Review and preview

English	This week we watched video footage of the floods that Pattaya recently suffered and took notes, drafted and edited before writing our final copy this coming Monday.	Next week we will complete our final copy of our newspaper report and then begin our study of Jacqueline Wilson's book The Suitcase Kid
Maths	This week we developed our understanding of how to read a 24 hour clock and timetable. We also used doubling or halving twice to multiply or divide by 4 accordingly.	Next week we will continue to look at measure by converting metric measurements, as well as calculating the perimeter of shapes.
Art	We focussed on adding texture to our drawings of dinosaurs using coloured pencils.	Next week we will be making 3D flowers from different materials.
PSHE	We discussed what a good friend can do to help us remain calm in stressful situations	This week we will talk about what strategies we can use to help remain calm in uncomfortable situations.
Humanities	We have been thinking what can we learn from fossils. For example, how the dinosaurs may have lived or died and what they may have eaten by looking at their teeth.	Next week we will be looking at how dinosaurs protected themselves and going on a fossil hunt.
Science	This week we look at what a seed needs to germinate and what a food chain of a dinosaur may have been like.	Next week we will be carrying out some experiments on seed germination and learning about photosynthesis.
Notices and Events	We have PE on Monday. We have Swimming on Tuesday. We have Library on Thursday (remember to bring your books) We have Golden Time on Friday (remember to bring a toy)

Adding texture to drawings with coloured pencil.

The children have done really well developing their ability to add texture to their drawings as well as keeping the perspective appropriate.

Circle time

Last week in circle time we discussed what makes a good friend. This week we thought about how we can help our friends when they are upset. We came up with three questions to ask our friends in this situation to try to help them.
1. What happened?
2. Are you ok?
3. What can I do to help?

What's in the blurb?

Today, during Guided Reading, we talked about who reads the blurb on the back of a book before deciding whether to read it or not. Interestingly, a large number of children admitted to not reading the blurb before picking their books. Hopefully after today, when we identified all the interesting words contained within a range of blurbs, along with all the clues to the type of genre, that will now change!   

Pollination - a hive of activity!

We have been actively learning about the pollination process this week. The children took on the parts of the stamen ( the male part of a flowering plant), the carpel (the female part of a flowering plant) and various pollinators such bats, shrews, butterflies, bees or humming birds, travelling from plant to plant. Ask your child what is the difference between self pollination and cross pollination, which one is best for the plant and why. The photos will hopefully give you an insight in to how much the children enjoyed the activity.

Review and preview week

English	We continued our work on recounts and looked at a video of a news report,  focusing on how direct speech and reported speech are recorded.	Next week we will be focusing on news recounts of real life events, incorporating who, what, when, where, why and how.
Maths	This week we developed our understanding of how to apply our mental calculation strategies for multiplying by 20, 25 and 9. We also learnt how to multiply and divide decimals by 10 and 100.	Next week we will look at measure including time and converting metric measurements. We will continue to develop our mental calculation strategies including multiplying and dividing by 4 using doubling and halving.
Art	We used our knowledge of sketching to draw a dinosaur focusing on perspective.	We will be focusing on adding texture to our drawings of dinosaurs using coloured pencils.
PSHE	We discussed what makes a good friend.	We will be discussing what we can do to remain calm in stressful situations
Humanities	We have taken notes and recounted how fossils can be formed, including a labelled diagram	Next week we will be thinking what can we learn from fossils.
Science	This week we acted out the process of pollination and found out about seed dispersal.	Next week we will look at what a seed needs to germinate and what a food chain of a dinosaur may have been like.
Notices and Events	We have PE on Monday. We have Swimming on Tuesday. We have Library on Thursday (remember to bring your books) We have Golden Time on Friday (remember to bring a toy) It's also House Colour's Day on Friday.

Well done done in assembly!

A great big thank you to all the class for a great effort in assembly today. You spoke very well and helped give the Primary School a better understanding of just how long ago, 252,000,000 years was,  when the dinosaurs lived. If one year on the time line is the same as 1cm on the ground, then how far away from Bangkok would the dinosaurs be? They would be an amazing 2520 km away in Indonesia.

Rewiew and preview.

English	We wrote a recount based on a video clip of the Rocketeer, focusing on the use of time connectives and using adverbs to show the characters feelings. As a class we wrote a recount together and used a short animation to develop our skill using connectives and adverbs. We are continuing to develop our self editing and peer editing skills	We will be continuing to look at recounts next week.  We will be writing recounts of some video clips of real life events. Our focus will be on using different time connectives and adverbs to describe characters feelings. We will begin to include quotes from witnesses as evidence.
Maths	We have been developing our mental calculation strategies. We have used our mental calculation strategies to solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of 2 and 3 digit numbers. We continue to develop our ability to double, half, multiply and divide numbers by 10.	Next week we will look at the place value of decimal numbers and rounding numbers.  Also, we will be multiplying and dividing by 4,10, 100 and 1000.
Art	We used our creatively drawn trees from last week as our starting point for drawing trees using coloured pencils to add texture.	We will focusing on trying to use our knowledge of sketching to draw a dinosaur focusing on perspective.
PSHE	We have been considering how we can develop the use of our 5R's for lifelong learning into our learning.	We will be discussing what makes a good friend.
Humanities	We looked at a time line and placed the events in chronological order. We worked out where the prehistoric era was in relation to other periods of time.We converted the time in years into distance over land to give us a better understanding of how long ago the dinosaurs lived.	Next week we will be looking more closely at fossils,how they were formed and what we can learn from them. We will also be thinking about what a dinosaur food chain might look like.
Science	This week we have looked at life cycles as well as the different the parts of a flowering plant and the jobs they do.	Next week we will look at the different types of seed dispersal and what a seed needs to germinate.
Notices and Events	We have PE on Monday. We have Swimming on Tuesday. We have Library on Thursday (remember to bring your books) We have Golden Time on Friday (remember to bring a toy)

Adding texture to drawings with coloured pencil.

Last week in art we creatively sketched trees from our imagination. This week the children have been experimenting with coloured pencils to add texture to their drawings. This can make their drawings more realistic. Enjoy some of the photos below.

Life cycles and flowering plants

This week in science we have been learning about life cycles. After that we did a jigsaw activity on the parts of a flowering plant and the job each part of the plant does. In this activity the students learn about a specific part of the plant. Next they have to teach the other children about their part of the plant and find out about the other parts of the plant from other children. Below are some photos of our work on life cycles.

Review and preview

English	We have been looking at the language used in recounts and using this in our own work. Children have been using the past tense brilliantly, focusing on using time connectives and using new adjectives. We have begun to self edit our own work and that of our partners.	We will be continuing to look at recounts next week.  We will be writing recounts of some video clips and remembering some of our favourite memories.   We will focus on using different time connectives and using adverbs to describe characters feelings.
Maths	We have been looking at the place value of numbers, comparing them and ordering them. We have also used column addition successfully.  Furthermore, we have investigated systematically and looked at pattern in number.	Next week we will look at the place value of decimal numbers and rounding numbers.  Also, we will be multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000.
Art	We have tried to creatively draw trees from our imagination, adding in details using shading.	We will focusing on the use of colour in our drawings.
PSHE	We have been considering how we can develop the use of our 5R's for lifelong learning into our learning.	We will be discussing what makes a good friend.
Humanities	We look at a time line and place the events in chronological order. We worked out where the prehistoric era was in relation to other periods of time.	Next week we will be looking more closely at fossils, and what we can learn from them.
Science	This week we have looked at the different types of dinosaurs and tried to classify them using a branching data base.	Next week we will look at the different types of seed dispersal and life cycles of different animals.
Notices and Events	We have PE on Monday. We have Swimming on Tuesday. We have Library on Thursday (remember to bring your books) We have Golden Time on Friday (remember to bring a toy)

Settling in very well.

The children have settled very well into the new school year. They are taking on board how important the 5 R's for lifelong learning are and have made a very good start in applying them to their own learning journey. In Math's we have developed our understanding of how working to a system and looking for pattern can help with addition and subtraction of 5-digit numbers and understanding place value. Our Literacy focus has been on recounts and developing the children's ability to self and peer edit their own work. We will be continuing both of these focuses next week along with our work on timelines and branching data bases in our topic work.

Starting as we mean to go an.

Last week we learnt about how the brain learns and what are the best ways to improve our learning. We also introduced the five R's for lifelong learning (Responsibility, Reflection, Resourcefulness, Reasoning and Resilience) and thought about how to develop them in making our learning as good as it can possibly be. Throughout the year we shall be regularly referring to these as they are the foundations upon which our children will be successful.
This week we have begun our work in Literacy and Numeracy, the focus being on recount writing and place value respectively. We have also been placing historical events on a timeline in our topic, "Time Before Humans" and begun classifying prehistoric creatures on a branching data base.
I am looking forward to a great year of learning, discovery and fun!