Please find here information on how you children can use smartphones safety.
The whole school took part in an immersive and outdoor focused STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) week this week; learning through a variety activities to promote and encourage the learning of STEM subjects. Year 5 have been recording their learning journey in scrapbooks, taking pride in their presentation and using a variety of mediums to present their learning.
We visited the Science Base and the brand new “MagLab” (Magnifying Laboratory), using the microscopes to zoom in to natural artefacts that we found on the school grounds and querying their place in the “big picture”, e.g. Were they part of a habitat? Two of our class members also brought in a deceased bee for us to examine and there was a piece of bark that led to a discussion of whether it held insect eggs or fungi!
Later on in the week, year 5 visited the forest and went on a Bug Hunt! We found a variety of worms, centipedes and woodlice and created camouflaged and habitat-appropriate “bug hotels” for the insects to nestle in for the reminder of this wintry season. We also researched the life cycle and facts about these insects; and identified herbivores, carnivores and other scientific characteristics.
Every day, we worked as a team to monitor the weather, analyzing the brightness of the sun; cloud density; rainfall; wind direction and temperature. Table groups took it in turns to go to the weather station and record their findings, then fed back to the class.
Area and perimeter was the logical fit for maths this week, and we started by measuring the area and perimeter of the arena; before going on to create our own shapes using integer numbers for measuring. Perimeter is the distance around the edge (outside) of a shape. It can be measured in mm, cm, m or km. Area is the total surface area of a shape of space. It is measured in ‘squared’ quantities, e.g. centimetres squared.
Area and perimeter are great to practice around the house and when you’re out and about. For example:
- Compare the area of different rooms in the house – perhaps create a floorplan of the house itself!
- Look at the area and perimeter of different surfaces in the house. Why is the width or length different for different objects?
We also took part in a Maths Escape Room, run my Ms Millar! There were some fraught moments, but we managed to work together as a team to escape; even breaking the running school record for fastest escape time and achieving a whole class silver and extra break for our combined team effort!
Our handwriting focus this week was practising sloped writing: parallel downstrokes: pp. Our spelling words were disappoint, appreciate, equipped, opportunity, disappear, approachable.
Next week:
- English – writing a recount of our experiences during STEM week. Recount Success Criteria
- Maths – starting a two-week cycle on fractions (including adding/subtracting fractions of the same denominator, placing fractions with different denominators on a number line and solving fraction-based problems)
- Guided Reading – Non-Fiction – Do we need Humanoids?
Thank you for attending learning conversations this week. As mentioned, please find here some suggestions of games you can play to consolidate grammar terminology with your children.