Scafell

Number facts practice in Scafell

 in Scafell by

Scafell have all been working super hard in their maths lessons recently so we wanted to let you know about one of the things we’ve started doing to really boost our mental maths skills.

In maths, there are 72 basic number facts which more complicated calculations are built on. If you can instantly recall these simple number facts, calculation becomes much easier as brain-power is freed up to think more clearly about the problem as a whole. We will be learning five new facts each week – after fifteen weeks we will have learned them all!

We’ll be testing our recall of the facts every week and seeing how much we can improve our score. See below for some helpful hints and tips to really get these facts embedded in your brain!

Little and Often

Practice makes perfect! These facts are quick, but to really get them to stick, regular practice is key. You can do this anywhere and everywhere – in the car, before bed, after tea, at the park… Wherever you are, take 2 minutes to learn these facts!

Mnemonics

If you’ve got a tricky fact to learn, one of the best ways is to think of something wild or outlandish to help you remember. The crazier the better. Rhymes, jokes or silly stories are memorable, fun and stick in your brain. This is a great way to learn 8×8….

I ate and I ate until I was sick on the floor – eight times eight is sixty-four!

Related Facts

Sometimes a new fact is very closely related to one you already know. If you know 9+9=18, that means you also know that 9×2=18 because they are both two lots of 9. You can also use this to work out 8+9=17 as it’s just one less, or 9+10=19 as it’s just one more.

Fact Families

Number facts come in families – when you’re learning one, learn the family to effectively learn four facts at a time! For example, if you know 4×6=24, you also know…

4×6=24

6×4=24

24÷6=4

24÷4=6

Best of luck with your facts practice this week. We look forward to seeing you smashing your high scores in weeks to come!

Writing in Year 5

 in Scafell by

Following on from our fun and engaging day of baking bread last week, Scafell pupils have been writing their own versions of recipes.  They have worked really carefully to ensure they have included all the features of instructions such as: bullet points, subheadings, numbered steps in chronological order, imperative verbs and time openers.

The children are already demonstrating that they are motivated and determined to do their best and the outcomes are very impressive.  Here are some of our year 5 pupils with their writing – Great start everyone!

Scafell enjoy Wellness Week

 in Scafell / Whole School by

We have enjoyed a fantastic first week back in School in Scafell doing all sorts of fun things including: baking bread, netball and basketball, weaving friendship bracelets, maths investigations, launching rockets and creating our own personal coats of arms.

 

Bug Hotels

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Across the UK, hotels and Guest Houses are closed for now, but Scafell pupils have been making sure the minibeasts in our gardens are living in luxury in their five-star accommodation! These have been created with materials collected on walks and in the local environment including: sticks, leaves, pebbles, plant pots, bricks, guttering, tubes etc.

Encouraging the right kind of bugs into our gardens helps pollinate flowers and keeps away unwanted pests, like snails too.

Here are some of the fabulous examples they’ve created so far.  Well done Scafell!

The Levens School Song

 in Bowfell / Scafell / Skiddaw by

Alfie and Rebecca Jones have been very busy with dad, Darren, creating and performing this song all about Levens School! All the staff have listened to it and many were brought to tears hearing it. The giggles are just gorgeous! Thank you so much to the Jones Family for sharing their wonderful talents. Listening to this is guaranteed to brighten your day.

We’ve included the words here in the hope that many of you will sing along and we would like to set a music challenge to you all. Please learn the song so that we can sing it together for real when we are back in school in the not too distant future.

Happy Singing!

The Visitor

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Scafell pupils have created some imaginative pieces of descriptive writing based on an image of a modern-day iron man.

Here are extracts from three of our talented year six writers:

Clank, clank, clank, the terrible sound of metal scraping on the ground made everyone freeze like statues.  They all looked up into the stormy sky and saw an enormous figure looming over them like a dark cloud.  Most people scattered like ants, running, screaming and shouting asking for help, “Get the army! Get the army!”

SD

Fifty metres or more tall, the mysterious metal creature stands straight with its extended man-made arms swaying slowly by its hips.  On each of its shoulders nests a car door.  They make it look like it has a pair of metallic black wings.  Its chest is protected by a covering of steel.  Almost like armour.  Its eyes stare down at the humans, showering them in a brilliant yellow beacon of light. Blinded, the humans instinctively cower backwards, still taking pictures of the robot man edging closer to the metal fence.

EP

Far, far away on Mercury in the city of Cury a gigantic metal creature, taller than the Eiffel Tower, had landed in front of the enormous crowd.

Her eyes, as blue as the sky, looking down on the world as bright as shining lanterns.  The metal from her armour sparkled like shining stars.

The crowd waiting with bated breath and the creature spoke.  Her voice roared like a lion…..

KH

 

Photography by Scafell Pupils

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Last week, our year 5 and 6 pupils had a photography challenge as part of their home learning.  Could they capture a moment in time through a lens?  In the last few weeks our lives have turned upside down, but around us there is peace, quiet, beauty, sunshine and many signs of new life.

Here is our gallery of photographs:

 

 

Scafell’s ideas about the benefits of lockdown

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Despite living in uncertain and very strange circumstances, Scafell have risen to the challenge of identifying the positives of lockdown as part of their homelearning.

The have created an interesting list of ideas which they have emailed to us over the last couple of weeks, including:

  • Life is more relaxed;
  • There is less pollution;
  • We are not rushing around to different places;
  • I don’t have to get up as early;
  • I am cooking more;
  • we have more family meals together;
  • I can spend more time online and playing games on my phone;
  • I don’t have to wear school uniform;
  • I can eat lunch outside in the sunshine;
  • it is giving the environment a rest;
  • I am spending more time with the family;
  • I watch more movies;
  • we can do less school work;
  • I go on more bike rides;
  • It’s bringing our family closer together;
  • I can spend more time with my pets.

Scafell, you have shown us that we can always find positives; even when times are tough!

Thank you to everyone in year 5+6 who shared their ideas with us.

 

Easter Fun

 in Bowfell / Church / Scafell / Skiddaw / Whole School by

Thank you to all who sent us your photos of you enjoying Easter this year. Here is a selection from Bowfell, Skiddaw and Scafell.