This half term we are starting a new unit on geography. This unit is all about mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, so it should hopefully be a good, exciting topic to get stuck in to.
For lesson 1, its going to be a lot of talking and discussion, so hopefully you can find an adult to help you.
The first thing I’d like you to do is look at the world map. Spend time exploring the map, can you find and name all of the 7 continents and the 5 main oceans? Have a good look at some country names. Can you remember any densely populated countries we talked before Christmas? Can you remember any sparsely populated countries? Can you find really large countries? Can you find any really small countries? Which countries do you think are hot? Cold?
We are revising our multiplication facts for the x2, x4 and x8 table this week. Today’s lesson is a quick revision. It doesn’t need much explanation so have a go. When you try for Challenge 3, I suggest you write down the multiples of each times table and then look for numbers which fit into each criteria. We have done a few of these in maths before.
NOTE: The numbers in the orange bag which you can’t see are 48, 45 and 32.
If struggling– If your child is struggling they can always try this sheet instead. Lesson 1 Support
For a challenge– For something a little trickier, you could try this. Lesson 1 Extension
English today is the resolution and ending to the story where the characters manage to escape.
Luckily, the door had flown open when the pylon had struck. We slipped out onto the muddy ground and lay there with the thunder grumbling above us and the rain beating down. Then Connor started to laugh. He curled up into a ball and laughed so much that I thought he was crying. I couldn’t help myself. The next thing I knew, I was laughing too. Inside, I just felt relief. On the outside, I was laughing crazily. Then we ran, through the brambles and out onto Muggie Moss Road.
How do they escape? How do they feel? Are they muddy, dusty, exhausted?
For your last bit you need to get your characters back home for a telling off!!!
Of course, Mum was furious. “I’m not made of money,” she said, eyeing the state of my school clothes. “Still, maybe a good wash will sort them out.” She glared at me suspiciously. “So, a tree nearly hit you?” I nodded, avoiding her icy stare. “You could have been killed,” she said. Shamefaced, I nodded. She was right. She’d been right from the start.
When you have finished your story, you could come up with a good title for your story and design a cover for it if you wish.
If you have the time, and you still want to complete this week’s arithmetic tasks I will still attach them below.
Premiership If you emailed me your child’s score I will email you telling you whether your child has moved on to the next times table or needs to look at the same times table as last week. They are ordered below.
We always follow Premiership with a mental arithmetic test. Usually, I play them an audio clip of a lady reading out the questions. They are timed so all you need is hit play!
If you can’t get the audio above to play, then I’ll attach the questions and the answers below. With the first 10 questions, the children get 5 seconds to answer after the question is repeated. On the last five questions, the children get 10. We have tried to encourage the children to listen to the question the first time and jot down anything they think will help and once the question is repeated, then they can answer. If they have jotted notes down to help, then they can always return to the question if they have finished another question quite easily.
Afterwards, we mark it and go through some of the questions and talk about how we could answer them quickly.
English- Please see Mrs Hilditch’s above.
Spelling Test- Please test your child on this weeks spelling. We will not be giving any spellings out over half term however, I will be adding the Year 3/4 spellings list below. These are spellings that children are expected to know by the end of Year 4. You will notice that some of these spellings have been given in your children’s weekly spellings.
Usually on a Friday we don’t do a whole Guided Reading session but rather get the children to have 20-30 minutes of quiet, independent reading. It allows the children a little down time and is considered a mindful activity. Perhaps, even play some some calming music in the background to help them relax during this strange time. If you want, send us in a photo of the children reading and we can print it off and stick them to our reading journal wall!
Science
We have finished all of our RE for this term so to round off our Science topic I thought we could have a double Science lesson.
Activity 1– We want to round off our Science unit in a fun and practical way so we thought, why not give the children the chance to make a magentic game. Please read the PP first so you know what to do. There are 3 options- Racing cars, Hook a Fish/Duck, Escaping Mazes or you can make up your own! You will need glue, scissors, paperclips, paper/card and a magnet at least to make one of these. Templates are below to help you if you want. Have a look at this website to give you an idea about escaping mazes.
If you do make one, we would love to see it so send us in some pictures!
Activity 2- At the end of every unit, the children would normally complete an end of unit assessment to see how much they have learnt. Now, all the lessons planned this half term should have allowed the children the time to learn this key information. Have a go at the test and see how they do. Some of the questions might just require a little logical thinking rather than some fancy scientific answer. ANSWERS ARE AT THE BOTTOM.
We were arguing over whether the last goal in the Man United game was the best yet when we heard it: a clap of thunder so close that it sounded like an explosion. Connor wiped the condensation from the window and we peered out. At that very moment, there was another tremendous crack, and lightning struck the pylon. Sparks flew, the pylon shuddered and, as if in slow motion, it crashed down towards the caravan roof.
Instinctively, we both ducked down fast. There was an enormous crash and the caravan roof crumpled. The air prickled with electricity and rain lashed through the opening in the roof. For a moment, I was certain that I was about to be fried alive. In the half-light, I could see Connor’s face. His eyes were wide with fright and he gulped like a fish. “Come on,” he hissed. We slithered like snakes across the floor with the rusted pylon creaking dangerously above us.
This is the most exciting part of the story – something needs to go wrong and trap your characters. It could be a tree falls down, a door slams shut and locks, something falls over and blocks the exit – it depends on the setting of your story.
Write the climax of your story today.
Remember to use exciting vocabulary – crashed, slammed, dived, dashed etc.
Use short sentences to make it dramatic. You can add another illustration too.
Children to work their way through the PP and descriptions on what the different types of lines are. PP Different Types of Lines
Activity- Children are to sort a collection of capital letters using a Venn Diagram. There are 3 levels of difficulty please pick a level appropriate for your child. The answers do follow.
If the children are unsure about how to use a Venn Diagram let them watch this PP and I will try my best to explain. How to use a Venn diagram to sort
Whole class reading- remember to tune in to our live reading session of our class book at 10:30- 10:50 am.
English– See Mrs hildtich’s Post on Monday
Guided Reading – Please see below a non-fiction reading comprehension all about elephants. Please serach through and pick an appropriate level for your child. (*Easiest, **Medium, ***Challenging)
Children are going to investigate the different combinations of whether two bar magnets will attract or repel. Children must predict first whether they think the combination of the poles of both magnets will attract or repel first. Children are to annotate on their two magnets and combinations. Chn to draw arrows to show whether the magnets attract or repel. I will add videos below for the answers!
Remember in a Bar Magnet – Red Pole = North Blue Pole= South
Answers– Are your predictions correct. Watch the videos to see! (*Disclaimer, apologies for shoddy camera work, it’s quite hard to hold a camera whilst using two magnets!)
Children to complete a cloze text inserting the correct vocabulary into the missing gaps. Discuss with the children that a magnetic force can act at a distance compared to other forces which need contact. magnet explanation
Extention– Here are some examples of a Science based question based on what the children have learnt today. Can the children use their understanding of magnets to answer it? Testbase magnet questions
Extra extension! If you have a bar magnet then you can always be practical and try and make your own compass. See the instructions attached. Make a Magnetic Compass
For our last bit of work on the Shang Dynasty – I don’t think we’ll use the booklet. It gives quite a lot of detail on just how cruel the last Emperor was, so instead please just read the information below and then watch the clip from BBC Bitesize.
The Shang Dynasty was hugely successful. It lasted for over 500 years and the role of emperor was passed down through 17 generations. In 1075, Wu Deng became emperor. He began to fight battles with other states to gain more land. But soon he became very powerful, greedy and unkind. He stopped looking after he people and began to tax them heavily so that he could become more rich and powerful.
He and his wife began to be really unkind to the people of the state and made cruel punishments for people who didn’t do as they said. The leaders of the other states became angry with Wu Deng’s behaviour. One night they looked at the sky and saw that 5 of the planets were all in a line. This only happens every 512 years. They decided that this was a sign from the Gods to try to overthrow Wu Deng (also known as Di Xin). This means they would remove him from his role as emperor.
The neighbouring states sent their armies to the Shang Capital. Many of the Shang people, surrendered (that means they gave in) and many joined the other army to fight against their emperor. When Wu Deng realised he was going to lose the battle and that the Shang Dynasty would come to an end, he collected all of his treasures in his palace and burned it to the ground so that nobody could steal his treasures. This was the end of the Shang Dynasty.
Please try to get some exercise today. You may get out for a walk or you could try some of these activities I posted last week. Each has a little sheet to explain how to do a certain exercise. You might choose 5 or 6 to do in a little circuit.
Youth Sports Trust have created a whole range of activity cards that you can try at home.
Now we’re on to the next part of our story. We’ve told our characters not to go to the dangerous place and we’ve described what the place looked like. Now for the third paragraph.
That afternoon, a storm raged. It had been brewing all morning. The trees were like crazed zombies thrashing wildly. Rain lashed down, drumming on the metal roof. Inside the caravan it felt safe, almost cosy really. We shoved newspaper into any cracks to keep out the wind. I’d found a bit of old carpet and Connor had brought along some cushions that his Mum had thrown out. He’d also found a candle and in the semi-gloom its flame flickered with a cheerful glow. Outside dusk shadowed the bushes. Soon the streetlights would come on, casting orange pools of light.
This is the third paragraph from the caravan story. You will need to create more suspense in your story by describing the setting a little more. Describing a storm, wind, thunder and lightning, rain and darkness all help to make your story more dramatic. Think about your characters going inside the dangerous place and to a place to seek shelter from the storm.
Try to use a fronted adverbial in this paragraph to tell me where or when something happened eg
In the distance,
Above their heads,
In the doorway,
As soon as they arrived,
As they crept inside,
Suddenly,
Please complete the third paragraph of your story today and add another picture if you wish.
We are going to introduce the term ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’ to the children. A regular polygon (a 2D shape made up of straight sides) is a shape where all sides and angles are equal. The general idea is if the shape is how it is ‘supposed’ to look then it is regular. If the sides of the Polygon are not the same size or the shape looks distorted, then it is irregular.
Follow the PP for an idea on how to spot a regular or irregular shape and how to use a carroll diagram to sort.
Slightly more challenging– children need to sort both regular and irregular polygons using a Carroll Diagram. Please look at the heading first to work out if your shapes follows both criteria. Look at the PP for a an idea on how to sort using a Carroll Diagram. Apologies that the quality isn’t brilliant, I took it from a website.
The website below is great for getting the children to practise sorting using a Carroll diagram. When you load up the website, I would take a look at level 3 is particular.
