This term we are looking at Article 29: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

Spring 2013 learning
We had such a brilliant term of learning last term, that it is hard to think that we can top it - but I know that Rubies are phenomenal active learners so this term will be even better! Our topic is: 'What was it like for children during the Second World War?' To immerse ourselves in the topic, we have designed and made our own class Anderson Shelter. We think it looks pretty authentic! We are currently using it during quiet reading, where we can read either our own book or browse from different World War 2 titles. We also have a torch to read by, so we can imagine what it must have been like to actually read in one - it's rather dark in there! We have also made our own 'Ruby Provisions' shop, and made 3D cubes and cuboids of 1940s food and household goods after researching what was available during that time. We enjoy using it as our role-play area, especially paying for goods and giving change! Click here to read the curriculum leaflet for parents that went home at the beginning of term. Click here to read our World War 2 home learning booklet that went home at the beginning of term. Our Class text is 'The Lion and the Unicorn', which we are using to help us as we write newspaper reports about evacuees. One of the important symbols of the book is a badge with a lion and a unicorn on it, representing courage and bravery. We have now designed our own badges using these symbols as inspiration using moulding clay. We have thought carefully about how to shape our badge so that it is uniform and 3D. We have then used different shaping tools to ensure our design is clear. Once we have painted the badges we will put pictures up here to show!
Autumn 2012 learning
Ruby Class Rights and Responsibilities We have thought about all the things we need to help us feel happy and safe at school in order to become excellent learners, and came up with a list of rights. We also thought about the responsibilities that come with these rights, in order to ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to be the best that they can be. Take a look at our rights and responsibilities. We have also signed a copy, which has been sent home.
This term we are learning about the Rainforests! We have found out where rainforests are across the world. We have researched information about different creatures, creating notes and shaping them into information texts. We have also created branching databases to help classify different creatures! Our class story has been the Jungle Book, and we have published our own adventure stories using characters from the book. We have also been looking at Rainforest art, and have created jewelry, lavender bags, starch resist and finger knitting using tribal patterns as inspiration. Finally, we have designed and made our own hand puppets!   Take a look at the Key Rings we created when Mr Smith, master carpenter, came in. We found out about different types of Rainforest hardwood, and also thought about other types of wood that could be used instead. We designed our initials and Mr Smith used a special gadget to burn them onto the wood. After that we waxed the wood to give it a sheen. Take a look at the finished result! How effective are they?	Take a look at the items we made during our special DT and Art day with Mrs Lewis and Mrs Harvey! Can you identify what activity we are learning about? What stage of the process are we at? What skills are we using?
Class trip to Bristol Zoo! On Tuesday 3rd of December, a class of excited Rubies embarked on an adventure to Bristol Zoo, where they saw their Rainforest topic learning come to life! Alongside visiting the different areas of the zoo, such as the reptile house, the lion's den and the monkey kingdom, they also had a great view of gorilla island, where they could watch the gorillas being fed. We were also part of two special educational sessions, where we examined artefacts, found out more about the rainforest and its wildlife, and touched a real boa constrictor! We also held a hissing Madagascan cockroach, and felt the spiky skin of a bearded dragon. Everyone had such a great day - some of the Rubies said it was their best trip yet! Our favourite thing was to see the real creatures that we had studied in the classroom. So if you want to know anything about Rainforests, please ask a Ruby!
The book shop team with the Jungle Book adventure stories we had published... Ruby Celebration of learning! Monday, 10th December 2012 Into the Wild: 'Rainforests' To mark the end of a fantastic term of learning about the Rainforest, Ruby class held a special gift shop event for parents. Each child took on the role of a professional shop assitant or waiter, as they explained to parents about the items they had made for sale, gave change for items purchased and packaged items bought. They also took orders and served refreshments, including special cup-cakes made by every member of the class. Parents were also invited to look at the learning on display, including our letters to the Prime Minister concerning deforestation, and our information texts about Rainforest creatures and the island of Madagascar. We are so proud of Ruby class for the fantastic learning they have achieved this term by being brilliant active learners. Ruby class would like to thank everyone who came to the celebration event. They especially appreciate that their items were bought. The money that was taken will go towards school funds. Thank you everyone for your support.
Who will earn the listening ears next? We know it's important to listen in order to learn and be the best we can be... and if we listen reallllllly well, we might just take home the listening ears!	Information about our learning this term Click here to read the curriculum leaflet that was sent home to parents at the start of term. Click here to read the home learning topic book that was sent home at the start of term.   Wow! What incredible home learning! Rubies have produced the most beautiful pieces of home learning for their rainforest topic tasks. We have already filled a WHOLE book with the excellent poetry for the first task! Each time a new task comes in, I will put it up on the wall to celebrate Rubies' fabulous learning. The previous task will then be stuck in a new book for the class to read. Well done everyone!

Summer 2012 learning

 

This term our topic is COASTS. We are going to be learning, using and applying key skills across different subjects by undertaking investigations and research projects about an area to do with the Jurassic Coast that we are interested in.

Egyptian bags

With the help of Mrs Lewis, Oscar's mum and a specialist DT teacher, we have designed and started to make our own cotton bags, inspired by our learning about the Ancient Egyptians. The pictures below show our 'stippling' session, where we perfected a special painting technique to paint our bags, using the stencils we had designed with Mrs Lewis on the computer.

From this stage, we have now started to sew the pieces of our bags together using a sewing machine for the very first time! Once this is complete, we are thinking about how to embellish the design using beading or embroidery.

 

 

Spring 2012 learning

Click here to download Miss S's Curriculum information leaflet that was given to parents at the start of term.

This term we are looking at Articles 28 and 29 from the Unicef Rights of the Child: we have the right to an education, and we have the right to develop our talents and abilities.

Our topic this term is the Ancient Egyptians!

We started our learning by...

We looked through books on the Ancient Egyptians to decide what we wanted to find out more about. We did this by coming up with interesting open questions and writing them on post it notes. We then grouped the questions that were about the same area together, to see which were the most popular areas of interest. From this, we were able to decide what we wanted to learn about. We also thought about how we could learn best, and what kind of activities we could do to show our learning.

We are most excited about learning about...

...daily life...Cleopatra and the Pharaohs...Gods... Death and Mummification!

So far we have...

...placed the Ancient Egyptians on a time line (did you know they date back to 5000 years before Jesus was born?!)...created pharaoh masks...learnt about the heiroglyphic alphabet, including what the symbols stand for, and created our own name using heiroglyphics... finding out about the importance of gods to Ancient Egyptian culture, and learning about what different gods look like, represent, and what their powers are...

Story Making!

Rubies are perfecting their use of using story-making as a way of helping improve our writing. There are three stages to the process: imitation, where we learn a piece of writing by creating a 'story map' (pictures) and link them with actions that we practise daily; innovation, where we look at what we have learnt and make positive changes to it, for example by changing or adding a particular feature, or thinking of more interesting words, or starting the sentence in a different way. The final stage is called invention, where we will use the sentence structures and themes from what we have imitated and innovated to create our own original piece of writing.

This term we researched the life and death of Cleopatra in pairs using books and specific websites. We then put together ideas about the stages of her life, from which we created a recount using shared writing. After this, we made a story map that is in our story making corner, which we have been practising daily. We will soon be taking home a story map each so we can perform it and then teach it to our families!

We have created a photo dictionary of actions for useful words such as connectives and adverbs, which we are adding to!

Congratulations to our latest Free Readers!

 

Our poetry learning

In poetry we have been using the Quentin Blake poem 'Mister Magnolia' as a starting point to develop our poetic language, including use of alliteration and similes. We have designed our own boot for him, thinking about the kind of person Mister Magnolia is, and the types of things he would do whilst wearing it. We then used our designs to create a simile poem. We have also been learning to edit our work, thinking about how to innovate and make positive changes to our punctuation, choice of words, adding phrases, as well as making sure it makes sense.

Our motto for editing our learning is THINK IT, SAY IT, WRITE IT, READ IT! We also have a motto for making sure our writing is interesting, which is CHOOSE THE BEST WORD, NOT THE FIRST WORD!

We thought it would be good to send our poems and our boots to Quentin Blake, to ask him his opinion as to whether our boots would be suitable for Mister Magnolia. To really catch his attention, we have created a Photostory poem film, narrating our poem and adding music and pictures. Take a look at some of our films here!

Austin's poem film Natasha's poem film

Fraction Stations!

In maths we are learning about fractions. We know that a fraction is part of a whole. We have been recognising different fractions of shapes and quantities. Some of us have also been finding out about equivalent fractions, including how looking at the top of the fraction (the numerator) and the bottom of the fraction (the denominator) can give us a clue as to if it has an equivalent. We have also been adding fractions together to create 1 whole. When we realised that the denominator stays the same, and the numerator being added has to end up being the same as the denominator to be 1 whole, we were really confident!

Take a look at these fractions below. Do they have an equivalent? How do you know? If they do, what could the equivalent fractions be?

2/4 6/8 5/10 8/10 3/9 10/12

We have also been looking at how we can write decimals as fractions, and how we can write fractions as decimals.

We have been learning about this using tenths, as we know that we can split up 1 whole unit into 10 10ths. We found out that as a fraction, 1/10 is written as 0.1 (or 0.10) as a decimal. We were able to use this knowledge to help us fill in a decimal number line. Some of us were able to look at improper fractions (where the numerator is bigger than the denominator) and think carefully how to write these as a decimal number. So if 11/10 means there is 1 whole number and 1/10 left over, as a decimal this would be written as 1.1 (or 1.10).

What would these fractions be as a decimal? 3/10 7/10 12/10 4/10 15/10 24/10

What would these decimals be as a fraction using tenths? 0.6 0.2 0.9 1.5 2.3

Autumn 2011 learning

Listen to the songs we have learnt!

We have learnt the song 'Count on Me' by Bruno Mars as we felt it really connected to our rights and responsibilities. It makes us think about the right to have friends, but also the responsibility to look after our friends. We sung the song as a whole class, and then recorded solos too! The class voted for their favourites to put here on the website: check them out by clicking on the names! Mary Connor Oliver Alex Archie Esme Imani

We have also been learning the song 'We all Stand Together' by Paul Macartney, as it is all about being loyal to each other and staying friends through thick and thin. Watch our DVD performance of it here!

Look at our wheels of friendship

To help us with our confidence, we created posters called Wheels of Friendship to put on our bedroom walls at home. This means that we will be able to look at them every morning and night, and feel inspired, positive and special. We came up with lots of ideas, including the rights we have to feel important and valued. We added these as slogans to our wheels, and then everyone in the class wrote something on each other's wheel to explain why they are special to them. Take a look at some of our wheels below!

Ou est Albear?

Miss S's bear (called Albear!) is helping us learn French. Our favourite game is called 'Ou est Albear?'. We ask someone to go and stand outside the classroom. Meanwhile, we choose someone to hide Albear. Then we ask the person outside to come in, using the French word entree. The person has 2 minutes to find Albear. The only help we can give is by telling them if they are cold (so no-where near him), warm (getting closer), or hot (right by him!). We give this help in French. Look how the words are spelt compared to how we pronounce them!

cold = froid warm = demi-chaud hot = chaud

When Albear is found, we shout together: 'Il est ici!', which means 'he is here!'

We are learning how to sign!

Every Monday, representatives from each class are learning how to sign. So far we have learnt how to sign the letters of our names. We think it's really important to know how to communicate in different ways, and can't wait to learn more signs to be able to do more!

 

 

Congratulations to our new free readers!

Autumn 2011

Our topic this term is the Victorians!

Take a look at how we are learning about the Victorians across our different subjects: