YEAR 3

In year 3 this week, we have been developing some challenging skills. In English, we have applied our understanding of prepositions to our individual writing and focusing on the main types of fronted adverbials and noun phrases. In Maths, we have been learning new strategies to solving multiplication problems, and it has been pleasing to recognize how well and quickly the students have become confident in using these. Topic and Science this week have taken a back seat to working on our door displays, and some of the work has been excellent.

YEAR 4

During Book Week, we read lots and lots of books, including ‘The Jungle Book’ by Rudyard Kipling. We decorated our classroom door featuring many of the characters from ‘The Jungle Book’, including Akela, the wolf, Shere Khan, the tiger, Baloo, the bear, Bagheera, the panther and Kaa, the python. We wrote many book reviews and rated the books we read, using a star rating. We also enjoyed designing book marks. Best of all, we enjoyed dressing up as our favourite storybook characters to participate in the storybook character parade.

In Maths, we looked at place value, using 4- and 5-digit numbers, and finding the difference between a positive and a negative number.

In Science, we started investigating sound and how sound moves as vibrations through the air. In Topic lessons, we started learning about ‘Water and Rivers’, beginning with the water cycle.

In Art, we painted beautiful compositions, featuring waterfalls, which relates to the topic ‘Water and River’ in our Topic lessons.

YEAR 5

The theme of the week was Book Week, and all of our activities evolved around this wonderful theme. During English we revised Parts of Speech, covering Adverbs and Adjectives, the Spelling Rule for words with long Vowels, and Paragraphs. The English Homework was mainly dominated by reading activities and writing Book Reports. I always brag with my Year 5's who are all such excellent readers, and the Book Reports that came in were really amazing! The good news is that the children have until Monday to hand in all the Book Reports, and I want to urge them to read as much as possible over the weekend. There is a Book Prize for the student who read the most books with completed Book Reports. (I know the winner will be in my class!)
In Maths we continued Addition and Subtraction using money, and it is with pride that I observe young business owners developing in front of my eyes. Our theme in Topic is related to or Maths theme, and the children enjoyed exploring Trade and Economics. We did a wonderful activity where each student was handed a few shapes and 1000 rubles in money. They had to make an interesting figure (shape) using the templates given, and were allowed to buy and sell shapes in order to make this interesting figure. At the end of the lesson the children learnt valuable lessons in trade:

  • Sometimes you may produce a lovely item, but you lost money in order to achieve this
  • If you don't watch over your business, there will be theft
  • if you work clever enough you may produce a stunning product and make some money in the process.

I hope these valuable life lessons will get the children to think about more difficult questions like Production Cost, Profit and Loss, and Marketing. For now, they are budding economists in a sheltered environment!