Mathematics Links for today's lesson

Click on the link to go to activity. You will need to have your book with you to do the working out for the word problems and questions that involve trading. Record your total score for each activity in your book - if you get a few wrong, and have time, re-do the activity and try to improve your score.

Add and subtract whole numbers up to millions

Add and subtract whole numbers word problems

Estimate sums and differences of whole numbers

Add and subtract decimal numbers

Add and subtract decimals word problems

Spelling

Today in spelling we explored root words, suffixes, prefixes and connectives through the Saint Ambrose Primary School website.

There are so many free websites with quality resources available. If your child is struggling with spelling, or you'd like them to have more practice, try googling "interactive year 6 spelling activities" and exploring the many games and activities that come up.

What is your favourite spelling game? Is there a website you like to visit to practice your spelling? 

Lunar Theme Park - Guidelines

This week in Mathematics, Mrs Levi's group are designing their own Luna Theme park. The have been given a budget of $500 000 to build their park. Based on the attractions and amenities they have included and a realistic ticket price students need to calculate their profit and loss and modify their park as needed to ensure they run at a profit.

I was incredibly impressed with how engaged and focused they were today and look forward to seeing their progress over the next two days!! Here are the guidelines below (substitute dollars for pounds where needed 1:1).

What was your favourite part of this activity? What maths did you use to complete the task? Did you learn anything new? Did you enjoy applying your mathematics skills to a "real life"/fun task?

Daily 5 - Choices!

After spending the beginning of term building their stamina, today in Daily 5 we started choosing which activity we would like to do.

Having the responsibility of choosing their own rotation and activity gives students the incentive to really focus on that task for the entire time as they selected it! 

They have four rotations to choose from: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing or Word Work and Listen to reading. Within each of these rotations students select the particular activity they would like to do in relation to that rotation. 

For example, in Work on Writing students may write a narrative, recount their weekend, describe their favourite place, draft a blog comment etc.

In Word Work and Listen to Reading students use words from their word catcher (words they have spelled incorrectly in their writing) to create crosswords, find a words, write in fancy letters, write in the shape of their meaning (spellamadoodle), create their words using scrabble letters etc or play boggle, and then select a book of their choosing from Tumblebooks to listen to (in the photos you will notice them following along with the story on the screen as they listen). 

In Read to Self and Read to Someone students read their good fit books either by themself or with a partner and then complete one of four "Book Talk" activities about what they've read. 

Students will complete each rotation once per week and track this in their Daily 5 book. Books are also collected to ensure students are on track with their work, although the focus is on building independence in their literacy habits and an enjoyment of literacy. 

The fundamental belief behind Daily 5 is that: 

Purpose + Choice = Motivation 

- increased motivation = increased desire to learn = improved literacy! 

What is your favourite rotation? Which activities do you like to do? Why? 

Movie Making - Entry Event

This term in Science and English we are looking at the topic 'Visual Adventures' and exploring the use of technology and persuasive devices to create short films and advertisements. 

As our entry event this week students were given the task of depicting a story in just 6 pictures! They worked collaboratively to develop an idea and produce a story board. This was used to take their pictures, exploring different camera angles, and upload them into I-movie. They were then able to add music and text to assist in portraying their idea effectively, as well as a title and credits slide.

As we watched these as a class we noted which music enhanced the story, which camera angles were most effective (comparing how different pairs portrayed the groups story differently), and what made a movie engaging. 

We also learnt a lot about the process of working collaboratively - some groups started very slowly on Tuesday, however were able to reflect and improve throughout Wednesday's lesson and hence were able to produce a piece of film today. The skills that were beginning to be developed will assist them greatly when they come to producing their final project and in the future. 

Which camera angles did you use? Which was most effective? What would you change next time? Which strategies helped your group work together better? Which video do you think is the most effective in portraying a story?

Posting a Comment on the Blog

As part of their Mathematics homework students need to comment on the post that they have done the activity for that week. We also encourage students and their families to comment on other posts made throughout the year - we love reading your feedback and encouragement!

In light of this, here are some refreshers about the important things we need to remember when posting a comment:

1. For safety, only include your first name.

2. Ensure your grammar and spelling are correct before posting - remember capital letters and full stops!

3. Add something meaningful to the post - this could be a comment or a question. It must be relevant to what the post is about.

What other tips do you have for writing a good blog comment?

Welcome to 2014!

I hope that all families had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are rested and refreshed for the new school year!

Year 6 have settled in very well to our learning space and we are looking forward to another fantastic year at MACC.

Your child should have brought home their homework book on Friday detailing the homework structure for this term. The link to the Mathematics homework is through the Homework page at the top of the class blog. Diaries will be sighted on Monday's (Tuesday Week 3 due to the swimming carnival).

This year we will be working with Daily 5 and CAFE during our literacy block and continuing with Reteach and Enrich in Mathematics. In Science this term we are looking at Visual Adventures and in HSIE we will be studying Government. Information regarding camp will be sent home later in the term.

We look forward to working with you in 2014!