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Dear parent and carers,
In our English lessons this week we have really enjoyed reading more of Cosmic, and finding out how Liam and Florida ended up in a space rocket. The children have been working really hard on their sentence stacking, where we've been developing our skills using "show don't tell" so that our readers are able to make inferences about how our characters feel. We've also been working on developing our use of complex sentences, which involves being able to use verbs in different forms. Next week we'll be continuing with this work. In maths this week we've been working on prime and square numbers, and also recapped using the inverse relationship between multiplication and division. Next week we'll be working on multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000, and also recapping multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 too. In our science lesson this week we've been learning about plant reproduction. We've recapped the parts of a flower, and also looked at different ways that plants distribute their pollen, including wind and insects. We also talked about how some plants reproduce asexually, by making clones of themselves. The children were thrilled to bring home their own mini spider plant today- they need a little water and they'll grow well. The plants are decedents of the plant that Mrs Evans gave me when she retired, so it's a part of Appleton School history! Next week's spellings all include -ent or -ence: innocence decent frequent emergent confidence competence transparent eloquence violent intelligence We're continuing with our outdoor PE lessons in the coming weeks, so please do make sure that you child has a warm sweatshirt/jogging bottoms or similar to wear to keep warm. Mrs B Three things to ask your child this week:
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Dear parents and carers,
I hope that you all had a wonderful half term. Although we've only been back a week, it does feel like longer because we've already been very busy! In our English lessons we have started a new project based around Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce. We have been thinking carefully about what we're learning about Liam, the main character, from the choices that he makes. We read the first few chapters and then wrote lots of questions that we have, which we're hoping will be answered as we continue to read the book. We're also started some sentence stacking based around Liam's experience in the Porsche showroom, which we'll be continuing with next week. In our sentence stacking this week we have been looking at the effect that different sentence length can have on the tension of the writing. In maths we have been working on multiplication and division skills, concentrating on multiples and factors. This has pulled up a few children who are still not secure in their times table knowledge. I really like the Times Table Rockstars app which costs £6 for a family membership for a year, but is a really good way of encouraging children to learn their times tables. Alternatively, you can use other methods which don't involve an app- there are some really good ideas on this website. I was really impressed with the children's work on their Remembrance Day poppies, which Miss Sutton has used in the Remembrance Garden. They thought carefully about what Remembrance means, using the loving book Memorial, by Gary Crew and Shaun Tan, and then put that thoughtfulness into their artwork. The engineering project was also really good fun and you can see the results of that on this page. Here are the spellings for next week (test on Friday as usual): abundance brilliance elegance extravagance tolerance hesitancy relevancy vacancy dominancy abundancy Mrs B Three things to ask your child this week:
Have a look at our phOck class really showed their engineering mettle this week when I asked them to design and make a wind powered winch. We had talked about how we can use renewable, natural resources like wind, water and sunlight to create electricity, and how non-renewables like coal are pollutants and have cause environmental damage. Wind power has been used to hundreds of years in windmills, so we tried to emulate that, creating our own blade designs. This was a very tricky problem. There were a number of sticky engineering points to overcome. As well as designing and making the blades, they had to be attached properly to the shaft, and then the shaft had to rest on the table, without moving. The blades needed to be angled to catch the "wind" (i.e. my hairdryer!) but also hardy enough to stand up to the wind. The children also had to fashion a "basket", which could be pulled up as the shaft turned (without getting in the way of the blades). We decided to test the designs by using the hairdryer on its lowest setting, 50cm away from the turbine. I was really impressed with how well my class approached this problem. They showed lots of different animal attitudes, especially the bold badger and the bounce back bunny. They also worked incredibly well in their groups, showing me just how much they are growing in confidence. Have a look at our photos and videos below. Dear parents and carers,
In our English lessons this week we have been finishing off the editing and revising of our wonderful "Glide" stories. I am really impressed with how carefully the children have worked and how much progress they've already made in their writing. Next term we're going to be working on a different story- Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce, as part of our Space topic work. In maths this week we've been rounding off our work on statistics by looking at how to read and interpret tables. The children found using timetables difficult, so it would be fantastic if you can have a go at telling the time and thinking about duration (how long something lasts) at home. I know that people don't tend to use timetables as much these days, but if you can find any (like the Radio Times or even bus timetables) that would be brilliant. After half term we're going to be working on multiplication and division, including multiples, factors, prime numbers etc, as well as multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000. In science this week we've finished our work on Earth and Space. We carried out our first end of unit assessment, and the children did exceptionally well. Next half term we're going to be doing some work on living things and their habitats. I have set some spelling on Spelling Shed for half term, but other than that, there's no official homework. I hope that you all have a wonderful half term and that the children return refreshed for the run up to Christmas :) Mrs B Three things to ask your child this week:
Dear parents and carers,
In our Engish lessons this week the children have worked very hard on editing, revising and now redrafting their "Glide" stories. This has been tricky for the children, but they have really been Steadfast Squirrels and persevered well. We've worked particularly on picking up on key writing skills, including what a sentence actially is (and how to spot where it finishes!) and also how to control the tense of our sentences by choosing the appropriate form of verb. Next week we'll be rounding this off by finishing the redraft and sharing our finished stories. In maths this week the children have been working on reading and interpreting line graphs. They've drawn line graphs, read and interpreted them and also started solving problems with them. Next week we'll be moving on to looking at tables, including two-way tables and timetables before carrying out a quick end of unit assessment. In science this week we've finished off our work on Earth and Space by looking at the movement of the Moon, including working out why we can only see one side of the Moon from Earth. We discussed our different ideas, before role-playing as the Sun, Moon and Earth to find out what really happens. We discussed the Moon's rotation and orbit of the Earth. Next week we'll be rounding this off by addressing any remaining misconceptions and doing an end of unit assessment. On Monday next week we'll be doing a World Cup-inspired tag rugby session with Danny Taylor, our local sports partnership leader. As we are on an INSET day on Friday, I will be doing the weekly spelling test on Thursday instead (I have told the children this too!). It's a tricky set of "challenge" words this week, so I'd like the children just to have a really good try at learning as many as they can. appreciate cemetery conscious convenience environment immediately language sufficient thorough vegetable Mrs B Three things to ask your child this week:
On Tuesday Ock Class finished their DT work on cooking, by making the salads that they had planned for members of staff. The children worked hard on their hygiene skills as well as the skills they needed to cut and prepare the salad items. The salads were designed for each member of staff's needs and likes, as well as making sure that the meal was balanced. Despite the look on my face in the photo, the salads were really delicious and we were all very impressed with the work that had gone into them. Well done Ock Class! Dear parents and carers,
This week in English the children have been working very hard on writing their "Glide" stories. They have mostly finished their first drafts, and are now moving into an editing and revising stage. Next week we'll be using editing stations to improve our writing, as well as thinking about how changes to our writing can affect the reader. In maths this week we have been working on using the inverse relationship, as well as looking at using addition and subtraction techniques to solve multi-step problems. Children often find this hard, but the class have worked hard. Next week we'll be rounding off this unit with an end of block assessment, before moving on to some statistics work about line graphs. In science this week we learnt about how the rotation of the Earth makes it look like the sun is moving through the sky. We set up an investigation on the back field to measure the changing shadows, but unfortunately, it was tidied away at the end of break! We'll set it up again next time we have a sunny day. This week's spellings are:
Mrs B Three things to ask your child this week:
In year 5, we have finished our sentence stacking for "Float", which we are really proud of! Everyone has contributed at least a sentence to this fantastic version of the story. Now we are working on the first draft of our own stories, called "Glide", based on this model text, but using different ideas. We're looking forward to sharing our completed stories with you soon! Last week year 5 visited Cokethorpe School to see a space science show called "Look up!", presented by Simon Watt. We really enjoyed learning more about space, especially thinking about how our solar system works. We also enjoyed being able to take part in the show, as seen in the photos below. Thank you very much to Cokethorpe School for inviting us! Dear parents and carers,
In our English lessons this week we have finished planning our own stories based on Float, and have moved into the drafting stage. Most of the children are almost half way through writing their first draft, which we will finish next week, before moving on to editing, revising and redrafting after that. In maths this week we have been practising the column methods for addition and subtraction. We've recapped the processes behind the methods using Dienes, before having a go ourselves, both looking at improving fluency and also reasoning and problem solving skills. I've been really impressed with how well the children have approached this learning this week, looking for common errors and making sure that they have followed the method correctly. Next week we'll be looking at solving multi-step addition and subtraction problems. Here are the spellings for this week:
My class really enjoyed our trip to Cokethorpe for the "Look Up!" science show, all about space. The children learned some new things and were really well behaved. Thank you to Mrs Richards (Caroline's mum) and Mrs Barrett (Eleanor's mum) for coming along with us. Next week in science we'll be looking at how the apparent movement of the sun can be explained by the rotation of the Earth. Mrs B Three things to ask your child this week:
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