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- We are excited to be studying our topic of 'coasts' this term - watch this space to see how our learning develops!
"Nurturing hearts; Inspiring minds"
Welcome to Rubies' Class Page!
This term we are looking at Article 31 from the Unicef Rights of the Child: All children have a right to relax, play and to join in a wider range of cultural and artistic activities.
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. Check back here to see how our learning is developing as we go through the term!
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:
Our responsibilities: what we should do
We have
a responsibility to listen
to treat people the way we would like to be treated
to be polite
to think before we speak
to play nicely with everyone
to make healthy choices
to be friendly to everyone
to have respect for everyone
Our rights: what we should have
We have
a right to learn
a right to concentrate
a right to play
a right to be heard
a right to say what we think
a right to eat a healthy lunch
a right to have friends
DT
We have researched about the kind of moving toys available for Victorian children, and have made our own thaumatropes and tumbling Victorians.
We have also made our own jumping jacks, and wrote an advert using powerpoint to try and persuade a Victorian child to buy one! Take a look at our jumping jacks below. Soon we will be designing and making jack in the boxes!
'My heart is like...'
So far this term we have been learning about how to create similes in poetry.
We have thought carefully about what to compare different things to, that were original and not cliche.
We used the poem 'A Birthday' by Christina Rossetti to inspire us to create our own poems, focusing on our hearts.
Once we wrote our poems, we created images for each simile using Paint on the computer, then we uploaded these to Photostory and recorded our poem. We even added music!
Our main goal was to write effective similes that create a picture in the reader's head.
Click on the names below to watch some of our heart poems!
Archie Alex Esme Olivia Connor Ellen Millie Paige Sam Chloe Morgan Austin Finlay
Art
We have been studying the themes and colours of 'Beata Beatrix' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
We have also created writing as if we were the subject of the painting, explaining how she is thinking and feeling. We thought Ellen's was really imaginative and so we've put it below!
I am Beata Beatrix
Today in particular I have not felt myself, I have longed to throw myself into a tearful sob, because my father has betrayed me. My heart has sunken and slowly cracked like a china vase that sits upon a mantelpiece watching the hours go past.
I felt like I’d lost a vital piece of me I knew I had to search and search whatever could it be.
In my mind I touch a silk-like pearly rose, which sparkles in the sunlight, this is the flower my father planted, a single red rose. BY ELLEN.
Click on the names below to see a few more!