Monday 29th June – Year 6
Warm up:
Reading:
First, have a look through today’s vocabulary:
- Breadth – the measurement from side to side.
- Queasy – feeling sick.
- Vainly – in a way that produces no result.
- Flailed – wave or swing wildly.
- Feeble – lacking physical strength.
- Gingerly – in a careful or cautious way.
- Hastily – with speed and urgency.
- Plummeted – fall or drop straight down with high speed.
- Cluster – a group of people closely together.
Now read the text.
. . . So imagine me, flat against this wet rock, edging along this ledge the breadth of three fingers. And sometimes I’m bent over double because the overhang dips down in places. And there’s a sheer drop on my left . . .
‘Stupid scabbing plan,’ he whispered, his eyes full of muddy rainwater, feeling the moist ledge shift and squish under his feet.
After what seemed like an age, he passed a bold white streak in the rock and realized he was only a third of the way along the ledge. He was going too slowly, he knew with queasy horror. The longer he took, the greater the chance that Jelt would be spotted. Fighting every instinct, Hark started to move faster, no longer pausing to check every foothold. He could do this, he would do this. He –
He could not tell what betrayed him. A loose rock, a wet sole. Suddenly he lost his footing. The ledge scraped up the side of his leg and hip, and bruised his hands as he vainly snatched at it. And then his wet fingers found a grip on a twist of young tree, and his other hand in a little crevice, while his feet flailed and slid against sheer, wet rock.
The tree was too weak to hold him. He could see it buckling, its bark splitting, its white fibres stretching.
It would give and drop him. He was seconds away from a different story, one that he would never get to tell.
You know that kid Hark?
No. Which one is he?
Skinny. Runty. Lies a lot. Well, he fell off a cliff last night.
Smashed his head in. They only found him after the fish had had him for a day.
And someone would tut, or grunt, or give a short snort of mirth. And that would be it. End of story.
No! he thought, something stubborn and desperate rising in him. No! I’m the hero! I’m the scabbing hero!
He took his hand away from its feeble grip on the crevice and fumbled for the sling at his belt. All his weight was on the other hand now. He could hear the crackle of the tree tearing and could feel his grip slipping.
With a desperate lunge, he threw out the length of the sling so that it tangled in a sturdier tree a little further up. Chancing everything, he let go of the tree and snatched at the trailing end of the sling. He caught it – held it – pulled himself up until he could get one arm over the trunk of the tree, then slowly, painfully hauled himself back on to the ledge.
He lost valuable seconds sitting with his grazed cheek against the wet rock, shuddering and trying not to be sick.
‘Hero,’ he whispered defiantly, his eyes stinging. It was only when he gingerly stood up again that he realized his sling was nowhere to be found. He had no time to search for it, and it had almost certainly fallen down to the rocks far below. Hark scrambled onwards hastily, with bruised hands and knees that now shook.
When at last the overhang yielded to stars, he scarcely dared believe it. He clambered up the little chute, and found himself blinking on a dimly lit headland, purple as a dead man’s vein. There was the beacon tower itself, a stone column with a cage-like metal structure raised above it. At its crest was fixed the metal housing of the lantern, with its great round lens. To his relief, there was nobody in sight.
Hark sprinted over, feet slithering on the wet undergrowth. He snatched up a rock and threw it up towards the top of the tower. It arced in the right direction, but fell short and clattered down the tower. His second attempt was no better. Without his sling, he couldn’t hit the lantern.
He glanced across to the other headland. If Hark didn’t extinguish this light, Jelt would stay in his hiding place near the other tower. Sooner or later, a patrol would come by, and something would happen . . . to Jelt, or to somebody else.
So, he told his imaginary audience, I realized there was only one thing I could do . . .
Exhausted and shaky, Hark ran over to the tower and started to climb.
The stone part was easy enough. The mortar was weathered and cracked, so there were toeholds between the stones. But when he reached the metal, everything got harder. He had to twist his arms and legs around the wet metal poles and shimmy up slowly, using the rusty places for grip. The governor’s men used ladders to light the lanterns, then took them away with them to stop anybody else climbing the tower.
When Hark reached the very top, he scrabbled open the metal housing, yanked out the lantern, and let it fall. It plummeted, smashing thirty feet below. The liquid within splashed over the stone base, little mauve ghost-flames dancing over them before going out. Ten seconds later, the beacon on the other headland flared and then went dark. Jelt’s sling had done its work.
So he must still be alive. Now he can run away, and so can I . . .
Hark was scrambling back down the tower when he saw a cluster of orange lights jogging their way towards him.
The governor’s men reached the base of the tower and surrounded it while he was still on the metal frame, arms and legs wrapped around a crossbar. He hung there, catching his breath, feeling the cold in every cut and bruise.
He would be telling a story after all, it seemed. Not in a tavern among friends, but right here and now, in the rain, with lantern light in his eyes.
It would have to be a really good story. And above all, it would need to be one in which Jelt did not appear.
Task:
Predict what is going to happen next. What will the guards do to Hark? Will Jelt be found?
You can write it as a prediction or you can write the next part of the story but make sure it fits with what you have already read of Deeplight.
Spelling:
Create your own wordsearch that contains words from the Year 5/6 spelling lists.
Use the spelling list and the wordsearch grid below to help you.
Maths:
Warm up:
Warm up your brain by completing this times tables grid.
Now check your answers
This week, we will be going over algebra again.
What do you remember about algebra?
First, warm up with this sheet:
Now try these.
Hint – some include negative numbers
Check your answers:
Challenge:
Why not make your own algebra puzzle for a friend to solve.
Spanish:
Remind yourself of what we have already learnt by greeting someone in your house.
Say hello, good day, how are you, my name is etc.
Work through this PowerPoint and recap what we have already learnt.
Now work through this PowerPoint learning new ways to introduce yourself. When it asks you about numbers, use the second PowerPoint to recap.
Transition:
Have a think about your first day at your secondary school and complete the questions in your booklet.
Then, go to your school website and look up the canteen menu to see what kinds of foods you will get to eat.
Art:
Today, we are going to have a go at some origami.
First read this information to learn about the history.
Now have a go at any of these. You can do as many as you want.
Online safety:
Other tasks you could do today:
- Go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p08b0ct7 and watch a Shakespeare play for free.
- Go to Saints TV on YouTube and watch an old Saints game.
- Complete some activities on your NPAT Reading Bingo challenge
- Go on a virtual tour of Buckingham Palace and learn about royal history at https://www.royal.uk/virtual-tours-buckingham-palace
- Complete some science experiments at http://www.sciencefun.org/kidszone/experiments/
- Go on a virtual tour of Ancient Mayan ruins at http://sunfunnelmedia.com/pano/xunantunich/Xunantunich-belize-mayan-ruin-pyramid-virtual-tour.html
- Make a time capsule about your time in lockdown that you can look back on in years to come and share with your children or grandchildren. https://kidsofthewild.co.uk/2020/03/29/make-a-time-capsule-coronavirus-covid-19-kids/ here are some ideas to help you out.
- Create a garden scavenger hunt that all of your family can take part in. It could be as simple as find a stick, find a red insect or you could create clues that they have to follow to find the ‘treasure’.
English:
I think the guards will turn hark in,and melt will get found and go to jail so hark will have to break free and save jelt.
A good prediction Aimee. Why do you think that?