Writing

We have just finished diary writing as an evacuee in 1939 at the start of WW2.  We imagined that we had been sent away to the countryside to live with a host family. The diary had to show our emotions and thoughts, so we had to really think about what it must have been like to have been sent away from your family.

We have recently been learning to use more interesting language features to make our pieces of work more entertaining. We have been creating poems (some of which are displayed outside our classroom so check them out!) and we are trying to include some different language features in a variety of our writing.

Reading

Our novel in P7 is Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. We are using Kensuke’s Kingdom to improve our comprehension strategies like metalinguistics, and we are getting good at working out the meaning of new words! We use different clarification codes e.g.: RB-Read back, FW- Familiar word, RW-Replace word, TD-Teacher discussion, PD – partner discussion , D – Dictionary * so Mrs Kennedy knows how we have worked out their meaning. * Using a dictionary is a last resort only.

We are also learning about the different language features used in our book. For example: similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance. We are getting good at identifying them and here are some examples from our novel:

• ‘cackled and croaked’ ‘scraping scratching’ -alliteration
• ‘The whole orchestra of the jungle’-metaphor’
• ‘There was hollow tapping like a frantic wood pecker’-simile.

We have been focusing on visualisation too. One of the tasks was to draw what Kensuke looked like from the description in the book and one of them was to draw Kensuke’s cave from the inside view including everything we have read from the book.

Arfa and Amber

In numeracy we have learned about rounding, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percentages, time and symmetry.

In mental maths, we often play games like ‘Double Up and Divide Down…’. They are games that REALLY help with your skills in multiplying and dividing by ten and we are confident in multiplying up to numbers such as sixty quintillion. This is what sixty quintillion looks like: 60,000,000,000,000,000,000 !

We also have been doing some work on prime numbers up to one hundred. A prime number is a number which only has only two factors. A factor is a number that divides exactly into another number. If a number is not prime, then it is composite.

We also use fractions sticks to help us understand the link between fractions, decimal and percentages.  Here are the common equivalent f/d/p that we need to know:

This week, we have been learning about integers. First, we identified integers, then compared them, then ordered them and now we are adding and subtracting with them. By the way, in case you don’t know, an integer is a positive or negative whole number.

Ben and Akillez

WW2

Our topic is WW2. We have studied the evacuation process, learned about propaganda in WW2, rationing, allied, axis and neutral countries and The Holocaust.   We are currently completing a personal project on topics such as: weaponry, the attack on Pearl Harbour, ships, tanks, aircraft and coding. After we present this to the class, we will learn about the atomic bombs.  Cairo: I enjoyed learning about the evacuation process and looking into all the different ways the children got evacuated from the cities. We have been learning about The Holocaust and a little bit about Anne Frank’s life.

Cairo and Ethan

Music

We are learning to read music! We know: a treble clef, bass clef, stave, beats to the bar, bars and bar lines. We have learned the names of the notes and how many counts they get. For example, a crotchet gets one count, a quaver gets half a count, a minim gets two counts, and a semibreve gets four counts. We are learning to read these notes on cards and clap the beat.  We have been learning to play the recorder too, and we know the notes middle C to the C above.  Each note has different fingering, and you must be very careful to cover the holes in the recorder completely, otherwise it squeaks!  So far, Charley is getting really good at playing the recorder!

       

On a Wednesday morning, we have a visiting music specialist who comes in to teach us how to play the ukulele.