Maths  

Last week we were looking at number sequences.  Here are a few activities to try at home

What’s the rule? Give children a range of sequences to explore and ask them to find the start number and rule, such as:

• 6, 7, 9, 12, 16, 21, 27, … (start at 6, then add 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …)
• 50, 49, 46, 41, 34, 25, … (start at 50, then take 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, …)
• 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, … (start at 1, then multiply by 3 each time).

Encourage children to write notes on the patterns in each sequence, e.g. every pair of numbers alternates between odd and even.

Make snakes Ask children to draw three snakes, split into many sections, and to write a sequence in each snake, e.g. by counting on or back in steps of the same size, such as 5 at a time. For more of a challenge you could state that the fifth number in each sequence must be a particular number, e.g. 27 or 54, and say that at least one sequence must be descending.

True or false? Give children the following puzzle to investigate: A sequence starts at 5. The terms grow by adding 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and so on. Every number in the sequence will have a units digit of 5, 7 or 1. Do you think the statement is true or false? How do you know

Literacy

Red group read chapters 5 & 6 of their group novel

Blue Group read chapters 2 – 4 of their new group novel (several children need to read Ch2 from last week)

Green Group read chapters 2- 4 of their new group novel (several children need to read Ch2 from last week)

The Belonging Apostrophe

 An apostrophe is used with an s at the end of a noun.

It shows that something or someone belongs to that noun.

A

Write the shortened form of the phrases below:

1.  the bike belongs to the girl = the girl’s bike.
2. the pen belongs to the boy
3. the car belongs to the man
4. the cup belongs to my brother
5. the nuts belong to the squirrel
6. the ship belongs to the captain

B

1. Put these words into your own sentences (e.g. like exercise A):
   1. the golfer’s clubs
   2. the elephant’s trunk
   3. the bird’s eggs
   4. the cat’s eyes
   5. the tree’s branches
   6. the farmer’s tractor

This afternoon we emailed Barack Obama at the White House  in America.  We told him about our work  to promote Rights Respecting Schools, wished him well for the future and invited him and his wife, Michelle, to visit our school- now they’ll have more time on their hands.

Today we were all so excited to see the snow. We changed our literacy lesson and wrote some wonderful Haiku poems about Snow instead. Just before home time, we went out to play in the snow.  We had snowball fights, went sledging, made snowmen and snow angels.  We were all frozen but had great fun!

This morning in maths we were continuing patterns  which went up or down in equal steps.  We found it tricky to begin with but quickly realised to  calculate the next steps, we had to work out the difference between the first two numbers.  We found it easy when the numbers didn’t bridge into the next 100 but with practise we could then find the next numbers even if it did go not the next 100.

Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely relaxing holiday.

In Maths we were looking at Co-ordinates. 

Treasure Map: Ask child to draw an island (top down view) on squared paper. Ask them to number each line along the bottom edge (zero in the left corner) and up the left edge (from that same zero). Draw some ‘treasures’ and other features on the map and ask child to identify their positions. Start along the horizontal line (x) then up the vertical line (y) and write the coordinate as: (x, y).

Battleships! Draw a 10×10 grid. On your map, you need to mark 7 boats… two boats with 2 spots, 2 boats with 3 spots, 2 boats with 4 spots and a 5-spot boat. The spots in each boat can only be horizontal or vertical (NOT diagonal), and must be placed on the grid-lines. Decide who is starting. Try to guess where your enemy’s boats are, by asking them for a co-ordinate. If it hits one of your boats’ spots, draw a cross on that spot, and you get another guess… if it’s a miss, draw a circle there and your enemy has a turn to guess where your boats are hidden. Keep playing by taking turns until there is a winner – the one who sinks all SEVEN boats.

Coordinates: Here are the coordinates of some quadrilaterals but in each case one coordinate is missing!

1. (2,11),(0,9),(2,7),(?,?)
2. (3,7),(3,4),(8,4),(?,?)
3. (18,3),(16,5),(12,5),(?,?)
4. (13,12),(15,14),(12,17),(?,?)
5. (7,14),(6,11),(7,8),(?,?)

 The quadrilaterals are all symmetrical. This may be rotational or line symmetry or both. Can you work out what the missing coordinates are if you know they are all positive? (Hint: draw a 20 by 20 grid and plot them out) Is there more than one way to find out?

Useful Websites

http://www2.smarttutor.com/player/swf/Geometry_Coordinate_L5_V1_t3a.swf  Park the car – This grid activity will set your graph reading skills on track.

http://nrich.maths.org/1279 – Coordinate Cunning- Combines ‘4 in a row’ with knowledge of origin and coordinates

Literacy

Red group read chapters 3 & 4 of their group novel

Blue Group read chapters 1 & 2 of their new group novel

Green Group read chapters 1 & 2 of their new group novel

Homophones- we’re, were, where and wear

Examples of usage:

Were – used like “was”

Where –  a question and a place

Wear – used with an item of clothing

We’re = we are

Write these sentences into your jotter choosing the right word in the   gap below:

1. I can’t find my shoes, __________ are they?
2. Your shoes are so beautiful, I wish I could __________ them.
3. ________ going to the cinema, do you want to come?
4. I don’t know __________ we are going to.

Now make up 4 sentences of your own using the homophones- we’re, wear, where and were.

This afternoon we had a fabulous,  festive time at our P5, P6 and P7.  There was singing, dancing, games and party food. Everyone had a brilliant time.

Today we all took part in our Nativity.  The P5s were singing and dancing to the Funky Camels and the P6s were singing and dancing to the Inn Keepers’ Tango.  Everyone performed to their very best and contributed to a fabulous nativity.

The choir have just left to sing at Princess Square and the rest of us are getting the hall ready for tomorrow’s nativity performances.

Just a wee reminder our Christmas Party is on Monday 19th.  Please send in a donation of 1 x2l bottle of juice, 1 large bag of sweets or funsizes, multi pack of crisps or 1 packet of bought cakes.   Many thanks for your contribution.

Today we got into the Christmas spirit with our Christmas lunch. Everyone agreed it was very tasty and we had great fun making then wearing our reindeer antlers.

First thing this morning, the choir had a rehearsal and those children not in the choir went to the Learning Zone  to learn through play with P1/2 and Mrs Pollock.