In today’s writing lesson, Crew Hamill began with a silent conversation in which we walked around the classroom looking at chunks of our model text, making a note of things we noticed, any features we could find and any fronted adverbials we could spot. We were able to identify some key features of a non-chronological report, such as paragraphs, subheadings and fronted adverbials. Following this, we looked at some example double-page spread reports and worked in mini crews to annotate them with praises and notices. We then came together as a crew and shared these. We were able to use these to generate a checklist of non-negotiables that we are going to use when writing our own non-chronological reports. This list included things like neat, cursive handwriting and accurate, detailed drawings.
Today, Crew Hamill conducted another exciting experiment to help us to understand that some things can change state. We began by recapping a previous science experiment from Spring term in which we investigated how temperature effects the rate at which ice melts. We discussed this as we were able to identify that ice (which is a solid) melts into water (which is a liquid) if it is heated. If this is then frozen again, it will return to a solid. We then put this to the test in two ways. To begin, we had a look at wax. We discussed that this was a solid and then placed it into a wax burner which provided heat. We then left this, observing it at intervals throughout the lesson to see what happened. The block of wax disappeared before our eyes and turned into a liquid! We then switched the burner off and watched as it slowly cooled and returned to a solid. Whilst this was happening, we worked in mini crews to investigate chocolate. We placed solid chocolate into a bowl and heated it over a pan of boiling water. We watched as the chocolate melted and then placed this melted chocolate into moulds. We left this melted chocolate to cool in the moulds and are excited to see our results tomorrow when we pop the chocolates out!
As we continue with our unit ‘Fly with the stars’, we began by recapping crotchet and quaver patterns using the walk and jogging action words to help us think of the duration of each note.
We then looked at the song structure of the chorus of ‘Fly with the stars’ and noticed that the actions weren’t given to us, unlike the introduction and verse 1. We came up with a selection of suggestions for each action before finally making our decision. We practised performing each action with the music, ensuring we were counting the correct amount of beats for each action. We noticed that each section was quite repetitive which made it easier for us to learn each action.
We then recapped verse 1, only this time we added in the element of using crotchets and quavers to create our own pattern to play as an accompaniment to the song. We looked at using the notes A and C and worked with a partner to experiment with different variations of pattern using the glockenspiels.
To begin our new unit of music ‘Fly with the stars’, we learnt a new warm up song called ‘This is what it sounds like’. We each had an instrument that you either shook or drummed in order for it to make a sound. We recognised there was a call-and-response element to the song. We realised that we were able to ‘respond’ by clapping as a crew before then having to listen to carefully to the lyrics to see whether the children with a shaker needed to join in or whether the children with a drum needed to join in.
We then recapped what crotchet and quavers are by moving around the classroom using the ‘action word’ associated with the corresponding rhythm. For crotchets we used the action ‘walk’, for quavers we used the action ‘jogging’. We moved around the classroom ensuring we were listening to the rhythm being called out so that we could move appropriately in the correct way. We then listened to two pieces of music, ‘Soldiers’ march’ by Robert Schumann, and ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman. We had to listen to each piece and say which duration we thought fit each piece best.
We began to look at the song structure for the introduction and verse 1 of our new song ‘Fly with the stars’. We used this time to learn the actions to go alongside the lyrics and we focused on ensuring we were able to count for the correct amount of time whilst performing the action. We continued to rehearse this until we were able to do it without too much prompting from Miss McGlone!
We finished by recapping and embedding our knowledge of crotchet and quaver patterns by playing a ‘copy me’ game using action words to help us with the duration of each note. We even added in the idea of having a rest beat within a short pattern.
Crew Hamill have LOVED their first science lesson for Case Study 2 today. We recapped our sticky knowledge of solids, liquids and gases from the things we learned during hook week and took this knowledge forward to conduct an experiment about whether states of matter behave in the same way simply because they’re the same state. To begin, we made predictions on what we thought would happen. Once we had looked at the different liquids – water, oil, cornstarch and honey – we decided that they would behave differently due to some liquids being thicker than others. We predicted that they would move differently, with the thicker consistencies moving more slowly, and that if we dropped a marble in them, it would fall more slowly in the thicker liquids as they are stickier. We then poured each liquid into a glass container and made observations on what happened. We were correct in our prediction: the thicker liquids did pour more slowly into the container. After this, we dropped a marble into each liquid and observed what happened. As we’d predicted, the marbles dropped much quicker through the liquids that weren’t as thick – the water and the oil – and they moved slower, with some resistance, through the thicker liquids – cornstarch and honey. You can see if the videos below how this happened:
Today, Crew Hamill began their new writing genre and discussed that we would be creating a non-chronological report all about Ancient Maya. We have done lots of historical learning over the last few weeks in expedition that we will be using to support this writing and we are going to be using one of our class texts to gather further information. To begin this new genre, we looked at our first grammar focus: fronted adverbials. We discussed what these were and read two different passages that contained them. We discussed how these are used differently depending on the genre we are writing and made comparisons between the two passages. Following this, we worked in talk partners to identify which fronted adverbials would be most appropriate in a non-chronological report. We then up-levelled sentences by adding fronted adverbials to them to make them more interesting. We can now use these sentences when we begin writing our plot points!
Today, Crew Hamill kickstarted their new maths unit – statistics – by interpreting pictograms. We first identified what a pictogram was and discussed how these are used to illustrate data. We worked as a crew to discuss a pictogram that detailed the number of animals a vet had seen during a week. We identified that a key shows what each of the pictures are worth within the table and then used this to answer a number of questions about it. Following this, we worked in mini crews to answer a range of questions about different pictograms, interpreting the data in front of us.
Crew Hamill have continued building their rounders skills this afternoon. We warmed up by practising our underarm throwing technique, throwing the ball with accuracy to our partners. We then practised added in some batting skills, with one partner bowling and one batting then swapping. Following this, we used this skills in a mini game. We split into two teams – one batting and one fielding. We then played a mini game, focusing on the rules as we went along. We had so much fun and were very grateful for the warm weather which meant we could do it outside!
I’m sure you’ve all played dodgeball before, but have you ever played it IN THE DARK?! Today, Crew Hamill and Crew Thompson were super lucky to be able to play glow in the dark dodgeball. We had so much fun!
Crew Hamill finished their money unit in maths by spending the lesson working out how much change people should receive. They had three activities to complete on a round robin. The first group involved continuing in our fruit and veg shop with Miss Kelly. They identified the items they wanted to buy, worked out how much they were going to cost them and then worked out the change they should get when purchasing with £5 or £10. The second group involved working their way around the room to identify challenge questions (1, 2 or 3 stars for difficulty) and solving them. These all involved either one step or multi step questions that required them to identify change. The final group involved working in a cafe. The children had to choose one drink, one food item and one dessert. They then had to work out how much they had spent by adding the amounts together. Once they knew what they had spent, they had to work out how much change they would get from £5 or £10.
