25 November 2016
The homework this week is a whole school creative homework. Because of the open afternoon next week, the homework is due in on Wednesday not Thursday.
I can show what I have learned in STEM week.
This week, all our learning has been STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths) focussed.
For this homework, we’d like children to reflect on their learning across the week and show off what they have learned. Your child could:
- give an overview of the STEM subjects
- do their own mini STEM project
- be a scientist and conduct a science investigation
- continue some of their favourite STEM week learning at home
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.
STEM week
It’s been a busy week so far in Year 4.
At the beginning of the week, we set the children a challenge relating to our themed week: Can you design and make a doorbell for dogs?
The children started off by learning about electrical circuits and how they work. We looked at the symbols used for this and were able to sketch a basic circuit. Using the correct scientific vocabulary, we were able to explain how the circuit worked. Following this, we went on to build our own circuits and successfully light up a bulb.
Then came the tricky part!
How do we create a switch for a dog to press to alert the owner that the it needs to be let out into the garden?
How would the dog press the switch?
After lots of discussion, the children decided that cardboard with aluminium foil would work.
Ask your child why we used aluminium foil.
Through resilience and lots of patience, the classroom erupted with the sound of buzzers.
Lots of fun was had and the switches worked!
Here’s a selection of pictures for you to browse through
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25 November 2016
As usual, children will have two homeworks this week. One of these is Mathletics.
Score 100 points on Mathletics.
Children can choose to score these points on ‘Live Mathletics’ or by completing activities (top tip: it’s quicker to score points on activities). I have asked children what they think is a reasonable amount of points to get and we all agreed that 1000 points was realistic, would improve learning and wouldn’t take too long.
Children should have completed their Mathletics activities by Thursday 01 December.
25 November 2016
Words I commonly spell incorrectly
This week, we investigated the spelling mistakes children have made so far this year. Children found words they have spelled incorrectly, found out how it should be spelled, made a list of the mistakes they’ve made and identified the spelling patterns/rules they commonly make errors with.
I will not give them a word list this week. Instead, they should practise the words they identified as ones they commonly misspell and learn these. A partner will test them on these words on Friday 02 November.
Children should use this page to show which strategies they used to practise – we’ll look at even more strategies in our spelling lessons this week.
STEM week – Wednesday
Wednesday of STEM week has been much anticipated as it brought with it our Science carousel. We often work with different teachers during a themed week and for this one, Y6 enjoyed Science from Miss Rushbrooke, Mr Wilks and Mr Owen for the whole morning. They really enjoyed helping the person trapped in ice escape in Y2 (particularly as they were deemed old and responsible enough to work with fire) and created some complicated circuits in Y4. In Y6, we explored sinking and floating and the Science behind it.
First, we predicted and tested a number of objects to find out which would sink and float before discussing any surprises and using these to determine what made an object sink or float.
We then went on to look at the same object (an egg) behaving differently in different liquids. In water, an egg sinks but if it’s salt or sugar water, it floats. Y6 now understand that this is due to the different densities of the solutions it is floating (or sinking) in.
Our afternoon required perseverance, dedication and patience while we tackled needle and thread to create an electronic circuit using conductive thread. Some of us were successful and others need to continue the hard work tomorrow. I saw some admirable resilience throughout the afternoon (from both the children and the adults in the room) and hope to see this again when our work continues tomorrow.
STEM themed week
Year 2 have had a busy start to our STEM themed week. Can your child remember what STEM stands for?
Firstly, Mrs Garside visited us and we made our own cupbots. Using cups, pens, a battery and a motor we had to use our problem solving and thinking skills to make the cupbots draw a picture. This certainly tested our resilience but the children worked together to get some great results.
Our next visitor was Lucy, from Marks & Spencers, and we found out all about their famous melt in the middle chocolate puddings. We learnt how the pudding was designed and tested to make sure it was the perfect pudding. To make it last longer, an ingredient called an emulsifier is added and we observed the effect of this ingredient. Finally, we had chance to do some tasting!
We are all very excited about our class STEM project. All will be revealed at the end of the week, at the STEM fair, but for now here is how we have been testing the prototype.
STEM week – Tuesday
Today, we began by practising essential skills we’d need in order to complete our electronic bookmarks: sewing. We practised a number of stitches and, not only did we thoroughly enjoy it in a calm and relaxed environment, but the children were rather good too.
We’ve also been working on our problem solving with fractions by drawing bar models but I’ve no pictures of that as I was far too busy teaching! Ask us what bar models are and whether we can show you how they work.
The end of our ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ topic
To finish off our topic, we designed, made and played ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ board games.
STEM week – Monday
STEM week has got going from the off with projects begun and visitors galore! We started the day with an introduction to our project for the week which will see us go home with light up bookmarks! We had to create a design first and make sure our circuit would work using electronic thread.
Then, we worked with Mrs Garside to learn all about hacking on the internet and discuss what this means for how we should use it safely. We followed this learning up by creating a movie trailer giving people tips on how to stay safe on line when there are hackers about.
In the afternoon, our computing heads were on again as we had to create some complicated code which would control a robot. We worked in groups and then thought about how controlling robots fits into everyday life and a number of careers around today and many more in the future.
We can’t wait for the rest of the week now!