Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween! Will you be dressing up in a spooky costume today? Have a go at these fun and silly Halloween games:

Dress up for Halloween:

 

 

Halloween Bubbles (My favourite!):

 

 

 



Remember, do not play any other games or click on any adverts or links without the permission of an adult. Show your families the games you are playing. They might enjoy them too!

Personification Poems

This week, we wrote some more fabulous poetry. We picked an object from our book 'Hurricane' and imagined that we were interviewing that item. We asked a set of questions and the answers gave our readers clues about which object we were describing. This was our first try at personification (giving an object human qualities).

Here is the poem we wrote as a class:

What Am I?

 

What can you see?

I can see children looking at me.

 

What do you want?

I want someone to write on me.

 

What are you afraid of?

Cleaning spray!

 

What makes you angry?

People using lots of blu-tack.

 

What makes you happy?

Someone tickling me with a rubber.

 

What do you think is next for you?

I think the teacher will rub out the writing on me.

 

What can you remember?

My Mum and Dad were blackboards.

 

What advice do you have for us?

Copy me carefully!

 

By St. George's Class

Of course, we were using personification to describe a whiteboard.
Can you guess what these fantastic poems are describing?
Click on the pictures to make them larger and easier to read:

By Aisling

 

By Luke

 

By Aimee

Amelie C's Fantastic Hurricane Book!

We have been learning about hurricanes, particularly in Cuba, for the last fortnight.
This week, Amelie C. went home and made this fantastic information book all about hurricanes. It's always fabulous when someone makes something special at home for us, so thank you Amelie!

Click on the pictures to make them larger and easier to read:

Great work, Amelie! Well done!

Captain Jack Sparrow's Compass!

Source: Second Mate Productions, The Walt Disney Company, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Walt Disney Pictures

This week we have been learning about compass directions. We now know the directions marked on an eight-point compass.

We each made a pirate-worthy compass for Captain Jack Sparrow, then used our compass to answer some tricky quiz questions.

We had lots of fun and now we know our compass directions!

Try these fun games to practise using compass directions:


https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/VTC/20050301/Geography/Keystage2/direction/northsout/introduct/MainSession.htm

https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/VTC/20050301/Geography/Keystage2/direction/northsout/introduct/Plenary.htm

Torticas De Moron- Cuban Cookies

Photo by Shelleychez- food.com

Yesterday we made some marvellous Cuban biscuits. We worked through the recipe together and used our weighing skills to measure the ingredients accurately. It gave us a good opportunity to practise our subtraction skills too- working out how much more sugar or flour we would need to add to reach the amount we needed.

It was a fun way to end our Cuba topic and the biscuits were delicious!


We followed this recipe (click the link to view it):

http://www.food.com/recipe/torticas-de-moron-cuban-cookies-from-the-city-of-moron-233155

The English conversions for the ingredients are:

225g sugar
225g vegetable shortening (or margarine)
600g flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of lime peel, grated
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Remember to work with an adult if you are cooking at home- you must be careful with hot or sharp items in the kitchen. Also remember to wash your hands before and after cooking!

These tropical lime-flavoured cookies smelled wonderful as we made them. They came out really well and looked and tasted beautiful!

Did you enjoy making the cookies? Did you enjoy eating them?!

Cuban Dancers!

Last week we looked at some beautiful postcards of Cuban dancers. The bodies were 2D drawings and the women's skirts were 3D and made of fabric. Last week we designed our dancers and today did the sewing to create their skirts. Take a look at the fantastic final results:

St. George's Shoe Shop!

Yesterday, we practised using and reading scales by weighing a selection of shoes! We made estimates, weighed them and compared them.

If you have scales at home, perhaps you could try weighing some different things around the house.

Can you find anything that weighs more than 1kg?
Can you find anything that weighs less than 10g?

Make sure you ask permission before using scales at home- perhaps you could play this game with an adult. Don't try to pick up anything too heavy!

Spooky Game!

Try out this fun spooky game for October! It will test your Literacy skills, in a series of haunted challenges! Ooooohh!!!

Cubana on the 'One Show'

Did you see Cubana on BBC1 on Tuesday night? The One Show visited the restaurant, tried some food and drink and even tried some Cuban dancing!

One Show, BBC

Click the link below to watch the clip of Cubana on the show. Remember to check with an adult first- perhaps you could watch this clip together?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03d0wsh/?t=7m46s

Reading Scales Games!

This week we will be learning about measures. Tomorrow we will be using weighing scales and on Friday we will be using different units to measure length. Try out these fun games to practise your skill of reading scales carefully!

Source: ictgames, J.Barrett

Our Completed Masterpiece!

We have completed our class painting of Claudia Jones! We enjoyed learning about her life and her work and wanted to celebrate her in a special portrait. We used colours and patterns inspired by the artwork in our Cuban book, 'The Girl Who Spun Gold', by the illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon.

 

Some wonderful details:

 

Headteacher's Challenge!

Mr. Owens has set you a challenge! Go to the school website by clicking this link:

http://www.stanthonysprimary.co.uk/index.php/year-4

Mr. Owens says:

"According to a link on your curriculum pages, when did Christopher Columbus first visit Trinidad? Why can this date not be correct? (You need both answers!)

Answers with name, class and in your best presentation to the Headteacher Challenge box by Tuesday 15th October."


You can find the curriculum pages here:

http://www.stanthonysprimary.co.uk/attachments/article/23/Years%203%20and%204%20Christmas%20Term%202013%20%20Curriculum%20Information.pdf

Can you solve the problem? Write out your answer in your best handwriting and put it in the Headteacher Challenge box asap!

Powerpoint Stories

Today we finished our class story! In ICT today we used Powerpoint to retell the story of 'The Girl Who Spun Gold'. We focussed particularly on using moving animations in Powerpoint. The presentations are below- although the animations might not work on the blog.

After ICT, we planned and wrote our own endings to the story. Some of them will feature here over the weekend, so keep your eyes peeled!

 

A Special Email!

Today I received an email for you! It made me smile and I thought I would share it with you:

Dear Miss Benn

I just wanted to email to say thank you to all of your pupils for their lovely letters and cards, which we are making into a framed collage to put on our wall.

It was great for us to have them at Cubana and they would all be welcome back any time.

Best wishes

Phillip Oppenheim

MD Cubana

Welcome Aisling!

 

Source: omnimedia

This week we were very pleased to welcome a new young lady to our class!

We all felt very lucky to have Aisling join us and we were delighted that she could come with us to Cubana Restaurant on Thursday. She has settled in well and we know she will be another valuable member of St. George's Class.

Welcome Aisling!

A Class Painting

For the last few weeks, we have been planning and designing a large piece of artwork as a class. We have been learning about the 'Mother of the Notting Hill Carnival'; Claudia Jones. She was an incredible woman who fought for equal rights for women and for people of all races. We have learnt about her amazing work in the USA and in London.

We decided to create a portrait of Claudia Jones in the style of the illustrations of our Cuban class book, 'The Girl Who Spun Gold'. We looked closely at the patterns and colours used by the illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon, then tried to include them in our designs.

Source: Leo and Diane Dillon, Blue Sky Press

Last week we divided the portrait into sections and each group drew the patterns onto their part of the picture.

Yesterday, each group mixed their paint to create the colours they needed, then we started to paint the portrait.

Next week, we will add the finishing touches!

Cubana!

 

Today we had a fantastic day out! We went to Cubana Restaurant and tried lots of new food. Cubana is a Cuban restaurant and is full of interesting things to look at. We saw some flags, posters and photographs from Cuba and the restaurant was very colourful and interesting.

We met a lovely lady called Louise, who taught us about where the restaurant found their recipes and why they chose certain ingredients. Then we met the chef, who talked to us about 3 special dishes, which we then got to taste!

Today we tried: Chorizo croquettes, Cuban falafel and sesame chicken.
Which was your favourite?
Can you remember how they were made?

The chef showed us how they shaped the croquettes and falafel, so we all tried to make the correct shapes with the ingredients. It was quite tricky!

After our yummy Cuban food, we each had a special Cuban tropical smoothie. These special smoothies are made with EIGHT fruits! They were made from; strawberries, mango, banana, pineapple, passion fruit, orange, coconut and watermelon.

I was very impressed with how sensible you all were today. Everyone tasted everything and you were all incredibly polite. You asked some interesting and well considered questions and all the staff at the restaurant were very pleased to meet you. It was a great day!

Cha Cha Cha!

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have a special dance lesson with Sander Blommaert from the Royal Ballet.

Source: Royal Ballet

We told him that we were learning all about Cuba, so he taught us a Cuban dance called the Cha-Cha. It is a very famous dance from Cuba and it was lots of fun to learn. After our warm up, Sander taught us the basic steps for a Cha-Cha, then the children split up into groups and used those steps to make some routines of their own. After performing their fabulous dance routines to the rest of the class, we did a fun cool down to finish.

Next week we will learn some more steps and we might even try dancing in pairs!

A Busy Week Ahead!

We have an exciting and busy week to look forward to in St. George's Class this week!

Source: cobra.be

Tomorrow we have a professional dancer from The Royal Ballet coming to teach us some Cuban dance moves! His name is Sander and he will be helping us to learn about Cuba in a new way.

On Thursday, we are going on a trip to Cubana restaurant in London. We will be learning about Cuban food and how it is made, then we will get to taste some Cuban dishes!

It is very important that your parents or carers tell me if there is anything that you cannot eat or drink. Please make sure that they come and talk to me if there is anything we must avoid. Please click this link to check allergy information: http://www.cubana.co.uk/food/?mypets=0 Then click the green 'Allergy Information' banner.

You can look at the restaurant's website here: http://www.cubana.co.uk
On the website, you can look at the menus to see some examples of the food we will be tasting.
It will be a very fun day out!

Remember to bring a piece of fruit to eat when we get back to school, a waterproof jacket and remember to ask your parents to talk to me if there is anything you cannot eat or drink.