Packed lunches
Struggling for ideas for a healthy packed lunch?
Change4life have some great tips and easy to prepare ideas based on the Eatwell Guide.
Also make reference to our Packed Lunch Guidance.
Day 4 of STEM week
Our brilliant STEM week continued today as we were visited by a representative from Marks and Spencer’s. We learnt about one of their biggest sellers: ‘Melt in the Middle Chocolate Pudding’. After learning about the history of the organisation, we learnt all about the chocolate desserts.
For example, did you know emulsifiers are used to ensure the cake lasts longer? They help the natural oils and waters remain mixed so you don’t get an oily pudding. After a bit more theory we were lucky enough to do a taste test. We sampled the pudding and gave it scores out of 5 – full marks from me!
After that, we reflected on some learning from Monday afternoon about staying safe online. We made iMovies to inform others of the dangers around online hackers.
A collage of our learning.
Did you know that lemons float but limes sink?
Neither did we. But it’s true: Lemons float and limes sink!
After we discovered this we predicted which objects would float and which objects wouldn’t float. Then, we investigated.
In our investigation, we learnt that whether an object floats has nothing to do with its weight, but its density. For example, in our investigation, we found that an empty can of coke floats and a full can of diet coke floats despite being heavier. Furthermore, a tiny paper clip didn’t float.
Right at the end of our lesson, some of the children enquired further:
- “If you put something that sinks on top of something that floats what happens?” (Pippa)
- “Do boats have sides to stop the water getting in and making it heavier?” (Edward)
We hadn’t planned to but we investigated it anyway – science is fun and we should enquire and investigate as much as possible. Ask your child what we found out!
Ask your child why a lemon floats but a lime sinks. They should be able to give you a ‘text-book’ answer including the words ‘density’ and ‘particles’.
Robot coding!
This morning, as part of STEM week, we were lucky to have a visitor who taught us how to code robots. In groups we were given a car and a computer and by the end of the session each group had programmed their robot to move in a variety of ways.
It was really exciting and we learnt lots about computer coding, science, maths and working with others.
Ask your child if they can figure out what this robot would do.
Hint: the number ‘1’ = forwards mode.
We learnt that coding can be quite frustrating – one tiny mistake in your script can mean that your robot does nothing. However, we did enjoy de-bugging (finding the errors) our scripts to ensure they worked.
Computing can be a scary topic for some adults (most of us aren’t part of the coding generation like Y5) but there are some great online resources that can help. A particular favourite of mine is Barefoot Computing. It’s free and links closely to the National Curriculum. Although it’s aimed at teachers, it will be beneficial for everyone because the website is also easy to navigate and understand.
Here’s some pics of us coding our robots…
VE Day celebrations
We had a great time dressing up and celebrating our very own Victory in Europe day on Friday.
It was a fantastic way to end our ‘Class Novel’ topic and we all had a great time. As well as having lots of fun at our VE day party, we also reflected on all the great learning we’ve enjoyed over the last eight weeks. It was particularly useful to hear which aspects of the topic the children have enjoyed the most and why.
Ask your child what they learnt over the course of this big topic and discuss the relevance/importance of this learning.
Also, discuss their views on the class novel they read. Did they enjoy it? Why? Did they empathise with the characters? Why?
Guided Reading
Due to STEM week, guided reading this week will not be happening as usual. On Friday, all children were asked to have read to their target page by Tuesday. Please don’t worry if your child doesn’t quite manage to read to their target page – I appreciate that it may be difficult to manage on top of homework and general life (although most groups will have had their target page set on Monday and Tuesday last week giving them almost a week to read).
When changes to guided reading are made it is always to improve learning. Although your child may generally read on a set day (eg Tuesday) this will change from time to time. Please don’t allow your child to be anxious about not having read to their target page – this does not make reading enjoyable. Instead, encourage them to read to their target page soon after they are given it.
Thank you.
Anti-bullying tips
Thank you, Emma (Year 2) for recommending CBBC for lots of Anti-Bullying Week advice.
Creative homework review
As always, we reviewed our homeworks as a class this week. The standard of homework is always high in Y5; I love it. Seeing how children respond to creative homeworks is one of my favourite things. It gives me lots of teaching ideas, too – thanks Y5!
This week, we were particularly impressed by these pieces:
Edward’s pot-washing time sheet.
Sam’s collage of maths in everyday life.
Pippa’s news report – love the jokes, Pippa!
Megan’s maths game.
Topic themed English learning
This week, in English, we’ve been learning about poetry. We started out by comparing and contrasting a wide range of poems (some well known, some less familiar) and then began to unpick the poets’ use of figurative language. As it was Remembrance Day on Friday, and our Class Novel topic is heavily linked to WW2, we learnt ‘In Flanders Field‘ off by heart – ask your child if they can recite it to you!
Then, on Friday, we split into groups to perform the poem. Every group captured the mood and were able to portray this through their performance. Each group incorporated actions into their performance and one group even had the subtle, faint whistle of a bird in the background.
Here are some action shots…
‘Power for good’
Next week is national Anti-Bullying Week.
The theme this year is ‘Power for Good‘ with the following key aims:
- To support children and young people to use their Power for Good – by understanding the ways in which they are powerful and encouraging individual and collective action to stop bullying and create the best world possible.
- To help parents and carers to use their Power for Good – through supporting children with issues relating to bullying and working together with schools to stop bullying.
- To encourage all teachers, school support staff and youth workers to use their Power for Good– by valuing the difference they can make in a child’s life, and taking individual and collective action to prevent bullying and create safe environments where children can thrive.
Our school definition has recently been reviewed by the School Council and remains unchanged.
‘Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.’
We also encourage children to use their ‘Power for Good’, if they were to experience or witness bullying, by using another STOP message, start telling other people.
In class, children will discuss these aspects of bullying:
- Our definition of bullying (above)
- Types of bullying – cyber-bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief, special educational need and disability
- What to do if children experience bullying. The key message is to tell someone (start telling other people)
Recently the School Council responded to this question, ‘What would you do if you were bullied‘?
- ‘Start telling other people – tell someone who I trust and who I can talk to.’
- ‘I would tell someone I trust (family member, member of staff or friend).’
- ‘If I were bullied, I’d tell my parents, a friend, a teacher and if nothing changed I would phone ChildLine (08001111).’
- ‘I’d tell a teacher, maybe a friend and put in a worry in the ‘worry box’. Also, I’d tell a parent.’
- ‘I would tell anyone I trust: my friends, my mum or dad or a member of staff. They could sort it straight away.’
- ‘I’d tell my mummy and daddy.’
All classes have access to their class SEAL box or a whole school worry box where they can tell an adult any concerns about bullying or any other issues.
For further support, bullying resources can be found at…
- http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/resources/disablist-bullying/resources-for-parents/
- http://www.childline.org.uk/explore/bullying/pages/bullying.aspx
- http://www.bullying.co.uk/advice-for-parents/
- http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents/worried_about_your_child/bullying