Favela Life BBC linkFor those of you that missed the different jobs people do in the Rohinca Favela.
We have been sketching portraits of children from a Syrian refugee camp as part of a Global Learning project. We will be sending the finished pictures to them.
In Antibullying week, we wrote a class rap called 'Everybody's Different, Everybody's Equal'. We hope it captures the feelings of what it like to be bullied. We performed it in our celebration assembly to the whole school. We felt very brave and proud for doing this!
On Water Wednesday we had a science workshop about transporting water.
We made Rifiki beads to wear, ready for our Walk for Water.
Future Earth Project
We have been learning about different problems that could affect the Earth in the future. We thought of some possible solutions and designed them. We then showed them in our school assembly. In the springtime we hope to enter them into a competition for schools.
We learned about the different levels of hunger in countries around the world. Some countries have 1/4 of their population hungry. When we designed our posters we learned lots of facts about food waste and presented them as an infographic.
We have been making models of Stonehenge and learning what the different types of stones are.
Exploring pitch - We have been trying out different instruments to see which had high and low pitch sounds.
Beebots - In computing we have been testing out the Beebots and making algorithms for them to follow.
Stone Age timeline - We have been learning the main events of the stone age and putting them in order.
Maths Investigation Week
We have been performing many maths investigations this week and trying to find strategies how to solve problems. Many were from the Nrich website https://nrich.maths.org/. We made tangram puzzles, predicted the next pattern in a sequence using a rule and found different combinations of patterns using colours. We welcomed many parents into our classroom where the children became the teacher!
We have been finding out about how sound travels by making string telephones. We concluded that the shorter the string the better the sound. The longer the string, the further the vibrations had to travel, so the weaker the sound.
As part of our Scavengers and Settlers topic, we have been thinking about how to survive in the stone age. We all agreed if we were transported back in time, the first thing we would do is build a shelter, so we did! We needed to find sticks to build it and used string to tie it together. Leaves and bark helped make it more waterproof. We were glad that tonight we would have our beds to sleep in!
We have been inspired by the book, 'The Cat and the Bird'. This contains images based on the art by Paul Klee including 'Cat and Bird' and 'Castle and Sun'.
We have reproduced out own versions of the 2 paintings. Cat and bird is a water-colour where we carefully learned how to sketch the picture. We then used a black marker and water-colours to colour the different shapes.
Castle and Sun is a pastel drawing where we planned our shapes, coloured them in pastels and gave them white outlines.
We also used Klee as an inspiration for maths where we used shapes to make a reflective pattern and also work out fractions of a shape.
Our first ukulele lesson this year!
It will be interesting to see how much progress we make from here.
Welcome back to school Klee class! We have made personalised name labels for our coat hooks.
Year 4 performed a fantastic ukulele concert to the school!
Our trip to Pizza Express
On June 29th Klee class went down to Pizza Express in Hertford as part of our What's on the Menu topic. We were told all about the origins of the ingredients that are used in the pizzas. We then had a talk about the history of Pizza Express as a company and learnt about their worldwide operations. The children asked lots of amazing questions and found out many interesting facts. Then came the fun part! We got to feel the dough, before spreading the sauce and sprinkling on the mozzarella. The children were praised because their pizzas looked so like the example one produced by the pizza chef himself! Whilst our pizzas were in the oven we were able to ask more questions before walking back to school with our creations for a pizza feast in the classroom. Yum!
Our trip to Panshanger Park
As part of our Different Places, Similar Lives topic, Year 4 recently went on a walk around our local area. Walking around the estate we found signs of an urban landscape, with houses, shops and local transport links. However, once we crossed the B1000 into Panshanger Park, just 5 minutes away from school, it was a different story. A lush, green field of wheat was evidence of land used for farming, and a wood full of bluebells and home-built dens showed us that the local area is also used for leisure pursuits like walking and playing. We have a varied environment right on our doorstep! Once the bluebells have gone we intend to return to the park for an afternoon of exploring.
Rapid-Fire Cricket Tournament at Wodson Park
Rapid-Fire Cricket at Wodson Park
March 2nd 2017
8 members of Klee class represented Hertford St Andrew at the Rapid-Fire Cricket tournament over at Wodson Park. The team had to quickly learn a new skill, having less than a week to practise the game, and all committed themselves to lunchtime practise sessions. Mrs Garbutt was very proud of all the children's performances, they all worked hard and had lots of fun. The team came in fifth out of seven schools - an excellent effort considering they had never played the sport before. Well done!
Take One Book week - Zeraffa Giraffa
This week the whole school has been taking inspiration from a lovely picture book all about a giraffe who was sent as a gift from the Pasha of Egypt to the King of France. Accompanied by her keeper Atir, she travelled by boat and then on foot through France to reach Paris where the king built her a special enclosure. Many people came to visit her, and this exotic creature inspired all sorts of new fashions and art.
In Year 4 we wrote instructions about how to wash a giraffe (since it might well have become quite dusty and grubby on its long journey!). The children puzzled over how we might reach the top of the giraffe, how to get it to stay still and even how to dry it off afterwards. Perhaps it would like its hooves painted with nail polish?!
We noticed how much of the book is filled with pattern. We designed our own patterns and in Computing used Purple Mash to create our patterns.
In France many fashions and new products had giraffe colours or patterns. We designed our own accessories which would not have looked out of place on the catwalks of Paris at the time! We had everything from designer dresses to clocks to glasses.
Here are a selection of the things on display. Please do step in and see our display when you come to collect your child. It is just inside the door to the main building opposite our classroom.
Take One Book week
Snow Day 13th January 2017
This morning as the snow began to fall the children got very excited. We decided to take advantage of this special occasion and put our coats on to go outside and experience the snow. Back inside, we made a word map and wrote snow poems. Some children wrote haikus or cinquains with particular syllable patterns, and others wrote free verse poems. Here are a selection of them:
The soft snow is glittering as a diamond
Floating down from the sky on a silent night all the snow was falling
a frosty morning, icy and white.
Flying down, swirling
Making snow angels is fun
As the snow flutters down to the ground, it crunches like an Autumn leaf,
Under the blanket of snow, there lies a mysterious glow,
As the grass grows underneath the snow it glimmers, shimmers.
As the frozen pond sparkles in the moonlight, the snow is glowing all around us.
The snow is cold on your hands, flying down upon us
All the things we know are sparkling around us
Hidden underneath a blanket of snow.
The frozen ponds are twinkling so brightly
The snow crunches beneath your feet
As we walk along the icy path of the park.
The rain falls, slowly washing the snow away.
Snow drifts gently
Snow is settling on the ground
Flying down, swirling.
Making snow angels is fun!
The snow, cold as ice, falls from the sky
Fluttering from the clouds, it slowly floats to the ground
Children throw snowballs and make snow angels
Snow is falling heavily, and we are having fun
Families are snuggled inside.
Drifting from the sky like a feather
As fast as a rocket
Under a snow blanket there is a discovery to be found
Slowly, the snow disappears into water
Everyone is sad.
Floating softly down from the clouds
As beautiful as a diamond
Above my head it rains down snow
Slowly it drifts down from the sky.
Children In Need 2016
Today we have been dressed in 'Spots and Stripes' to raise money for Children in Need. In Klee class with all our donations we raised £13.70. We had great fun dressing up and it's all for a great cause. We can't wait to find out how much money will be raised in total!
Anti-Bullying Week 14-18 November 2016
This week is Anti-Bullying Week across the country. The slogan for 2016 is 'Power for Good'. In Klee class we have been talking about being a kind friend and how we might use our 'power for good' to make a positive comment to one person to change their day for the better. We made posters to show the difference between rude, mean, bullying and kind. We then created flowcharts for positive actions we could take after particular playground incidents.
Our Anti-Bullying Week posters
Ukulele lesson performance
On Fridays Klee class absolutely love their ukulele lesson with Carlos. They have been working on a song called 'Spooky' which combines ukulele playing with singing and performance. Enjoy!
Our Maths Investigation morning
We had a fantastic morning showing some of our parents what we've been up to during our Maths Investigation Week in class. Pupils challenged the parents to get their brains into gear and solve some problems. We started the week by playing Nim, an ancient maths game. Two players start with 10 cubes and can take it in turns to take either 1 or 2 cubes away on their turn. The person taking the last cube is the winner. Is there a way to always be the winner? Perhaps if you know what you are doing - can you work out the rule?
On Tuesday Willa Wonka had a surprise challenge for our class! Children found a letter from Willy Wonka under their chairs asking for their help with his new creation, Lick-a-licious Lollipops. With 6 flavours to choose from, by combining 2 flavours at a time, how many different combinations would be possible?
On Wednesday children filled addition grids with numbers generated by throwing dice to see who could get closest to 100 or 1000. What is the best strategy to use?
The children really enjoyed 'playing' their Maths games and hardly noticed that at the same time they were improving their problem solving skills by working systematically and strategically. They also recorded their investigations in their Maths books as they went along. They loved sharing their learning with parents at the end of the week so thank you to all the parents that managed to come along!
Creating our bug hotel
In our first week back, as well as talking about how we would like our class to be, we turned our attention to the outdoor area. As you may have seen we have a wonderful new garden area at the school which just happens to be right outside our classroom! To celebrate the children designed bug hotels and we then went outside into the garden and began to set up our own bug hotel. We used some shelves that were no longer needed in the classroom and have begun to fill it with lots of rocks, tubs full of acorns, pine cones, bricks, logs and all sorts of things to create spaces where bugs and minibeasts will love to hide! Later in the term we will check our bug hotel and see whether we have attracted any residents. If you have any bits and bobs at home that might make good additions please bring them into school. Large pieces of wood, logs, plastic bottles that we can fill with paper rolls or leaves/grass, or bits of open plastic piping would all be suitable. The children worked so enthusiastically to design and build for the whole afternoon. We will be using the outdoor area as much as we can. Watch this space!