MrJennings

We had our DARE lesson this morning and then did some more work on spreadsheets in the computer room. Last week we had learned how to use the graphing function in EXCEL and today we used this to create graphs to present the data from a science experiment we did on muffling sounds last week. We typed in the data and experimented with different types of graphs to see which gave the clearest presentation of the results. This linked in well with our maths work which was also about graphs. Today we looked at line graphs, drawing them and interpreting graphs which were in a book.

In science we did a series of "sounds" activities - looking at patterns in our results and in English we thought about how to make our sentences more interesting by including detail and using prepositions.

We did some literacy work writing for different audiences. The scenario was that a child had been in trouble at school and the task was to explain to situation to a friend, to a parent and to the head teacher. We had to be careful to use the sort of style (vocabulary and level of formality) that was most appropriate for each person.

In maths we completed our work on measurement by thinking more about mass and recording in grams and kilograms and by reading different scales accurately.

We did PE, some history work about ancient Greek gods and their "family tree" and art. The art was doing our final decorative designs to put on our clay pots.

In English we have started work on some non-fiction writing incorporating features of non-chronological reports and explanation writing. The subject we are taking is Libraries. We began by making notes about what we knew about libraries and then grouped our ideas into themes ready to create coherent paragraphs.

In maths we continued our work on finding areas of shapes on Tuesday and, today, we thought about measuring mass (weight). We looked at different scales and tried reading measurements from these scales. We also checked that we could convert grams to kilograms.

We had our YMCA session of PE and our Spanish lesson. We spent this afternoon planning and carrying out a science investigation. We had to find out what sort of materials muffle sound best. We did the experiment just using our ears to judge sound levels, then repeated it using two different sorts of sound meters, including one attached to the computer so that it could collect the measurements for us.

Our first day back after half-term began with our DARE lesson. Then we began a new maths unit on measurement. Today's work was about area - finding the area of rectangular shapes by counting squares or by calculating it using the length and the width.

This afternoon we did some more science work on sound, thinking about how you can change the volume, pitch and timbre of sounds make on different musical instruments. In English we reviewed some of the work we did last half term, recalling the key features of the work. Then we spent time further improving a piece of work and preparing it for a display.

We have continued with our assessments and, in between times, we have had PE, finished some maths work and done some art and English.

In English we wrote, proof-read and improved some explanation writing - explaining the causes and effects of an accident, making sure that we used a good range of connectives to link the ideas. We did some clay work in art, trying to make a slab pot for our Bodil Manz project. (This was a new technique for everyone.) Some of the class also had time to try making a coil pot.

On Thursday morning, a few of the children had the chance to visit our family secondary school to see the Rugby World Cup that England won in 2003.

We are having some review and assessment activities this week. This is why there is not so much news.

In English we have done some work on editing our writing and improving punctuation and grammar. We have revised calculations and work on converting between units of measurement in maths. On Monday afternoon some of us went out of school to rehearse for an evening concert in the Royal Centre while those remaining in school used books to research information in order to answer questions for "Who wants to be an ancient Greek millionaire?". We have had PE with the YMCA, Spanish and handwriting and, this afternoon watched an interesting play by a travelling theatre group which included lots of science information about Light.

We continued our art topic by looking again at the design work of Bodil Manz and used squared paper to create designs of our own using one or more of the Manz's styles.

In maths we did some more work on coordinates and used these to further explored the ideas of parallel and perpendicular lines. We also did some problem solving, where we had to choose the correct calculation to solve the problem and show our working out in a sum.

We have been thinking about connectives in explanation texts in English. This was based on the children's Highway Code booklet and we created complex sentences by linking road safety rules with some reasons for them. We have also done some punctuation work, using paragraphs from which the punctuation had been removed. We tried to put in the correct punctuation individually, then worked in pairs and groups to agree the best way of punctuating the sentences.

We had our weekly spelling and tables tests and did some dance work in PE.

In English we have begun to look at explanatory texts, texts which explain how something works or explain a natural or social phenomenon. We have spent some time thinking about the features found in this type of writing and have highlighted and annotated an example of this type of text. Today we used another example to discuss and explain these important features.

We have continued our work on symmetry in maths and have also thought about some key vocabulary in relation to shape including the terms parallel and perpendicular. We had our PE lesson with the YMCA, Spanish and handwriting session, and today we did a multi-media art activity to produce some work for a display on the theme of "creepy-crawlies". We used paint, felt pens, chalk pastels and oil pastels to produce a set of "bugs".