Weekly news beginning 25th March 2019

This week, we have continued our adventures in sound. In science, we constructed electrical circuits to make buzzers work. The noise was unbearable, so we considered how we could absorb the sound with different materials and then used decibel meters to measure their effectiveness.

We also continued to use ICT to record our podcasts on how sound travels. Next week, we will edit in some of the tracks that we have made on Garage Band.

In English, we have imagined what a world would be like without life and colour and then have thought about how the old man in our story could go about changing that.

In maths we have begun to think about decimal fractions.

Our maths cafe went very well this week, and the children had a great deal of fun exploring ways to learn and remember the multiplication facts.

We were particularly pleased with our cityscape arrays, which we will put up on display.

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.