YEAR 3
This week year 3 have been very lucky having our own ‘expert teacher’, Miranda, teach us some Chinese characters. Miranda patiently stepped the children through the process of writing Chinese symbols for Happy New Year. Chinese lanterns were made and decorated with these words. Thank you Miranda it was great fun. This activity was part of our Celebrations topic which focused on the legend of Chinese New Year. In English, we read the Legend and using key words, retold the story orally and then again in story book form. In Maths, the children worked really hard in their groups, transferring their knowledge of partitioning to subtraction problems. They have also learnt about ‘balancing’ algebraic equations.
YEAR 4
This week, in English, we used a Thesaurus to find synonyms. We discovered that the verb ‘shout’, for example, can be expressed in so many different ways: bawl, bellow, call, cry and roar. We also took a closer look at the language of Mathematics so that we have a better understanding of terms like ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’, ‘increase’, ‘decrease’, ‘sum of’ and ‘difference between’.
During ‘Quick Maths’ sessions, we spent fifteen minutes doing mental arithmetic challenges: adding three numbers, doubling numbers and a driving test, featuring twelve signs, each with a question to answer. We also practised rounding 4-digit numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000.
In Science, we were introduced to MRS. GREN who helped us understand the life processes all living things, both animals and plants, use to stay alive: Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion and Nutrition. We also discovered that many living things are now endangered because these many of these life processes are being threatened.
In our Topic lesson, we read another version of ‘The Story of Rama and Sita’ with a view to starting rehearsals for our Winter Concert presentation. In this story, the evil king, Ravana, sends a beautiful deer to lure Rama away from Sita, so that he can kidnap her and take her to his fortress island, Lanka.
In Art, we created beautiful compositions, featuring the legs of an ice-skater in motion. We used watercolour paints and markers to add colour to our creations.
This week, in our PSHE lesson, we discovered that our brains are made of tiny bits, called neurons. Neurons send electrical signals back and forth to talk to each other. Very important, we all have the power to change how our neurons are wired by learning new and challenging things. That is why we are always looking for a new challenge in Year 4!
YEAR 5
It has been another busy and engaging week in Year 5. In English, the children have been working on creating an information page for a non-fiction book on the topic of animal migration. They read an examples of information pages, discussed the features, conducted their own research in the ICT suite and wrote and edited their pages using Microsoft Word.
In Maths, the children used the short division method to solve a range of problems. They learned how to give answers to division problems using remainders, fractions and decimals. Later in the week they also learned about equivalent fractions and improper fractions.
In Science, the children were introduced to a range of forces. They learned about the effects forces can have on objects and how we can see these all around us in daily life. They particularly focused on friction and considered how it plays an important part in sporting equipment, such as in tennis racquets, football boots and basketballs.
In Topic, the children learned about the Thai festival of Songkran and how it is celebrated be a huge water fight. It certainly looks fun! They also enjoyed using Scratch for coding with Mr Anwar in ICT.
