What is coming up in the holidays?

 It is the first of October where in exactly 30 days, shops will throw out all Halloween decorations and songs like Jingle Bells, Last Christmas and All I Want For Christmas will be blaring out of the speakers at full volume. 

Panic buying will be on the rise and people will start making videos where they are showing something being unboxed which costs £1 and they offer a 50% off deal.  Four days after Boxing Day, shops will finally stop playing Christmas music and play Ed Sheran, Journey, Adele and other ‘normal’ songs.

Nate, Year 6.

Lifecycle of a ladybug.

The lifecycle of a ladybug is in 6 stages. 

Firstly, The eggs are laid in an appropriate location on a leaf or the side of a tree.

Next, They hatch into a small insect called the 1st Instar. 

After that, They become bigger and become a 2nd Instar.

Next, They grow again and become bigger, they are now the 3rd Instar.

Later, they grow for nearly the last time, they are now… The 4th Instar.

Then, they turn into pupae and fold up in a safe location.

Finally,They emerge from their pupa and become a fully grown adult ladybug!

Jacob, Year 6

Schooling or homeschooling?

As part of our English lessons, we have been reading the book Skellig, by David Almond. One of the characters is homeschooled and we debated the advantages and disadvantages of both types of education - Schooling and Homescholing. Here is one pupil's thoughts.

Homeschooling - Disadvantages

It is vital that your child learns how to socialise and interact with other children. It is also important that they learn to stick up for themself. If your child doesn’t have any friends they might start to feel lonely and isolated. 

However, socialising isn’t the only important thing. Since your child will always be at home, you will need to hire a babysitter and if you’re busy and not up to teaching your child yourself, you will also need to hire a tutor. Homeschooling can absorb a substantial amount of the parent’s time. 

Financial restrictions may also be a problem. In order for one person to remain home as a teacher, a parent may have to give up their job, reducing the family income. Books and other resources might be expensive and the family might not have enough money to pay for everything. Parents may have misconceptions or misunderstandings about a certain subject and pass it on to their children. 

Homeschooling - Advantages

You have control of curriculum. Depending upon the state, you can decide the subjects upon which your child can focus and how long the child spends studying that subject is up to your judgment and your child’s capability.

You can also control your child’s diet. There won’t be any cafeteria food or switching food when children are not supposed to do so. 

You do not have to worry about social pressure and bullying won’t be an issue. Lessons can start whenever you and your child feel like it. You can study wherever and whenever you want and alter the timetables accordingly.

Schooling - Disadvantages

Your child might get bullied, causing them to have low self-esteem and confidence. Peer pressure might be an issue. Long lessons might not fit some children, causing them to lose interest and concentration. School uniforms might be uncomfortable and expensive, causing your child to itch and fidget.

Schooling - Advantages

Your child will be surrounded by children around their age and will probably make friends. Bullying might occur but they will learn to stick up for themself. They will have teachers to help them and friends to play with. Your child will learn how to share with others, they will have more empathy, they will slowly adjust to the environment and learn how to interact with others. 

Ada, Year 6

Sharing our knowledge of Tomato plants!

Megan shared what she knew about growing tomato plants with Rainbow class.

Megan's presentation 

These are the steps on how to grow your own tomatoes and have lots of delicious tomatoes by the end of the summer!

The first step is you need the seeds. You can get these from a garden center or supermarket such as Morrisons or Tesco. You can also get the seeds from the tomatoes themselves. All you have to do is get some tomatoes and take the seeds out of them and put them on a towel or a piece of kitchen roll. 

Secondly, you plant the seeds in a small pot or tub. To do this you need to fill the pot or tub to the top with soil/compost. Next, make a small hole in the soil/compost and place the seed/seeds in the hole and cover in more soil/compost. Lastly, you water them. These plants are grown between April and September. 

To keep them healthy and alive you need to put them outside in the day time and at night time put them into a greenhouse or on a windowsill on frosty and cold nights. In the summer, you can keep them outside at night too. Also, all year round you need to water them so they can drink and they won't die off. 

When they start to get bigger and start growing out the pot or tub you need to transfer them into a bigger pot or tub or even in the ground. 

If your plant is in the ground when it's cold you can get a large pop bottle and cut it in half and put it over. Why is this? This is because they need to be covered up or inside at night in the winter to prevent them from freezing and dying. 

After a while, your plant will begin to grow quite tall and will start to flop over and could possibly snap. To stop this from happening you need to put a cane in and tye a piece of string around the plant and the cane; a cane just looks like a really long stick. In this process, you also need to keep them well watered. 

In the process of this happening, the plant will start to flower and soon will start to get tomatoes on. There are lots of types of tomatoes such as golden, beef, cherry, red and more. 

Lastly, when you can see the tomatoes are fully ripe (this means the colour of the tomato on the picture or what they looked like depending on what seeds you used) you can pick them off and enjoy them!

I hope this inspired you to grow a tomato this year!

Random Act of Kindness

 My act of kindness!

In November, my Mam had a parents evening call with my teacher and I got a good report, so I got some money. I decided that I was going to spend it on getting some food and toys for the cats and dogs at the RSPCA Felledge for Christmas. 

The,n, the second I thought of that idea, I went to the shops and bought lots of stuff. Next, I made them a Christmas card and some animal hama beads. Lastly, I got a massive Christmas gift bag and put all of the stuff in. A few days before Christmas, we went to the RSPCA  and gave them the gift. Then, the really nice lady asked for my address so she could send me some pictures of the cats and dogs using the stuff that I sent. 

How do you donate?

You can donate money on the RSPCA website or you can take something into the venue. Hope this inspired you to do an act of kindness! 

Megan, Year 6