Tag Archives: confident learners

technology

Telephones

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Technology through the ages.

As part of our topic on ‘Technology through the ages’ we looked at the invention of the telephone.

We learned about the life of Alexander Graham Bell  including where he lived and when he was born. We discovered that he invented the telephone in 1876 with the help of his assistant Thomas Watson.

We made string telephones to see how the sound vibrations can pass from one person to another.

We discovered that when one person talks their cup vibrates, the sound energy from these vibrations passes along the string into the second cup which also vibrates. These vibrations pass through the air particles into our partner’s ear and they can actually hear what we are saying!

We experimented by using longer pieces of string, by whispering, by leaving the string ‘loose’ instead of ‘tight’ to see if there were any differences.

  

Language

P5 Stick Debate

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Listening and talking

P5 Stick Debate

We had a Stick Debate this afternoon; an activity that let us give our thoughts, ideas and opinions on an issue. It made us think carefully about what we would like to say and how best to express it. It encouraged us to practice not only our active-listening skills but also to add constructively to what someone had previously said.

A stick debate means that everyone in the group gets an equal chance to talk and to share opinions.

Each person got three (lollipop) sticks before we started our discussion. Every time someone spoke, s/he handed in a stick. Once our three sticks were used, we could not speak anymore. This made us think carefully about what we would like to say and to try to communicate effectively. We were encouraged to use all our sticks.

Some of the issues we discussed were:

  • Should teachers be replaced by computers?
  • Is handwriting important?
  • Does money buy you happiness?

We had fun listening to each others opinions and trying to change people’s minds!

Maths

Tesselation

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By Joe Reid

We did tessellation. I like  it, you are not  allowed to overlap,  its tricky because you have to draw a line up the paper then cut the line and sellotape  it back together.

Next you add  another zigzag line and cut it too and  sellotape  it again. You have to draw around it on paper and  fill the entire page.

It’s tricky to begin with and  then it gets easier.  You  can not leave any white on the paper.  You can do it with any kind of paper.

Its very fun

 

In our co-operative groups we made a tessellation instruction poster and gave it to P6/7 to see if they could follow them. They gave us feedback about our posters and gave us scores on Attractiveness, what you need and method. We think they enjoyed making tessellations.

Co-op Groups

Skeletons

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Our topic this term is ‘The Body’ and we have begun by learning about the skeleton.

We discovered that babies have 300 bones but as they grow some bones fuse together until they end up with 206.

We also found out that our longest bone is our thigh bone: the femur.

Our task today was, working in our co-operative groups, to make a child-sized human skeleton using paper cut-outs. We had to look at our posters to check we were gluing everything in the right place. We also had to label some of the major bones correctly.

We had to make sure we were following our ‘group norms’ and working well together.

We had to complete the task in less than 45 minutes! The winning team were given a special prize.

Co-op Groups

Co-op Group Work

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In our co-op groups we were making group norms. A group norm is a certain rule that you have to follow when you are working  in your co-op group. The norms had to be in persuasive writing. This means they are written in a positive way. We had to have three group norms. We all had to decide on the ones that we wanted.

 

  By James and Ruby