Sunday, June 29, 2014
23rd to 27th June
Our main work in English this week has been to re-write an episode from Grandpa Chatterji. The focus has been to write the story of Grandpa's visit to the fair from the point of view of one of the characters, building on the learning we did when working on myths and legends in the spring term. Shape, including pentominoes and nets, has been the focus of our maths work.
One of the main activities of the week was our final unit in our studies of the Lake District. This concerned the way developments are made in the National Park by the planning authority. The main activity was a debate in which everyone in the class took on roles in a planning meeting simulation in which a group were hoteliers seeking planning permission to build a water-sports centre close to their hotel. Other groups represented local residents, local shopkeepers, local farmers, organisers of activity holidays for the young and organisers of holidays for retired people. All groups had the opportunity to make presentations to the meeting and to ask questions before an open discussion and a vote on the proposal.
We also had PE, including one session with our parallel Year 5 class on the "field", science, worked on researching information for PowerPoint presentations about the Gurdwara and did some more planning work for our DT automata project.
One of the main activities of the week was our final unit in our studies of the Lake District. This concerned the way developments are made in the National Park by the planning authority. The main activity was a debate in which everyone in the class took on roles in a planning meeting simulation in which a group were hoteliers seeking planning permission to build a water-sports centre close to their hotel. Other groups represented local residents, local shopkeepers, local farmers, organisers of activity holidays for the young and organisers of holidays for retired people. All groups had the opportunity to make presentations to the meeting and to ask questions before an open discussion and a vote on the proposal.
We also had PE, including one session with our parallel Year 5 class on the "field", science, worked on researching information for PowerPoint presentations about the Gurdwara and did some more planning work for our DT automata project.
# posted by Mr Jennings : 7:36 pm
Friday, June 13, 2014
9th to 20th June
We have had a "short" fortnight, in that the teachers have had two INSET days, to plan for the next school year. In addition we have had our Sports' Day last Thursday and this Thursday many of our musicians went to listen to and participate in an orchestral concert at the Royal Concert Hall.
In class, we have continued with our work on Grandpa Chatterji in English, thinking about how the story and characters reflect Indian cultural influences. We have also thought about the author's writing style.
In maths, we completed work on different graphs and charts and then moved on to work on calculations. We revised standard methods of subtraction before moving on to division work in which we considered situations in which, to solve problems correctly, the answer to the calculation needs to be rounded up or rounded down to give a sensible solution. We also learned to write the quotient as a fraction.
We have also spent some time developing our practical science skills, planing and carrying out experiments of our own, and we have had our next series of music lessons in which we have been composing and performing short rhythmic pieces using tuned and untuned percussion instruments. We have done some atlas work in geography, some more research activities in history and made further progress with our automata in technology.
In class, we have continued with our work on Grandpa Chatterji in English, thinking about how the story and characters reflect Indian cultural influences. We have also thought about the author's writing style.
In maths, we completed work on different graphs and charts and then moved on to work on calculations. We revised standard methods of subtraction before moving on to division work in which we considered situations in which, to solve problems correctly, the answer to the calculation needs to be rounded up or rounded down to give a sensible solution. We also learned to write the quotient as a fraction.
We have also spent some time developing our practical science skills, planing and carrying out experiments of our own, and we have had our next series of music lessons in which we have been composing and performing short rhythmic pieces using tuned and untuned percussion instruments. We have done some atlas work in geography, some more research activities in history and made further progress with our automata in technology.
# posted by Mr Jennings : 6:15 pm
Friday, June 06, 2014
2nd to 6th June
After our half-term break, we started a new unit of work in English. This is based on a study of texts in which the story is set in a culture other than our own. Our main text will be Grandpa Chatterji by Jamila Gavin. We have read the first chapter together and begun to think about some of the cultural features that have influenced the plot and characters. We have also done some grammar work changing the opening of the story from the present tense to the past tense and thinking about the effect of this.
Our maths work has been focused on graphs and charts. The main learning was about line graphs in their various forms including time/distance graphs and conversion graphs. We read graphs to find answer questions and drew graphs to present data. At the end of the week we also did some probability investigations, presenting the results using pictograms and bar line charts.
In geography we turned our attention to thinking about the landscape of the Lake District and tourism. We used the results of two different visitor surveys to explore why the area is so popular with day trippers and holiday-makers and then we used maps and pictures to learn about how large numbers of people can damage the landscape. Our problem-solving exercise for this part of our topic was to draw solutions to some of the problems caused by large numbers of people visiting a well-known and attractive lake with popular viewing points.
On Friday, together with the other Year 5 class, we visited the infant school to meet with the children who will be coming up to our school in September. We broke into groups and each of our groups will be buddies for a group of children moving into Year 3. In the afternoon we did some more on our DT automata project, sawing a support strut for the frame and creating another annotated drawing of an automaton we saw working.
Our maths work has been focused on graphs and charts. The main learning was about line graphs in their various forms including time/distance graphs and conversion graphs. We read graphs to find answer questions and drew graphs to present data. At the end of the week we also did some probability investigations, presenting the results using pictograms and bar line charts.
In geography we turned our attention to thinking about the landscape of the Lake District and tourism. We used the results of two different visitor surveys to explore why the area is so popular with day trippers and holiday-makers and then we used maps and pictures to learn about how large numbers of people can damage the landscape. Our problem-solving exercise for this part of our topic was to draw solutions to some of the problems caused by large numbers of people visiting a well-known and attractive lake with popular viewing points.
On Friday, together with the other Year 5 class, we visited the infant school to meet with the children who will be coming up to our school in September. We broke into groups and each of our groups will be buddies for a group of children moving into Year 3. In the afternoon we did some more on our DT automata project, sawing a support strut for the frame and creating another annotated drawing of an automaton we saw working.
# posted by Mr Jennings : 7:03 pm
