This week in Ock Class: w/e 14th February

Dear parents and carers,

This week in English the children have worked very hard on their newspaper reports about Shackleton rescuing the rest of his crew from Elephant Island. It took a little bit longer than I had originally planned, but the results are brilliant and really worth the wait. 

In maths we have just started our work on fractions. Again, this is slightly later than I had planned, but the children are already picking it up well. I've really emphasised that the bottom number (denominator) is how many equal parts the whole has been split into, while the top number (numerator) is how many of those parts we're bothered about. We'll be continuing with this work after half term, including looking at changing mixed numbers into improper fractions (e.g. turning 3 and a half into 7/2), adding, subtracting and even a bit of multiplying fractions!

In our science lesson this week the children really enjoyed planning and carrying our their own investigations about electrical conductors. They were surprised that pencil "lead" conducts electricity! 

We'll be continuing with our work on materials after half term, when we'll look at dissolving, separating mixtures of materials, and also look at the difference between reversible and irreversible changes. 

The spellings for over half term are challenge words:
amateur
ancient
awkward
criticise
excellent
foreign
pronunciation
symbol
yacht
equipment

Enjoy your half term, and I hope that the weather clears after the weekend so that the kids can get outside at some point!
Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. What did you say your dream or goal was in our PSHE work?
2. Why was Shackleton's rescue of his men from Elephant Island such an incredible thing?
3. What do the numbers mean in a fraction?