Today we received a TOP SECRET MISSION into our classroom.  To be successful with this mission, it may get messy! Please can all children from P4G come to school dressed in clothes for painting on Wednesday 20th March. (No uniform required, just clothes that can get painty/gluey!)

Many thanks,

Mrs Tweedie and Mrs Graham

Another busy week in P4G.

Literacy:

• We used interesting openers to improve sentences.
• We completed a comprehension activity about The Titanic.
• Our spelling pattern this week was au.
• In Writing, we talked about different styles of letter writing and wrote letters to Eoin Colfer the author of Spud Murphy.
• In Reading, if we finish early we have started to choose reading challenges.
• We are learning to use speech marks correctly.

Ideas for Home Learning:

• Here are the spelling words; you could play a game of hangman using these words.

week 17 au words

• Write a letter to an author of your choice- why not try to find where to send it and see if you get a response?
• Look for speech marks in a book at home.  Have they followed our star steps? (A new line for each new speaker; punctuation inside the final speech mark).

Maths and Numeracy:

• We are starting to learn about fractions and have been revising halves.
• We have been practising our times tables.  Please focus on revising 2, 5 and 10 and learning the 3 and 4 times tables.  We challenged ourselves to complete as much of a times tables grid as possible in 5 minutes.
• We sorted 3-d shapes into a Venn Diagram.

Ideas for Home Learning:

Practise your halves and times tables.  You could use Hit the Button to help you get faster.  Remember to practise your tables both in and out of order!

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Have a go at sorting shapes based on their properties into this Venn Diagram.

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/ShapeSorter/

Other Areas:

• Some students from Heriot Watt University came to talk to us about Science and we did an experiment using oil, water, food dye and some fruit to learn about density.
• We went swimming!
• We celebrated Comic Relief- do you want hear our joke? 

“What do you call a nose with no body?”

“Nobody knows (nose)!”

• We have created Health Passports for Getting Active.
• We had parents’ evening.
• In PE we started badminton skills.
• We have been introduced to our charity, supporting Edinburgh Food Project.

Ideas for Home Learning:

• Continue to work on your goals for Getting Actives so that you can add stamps to your passport.
• Think about your own learning story targets and work on these.
• Talk to someone at home about the work of Edinburgh Food Project.

https://edinburghnw.foodbank.org.uk/

Literacy

• We finished our 500 word challenge to write a space story.  We designed our own front covers and blurbs for our stories.
• Our spelling pattern was oi/oy words.  See the link below.
• We finished writing our poetry using cursive writing.

Ideas for home learning:

Spelling words

Week 16 oyoi

• How many oi/oy words can you find in a reading book/newspaper/magazine?
• Write a poem about going to space.
• Write a summary of your school reading from the week.

Maths/Numeracy

• We looked at 3-d shapes and described its properties using the correct vocabulary: for example, vertices, edges and faces.
• In subtraction we finished off our learning using column sums and applying them to problem solving situations, including an assessment to see how we are getting on.
• We practised our beat-that (takeaways).

Ideas for home learning:

• Play this game to practise your column subtraction

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me3us/flash/lessonLauncher.html?lesson=lessons/07/m3_07_00_x.swf

• Here is a game about 2-d and 3-d shapes and their properties

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me3usa/flash/index.html?goLesson=14

• Practise your beat-that sums and times tables.  Focus on 2, 5 and 10- you should be experts at these by now, and the 3 and 4.  If you already know all of these tables choose a different table to learn.

Beat that 1

Beat that 2

Beat that 3

Beat thats- take aways

Other Areas

• We received a letter (Secret Mission) asking us to research the Titanic and bring it back to life! We found out information about lots of different aspects of the Titanic using IPADs and books.
• For our learning on Resilience we made posters all about Getting Active.  We hope you are enjoying your 30-day challenges at home.
• We went to the Book Fair this week and enjoyed World Book Day- we liked to drop everything and read (DEAR) during the day.
• In PE we worked on stretching and running.

Ideas for home learning:

• Do some extra research into the Titanic.  What can you find out to add to our learning in class?
• Get Active! Think of all the ideas we came up with in class.

Literacy:

• We have begun our space stories for the whole school Buckstone Writing Competition, which we will finish next week.  Wish us luck!
• In Writing, we finished our science reports about the electricity experiments we carried out.
• We worked on using interesting openers.
• In Reading we were summarising the section of book we had read, using words and pictures.
• We practised our cursive  writing by writing out poetry.

Ideas for home learning:

As we have been working on our summarising skills can you write/draw a summary of the pages you were set for your reading homework last week?

Can you record what you do at the weekend as a diary entry?

Maths and Numeracy:

• We did a 3-d shape hunt around the classroom and area.
• We filled in a multiplication grid to show which tables we know and which ones we still need to work on.
• In maths we used Hit the Button and Subtraction Grids to practise our quick subtraction skills.  This was to help us when we moved on to subtraction with exchange (stealing!)  Some of us found it a bit tricky!
• We worked on our take away beat thats.

Ideas for home learning:

Play this game to help with your subtraction skills.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=subtraction grids

Watch this video to help you to understand the formal subtraction method we have been working on.  (Some of the words may be a bit different as it is an American clip, but the ideas are the same!)

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/arith-review-add-subtract/modal/v/basic-regrouping-or-borrowing-when-subtracting-three-digit-numbers

Can you answer these subtractions using the formal (column sun) method?

85-8, 72-7, 93-65, 64-28, 125-18, 254-126, 2345-1237.  Try 305-218.  What makes this one even trickier?

Here is a multiplication grid- how much of it can you fill in? Can you work on the tables you are not sure of: especially the 2, 5, 10 and the 3 and 4 x tables.

multiplication grid

Other Areas:

• In Art we made cat pictures by Paul Klee using pencils and pens.  We were working on using line.
• In Drama, we used our acting skills to act out scenes from our class novel Matilda.  They were really funny!
• In PE we used the large equipment to practise our gymnastics skills and we worked on sequences of movements working as a group.

Ideas for home learning:

Find out a bit more about the artist Paul Klee.  Here is a link below:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paul-klee-1417

Work on your Get Active 30 day challenge as a family.

Maybe you could get some ideas from this website:

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/activities/sports-and-activities

Here’s what we’ve been up to in P4 Giggling Tokyo class this week:

Literacy

• We wrote diary entries about Marty or Will from The Legend of Spud Murphy.  We finished reading Spud Murphy and were a little bit surprised by the character Spud!
• In Spelling, our new pattern was tch endings.  Please see the list below.
• In Reading, we drew a picture to show what has happened in the part of our  reading books that we had just read.  We added captions and wrote a paragraph about why we thought the event was important.

Ideas for home learning

Why not have a go at the visualiser sheet that we did in class using either a reading book of your choice or your school book?

Visualiser

Have a look at the spelling words below.  Could you write some really silly sentences using the words below?

Week 14 tch sound

Maths and Numeracy

• We have been learning about the 24 hour clock and about using time tables.  We made up our own challenging  questions using Blooms’ Taxonomy linked to time.
• We are continuing to work on our subtraction skills.  We worked on 1, 2 and 3 digit numbers and used an empty number line to help us.
• We continued to work on our takeaway beat-that’s.

Ideas for home learning

Play Hit the Button or the Mental Maths Train to become speedier at your quick recall of sums.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train

Here is the takeaway sheet we are working on in our beat thats.  We’re aiming to answer a section within 30 seconds.  Why not have a go?

Beat thats- take aways

Other Areas:

• Generation Science came in to do a workshop all about Electricity.
• In Gym, we used the equipment to practise our gymnastic skills.
• We did some art work in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
• We made Lewis Chessmen using clay.  It was fun but very tricky and some people found it frustrating!
• We saw the P6 assembly about great inventions by Europeans.
• We shared our learning about Valhalla with the other P4s and they shared their learning about Viking food and clothes with us.
• Thanks to all the parents who came to see the drop-in session, we hope you enjoyed it!

Ideas for home learning:

• Now we have come to the end of our learning about the Vikings can you make an A-Z of things linked to the Vikings? For example: A could be Asgard, B could be battle….how many can you think of?

Enjoy your week off!

Our learning about time

Our Lewis Chessmen

Another busy week in P4 Giggling Tokyo class!

Literacy:

• We wrote our own diary entries from the perspective of Will or Marty from The Legend of Spud Murphy (thinking about writing in the first person).
• Our Spelling pattern for this week was soft g.  Here is the link below.
• week13softg
• In Handwriting we wrote out a poem thinking about the correct layout and using our neatest cursive handwriting.
• In Reading we continued to take on the Word Finder role and look for new, interesting and unknown words in our books.

Ideas for home learning:

• Read at home- remember the reading challenge sheets you took home.  Well done to those children who have been reading extra at home.
• Write your own diary entry.
• Play a game or make an activity using your spelling words- for example a word search or a game of hangman.

Numeracy and Maths:

• In time we continued to learn about am and pm times and the 24 hour digital clock.
• We continued our take away beat-thats.
• In subtraction we have been using 100 squares and empty number lines to help us to solve take away calculations.  We worked on taking away with 1 and 2 digit numbers from a 2 digit number (and from a 3 digit number for those needing an extra challenge).

Ideas for home learning:

• Here is a link to a game where you can practise your speed at take-away, addition, multiplication and division.
• https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train
• Can you show an adult how to use an empty number line to solve a take away sum?  For example, 87-9, 94-6, 64-15, 151-12, 243-25.  Remember to take away to the next tens number if this is helpful for you.
• Keep trying to tell the time at home.  Could you help to set your own alarm clock?  Could you set a timer on the oven?  Where can you see examples of time in your own house?

Other Areas:

• We finished presenting our scripted drama about Little Red Riding Hood.
• In Gym we worked on coordination, concentration and awareness of space.
• In Topic we learnt about the Lewis Chessmen and designed our own.  We also learnt about Viking Heaven- Valhalla- made posters or leaflets about this and next week we will teach the other P4 classes.
• Mrs Ritchie gave us all a talk about Electricity.  

Ideas for home learning:

• Can you tell someone at home all about the Lewis Chessmen?  If you cant remember, have a look online for some interesting facts.  Here is a link below:
• https://kids.kiddle.co/Lewis_chessmen