We have created this blog as a space to communicate with you and share learning ideas which you can do at home. We can also share photos of your brilliant work, answer your questions and offer you feedback
We can’t wait for the concert – Corrina, as usual, has knocked it out of the park in terms of song-selection and singing teaching. Links to the backing tracks (and Japanese Jingle Bells!) are below. Try to practise at home if you have time.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQAUSbUSuhCkQpA5i9840uY-hhtqfpUb/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EAKAkzJB28fmYJmQ9hfbqR2TGyGB3NwB/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10gvf2iGKLnbdX1flFoqOWPbYmIUdukQw/view?usp=sharing
Here are the backing tracks to the songs we are singing. Have a go at singing to them if you might want to perform a small group or solo at the concert 🙂
Literacy. Here is chapter 5 of our class reader (it’s a short one 🙂 )
Two activities for you:
1) We loved creating animal factfiles based on Amazon creatures mentioned in chapter 4 – particularly caiman and piranhas. Create your own factfile about an animal which fred might come across deep in the Amazon. You could do a poster, a booklet or a PowerPoint.
2) Complete the questions/activities on this sheet
MAAAAATHS – Hello fractions, my old friend. We are completing this sheet of challenges today – how many can you do?
Now, in the afternoon, I would like you to have a think about our science topic for this half term, which is….Electricity.
It is very hard to recreate Mr Dawson’s exciting science lessons over the blog so I would like you to do this:
Show your knowledge and understanding of the following scientific terms which you have covered with Mr D (look them up if you can’t quite remember!). Ideally, you would make a creative video of yourself explaining what each term means, documentary-style. For example, showing conductors/insulators in your house.
If this is tricky, list the words on a colourful poster with your definitions around them 🙂
Key Science Words:
Electricity
Circuit (older children, also Series and Parallel)
Battery
Power Station
Plug
Safety
Conductor
Insulator
Challenge words: Electron, Flow, Volt
Good luck, and enjoy the photos below. We can’t wait to have you all back with us soon 🙂
Okaaaaay, the next Chapter of The Explorer is called The River. You can listen to it here
You can read the text of the chapter here:
Now, can you answer these fiendish questions about the chapter? If you are in Year 3, choose the questions you feel confident with and leave the others 🙂
MAAAAAAAATHS. So it’s time for The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year: ffffrrrrraaaacccttttiiioooonnnnss! I love fractions and I love helping children feel confident working with them because, once you understand them, they are easy.
So, a fraction is a part of a number. For example, 1/5 (one fifth) of 20 means ‘break 20 in to 5 equal bits’. The answer would be 4.
3/5 (three fifths) of 20 means ‘break 20 in to 5 equal bits. How much in 3 of those bits?’ The answer would be 12.
In other words, DIVIDE BY THE BOTTOM (DENOMINATOR) AND MULTIPLY BY THE TOP (NUMERATOR).
There are 3 challenges for you. The first is a list of fractions challenge questions. If you are in year 3, do one row on paper. If you are an older child, time yourself working out the answer to every question, have a break then have another go. Have you got quicker? Here’s the sheet
If you need more, here are some word problems involving fractions at Year 3/4 level and some more at Year 5/6 level. See what you can do. Ask if any of it is hard 🙂
AFTERNOON WORK
Preparation for Derby Day on Wednesday.
I hope you enjoyed doing your homework about our home town/city? I have learnt that the first factory in the world was in Derby and that it became a city in 1977. Barney is certain that the inventor of the hotdog was born in Derby but the jury is still out on this…
A very famous artist from Derby, who painted in the 1700s was Joseph Wright. We will see his famous picture, The Orrery, on Wednesday and also beautiful works such as his picture of Dovedale (which I love). Click on the link below to watch this BBC Video to learn more about him and his work….
Once you have watched it, can you create a PowerPoint presentation about Joseph Wright? We need key information: where/when was he born? What type of family was he from? Why are his paintings famous? What are some of his most well-known works? Good luck, email me your completed work and I will make sure everybody in school sees it too 🙂
Here is the usual sheet explaining your tasks and listing your spellings and key vocabulary as well.
Here are the two maths crosswords and another link to the video about Derby 🙂
Have a brilliant weekend and email me if you have any questions about the work or about anything else. We can’t wait to have everybody back soon.
I will post the homework up here later today.
For Literacy, please read the next chapter (The Den) of The Explorer here
Once you have read it, have a think about the type of Den you would want to build if you were stuck in the Amazon like Fred. Would it look like this?
Design, draw and label your Amazon Den. What would it be made of? How would it keep you safe from the dangers you thought about in your last piece of work? I can’t wait to see your ideas.
In Maaaaaaths we have been working very very hard on long division. I am so impressed with every Junior child’s maths work and I can see we have a really secure base of number ready to move on to our next challenges, well done 🙂
Here is your Big Division Bonus:
If this is still not enough to sate your arithmetical appetite, please have a look at this YEAR SIX arithmetic paper. No need to do it as a test, but, even if you are a Year Three, I bet there are several you can already do. I hope this makes you feel very confident and realise how well you are doing 🙂
Now, for afternoon learning I must say an enormous thank you to Corrina for putting together this Musical Masterplan for you. I am going to do this in class with the children as well – the thing I like most about Corrina’s marvellous music lessons is that I learn as much as you!
Today’s activity is to listen to a Mason Bates piece. He is a composer AND DJ! Not sure if Simon Rattle even can claim to be that! Have a listen to this music (the link is in the sheet) and create your mythical creature. Thank you, Corrina 🙂
I will post homework at the end of the day. Don’t worry, it won’t be anything too evil.
So, let’s start reading it! Please read up to page 17 (the text is below)
Katherine Rundell is one of my favourite children’s authors and the explorer is fabulous. I strongly recommend Rooftoppers as well, if you have not already read it.
So, there has been a terrible accident and a group of children are stranded in the Amazon Rainforest and in serious need of help. Before doing anything else, have a look at this video to get an idea of where these poor children have found themselves….
Have a look on a world map and locate the Amazon. What country(ies) are we in? What is the ‘Equator’? Why is it a dangerous place to be stranded? Have a look at the idea sheet below:
After watching the video and completing a little research yourself, please draw and complete a table similar to this one. I look forward to seeing your survival advice in particular!
Maaaaaaths
It is division week at school so, if you have not already done so, have a look at the blog from the 4th October and make sure you are confident answering questions like these:
If you are in Years 3 or 4, see if you can reach the end of Challenge D. Remember, it can be really helpful to write out your times tables to help you answer the questions.
If you have completed this, please spend 15 minutes on TT Rockstars and, if you are in Year 6, or want a challenge, try these questions taken from old assessment papers 🙂
In the afternoon, I would like you to think about the work we have been doing with Corrina in music. In particular about the key music vocabulary she is teaching us. Pulse, Dynamics, Tempo, Rhythm, Pitch, Orchestra, Instrument. We are going to try to describe a piece of music using them. For example:
‘In this piece of music, the orchestra was large and included a piano, flutes, violins, FRENCH HORNS, cellos and clarinets. The dynamics changed throughout – it started off quiet and then got very loud. The tempo was slow for the first half but got very quick and frantic at key points. The pitch was quite low to begin with but when the tempo increased, so did the pitch. I really enjoyed this piece of music, although it makes me feel tired and as though I have been on an adventure after listening to it.’
Phew, I hope Corrina will award me a dojo for that. It is what I would write after listening to one of the two pieces below, I wonder if you can guess which one?
Now it’s your turn:
Listen to one of the two pieces below and try to write a paragraph describing it using the set of words.
We did this in class on Monday.
If you want something a bit more….unpredictable, always good to go to a Modernist!
Try this Stravinsky, sure we’ll have some interesting paragraphs about it. Most importantly, though, did you like it? How did it make you feel?
But don’t worry, as if I would forget to share work with you?! First, please make sure you have completed your homework tasks – the OS Map challenge, the long multiplication and Number Club.
LITERACY If you’ve done that, the first, really big and important job (which we are doing in class this morning) is to choose our next class reader. To do this, please read the first 10 pages of the following 3 books….
Once you have read them, please have a think about (or talk about with an adult if they have time) which opening you enjoyed most and why. From this, please write down which book you would like to have as our next class reader and explain why you like it.
NUMERACY It’s Big Division week! Here is a photo of the method we use to calculate Long Division questions.
Remember to write out the multiples of the number below to help you work out the answer 🙂
Here are the questions. Remember, email me if you find it difficult.
I can’t wait to hear from you all 🙂
Here is the work which we have covered in school on Monday and Tuesday.
We are reading a really good new book called Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick. It is about a world where the water level has risen and Norwich is almost totally underwater. The main character is called Zoe and she has a real adventure…. Below is the opening of the book. Please read up to page 23 with an adult if you can.
Alternatively, you can listen to the author reading his book here.
Below is the PowerPoint which we looked at on Monday. The writing task is to draw a picture of Zoe in her boat and write sentences about how Zoe felt as she paddled in the sea. The challenges on how to make your writing better and better are on the final slide.
If you are ready for more, here are the comprehension questions which we answered today. If we are in Years 3 or 4, we had an adult read us the book whilst we listened carefully to pick out the answers to the questions….
Maaaaaaaths
Place value, place value, place value. Ahhh place value, it must be September!
So, we need to understand what the digits (0 – 9) mean in each column. So, for example, 519 is 5 hundreds, 1 ten and 9 units.
We can represent numbers in different ways. Have a look at this:
Your job is to choose numbers from the word file sheet and represent them in different ways, like in the picture above.
Don’t forget to practise your number club too – the sheets are here
In the afternoon, we have started learning about our new theme which is ‘There’s No Place Like Home’. Watch Miss Beresford’s brilliant powerpoint for more information.
I can’t wait to see how you get on with the topics here, although it will be even better when you are back in class with all of your friends and teachers. 🙂
Watch the presentation above if you find it hard to use your protractor to measure an angle.
Once you are confident, you need to make a design like this and measure and label every angle.
Here is the link to the songs from Wizard of Oz:
http://www.richlandpac.com/wizard-of-oz-playlist.html
Corrina would like you to practise number 11, Munchkin Musical Sequence and 28, Merry Old Land of Oz as well as your script, please. 🙂
Mighty Mugginton School Blog 