Inside our bodies

We've had lots of fun making 'human bodies' with internal organs. We worked in groups and drew round the smallest children in the class. We then researched different organs and drew our own to put inside our 'bodies.' These included a brain, lungs, heart, stomach, liver, kidneys and intestines.

 

 

Maths problem solving

We were very fortunate to have maths co-ordinator, Mr Lever, in our class recently who gave us a special lesson on maths problem solving. We learnt that it is very important to understand the problem by reading it carefully and looking for important words and numbers. We also learnt that there is often a 'pattern' that can help you solve a problem.

We worked in partners and also thought about ways we could make the problem more difficult. Mr Lever was very impressed by our thinking and number skills and the children also really enjoyed being taught by Mr Lever. Thank you Mr Lever, we all learnt a lot!

Measuring Weight

We've been reading scales to measure the weight of different things. We've learnt that you have to make sure the scale starts at zero, then work out each 'jump' on the scale to read it accurately.

We also did some weighing challenges e.g. find 12 things that weigh 50g.

Here is a game where you have to read different scales to measure the weight. Have a go and let me know how many you got right.

Click here to go to the game

Thinking about teeth

We've been learning about teeth, what they are called and what they do. We learnt that different teeth have different shapes and do different things. We then made models of teeth using modelling clay, making sure we got the right number of each type of tooth and the right shape.

Can you remember the names of different teeth and what they do?

Click here to play a game about teeth.

What makes good Instructions?

We have been looking at what makes good instructions to help us write our own. We worked in groups to look at different types of instructions and talk about what we thought was good.

We decided that good instructions have:

1. A clear title
2. A 'what you will need' part
3. Diagrams with labels
4. Bullet points and numbers
5. Simple, easy to read sentences
6. Lots of 'bossy' action verbs
7. Sentence openers like first, next, finally.

Multiplication Games

Have fun learning your multiplication calculations. Here is a good game for x3 and x4 to get you started. Click here for Space Race

And when you are good at that, why not try more tricky times tables, with lots of excellent games here.

Remember, our target is to know the answer in just three seconds!

Tudor Jousting Game

You have to be very quick to win the jousting in the court of King Henry VIII. Try to go as fast as you can and get close to the taget as you can to be one of the best knights.

Good luck! Let me know how well you did.

To play the game click here

The Tudors

For our new theme topic we are going back in time five hundred years to Tudor England. It was a period in British history when there were big changes. It was a time when Britain became a powerful nation and took to the seas to explore the world.

You can read lots about Tudor life by clicking here.

Myths and Legends

We are looking at myths and legends for our new language arts project. This website has a wonderful collection of cartoon myths and legends from around the world which you can read and listen to.

Why not listen to a few and if you like one, why not tell other children about it in the comments?

Click here to visit the website

Quick Minibeast Quiz

 

 

Here is a quick quiz about minibeasts. It uses some of the new words we have learnt, like nectar, pollen, arachnid, colony and habitat.

See how quickly you can get all the questions correct!

Click here to take the quiz

Concentration Game

OK, watch carefully ... where's the red? This is a great game to test your power of concentration. Have a go, see how far you can get and let me know in the comments!

Click here to play Where's the Red

(Plays in every browser except IE)

Well done Porsche!

 

Congratulations to Porsche who was our class spelling champion after scoring a perfect 25 out of 25 in our recent competition. Well done too to Yuk Yik and Nemo who also got every spelling correct! The competition went to a 'sudden death' round when Porsche won by spelling 'friendly' correctly.

Thank you to all the parents who generously sponsored their children for the spelling bee, your support is greatly appreciated!

Thinking Outside the Box

The Beauty of Pollination

We watched this video in class today and at the end of it some of the children started to clap! I thought I would put it on the blog so you can watch it again! We were learning about pollination, which is when insects (and birds and bats!) move pollen from flower to flower to help them make new flowers. We also learnt how flowers attract insects with their bright colours, beautiful smell and sugary nectar!

More amazing insects!

Very powerful cameras can now take amazing photographs of even the smallest things. Here is an insect that's been caught in the rain. What insect do you think it is? What do you think of it's incredible eyes? How would the world look using eyes like that?


To see more amazing minibeast photographs like this click here

Minibeast Word Game

Can you remember some of the new science words we have learnt in our theme lessons about minibeasts? Find out how many you can remember in this cool new game.

There are three different ways to play the game. First you can match the words to their meanings. Secondly, you can play a crossword using these new words. Finally, you can also click a sound button and hear these words being spoken and click on the right meaning. A fun way to learn new words and speaker better English!

Let me know if you enjoyed the game and how well you did.

To play the game click here

A Lesson About Bees

I have made a lesson about bees which you can do on the internet.

First, watch the video and try to remember the facts about bees. Then click on 'Think' where you will be asked questions. Click on 'Dig Deeper' to find more facts about bees and to play bee games. Lastly, click 'And finally' to think more about bees and how they help us.

We will use these facts and your thoughts and ideas in our class next week.

Let me know if you enjoyed this lesson by leaving me a comment.

To go to the lesson click here

Beautiful Creepy Crawlies

We are learning lots about minibeasts and how strange and amazing they can be. They can also be very beautiful.

Click here to see lots of beautiful photographs of different minibeasts. Can you name the different minibeasts in each photograph?

What are they thinking?

Do you like this photograph? The animal is called a manatee. They are very gentle and live in rivers. They like to swim, sleep and eat lots of plants. The girl is about three years old. What do you think she is thinking as she looks at the manatee? And what do you think the manatee is thinking as he looks at the little girl?

Thinking Game - Save the Snail!

Can you use your thinking skills to save Bob the Snail? Click on the buttons to see what they do and then think of a way to save Bob the Snail from being eaten. What level will you get to? Good luck!

 Click here to play Bob the Snail.

Minibeast Hunt

We have been on a minibeast hunt around the school. We saw lots of different minibeasts.
 


We used magnifying glasses to look at them closely.

 

We wrote down what we saw, where we saw it and what it was doing.
Some children saw eight different minibeasts. How many did you see?
Why not leave a comment saying what you saw.
 



Minibeast Camouflage



A dead-leaf buttefly

Some minibeasts have wonderful camouflage. The leafy stick insect looks just like a twig with leaves and the pepper moth is almost impossible to see against tree bark.
We coloured some dead-leaf butterflies and hid them among dead leaves. Look at the photograph. How many dead-leaf butterflies can you count? Why not leave an answer in the comments?

How many butterflies are in this photograph?

Video - How to make a comment

Here is a short video I made about how to leave a comment on Teacher Paul's blog.

Comments may not appear until the next day but don't let that stop you!

I am looking forward to reading some of your comments.

Using the Thinking Hats

We have been using thinking hats to help us make our own minibeasts. We used the green 'creative' hat to think up new ideas. Many children mixed up insects to create a new species of minibeast. We then used the yellow 'positive' hat to think about what was good about our new minibeast. Lastly, we used the black 'judgement' hat to think about what was bad or could be a problem with our minibeast.

The children had a lot of interesting ideas!



Comparison Venn - A Thinking Tool

 

A comparison venn is a great way to organise our thinking about two different things. It helps us analyse what is the same and what is different.

In this lesson we looked at fiction and non-fiction and discussed how they were different and what features were the same. We worked in groups and talked about where different features should go in the venn diagram.

Here is Ing Ing's work, which was beautifully presented.

Parts of an Insect

All insects have six legs, two antennae and three body parts. These body parts are the head, the thorax and the abdomen.

Click here to go to a game where you have to name different parts of a honey bee. Give it a go - see how you do!

Amazing Minibeasts!

We are learning about minibeasts! Minibeasts are small animals. Many people call them bugs, insects or creepy crawlies.

There are millions of different minibeasts in the world - from bees, to beetles, to grasshoppers and dragonflies.

We are looking at lots of information and learning lots of facts about different minibeasts.

Did you know?

A spider has 48 knees!
Dragonflies can fly backwards and at speeds of up to 35kmph!
Flies can walk upside down because they have sticky feet!

Want to learn more? Click here to download a fact sheet full of amazing minibeast facts.

Fiction and Non Fiction Books

We are learning about non-fiction books. These are books which have facts and information. For the first lesson we looked at a non-fiction book and then went through the class library putting all the books into two piles - fiction and non-fiction. Here we see Yukyik and Porsche with the books they sorted.

A new school year!

Welcome to a new school year class P 2/1.

We've got lots of excting new things to learn and I'm sure we'll have lots of fun on the way.

Remember to ask lots of questions and have the courage to be yourself!