Well...Well...Well...If it isn't Year 6!
What a first day back!
It was so lovely seeing the children looking pristine and proper in their school uniforms this morning, excitedly making their way up to the classroom ready to begin their final year at Southill.
While the classroom itself remains the same as last year, the space has been completely transformed thanks to the hard work and dedication of some incredible volunteers. A MASSIVE thank you to Lisa, Hannah, Eileen and Lucy who gave up some of their summer holidays to help create an awesome space for the children to learn, grow and make memories this year. We were also treated to some brand-new chairs and seeing the children’s faces as they walked into the room was everything I’d hoped for!
We eased ourselves into the morning with a ‘Find Your Classmates’ wordsearch before having a good old catch-up and talking about some of the exciting things we have in store for their final year at Southill.
The class were also introduced to Jolanta, our new Teaching Assistant, who will be working with us in the mornings. It was brilliant getting to know her today and the children were fascinated to discover that she can speak FOUR languages! We are incredibly lucky to have her joining Team Year 6.
Making Our Classroom Feel Like Home
Just like last year, the children began creating their Bitmoji self-portraits to make the entrance to our classroom feel welcoming and homely.
One comment in particular made me smile:
“I’m so much better at art now. I can’t wait to do it better this time!”
What a fantastic attitude to start Year 6 with!
I’m sure you’ll agree that their creations look incredible and really capture the friendly nature and personality of our class before you even step through the door.
Meeting Our Buddies
After break, half of the class had the opportunity to meet their new buddies and it was genuinely heartwarming to watch.
They played together brilliantly and it was wonderful seeing our Year 6 children thrive with this extra responsibility. They were caring, patient and fantastic role models. The other half of Year 6 will meet their buddies tomorrow and spent some time today making bookmarks and personalised tags for their new pencil cases. We cannot wait to see those relationships develop throughout the year.
Probability... But Make It a Race!
Then came the afternoon...And we had a BLAST!
We began by learning all about probability, which is the likelihood of something happening.
We started with a simple coin toss. If we flip a coin, there is a 50% chance of landing on heads and a 50% chance of landing on tails. So, if we flipped one ten times, surely we would get five heads and five tails?
Not quite!
Our results were 7 heads and 3 tails, which led to a brilliant discussion about why probability tells us what is likely to happen rather than exactly what will happen.
Next came a deck of cards. What are the chances of picking a red card? A king? One particular card from the entire deck?
Then came the dice...
Working in teams, the children had to decide which number they would choose if we rolled two dice and added the scores together. It was fascinating listening to their reasoning and hearing them justify their choices. At this point, I raided Rex’s toy cupboard for some cars, numbered them from 2 to 12 and asked each team to choose the car they thought was most likely to win.
We then discovered that 7 is the most likely total when rolling two dice, followed by 6 and 8, because there are more possible combinations that can produce these numbers. There was only one thing left to do...
TAKE THE CARS OUTSIDE AND PUT THE LAWS OF PROBABILITY TO THE TEST! We created a race track and every roll of the dice moved the corresponding numbered car further towards the finish line. So, what happened?
🥇 8 finished first!
🥈 7 finished second!
🥉 6 finished third!
JUST AS WE THOUGHT!
But What Was the Point?
Once the excitement had settled, I asked the children a question:
“What was the point of all that?”
Lots of blank faces stared back at me. The general feeling seemed to be...
“Just another one of your bonkers ideas!”
Well... yes. But there WAS a point!
I asked them to think about our year ahead. If we create a class charter with a clear set of guidelines that we all agree to follow, what happens to the probability of us having a fun, happy and successful year?
The penny dropped. Just like our dice experiment, we cannot guarantee exactly what will happen this year. However, we can make choices that give us the best possible chance of success.
Being kind. Being honest. Looking after one another. Taking care of our classroom and resources. Working hard. Showing respect. Having fun. If we all commit to these things, the probability of us having an AWESOME final year together becomes much, much greater.
And that was the real lesson.
The day absolutely flew by and I really hope the children have come home feeling happy, excited and ready for everything Year 6 has in store. It is going to be a very special year!
One Last Thing... PE TOMORROW!
Just a quick reminder that Friday is now our PE day, which means we have PE tomorrow. Please could children come to school wearing their PE kits if possible. And if you forget, please don’t worry. It is the first week back after all!
What a fantastic first day, Year 6. Here’s to an incredible year ahead!
Tom
