Welcome Class 5 to our fourth week of the term. We are starting team efforts this week towards our New Zealand competition, creating a ‘perfect New Zealand experience.’ Well done with understanding how to use the Fordham census data, this week you will be using it to create a comparison graph with Horotiu, writing to your New Zealand counterparts and inviting real travel agents in to judge your pitches at the end of term. Exciting! Your New Zealand artwork in the style of Ron Reid has been extremely successful and I hope you all slept well after learning so much grammar and fractions/decimals techniques last week.

Polishing High Five netball skills

Our assessment focus fan helps to analyse our understanding of out texts.

Tom is rightly proud of his Ron Reid style, he will be adding a little colour/tone to it this week.

The soft, water wash style is hard to achieve but Class 5 are doing well.

We have quite a bit to look forward to this week. We will continue perfecting the watercolour technique of Kiwi artist Ron Reid with New Zealand landscapes.  Class 5 will compare Fordham census data with the village that we will be studying in New Zealand, Horotiu which is of a comparable size.  We will enjoy learning The Haka and trying to perfect it along with writing to possible pen pals in Horotiu too.

   Homework  19/01/15

   Due in on Friday as homework will be given out on Mondays.

English

Homework this week is research how volcanoes and earthquakes occur and how they affect New Zealand. What happened in Christchurch, New Zealand? Why do earthquakes happen?  Produce a fact sheet and diagrams so that someone who has never heard of volcanoes or earthquakes can understand.

I am still expecting a book review each week on the blog when you have finished a Bug Club book. L6 books may take a fortnight to complete.

Maths

You will be given challenges involving averages after studying how to solve these last week. Thinking Things Through!

Well done with your sports personality from New Zealand – there are some really smashing pieces of research with excellent presentation and imagination.

What is the mean and mode for Pombear crispsin a multipack?

Mean, mode, median and range - a delicious challenge this week!

Class 5, please look through your new maths prompt sheets with your parents at home this week. Become familiar with the methods and where everything is, so that you can use it effectively at home and in class.

Welcome to our second blog of the term. We all had an exciting week, working out quite what our KS2 theme is by studying artefacts and pictures in each classroom, followed by receiving a challenge for the term to be completed in teams which is going to create diverse, fascinating and challenging work for all. 

Our Maori KS2 music day on Wednesday was thoroughly enjoyed. I am extremely proud of all three classes as they attempted and achieved a three part contrasting, syncopated rhythm that was added to by vocal sounds to become authentically Maori. This was advanced, complicated rhythm that many would not attempt at Primary School. I was thrilled with your talents! You all discovered that music notation is closely intertwined with maths in a way that you didn't expect. A full and challenging day, ending in a performance by each class to the rest of the school and visitors. Well done Classes 3, 4 and 5! Class 5 will have more of an opportunity to compose their own authentic rhythms throughout the term.

P.E will always be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting this week, gym and High 5 netball.  Please ensure that your kit is in school. 

We will be learning about the Geographic biomes of the world this week and studying the watercolour styles of New Zealand’s landscape painters and how to use watercolour paints in a similar way. We will aim to become experts in performing the Haka and Maori traditional myths and legends. Mean, median, mode and the range will be our focus in maths.

Homework  12/01/15 

Due in on Friday as homework will be given out on Mondays, due in on Fridays. 

English

Your English homework this week is to collate and produce interesting information on a famous New Zealand rugby player from the All Blacks or from perhaps another prominent New Zealand sport.

I am still expecting a book review on the blog when you have finished a Bug Club book. L6 books may take a fortnight to complete. Well done to the nine people who have posted one, I’m expecting the rest of you to post one online this week.

Maths

Neolithic Group – no. 1-4  of finding the % and no.s 1-4 of writing one % as another.

Bronze Age Group -  calculating percentages p 25 but NOT no 2.   No.s 1-4 of writing one number as a % of another.

Iron Age Group - p25 and p26 of Rising Stars, percentages problems.

Your homework over Christmas was to learn the equivalence chart for percentages, fractions and decimals. You will have a weekly test on your tables knowledge which will include the equivalence chart information.

Rehearsing 3 rhythms and then adding Maori vocal sounds.

Welcome to our Class 5 blog of 2015, I hope you all had a terrific Christmas break.

We have an unusual and exciting term ahead as well as plenty of hard work. This is the term where learning is consolidated and practiced, ready for the Sat’s tests a few weeks after we come back from our Easter break.

Our theme this term is for teams of pupils to research and learn about the culture, climate and lifestyle of New Zealand inhabitants as well as what New Zealand offers as a holiday destination. We will be comparing Fordham to a village the same size, near Hamilton, North island, producing Excel spreadsheets and graphs from census data and using Google maps, web cams, Skype etc. This will incorporate skills in English, ICT, geography and maths. The class has been issued a challenge; pitch the most perfect New Zealand holiday experience to a team of real life travel agents. The winning team will hopefully have the opportunity to display their research and work in the travel agents.

We have a KS2 music day tomorrow, learning how to produce Maori rhythms and authentic chant, to kick start their team’s chance of winning. Our class overview of the term is on the school website for you to read.

We launch our new way of teaching and assessing maths on Monday which the staff and pupils are really excited about. Please check that any allocated online maths from last term is completed and that the Bug Club books allocated are being read.

I would like to congratulate Class 5 in raising the grand sum of £84.67 for Help for Heroes with the cafe on our museum day. Well done!

Homework this week is to write an application to become House Captains for our new house point scheme. Apply to Mr Wainwright by hand or typed by Friday morning.  Think about the attributes required to be a House Captain – a team leader. Why could it be you? Maths homework will be set next week and will be percentages revision after having honed your methods this week.

Happy New Year to you all.

Launching our KS2 Perfect New Zealand Experience theme