What happens to chalk when it is exposed to different types of weathering?

6th June 2025Kate Thompson

Today we carried out an experiment to investigate what happens to chalk when it is exposed to different types of weathering. This investigated represented the three different types of weathering: biological, chemical and physical. We set up our experiment by pouring water (physical weathering) into a cup and vinegar (chemical weathering) into the other. We put the chalk into the cups and set a timer for 5 minutes. We observed what happened to the chalk during the 5 minutes. We then used a piece of sandpaper to lightly rub the piece of chalk for 30 seconds. We concluded that the chalk in the vinegar changed the most because after the 5 minutes in the vinegar it had holes and slight cracks in it. The chalk in the water didn’t have any changes after the 5 minutes.

Investigating rocks

4th June 2025Kate Thompson

Today we carried out three different experiments to test the hardness, permeability and buoyancy of different types of rocks. First, we completed a prediction on whether we thought the rocks would be hard or soft, permeable or impermeable, or sink or float. We used a range of equipment to test a variety of rocks including chalk, sandstone, granite, basalt, slate and marble. We found that chalk is soft, sandstone is permeable and marble is not permeable. After carrying out the experiments, we checked our results against our predictions to see if we got any right.

Chotting in MT

4th June 2025Stacey McClare

Today we worked really hard on an extended activate where we recapped adjectives and expanded noun phrases. We linked our work to some of the pictures we are using throughout our plot points. The chotting part of our session allowed us to build ideas around the notice and hearing lense along with applying our knowledge of adjectives and expanded noun phrases. These ideas supported our shared writing then we were able to apply some of our ideas to our own writing. We are really loving our new writing unit and are excited to finish our first plot point tomorrow.

Experience day in MT

2nd June 2025Stacey McClare

Today we started our next writing unit- a 3rd person narrative using a picture book called ‘Flood’. After exploring the front cover and blurb, we took part in a silent conversation where we explored different pictures from the story. We used the notice, feelings and action lenses to note down our ideas. After sharing these in mini crews and with the whole crew, we then used our inference skills further to tell the story from the book using the pictures. We all showed lots of empathy towards the characters in the story and were shocked by the devastating consequences of flooding. We then worked in mini crews where we watched a series of clips to build further background knowledge on floods. We thought about what floods are, why they happen, the damage they cause, why they are dangerous and how they affect peoples lives. Finally we explored a model text, exploring the features we had discussed earlier in the lesson. We used our narrative checklist to find the features and we discussed their purpose. We really loved exploring the picture book and are all looking forward to creating our own stories!

Library visit in MT

20th May 2025Stacey McClare

We have enjoyed visiting the library this week in Crew MT! We have loved just getting lost in a book of our choice whilst also reading out loud with a partner, thinking about our fluency and expression. We also gave our partner some critique and they then tried to work on this feedback. We really enjoyed just sitting with our peers and showing our love of reading. Mrs McClare enjoyed listening to some of us read too 🙂

Telling the time to one minute

15th May 2025Kate Thompson

In maths, we consolidated telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes before we moved on to telling the time to the minute. We used the clocks to show the time. We started with showing the minutes past the hour and then moved on to minutes to the hour. We found minutes to tricker, but we persevered and managed to do this by the end of the lesson!