Friday, February 24, 2012
20th to 24th February
In English we have started a study of myths and legends, focussing on those from ancient Greece, to link in with our history focus. We looked at the myth of Pandora's Box and have also started watching a series of video programmes bases on The Odyssey. In response to this, we have written a "newspaper report" of the siege of Troy and the story of the wooden horse of Troy.
Our maths work has been concerned with shapes and their properties. Concentrating on 2D shapes, we have investigated symmetry properties, using mirrors and folding shapes, and learned some vocabulary including "parallel" and "perpendicular". We have also learned about the names and properties of different types of triangles and tried drawing the reflection of complex shapes.
We have had two sessions to start off our technology unit on bridges and structures. We have explored what we can do, just using a single sheet of A4 paper, we can make a structure which sticks out from the top of a desk as far as possible and, today, we made different types of beams (circular, triangular and square cross section) and tested them to destruction to find the strongest type - again making each one from a single A4 sheet.
In addition to these lessons, on Monday, we did some filming for our "Wonderful World" video, we have had French and two PE lessons and done a science investigation. We carried out an experiment to find out how the size of a shadow changes as an opaque object moves closer to a light source.
# posted by Mr Jennings : 7:28 pm
Friday, February 10, 2012
6th to 10th February
As this has been the last week before our half-term holiday, we have been drawing some of our units of work to a conclusion.
In English, we have completed our study of The Highwayman by focussing on the characters in the story. We tracked different characters through the poem, picking out their actions and drawing conclusions about their personalities and motives from these. We tried some "hot-seating" activities and our final task was to write a monologue in the character of either Bess or the highwayman himself.
We also finished our work on the Lake District. After thinking about the reasons for, and implications of, flooding a valley to create a new reservoir, when had a special afternoon on Wednesday when we had a simulation game in which we all took rolls and represented groups meeting at a planning enquiry called to consider whether some hotel owners should be granted permission to build a water-sports centre in a particular location on Ullswater. Some of us were the hotel owners, some were holiday organisers, others were sheep farmers, local residents or shopkeepers.
In maths, this week, we completed our mid-year tests, then we did some work on doubling and halving (including doubling and halving decimal numbers).
Also, this week, we did an investigation to find our which kind of materials make the best reflectors. After planning our experiments last week, we carried out our tests on different materials, using torches as our light sources and electronic light meters to measure the amount of light reflected.
In addition to these lessons, we also did art, PE and had another session learning to read music notation and play the tin-whistle.
# posted by Mr Jennings : 7:23 pm
Friday, February 03, 2012
30th January to 3rd February
This has been our spring term test week and we have had tests in reading, writing, spelling and maths during the week.
Our main topic work this week has been a new unit of work in RE. This has been concerned with investigating the work of two international charities - Islamic Relief and Christian Aid. We have looked at the websites of these organisations to find out about their aims and work and the countries they work in. We have also looked at the children's sections of these websites - Hilal's World and Global Explorers respectively.
Our maths work this week has focussed on the relationship between addition and subtraction and problem solving. (Some of us have also done work on the process involved in solving harder subtraction sums.) We have also done some comprehension work in English, continued with our digital video and completed our Aboriginal-style paintings.
In addition, we had a go at playing the tin whistle. We learned the fingerings for three notes and how these are represented on the musical stave.
Our main topic work this week has been a new unit of work in RE. This has been concerned with investigating the work of two international charities - Islamic Relief and Christian Aid. We have looked at the websites of these organisations to find out about their aims and work and the countries they work in. We have also looked at the children's sections of these websites - Hilal's World and Global Explorers respectively.
Our maths work this week has focussed on the relationship between addition and subtraction and problem solving. (Some of us have also done work on the process involved in solving harder subtraction sums.) We have also done some comprehension work in English, continued with our digital video and completed our Aboriginal-style paintings.
In addition, we had a go at playing the tin whistle. We learned the fingerings for three notes and how these are represented on the musical stave.
# posted by Mr Jennings : 10:30 pm
