around the assault course - I was out of breath after racing (and being beaten by!) many children. I am not sure if I have yet recovered properly and will have to go into serious training if I ever go again! One of our favourite parts was the inflatable slides where we crash landed into a sea of balls! It was great fun!

The children have been busy producing some beautiful pieces of writing over the month on May. They have written exciting stories based upon a video clip from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. The children chose language carefully to describe the eerie temple and setting whilst creating atmosphere and building suspense for the reader. They used dialogue very effectively to advance the action and add detail to their characters - the hindrance guide, Satipo and the knowledgeable, fearless explorer, Indiana Jones! We also wrote a leaflet that persuaded children to visit Ninja Warrior. This piece was highly persuasive and pupils chose informal, chatty language to appeal to their target audience - children! They used direct address and rhetorical questions too to speak directly to their reader.

Here are a few examples of our class's fantastic writing!

 

 

April 2019

At the start of April, we held Eco Week in our school. This was a great week where we explored lots of things that impact upon our school environment. 

One area that we focused on was 'waste'. We discussed the different causes of waste in our school currently and came up with these ideas:

  • wasting resources e.g. not putting lids on pens and glues which therefore wastes money too
  • wasting electricity e.g. having the lights on during break times or lunchtimes if there is no-one in the room
  • wasting water e.g. keeping taps running in the bathrooms and forgetting to switch them off
  • wasting food e.g. leaving some of school dinners or our packed lunch

We considered how we could reduce waste in our school and decided that:

  • we could have light monitors who ensured that lights were switched off when we left the classroom. We also have motion sensor lights in corridors that turn off when no-one is in them
  • we could all try to eat a little bit more of our lunches. The children suggested not taking a desert if they were already full or making sure people only took the salad they could eat rather than filling their plate
  • we thought we could use left over food to make bird feeders or other meals too
  • we could reduce wasted paper and resources by keeping worksheets to be reused or taking them home to help with homework. We also thought each table could take responsibility for their table to ensure that pens/glues have lids on.

We all wrote our own pledge which is a promise of how we are going to make a difference.

As part of Eco Week we also visited our allotments. The allotments needed weeding and then re-planting with seeds and bulbs so that we can harvest our own crops e.g. beetroot, onions, lettuce to try and eat in school. We also plants seeds and bulbs that will grow into flowers so that our school environment is bright and beautiful making it a happy, pleasant place to come to learn. We needed to work collaboratively as a team to weed, sow seeds, water and maintain the beds over Eco Week and also in the weeks following too.

I would also like to congratulate Year 6C on their outstanding effort over the past few weeks in the lead up to their KS2 SATS. They have been working exceptionally hard in all areas of the curriculum as well as in English and Maths. I am sure that their hard work and resilience will pay off: they have been attending booster classes in the mornings and in the Easter break and also using their revision guides to polish up anything they are unsure of! I am very proud of them and they deserve to achieve!  I am looking forward to celebrating their hard work and achievements at the end of our SATS week in May!

 

March 2019

March has been a fantastic month for Y6C. 

We have been exploring Bubbles as part of Science Week. We started off the week with a bang by adding mentos to diet coke! Have you tried this at home? A chemical reaction takes place: the carbon dioxide which is added to coca cola to make it fizzy wants to become a gas again and escape from the bottle so the bubbles collect on the side of the bottle. When the mento is added, the bubbles form on he surface of the mento and the carbon dioxide manages to escape from the bottle in a small explosion! This is a similar reaction that makes you mouth fizzy when you eat sherbet! 

We finished off the month with a visit from Ian Bland - a poet. Ian started the day with a fun-filled assembly where he performed lots of his poetry. We got to join in with actions and rhymes in some of his poems and laughed our socks off at them too! Even the teachers were laughing and joining in too! After the assembly, we took part in a workshop with Ian. He read us his poem entitled, The Phantom. We joined in performing it with actions in class and then explored how the poem is organised: we counted how many syllables were in each line and also the rhyming patterns too. We then used this to help us write our own lines and verses for the poem which we later performed to other classes in assemblies. Before our workshop, not many of us enjoyed poetry; now, we love it! 

 

An example of the poems we wrote it:

 

If you want me to flick your lights

And creak your bedroom door.

If you want me to whisper your name

And stomp across the floor.

 

Then wish for me with all your might,

And whisper this three times a night:

The Phantom! 

The Phantom!

The Phantom!

 

If you want to write your own verses for the Phantom at home, you too can follow the pattern we spotted.

The first and third lines have eight syllables in them; the second and fourth lines have six syllables. The final word in the second and fourth lines (door and floor) also rhyme!


 

February 2019

Y6C have enjoyed continuing to learn more about the fascinating country and culture of China as part of their topic, 'What are the Secrets of China?' As part of our D&T unit, we all enjoyed a Chinese banquet: it was a delicious and we got to taste lots of different Chinese foods including spring rolls, prawn toasts, prawn crackers and egg fried rice! After the banquet, we explored spring rolls in more detail. Did you know that spring rolls are often eaten in Chinese New Year celebrations because of their golden colour and cylindrical shape reminds people of gold bars and people believe that they bring good luck and prosperity for the new year. 

We tasted different ingredients that are used in Chinese cookery: bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and beansprouts and different sauces and rated their taste using a spider graph. We used cross sectional diagrams to design our own spring rolls, choosing the flavours and ingredients based on our tasting session. Finally, we made our own spring rolls. We needed to cut the ingredients into small pieces using different tools including knives, vegetable peelers and graters. Once cooked, our spring rolls were delicious - we hope you enjoyed eating them at home too!

To help us prepare for our SATs, Year 6 are really enjoying taking part in the Smash your SATS programme every Tuesday. We are learning lots about self care and how to look after our bodies properly to make sure that our brain works as well as it can.

We have learnt lots of different relaxation strategies to help us over the upcoming months and once we go to high school. Some of our favourite activities including learning some yoga moves and some breathing techniques to help keep us calm when we are feeling anxious.We have also learnt about nutrition and the importance of having a healthy, low sugar breakfast to get our brains working in the morning. We made our own Bircher muesli which is a good brain food and it was tasty too! 
 
Did you know how important sleep is? A child between 10/11 years old should be getting 10-11 hours sleep a night. We discussed what things keep us awake at night and might stop us getting the right amount of sleep. We realised that some of us are addicted to our computers, phones, ipads and games and can sometimes be tempted to play on them after we have gone to bed. Sleep is important as that is when our brains repair and we learn. We listened to some relaxing music and discussed things that we could do to ensure that we get our full allowance of sleep every night.

 

January 2019

January has been a busy month for Y6C! We began our new Spring term topic, 'What are the Secrets of China?' by entering the classroom to find a fortune cookie in our places. We enjoyed reading our fortunes and inferring what they might mean. Some of our favourites which we felt we could apply to our leaning in school were:

  • Don't find fault; instead, find a remedy
  • Your mistakes are your best teachers
  • Never stop starting; never start stopping
  • Every journey begins with the first step

We used these to inspire us in our work. In Y6C, we never give up even when something is challenging. We always strive to do our best and realise that if we make a mistake, it is important to find out why we made it and how we can overcome it.  We set ourselves targets for the journeys we are all taking through Y6 to ensure that we reach our destinations!

Our exciting, new topic continued with a visit from Ivy Tang! Ms Tang is a Mandarin Teacher who used to live in China. She introduced us to the fascinating country of China and its cultures. We sampled calligraphy, which is the ancient Chinese art of writing. We learnt how to write the symbol for forever using ink and brushes. We also attempted to speak in Mandarin. We learnt how to count up to 10 and learn simple greetings too. Here are some of the things we learnt:

Towards the end of January, we welcomed another visitor into Y6. We explored Chinese New Year and the symbols associated with it. We decorated our own plates to help us celebrate the 'Year of the Pig'. We used lots of gold and red when decorating our plates as these colours represent good luck, joy and happiness in Chinese culture. We also added an image of the dragon to our plates. The dragon is a creature often associated with Chinese New Year celebrations because it is associated with wealth, power and leadership. It is also thought that the dragon can bring good luck by dancing. The more it dances; the more good luck it brings to the community.

To bring our own good luck to Platt Bridge and our families, we learnt our own Chinese dances. One was a dragon dance to welcome in the new year and the other was a traditional dance from China using parasols as props. We performed our dance to a group of parents and carers and other year groups in the school - it was well received and we were all very proud of our achievements!

We have lots more learning to do about China as a country and its fabulous culture over the Spring term and will update you again in February!

 

 

December 2018

We hope you have a great Winter break and enjoy celebrating at home and spending time with friends and family!  We hope you come back in January excited to learn and raring to go! What an exciting term we have ahead of us in Year 6! Our new topic, 'What are the Secrets of China?' is packed full of interesting things to learn about. Why not look at our leaflet to find out some of the things that you will be learning about in the Spring term?

With trips, visitors and our newly immersed classroom there are lots of surprises and things to look forward to in the new year...  we can't wait to get started!

Your new Knowledge Organiser is also on the blog below... look over the different sections to start learning about China to help prepare you for our learning in the Spring term. Can you learn some key facts about China as a country - its capital city? Which continent it is in? Can you find out any additional facts to share with us in January?

Miss Cameron, Miss Hindley and Miss Lomax

 

December 2018

This week we have been very busy in Y6C preparing for Christmas. On Wednesday 12th December, we are holding our first Platt Bridge Christmas Markets after school for parents, carers and members of the community to attend.  To help us decide what we would like to sell on our stall, we researched products that are currently available on the market. We had lots of ideas from decorations and ornaments to Christmas foods and treats! We decided that we wanted to build on children's enthusiasm for slime as we thought that would make our product a best-seller and create our own festive slime.  Our product range included Santa Slime, Elf Slime and Snowman Slime! First we needed to create a budget for our product: we found the cost of all of the individual items and then decided on a selling price, ensuring that we made a profit to pass on to a local charity. 

We have had a great time on the production line creating our product. We began by decorating glass jars with different coloured glitter and decorations to resemble Santa, his elves and snowmen. We then followed instructions to combine different ingredients to create fluffy slime to go inside! We enjoyed filling the jars ready for sale. Y6C then created posters using MS Publisher to advertise their product around school! 

 

November 2018

During the month of November, we have been reading a classic British Novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This challenging read was enjoyed thoroughly by all members of the class and we have been eager to read the next chapter as often the author left us in suspense!  After reading the text, we watched a clip of Dr Jekyll's transformation into the ape-like creature Mr Hyde. We planned and wrote our own narratives of this part of the story. The children's writing was amazing! Dialogue was used to advance the action and develop character's feelings throughout the story. They also used a range of adverbials, subordinate clauses and expanded noun phrases to add detail and description to their stories. We have a number of budding authors in our midst, ready to rival Stevenson himself!

When we entered class one morning we were faced with a crime scene. The pupils used their inference skills to discover that our classroom had been transformed into Dr Jekyll's laboratory. His desk lay in disarray: bottles, conical flasks and various mysterious liquids were scattered all over the surface of the table. More alarmingly the outline of a body was on the floor. We investigated the crime scene, gathering information from the evidence and speculating who had committed the crime? what had happened? and why this had happened?

The children presented their ideas in a newspaper report for Westminster News to share the news of this tragic death with the wider community in Soho, London. They used a range of grammatical features including: adverbials of time and place, conjunctions to join ideas and the passive voice. They also showed the range of punctuation that they are able to use, including inverted commas to punctuate speech of characters from the story who were interviewed about the crime and colons to join clauses that were dependent.

We are so pleased and proud of the children's writing - I am sure you will be too!

 

 

 

 October 2018

The month of October had been long awaited by the whole of Y6 - teachers included! It was finally time for our residential trip to York! We all had a fabulous few days, packed full of opportunities for learning outside the classroom, making memories that will last a lifetime!

Our trip began on Wednesday 3rd October, after a short coach journey to Yorkshire, we were soon on our way to Jorvik’s Viking Centre. Once inside, we went on a time-travelling ride back to the Viking times. We saw many of the jobs and aspects of daily Viking life up close which really brought our learning to life. After the ride, we got to meet historians who showed us real Viking artefacts like combs and jewellery. Did you know that combs were a luxury item? If you had long hair you must have been very rich in Viking times, as long hair was much harder to keep clear and look after! We also found out lots about their money. Did you know that in Viking times, Vikings would literally break a coin in half so they could spend half of it? I hope no-one has been cutting five pound notes up at home as sadly this doesn’t still work today! Our next stop was the DIG! Another hands-on historical adventure, where our pupils got the chance to adopt the role of archaeologists and dig in different pits to find artefacts from the past. Our day was rounded off by a game of ten-pin bowling too!

Thursday 4th October began with a delicious breakfast before we made our way to the Yorkshire Museum. Packed full of informative displays about Roman life and Prehistoric creatures, a highlight for many of the pupils was the chance to get up close to ‘Alan the Dinosaur’ in a VR experience where they could hand feed the dinosaur. After enjoying our lunch outside in the sunshine, we boarded our boat and enjoyed a river cruise down the Ouse. We enjoyed waving at locals and seeing York from a different angle. We even sailed past the school which Guy Fawkes has once attended! Our final stop on Thursday was definitely worth the wait! York Chocolate Story! We found out lots of information about the founding families of many of our favourite chocolate bars. Did you know that Kit Kats and Terry’s Chocolate Orange were both invented in York? During our visit we got to taste lots of samples and got to see how chocolate is made from cocoa pods into chocolate. We were shown how to appreciate the taste of chocolate and shown how to taste chocolate properly - has anyone managed to eat a bar of chocolate slowly enough to try this at home? Finally, the best part of our visit was making our own chocolate lollipops and decorating them with lots of tasty treats to take home as a souvenir! That night, after another delicious evening meal at our hotel, we travelled back into York. After dark, we met our guide, Pat, in the shadows of Clifford’s Tower. We walked around the Shambles and down Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate listening to his scary ghost stories and many children even got to act out his historical tales!

Before journeying home on Friday morning, we squeezed in a visit to York Minster - this fantastic building is not only a Minster but also a cathedral! We were amazed by the stained glass windows inside and listened carefully to the fascinating facts about the building. Throughout the trip, the children’s behaviour was exemplary! I was so proud of their insightful questions and positive attitudes throughout the visit. Many members of the public and the owners of the hotel where we stayed commented on how they are a credit to our school! Well done Y6C!

 

September 2018

September has brought lots of tasty treats to Y6C’s classroom! We launched our topic, ‘What Makes Britain Great?’ with a traditional afternoon tea. The children enjoyed making their own sandwiches and then took part in the British tradition - afternoon tea! From their cakes stands, they ate: finger sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and cakes; all washed down of course with a delicious cup of tea! The children loved this tasty treat, whilst listening to the National Anthem, surrounded by red, white and blue bunting!

The children were then set a challenge: they must create a showstopper cupcake as we held our own Great British Bake Off. We followed the full Design and Technology process, beginning with carrying out Market Research. We explored and collected images of cakes which were currently available on the market to create our own mood boards that reflected Great Britain. We then tasted different flavours of icing to identify which was the most popular and the best flavour to choose for own our designs. The flavours we tasted were: chocolate, caramel, mint, lemon and orange. Using a tally chart, we gathered the views of our classmates and presented our results in pie charts and bar charts too!

Once we had completed our Market Research, we moved on to the design stage. We worked to a strict brief. Our cakes must have a flavoured filling; have a decorated top and must reflect the theme of Great Britain. Once we had decided on our final designs, we baked and decorated our cupcakes. What a talented group of bakers Y6C are! Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith would be proud and I know they would struggle to pick Star Baker too!

The children evaluated their final products to finish off the Design and Technology process. They considered which skills they had found difficult and if their designs had any limitations which they would adapt if they were to make their cakes again. I am sure, if you managed to taste a bite at home, that you will agree that they all looked (and tasted) delicious too!

 

 

September 2018

Welcome back to Platt Bridge - I hope everyone has had a fantastic summer and enjoyed their holidays! What an exciting term we have ahead of us in Year 6C! I have been working hard making sure our brand new classroom is ready to have fun and learn in. Our new topic, 'What Makes Britain Great?' is packed full of interesting things to learn about. Why not look at our leaflet to find out some of the things that you will be learning about in the Autumn term?

With an amazing trip to York to look forward to; visitors and our newly immersed classroom there are lots of surprises and things to look forward to in the new school year... I can't wait to get started.

Even though Year 6 is a tricky and challenging year, I know that you can all rise to it! I guarantee that by the end of the year you will all be extremely proud of your hard work, determination and achievements!

Just a reminder: If you have any photographs of your holidays, of you visiting any exciting cities, countries or continents please bring them in so we can display them on our Information Station. 

I can’t wait to welcome you all back and start our Year 6 journey together!

Love

Miss Hindley and Mrs Willis