Thank you for completing your exhibition notes on the painting this week, some of the writing has been amazing!
This week, we have asked children to interview someone at home about what it means to be an apostle in our community. Please think of as many examples as you can!
We have also sent home a mental test to practise. Thank you to all parents who attended the maths evening on Thursday, we have sent home a pack for every child just in case you weren’t able to come. If parents or carers would like to know more about how to help children at home, please come and see us.

This week we have sent home a reading comprehension aswell as setting My Maths and Abacus online homework.
Some of you may also have a time assessment to look at with someone at home – it will really help if you ask someone to test you on your time knowledge!
Please let your teacher know if you cannot access the maths homework online or if you find it too challenging.
The ICT suite is open EVERYDAY from 8am until 8.50am (unless Mrs Chapman is unwell) for maths games, so you can complete your homework in this time if you need to.
Don’t forget Bug Club too, there are lots of different texts to enjoy!

Using reported speech
Changing Direct Speech to Reported Speech
1. 1st person changes to 3rd, e.g. I changes to he or she
2. Present tense changes to past, e.g. are changes to were
3. Past tense changes to a ‘had’ tense (past perfect), e.g. went changes to had gone
4. Future tense changes to ‘would’ e.g. will make changes to would make
5. Sometimes direct speech will be shorter; sometimes reported speech will be shorter.
6. Sometimes you need to add ‘feeling’ words, e.g. Wow! becomes He expressed surprise.

1) Decide whether these examples are direct or reported speech and add the correct punctuation in each case. Remember that direct speech is the actual words said, but reported speech is not.
a) I love to go fishing remarked Bob
b) Joe said that he felt ill
c) The Inspector told us he was investigating the case
d) We want to go out right now shouted Layla
e) Mr Bates frowned and then said I just can’t remember any more
f) Lily admitted that she had not done what she had promised

2) Read the example, then use it to help you to turn the other sentences into reported speech.
Example: “! need some money,” said Dad.
Dad said that he needed some money.
a) “I want to help,” whined Mandy.
b) Mr Larkin said, “I hope to see all you children at the school fair on Saturday.”
c) Miss Green said, “We are writing poems today.”
d) “It’s raining again,” sighed Ranjit.
e) The reporter continued, “Police hope to arrest a man soon.”
f) “Dad and I need some help now,” said Mum.
g) “The shop is shut now,” said the manager.
h) “Don’t treat me like a baby!” snapped Bella.

3) This section contains feelings and / or chatty (informal) language. Find the best way to express both formally. There may be different ways of doing this. Read the example first.
Example “Ugh! Spiders!” screamed Alfie.
Alfie screamed that he hated spiders.
a) “We’re very concerned about these tatty old houses,” said the councillor.
b) “No way!” laughed Betty. “You don’t mean Harkan’s scored a goal!”
c) “I’m astonished! In Year 6 you should know better than this!” exclaimed the Head.
d) “We’re at this well cool party,” said Adam down the phone.
e) “No! You’re bang out of order! Put that back!” screamed her sister.
f) “It’s been tough but this looks like the best of the bunch,” commented the competition judge.

4) Now summarise this conversation in reported speech.
“What were you doing on Tuesday evening?” asked the detective.
“Er… let me think,” replied Mr Bates. “Oh yes – that’s right – taking the dog for a walk. We always go out about eleven.”
“And what did you see on Tuesday night?”
“Well, at first it looked normal. Then I thought, ‘Wow! Look at that!”
“Tut! Can you be more precise? What was it you saw?”
“In the street light on the corner I could see loads of like greeny blob things. Weird. It was really weird.” Mr Bates scratched his head and pondered.
“Could you tell me more about these – er – ‘greeny blob things’?”
“At first I was like, ‘Wow! What’s that?’ Then when they got closer I could see it was toads on lily pads. Flying.”
“And how many were there, do you estimate?”
“Oh loads. Loads of them. Yeah. Weird.”
“How many is that?”
“Ooh er… I’d say…. maybe…. about…. well….. a hundred? No……. more….. maybe two hundred….. well, loads.”

This week in year 6, we have been looking at the picture book Tuesday. We wrote a playscript about an interview with a witness. We then turned it into a piece of reported speech.
In RE, we read the prologue of St. John’s gospel. We also looked at the painting called Incarnation, which means ‘word made flesh’. We painted a picture to show verse 5 in the prologue, which is ‘the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it’.
In history, we launched a new topic – the Ancient Greeks. We found out that Nike is a goddess and designed our own trainers naming them after a Greek god.
In maths, we have been learning about fractions and percentages. We learnt how to convert improper fractions and mixed numbers. We also did a mental maths test.
On Friday 9th January, we ahd a Childline asssembly. It was really interesting. They taught us about what we could contact Childline about. They also taught us a fun way to remember the number.
It has been a really good first week of the year. I hope it continues throughout the rest of the year.
Written by Jess, Cameron S, Olivia P, Joel, Freya.