Kensuke’s Kingdom Kahoot
Today, in our reading lesson, we read chapter 2 of our class novel: Kensuke’s Kingdom. Help at home by asking your child to summarise what happened. We started off by reading the book as we listened along to the audio book at the same time. We really enjoyed being able to hear a professional read aloud as we followed on.
Then, we all gathered in one room for a mass game of Kahoot. We had a great time practising our reading skills (retrieval and inference). Whilst at the same time, playing a really fun, interactive, online quiz.
Check out Kahoot to see more fun, educational quizzes!
Big Garden Bird Watch Home-link Challenge
This week, the children have enjoyed bird watching and looking for other signs of winter (ice, moss, snowdrops, spiders webs) in our outdoor garden. So far, they have spotted lots of magpies. They had fun recording their findings. Below, are a few comments from the children.
- “We have to be quiet.”
- “We have to hide and then they’ll come.”
- “We need to put some food out, they will smell it and come.”
- “They like worms.”
Home-link Challenge – 3 challenge cubes
This weekend, it is the big garden birdwatch. Can your child spot any birds/other signs of winter?
Birds to look out for: Blackbird, Blue tit and Chaffinch.
This week, we have also been exploring bird cakes. Making cakes for the birds is great, sticky fun and the mix of fat, seeds and mealworms is irresistible for many garden birds!
Why not try and make a bird cake at home to attract the birds to your garden?
What you will need:
- String
- Scissors
- Mixing bowl
- Molds eg empty yogurt pots
- Mealworms
- Lard to bind the other ingredients together
- Mixed seed
- Nuts (unsalted)
- Raisins
- Hard cheese
Step-by-step guide
- Make a small hole in the bottom of your mould. Thread string through and tie a knot on the inside. Leave enough string so that you can tie the pot to a tree/bird table.
- If using lard, allow the fat to warm up to room temperature. Then cut it up into small pieces and put it in the mixing bowl.
- Add the other ingredients to the bowl and mix them together with your finger tips. This bit can get quite sticky!
- Fill your yoghurt pots with bird cake mixture and put them in the fridge to set (1 hour).
- Hang your speedy bird cakes from trees or your bird table.
Remember to take photos and maybe a photo or drawing of the birds flocking down to eat it!
Please email photos and comments from your child so we can share your sightings next week. This will support us in our assessment by providing evidence towards the Understanding the World strand of the EYFS.
They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
EasyPeasy! We are going live!
You should have received a letter and information booklet introducing you to the new and FREE educational app called ‘EasyPeasy’.
‘EasyPeasy’ is going live this Saturday 26th January. If you have not opted out you will receive a text message inviting you to access the many educational game ideas that you can do at home.
Each week, you will receive a text message with a new game that you can play in any location with everyday items that you’ll already have at home. EasyPeasy is designed to support learning through play!
This week the activity will be ‘lunch time’. Let us know how you get on by commenting on the game. Look out for our comment with suggestions of how to adapt the game!
We are classifying
In science, year 5 and 6 have been learning how to classify objects by their observable characteristics. Today, we classified sweets by their characteristics. Children were able to ask specific questions. At home, you might like to try classifying other objects e.g. Toys, games, food.
EasyPeasy! We are going live!
You should have received a letter and information booklet introducing you to the new and FREE educational app called ‘EasyPeasy’.
‘EasyPeasy’ is going live this Saturday 26th January. If you have not opted out you will receive a text message inviting you to access the many educational game ideas that you can do at home.
Each week, you will receive a text message with a new game that you can play in any location with everyday items that you’ll already have at home. EasyPeasy is designed to support learning through play!
This week the activity will be ‘stepping stones’. Let us know how you get on by commenting on the game. Look out for our comment with suggestions of how to adapt the game!
Our new big topic: Kensuke’s Kingdom
Yesterday, we kick started our new big topic: class novel (Kensuke’s Kingdom).
We started off by studying the front cover and the blurb. We made predictions about what might happen:
Then, we enjoyed reading the first chapter (we each had our own copy, too). Ask your child if they can summarise what happened in one sentence, 10 words, five words then for a challenge one word! After chapter 1, we used what we’d found out to make more informed predictions:
As the story is about a boy whose family go on a round the world yachting trip, in our topic lesson, we revised some of our geography knowledge. This week, we focussed on the countries and capital cities of Europe.
Ask your child to name as many European countries or capital cities as they can. For a challenge, ask them to explain what a bordering country is. Even more difficult, ask them to explain what the term ‘landlocked’ means and give you an example.
Living and Learning – Emotions (Mood Walk)
We have been talking about our emotions; how to recognise them, what they feel like, that they change and how to deal with difficult ones.
The Mood Walk song has helped us and is great fun!
Y5 fire safety talk
Today, Year 5 we’re visited by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. Luckily, there wasn’t an emergency (or a cat stuck up a tree). They visited to educate us about some basic fire safety.
We began by learning about the importance of smoke alarms – almost all of us said we had a smoke alarm which is great! Ask your child how often smoke alarms should be checked.
After watching a video of a fire taking hold (the smoke alarm went off after 20 seconds and by 3 minutes the room was completely engulfed in thick, black smoke), we thought about a few points that could keep us safe n the event of a fire:
- Close all doors before going to bed.
- Alert everyone in the house immediately.
- Put a pillow or duvet behind the door to stop smoke getting entering your room (standard house doors can resist a fire for roughly 15 minutes).
- Check smoke alarms regularly.
- Try and stand near an open window.
One of the most important things to do is to create a fire action plan. A fire action plan should be discussed as a family and means that everyone in the house knows exactly what to do in the event of a fire. When creating your fire action plan, the following points are important ones to consider…
- How will you let everyone else in the house know?
- Is there a room in the house that could be a ‘safe room’? Everyone must be able to access this room easily. A room with a sturdy door and big windows is ideal.
- Does everyone know where the keys for external doors are kept? Being able to exit the property swiftly could be crucial.
- When leaving the property, stay close to the floor.
- Who will call 999 and using what phone?
- Are there obstructions on the way out of the house?
- Does everyone in the house know who is there and what the address is? These are the two most important pieces of information that 999 call handlers will need to know.
Help your child by discussing the key points above with them. Even better, make a fire action plan.
Challenge your child by asking them to explain the triangle of fire.
PE – badminton
We enjoyed our first badminton coaching session today. Balance, agility and coordination are essential and it was fun using our badminton ‘nets’ and pom-poms!
Gold stars
Well done to our two most recent golden stars!
