Book Club!

Here are some recommendations for books you might want to read. Each review is written by a member of our class. If you have read a great book recently, come and tell me about it and you might have the chance to write the next Book Club recommendation!

Charmed Life, by Diana Wynne Jones

A Recommendation by Evelyn

 

HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks/ Wynne Jones

It's really good because it's really exciting. It's mysterious. The children meet a strange man called Chrestomanci and he's acting very weird. Read the book to find out why!
If you like books with witches, you'll love it!

Shampoozel, by Laurence Amholt and Arthur Robins

A Recommendation by Michael

Orchard Books

It's fun and funny. It has lots of adjectives.
If you like fairy stories, you'll love this!

Narnia: The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis

A Recommendation by Nathan

Collins

 

 

It's funny and the characters can be very bossy! It is an adventure story- you meet some children, a unicorn, some squirrels and a King. There is a whole series of the books, so if you like this one, you can read the others too.
If you like fantasy books, you'll love it!

The Smallest Girl Ever, by Sally Gardner

A Recommendation by Aimee

Orion Childrens

 

 

When I first read it, the beginning was quite sad but then it got happier. Your emotions go up and down through the book. It is a little demanding. It is interesting and magical.
If you like magical books, you'll love it!

Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

A Recommendation by Alice

Puffin Classics

My favourite chapter is when Anne (who is an orphan) gets adopted. She dyes her hair and it goes wrong and goes green! She wanted to go on a picnic, because there was ice cream there and she had never tried it before. But she was not allowed to go because she dyed her hair green!
Anne can be a bit naughty. You should read it because it's really funny.  There are other books about the same character. There are also films, but you should read the books first because they are better than the films.
If you like old stories from the past, you'll love this!

Using Voki for Animation 4

Here are the last of the super animations made by the children in St. George's Class yesterday. They created talking characters from our Cuban class story, 'The Girl Who Spun Gold'. Each group thought carefully about how the character should look, what they should wear, where they should be and what they should say.

These are Table 1's character animations. To see the others, look down the page and read the previous 3 blog posts!

Queen Quashiba

To see the other characters, click the links below:

Big King- click here!

Lit'mahn- click here!

Using Voki for Animation 3

These are Table 2's fantastic character animations:

Queen Quashiba

 

 

 

 

To see the other characters, click the links below:

 

Big King- click here!

 

Lit'mahn- click here!

Using Voki for Animation 2

Here are the fantastic character animations by table 4:

Big King

 

To see their other characters, click the links below:

Queen Quashiba- click here!

Lit'mahn- click here!


Using Voki for Animation 1

Yesterday we had a really fun ICT lesson, using a website called 'Voki' to create animations. Each group produced animations of three characters from our class story, 'The Girl Who Spun Gold': Lit'mahn, Quashiba and Big King.

I am so impressed with these animations- you clearly thought very carefully about the appearance, clothing, background and voice of each character, as well as planning what you wanted them to say.

Here are the characters made by Table 3:

Lit'mahn

Click the links below to see their other characters:

Queen Quashiba- click here!

Big King- click here!

Anger Poem

Today we read some more of our class story; The Girl Who Spun Gold. At the end of the section we read today, Quashiba was very angry. We discussed why she might be angry and thought about exactly how she might be feeling. Each child then drew what they thought might be happening in Quashiba's mind; what is she thinking about?

Here are some great examples:

 

By Agatha

 By Sonny

 

 

 

 

By Nathan

 



We then thought about anger itself and how it makes us feel. Where do you feel anger? What would anger sound like? Taste like? Smell like?

We decided to write a poem with each line starting, 'Anger is'. We worked together to write 10 lines of poetry, then blutacked them to the board and moved them around (a lot!) until we found an order that we liked. Then, we discussed splitting the poem into verses.

Next, we chose a title from a number of suggestions. We decided that 'Anger' was the best choice. We then went through and added the capital letters and punctuation that we thought were necessary.

Here is our poem:

Anger

Anger is like being shot in the foot,

Anger is like getting stung by a jellyfish,

Anger is when someone hits you.

 

Anger is a crimson crackling fire,

Anger is fizzing and boiling like a pot on the stove,

Anger is salt at the back of your throat,

Anger is the taste of spicy Doritos.

 

Anger is a roaring lion,

Anger is the smell of hot sweat,

Anger is a volcano erupting with steam.

 

 

By St. George's Class

A Fantastic Assembly!

Well done St. George's Class! Our assembly this morning was fantastic! Everyone enjoyed watching it- we had lots of lovely comments from the other children, teachers and families. Well done for learning those lines and performing so confidently!

Thank you to all the friends and family members who came along to watch and support the children.

A Great New Game!

This half term we are learning about 'Teeth and Eating' in science. Can you remember the different types of teeth that humans have? What is each type used for?

Try out this fantastic game- it will test your knowledge about teeth and about eating a balanced diet- can you save Clyde from Judoon Jail?!

An update on the silkworms!

This is about my silkworms my silkworms can spin about 300,000 loops of silk.Each female lays about 500 eggs. Silk moths do not eat or drink during their lifetime. The adult moth almosts always emerges from in the morning,usually before 9am. A silkworm will eat about 50 times its final weight during its eating period.It hatches to a full grown lavra the silkworms increases in size by 10,000 times.The silkworms will shed their skins 4 times during it larval stage. The silkworm sheds its skin by attaching the tail end of its skin to the surface on what it is resting on. Silk moths cocoons are made from a single strand of silk. One cocoon can be made of up to half a mile of unbroken silk.

By Joseph

Abel's Marvellous Poem!

 

People huddle together in the street,

It's raining and it's light with Iphones.

 

People stand in shops warming themselves,

As green lights signal the cars to go.

 

The sky as black as cat's fur,

Umbrellas are like shields fighting splinters and daggers.

 

 

 

 

What a fantastic poem, Abel! I am so impressed and I am sure our readers will be too. Abel was inspired by his walk home from school in the rain. I think this is a marvellous poem- I love the idea of umbrellas acting as shields and I can just picture the light of the Iphones on the wet streets. Fabulous!

Joseph's Dinosaur

Joseph visited the Natural History Museum and decided to make a dinosaur of his own! He said that first he bought his plasticine and that he made the body of the dinosaur first, before adding the details.

If you make anything special, or do some fantastic writing, let me know and we can celebrate by sharing it on our class blog.

Your Class Dojo Code

Today I gave each of you a special code, so that you can check your Class Dojo points at home and change your monster.

Here is a guide for how to log in and set up your Class Dojo account. YOU MUST DO THIS WITH AN ADULT.  If you do not have an adult to help you at home, we can sort out your account tomorrow during ICT.

1. First, find your code on the piece of paper I gave you today:

2. Next, go to www.classdojo.com/student


3. Click on the yellow 'Sign Up' button at the bottom of the screen.

4. Enter your code in the box.

 

 

5. Click 'Submit Code':

 

 

6. Choose a username (you can use your first name, but please do not use your surname).

WRITE THIS DOWN!

 

Choose a password. WRITE THIS DOWN TOO!

 

 

7. Make sure you have written down your username and password. Put it somewhere safe.

Perhaps write it in your Reading Record.

 

 

Let me know if you have any problems. If you cannot set up your account we will do it in ICT tomorrow. If your parents do not have an email address, we can use our blog email address tomorrow.

A Request from Roderick!

Last week, Roderick very politely asked me to add a game he had found to our blog. Unfortunately, the game is too big for the blog and it wouldn't load. Sorry, Roderick!

However, I have found another very fun go kart game for you to play that will also test your times tables. Click on the picture below to play the game; let me know how you get on!

Enjoy!

An Update from Joseph

"This week some of my silkworms have died because the food is drying up so they can't eat."

Joseph kindly brought in some photographs to show us today.
Here is a photograph of the silkworms that we have been hearing all about:

 

 

Joseph has also been caring for some caterpillars which have just transformed into butterflies. Look at this beautiful photograph of a new butterfly on Joseph's sister's hand!

 

 

Thank you for keeping us updated, Joseph- we are all finding it very interesting!

Planning a Wedding For Quashiba and Big King

This week we started our new book, 'The Girl Who Spun Gold'.


Today we found out that Big King and Quashiba get married! So, this afternoon we planned their wedding. Each team had to write a formal invitation, plan a menu of Cuban foods, design the clothes that the bride and groom would wear and write a list of gifts that the King might ask for as wedding presents.

Here are a selection of the best of each task:

A formal invitation to the royal wedding, by Table 2:

The clothes for the bride and groom, by Table 1:

 

 

 

The wedding list of gifts, by Table 3:

 

 

 

 

A menu for the wedding dinner, by Table 4:

Well done everyone! You planned a wedding fit for a king!

Cuba Fact Files

Today in ICT we used our computer skills to find out more about Cuba. We used a search engine to find information and pictures to complete our fact files, then copied and pasted the information that we needed.

Here are two fantastic examples of Cuba Fact Files- well done Aimee and Roderick!
Remember you can click on the pictures to make them bigger and easier to read.

 

By Aimee

 

By Roderick

 

 

After completing our fact files, we all took part in a quiz about Cuba. We each logged in to Socrative on our laptops and answered the questions that Miss Benn had set- we could watch our results come up live on the screen of the interactive whiteboard in class!

Number Sequences

Source: activemaths

 

 

We had great fun today playing with number sequences. We used these steps to help us work out the missing numbers in a sequence:

1. Are the numbers going up or down?

2. By how much each time?


For example,

3, 6, 9, 12, __, __

1. The numbers are going up.

2. The numbers are going up by 3 each time.

3. 12 + 3 = 15, so 15 is the next number.

4. 15 + 3 = 18, so 18 is the next number.


Try this fun game to practise number sequences. If you click on the picture it will take you to the website with the game. Remember to check with an adult before playing any other games.

Source: Cheeky Monkey

 

Can you think of any tricky sequences to challenge our readers? Add them as a comment below!

Cuba

Today we started learning about Cuba. We learnt about where in the world Cuba is, discussed how we might get there and found out what the capital city was. Can you remember its name?

Can you find Cuba on the map below?
Try to zoom in or out and look at Cuba, or add photos or other information by clicking the box on the top right. You can drag the map to look at different areas by clicking on it with your mouse and holding down while you move the cursor around.


View Larger Map

Today we played one of Miss Benn's favourite games; 'Map from Memory'. Each team took turns to send a player up to look at Miss Benn's detailed map of Cuba for 10 seconds, then had to remember some details and add them to the blank map on their table.

Here are the two winning maps from our competition:
(Remember you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Here is a super website that you can use at home to learn more about Cuba: http://kids.nationalgeographic.co.uk/kids/places/find/cuba/

Circle Time

We had a very entertaining Circle Time session this afternoon! I posed some tricky questions to the class. Each child had to vote for an option, then explain their choice. There were some outstanding ideas and some very interesting discussions! Some ideas were very sensible and some were very funny.

Here are some of the questions we discussed today. Perhaps you could ask your families and friends- and see whether they make the same choice as you. Remember, the most important part of the game is the reason WHY you made that choice.


Would it be a good idea for everyone to look the same? WHY?

Would you rather have to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, or change your clothes every five minutes? WHY?

Would you rather it was daytime all the time, or night time all the time? WHY?

Here are some new questions for you to think about. You can leave your ideas as a comment below (remember we practised making comments in ICT this week, if you have forgotten how- click here for instructions) or tell me what you think next week.

Would you rather only be able to whisper or only be able to shout? WHY?

Would you rather have no sense of smell or no sense of taste? WHY?

WONDER by Sonny and Ella

Source: Corgi Childrens

Me and Sonny love to read and once every so often we come across a book that we have to share with anyone and everyone.

Recently, we have come across a book like that and decided to put a post on the blog about it. It is called 'Wonder' and is about a person with a deformity starting school. It is by R.J. Palacio (she has a dog called Bear!)

If you want to find out more about this amazing book, it should be available in all good book shops and libraries, because it is a best seller.

It's great for people that like emotional stories. We would recommend it for children aged 6 plus.

By Ella and Sonny

Super Silkworms, By Joseph

 

I got them two days ago and one of the eggs is nearly white. They live in a box with a net in it. They have mushy green food and they don’t do much because they are still eggs.

I will report back next week. They should hatch in about 10-28 days.

By Joseph

Welcome Back!

Source: Steelville Grade School

 

Welcome back to a new school year!

We've had a very busy day today- I hope you all enjoyed yourselves! It was wonderful to meet the new St. George's Class and get to know each other. Today we were lucky to meet our new classmate Roderick and our new Teaching Assistant Miss Jordis.

Our teachers are:

Mr. Croft on Monday and Tuesday.

Miss Benn on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Mrs Cook is our teaching assistant and she is here every day.

Miss Jordis is our teaching assistant and she is here every day.

 

The important information you need to remember each week is:

Swimming is on Monday morning- remember to bring in your towel, a swimming hat (available to buy from the school office or bring your own), a dark-coloured one piece swimming costume for girls, or trunks for boys. You may bring goggles if you want to and you need to bring a healthy snack, such as a piece of fruit, for after swimming.

P.E. is on Wednesday. It is best to bring your P.E. kit in on a Monday and take it home to be washed on a Friday.

Homework is handed out on Thursday and needs to be handed in by the following Tuesday.

Spellings and times tables will be tested on Thursdays.


If you, or your parents or carers, have any questions about anything this year, please do come and talk to me!

Miss Benn