This morning we were visited by Mrs Keith who introduced our new skill of the month: problem solving. Firstly, we were trying to determine how many different ways you could arrange the numbers 1, 2 and 3 to make a different number each time. We worked out that there were 6 possible combinations. We then did a similar task designing flags with the colours red, blue and yellow but this time we were allowed to re-use colours. We calculated that there were 27 possible combinations!
Tomorrow is world book day and so we will be completing a variety of book-themed tasks. If possible, could each child bring in a book that they enjoy from home (don’t worry if you can’t manage to bring one, you can borrow from the classroom library).
Today we were continuing with our reading tasks in literacy. The illustrators who were reading The Invisible Boy have now finished the book and were completing a book review. In numeracy we turned our attention to learning the 12x table and this afternoon we were taken for basketball by the coaches. We were working on our shooting and dribbling skills.
Today we were thinking about how we could improve the environment for the people and wildlife around us. We designed re-usable jute bags, made bird feeders and planted cress seeds.
This morning we were learning about where and when we would use a colon. We learned that colons signify the start of a list, explanation, definition or quote. We then had to insert a missing colon into a sentence.
Today we began looking at the 11 times table. However, during our mental maths we did discover that we are a little rusty on the 8 times table so it would be great if we could do a little extra practise on that this week, seeing as we find the 11x table so easy!
This afternoon we once again had the basketball coaches who were teaching us lots of different skills, from controlling the ball and dribbling to passing and shooting.
Today in story writing we were writing setting descriptions. The first setting that we wrote about was an autumnal wood. As a class we first thought of what we might see, hear, smell and feel if we were in a wood. After that, we wrote our description using as much VCOP and descriptive language as we could. Then we shared what we had written with the class. We did the same for our second setting (a circus tent).
We had some excellent examples of good writing today, from similes to alliteration. Well done Primary 5! 👍🏼
Today we were looking at how authors use the weather to help the reader visualise the setting and how they also often use it to hint when something bad is about to happen.
J. K. Rowling often uses this technique in the Harry Potter stories and we looked at her description in the build up to two different Quidditch matches. In the first match the author focussed on how ‘perfect’ the weather was, with clear skies and only a light breeze. Gryffindor went on to win this match. In contrast, we looked at a match in which, in the build up, the author was drawing attention to how the ‘wind reached howling point’ and the rain was lashing down. Harry almost died in this match when he was attacked by the dementors.
We then went on to plan our own stories, using the weather to set the scene and cause tension in the story. We had lots of great ideas and we will continue with the write up tomorrow.
Today we were skimming and scanning our reading books to find quotes that told us something about our character’s personalities. Then, as a group we worked together to create a character profile, using what we had learned from the excerpts we collected.
