Our Haka

We've been learning to perform the Moari Haka.

Weekly News, Week Beginning 18th March 2019

Our investigations into sound continue. This week, we learned that sound vibrations travel best through materials where the particles are close together. Using this knowledge, we made string telephones to communicate with each other. We have also continued to practised using garage band to make our own music.

Our confidence with fractions has improved hugely this week and we have learned to find unit and non unit fractions of numbers and quantities.

Later this year, the children will be asked to undertake a times table test. If you want to help them practise for it, there is a times table simulator at this address that you can use: https://collins.co.uk/pages/primary-mathematics-times-tables-test-simulator

In English, we have begun to look at a new text, but are keeping the title secret for now. We have encountered a new setting and a new character and have explored exciting vocabulary that helps us describe his personality.

I hope your children are enjoying making their musical instruments at home. We have already had a few brilliant ones in. Keep an eye on this blog for photos coming up soon.

Weekly News 14th March 2019

This week, inspired by Joseph Coelho's poems about his 'Dada', we have been writing our own poetry about a special person in our lives. The children have been ambitious in their use of amazing language, similes, metaphors and alliteration.

The children have also been challenging themselves to further understand fractions, particularly mixed numbers. They have used equipment and bar models to help them get their heads around the ideas.

In science, we have been learning more about sound and have been preparing radio shows to explain how the vibrations travel. We are learning how to record these on Audacity to create podcasts and hope to post some of them on this blog in future.

We have also continued to use Garage band to create our own musical tracks.

In art, we are designing album covers. We have asked the children to bring in old magazines or print images off the internet at home that they could bring in to use as a part of a collage.

Weekly News 7th March 2019

This week, we have delved deeply into the world of sound. In science, we have learned that sound is a form of vibration and that it originates in vibrating things. We carried out a noise survey around the school and discovered that the noisiest place was the school hall.

The children have also begun to use garage band to compose, mix and record their own musical tracks. You can see what these look like here.

Many of the poems, that we have read in English have also had a basis in sound and music. We have explored rhyme and rhythm and read about singing bowls and gamelans.

In maths, we have discovered that we can make equivalent fractions using multiplication and division.

This half term, we are also planning to make our own album covers and have begun to prepare for this by drawing and colouring abstract pictures.

Weekly new 28th February 2019

So this week, we have started our new topic, 'Playlist'. On Monday morning, we listened to some pan pipe music and had a think about how we could make our own, which we then did. The children then wrote tunes that they could perform.

In the afternoon, we held a concert. Mr Allen played the piano and saxophone and Mr Clarke showed some tunes that he is learning on the banjo. Children also performed on piano, ukelele and pan pipes.

We have also spent some time this week looking at instruments from around the world, using atlases and maps to locate the countries that they come from.

In English this half term, we will be mostly looking at poetry. This week, we began to write some of our own which will should be good practise for the composing and songwriting that we will be doing.

In maths, we have started looking (again!) at fractions. For the next few weeks, we will be adding and subtracting them as well as finding fractions of quantities.

Weekly News 14th February 2019

This week, we have imagined Arthur's adventure. The children have used amazing language to describe the capturing of the sound of a cat's paw or the climbing of the world tree and have written them up as a diary entry.

We have looked at food chains and used the language of 'consumer' and 'producer' to describe and explain how energy is moved through them.

Continuing to think about healthy teeth, we also spent a great afternoon looking at a variety of low sugar scones, assessing their taste and texture and analysing their nutritional content. We then made our own sweet and savoury scones without using sugar,

In maths, we have been looking at the area of 2D rectilinear shapes. The children really enjoyed this and have developed a high degree of confidence.

Next term, our topic will be 'Playlist' and we will be thinking about music and sound. As a part of our first day, we will be getting the children to make musical instruments. We will also be holding  an impromptu concert just for the Lions and Giraffes. We have asked any of the children who play an instrument (and want to!) to practise a piece over the holidays which they can play to Year 4. Mr Allen will bring in his saxophone and Mr Clarke will dust off his banjo and have a go.

In our English this week, we have continued to read 'Arthur and the Golden Rope'. We have used drama to explore Arthur's dilemma about whether or not he should go on his quest. We followed this up with some brilliant writing describing some of his adventures. the children really enjoyed extending their vocabulary to describe the terrifying challenges that Arthur encountered.

In science, we looked in more detail at the digestion system and practised the technical vocabulary for the key parts of the body.

In maths, we are now spending some time looking at the area of shapes. The children are also practising the times tables ready for a test next week and many are hoping to get inducted into the 66 Club.

Please remember that your child has a log on for 'Bug Club'. It is a brilliant reading resource, and the children really enjoy using it. Please encourage them to use it at home.