New Topic - Science
Monday 13th July 2020
Exploring Brazil - Amazon Rainforest
Hello everybody! As you probably know, St. Bede's opened it's doors to more pupils with effect from 22nd June so all the teachers are in school now each day. I'm teaching a Year 6 bubble so I'm busy, busy, busy all day. We must continue to keep in touch though, but I may be a little slower at replying to your emails. Please be patient: I will reply as soon as I can.
Amazon Rainforest - Here are the resources for this week's geography lesson.
Monday 6th JULY 2020
The Physical Landscape of Brazil
Hello everybody! As you probably know, St. Bede's opened it's doors to more pupils with effect from 22nd June so all the teachers are in school now each day. I'm teaching a Year 6 bubble so I'm busy, busy, busy all day. We must continue to keep in touch though, but I may be a little slower at replying to your emails. Please be patient: I will reply as soon as I can.
Physical Landscape of Brazil. Here are the resources for this week's geography lesson.
Monday 29th June 2020
Hello everybody! As you probably know, St. Bede's opened it's doors to more pupils last week so all the teachers are in school now each day. I'm teaching a Year 6 bubble so I'm busy, busy, busy all day. We must continue to keep in touch though, but I may be a little slower at replying to your emails. Please be patient: I will reply as soon as I can. 
Fancy something different this week? Let's try some geography.
Let's investigate Brazil - a non-European country
Exploring Brazil - Here are the resources for this week's geography learning. ENJOY!
Science wb 22.06.20 Animals, including humans
This week's focus: old age and the human timeline.
Note to parents. Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, some of the content has been omitted and will be taught at a later date when the children return to school.
- Let's begin by watching the three short video clips below which remind us about life cycles and how we grow older.
Now read this poster. It's full of ideas about how you could make a difference to an elderly person's life. You may find it useful when completing your first activity.
Now, read the Old Age Information Page below and then carry out the suggested activity.
Next, read the Human Timeline Information Page and the carry out the suggested activity.
Science wb 15.06.20 Animals, including humans
Note to parents. Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, some of the content has been omitted and will be taught at a later date when the children return to school.
Child Development
Activity 1 - Looking at the stages of development in young children. What they can do and when they begin to do it. Cut the different activities out and then stick them on the time line in the correct order. Draw a picture of a child performing each of the activities in the space provided.
If you don't have a printer, create the time line in our exercise book by drawing pictures and writing what the child is doing.
Child Responsibility
When babies are born, at first they are very dependent upon their parents. However, as they grow older, they become increasingly more independent and begin doing things for themselves, as we saw in the previous activity. Alongside gaining increasing independence, children's sense of awareness and responsibility also develop as they grow from a baby into a young child, teenager then adult.
Activity: take a look at the 6 different activities on the Child Responsibility page below. Think about them carefully then cut them out and stick them in your book, creating a time line showing the order in which you think that a child should be allowed or are able to do these activities.
Next, write the age at which you think the child should be able to do the activity next to each image and then write an explanation, describing in what way the child has developed so that he/she can perform these tasks on their own without an adult. give examples of how the child has changed physically, mentally or emotionally enabling them to carry out these different activities.
Hint:
- Think about how the child has developed physically - what can they do now that they couldn't do a few months/years ago?
- Think about how the child had developed mentally - what do they now understand that they didn't a few months or years ago?
- Think about how the child has developed emotionally - are they able to control/understand their feelings now better than they could a few months/years ago?
Science wb 08.06.20 - Animals, including humans
THIS WEEK'S FOCUS - GESTATION PERIODS IN ANIMALS
Important information for parents/carers
Due to the sensitive nature of some of this topic content, some information has been omitted. Full content will be delivered at a later date when children have returned to school.
GESTATION - What is gestation?
Nearly all mammals are viviparous. This means that they give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs. The time between the fertilisation of the egg cell and the birth of the offspring is called the gestation period.
During the gestation period, the offspring develops inside the mother's womb. It starts off as a single cell called a zygote and then develops into an embryo composed of many cells. As time goes on, the embryo becomes a foetus, with more recognisable features such as skin, bones, blood and organs.
The fully-developed baby (animal, including humans) exits the mother's body at the end of the gestation period. Gestation periods are different for different mammals.
Note: if you are unable to print out these activity sheets, you will still be able to complete the activities by drawing the tables/charts and answering the questions in your books. If you are unable to draw animals in the boxes then just leave that column of the chart out or write the name of the animal instead.
Animal Gestation Periods - Activities
- Print off the activity sheets below
- Using the printed images, cut and paste the animals into the gestation table
- Use the internet or reference books if you have them to find out the average number of babies each animal has per pregnancy and its average life span. Record your findings in the gestation table.
- Once you have completed all the facts in the gestation table, answer question 4 - 10 in your exercise book. You may need an adult to help you with this. Look at the information you found out about gestation periods, analyse it and try to spot whether or not there are any patterns. What do you notice? There aren't any answers to this activity. It's up to you (the scientist) to hypothesise and make links, if there are any.
Hello everybody! I hope you had a fun-packed half term and have now got your science heads on!
Science - wb 1st June 2020 - Life Cycles continued
Note: if you are unable to print out the resource sheets, draw the life cycles in your exercise book and write sentences explaining what is happening in each of the different stages of the life cycle.
Last week, we began looking at the life cycles of two different types of animals: amphibians and mammals. This week, we are going to continue learning about the life cycles of animals: this time looking at insects and birds.
- To begin, watch the following video about the Life Cycles of different organisms.
- Now, read through the Life Cycles of an Insect information page(below).
LIFE CYCLE OF INSECTS - Use Resource Sheets A, B and C to demonstrate your understanding of the life cycles of the honey bee, the mason bee and the butterfly.
Next, read through the Life Cycles of a Bird information page (below).
LIFE CYCLE OF BIRDS - Now, use Resource Sheets D and E to show your understanding of life cycles of the common cuckoo and the chicken.
Finally, play the Comparing Life Cycles game using the resources below.
Science - wb 18.05.20 - LIFE CYCLES IN ANIMALS
Today we're going to begin looking at the life cycles of animals, beginning with amphibians.
To begin, read the information from the information page below (Resource A) that tells you about the life cycles of three different types of amphibians. You should be familiar with what an amphibian is now after last week's reading activity. If you've not yet completed it, it might be a good idea to do that activity first before you begin your science. BEFORE you complete the activity, watch the short video below about the life cycle of a frog. You'll have to watch carefully because there's no commentary (sound): just lots of images that explain the different stages of the life cycle.
Life Cycle of a Frog - VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMs3waaW75g
Once you've read the information page and watched the video, cut out the images and place them in the correct order to show that you understand the different stages of each creature's life cycle. Use Resources B, C and D to complete this activity. When you have stuck down or drawn the images in the correct order, write a description underneath each image explaining what is happening in each of the different stages of the life cycle.
- In your book answer the following questions:
- What do the amphibians' life cycles have in common?
- What differences are there in their life cycles? Explain. Make comparisons.
If you aren't able to print the sheets out, draw three diagrams in your book to show the different stages of each life cycle and then write an explanation of what is happening in each of the different stages of the life cycle.
ON A DIFFERENT DAY - don't do this all at once.
REPEAT THE SAME ACTIVITY AS ABOVE BUT, THIS TIME, LEARNING ABOUT THE LIFE CYCLE OF MAMMALS.
Watch the Professor Dug Marbles video first.
- Read the information on Resource E about the life cycle of mammals.
- Use Resources F, G and H to show your understanding - cut out and stick (or draw diagrams) the images in the correct order to show the different stages of the life cycles of the three different mammals. Next, underneath each image, write an explanation demonstrating that you understand what is happening at each of the different stages.
- In your book answer the following questions:
- What do the mammals' life cycles have in common?
- What differences are there in their life cycles? Explain. Make comparisons.
Resources for session 1 - Resource A - amphibian life cycles.
Resource B, C and D - life cycles of three different amphibians - the frog, the salamander and the axoloti.
Resources for session 2 - life cycles of different mammals.
BACK TO SCIENCE!
Asexual Reproduction in Plants
Before you begin this lesson, it would be a good idea to refresh your memory on what sexual reproduction in plants means (learning from your last science lesson). Read through the presentation below again.
- Look at the resource entitled 'Plant Picture Cards and word bank'
DISCUSSION
- Group the picture cards in as many different ways as you can. Explain why you have grouped them like this with an adult of brother or sister.
- After this, choose two of the cards and describe ways in which they are similar or different. Concentrate on what you have learnt about sexual and asexual reproduction.
- Use scientific vocabulary in your description, using the Word Bank on the resource sheet.
Plant picture cards and word bank.
THE 100 WORD CHALLENGE!!!
Using the 100 Word Challenge resource...
In one hundred words or less, describe some ways in which plants reproduce asexually. Give examples of plants that reproduce in this way, and briefly describe how this process is different to sexual reproduction in flowering plants.
The 100 Word Challenge Resource.
We will continue our new topic in science next week after taking a look at why there is a national holiday this Friday.
Friday 8th May 2020 - 75th anniversary of VE Day
Let's begin by watching some video clips and reading a PowerPoint telling us all about what is meant by Victory in Europe Day.
Now that you know what V E Day is all about and why it is so important to remember, click on the link below. You will find a table full of interesting activities that you can complete. I know we can't have a street party as one of the activities suggest, but maybe you could have a 'house party' instead. If you do, don't forget to send me your pictures.
Table of V E Day activities to choose from.
Science - Flower Plants
By the end of this lesson you should be able to describe the process of sexual reproduction in flowering plants.
NOTE TO ADULTS
The following activity is best done practically. Children will be able to relate much better to the task if they have a real, flowering plant to work with. Good examples to use are the lily or tulip because their reproductive parts are clearly identifiable.
To begin, watch the following BBC video about the anatomy of the flowering plant and how it reproduces. You may need to watch it more than once to fully understand the process. You can also use it to help you complete the dissection, labelling and description activity. Remember you can pause the video and use the information on screen.
Now that you have watched the video, it's time to reinforce this learning with some more factual knowledge. Read carefully through the following slides that tell you all about the anatomy of the flowering plant and the function of each reproductive part.
Now, show me what you have learnt by completing the Dissecting Flowers activity. This is best done with a real, flowering plant such as a lily or a tulip. If you've got a real flower, choose Dissecting Flowers 1. If you haven't got a real plant, choose Dissecting Flowers 2. If you're unable to print out these documents at home, draw me a detailed diagram of a flowering plant and label all the reproductive parts.
If you completed Dissecting Flowers1 or drew a labelled diagram in your book, I would now like you to do the following:
In your book, write down what you know about the male and female parts of the flower, the stamen and the carpel. Explain what the function of the stamen is and what the function of the carpel is.