Fabulous Fairy Tales

This terms topic in Year 3 is fairy tales. This week we have been reading and discussing a large range of fairy tales. 

Can you name your favourite fairy tale and explain what you like about it?

What I'm reading: Journey to Jo'burg

Journey to Jo'burg is a book by the South African author Beverley Naidoo. The story tells of two young children's struggle to search for their mother in a time of need. Their younger sister is sick and they need to get help fast!

I found this book so interesting because not only does it tell us of the journey that these two children went on, it also taught me so much about the apartheid law in South Africa.

Apartheid was a set of laws that mean black and white people had to be segregated (separated) in many areas of their day to day life. In the book, we also meet characters who were determined to fight for their freedom. I found this very inspirational!

Can you think of any other stories where children have to go on an adventure or journey in order to save someone or something?

Junior Argonauts

These two Greek boys are thinking of applying to join Jason on his quest to find the Golden Fleece. But do they have the necessary skills, equipment and personal qualities needed to pass the interview?

What do you think would make a good Argonaut?

Think carefully about the personal qualities that might be needed on this long and possibly dangerous voyage.

What skills would be needed on the ship and when they disembark and explore on land?

Is there anything that might be useful to have brought along?

Reading by the river

I've been reading The Monster Crisp-Guzzler by Malorie Blackman. It's a very exciting book about a teacher who shouldn't eat crisps for a very important reason ...

If you've read this book, can you tell me what you liked and disliked?

Groovy Greeks

What do you know about the Ancient Greeks?

What would you like to find out?

A page here, there and everywhere!

I take a book wherever I go. At the moment I am reading The No 1 Car Spotter by a Nigerian author, Atinuke. As well as reading the book in class to 4 Blue, I have been reading in all sorts of places this week!

Can you guess where I am in these photographs?

Where do you enjoy reading?

What next for Sade?

In Year 6 we have been reading The Other Side of Truth. When we last read it Sade had started school and had just been moved into a new foster home.

Continue the story from here.
Remember the following points:

How will Marcia the bully treat her?
How will Sade respond?
What will happen to Papa?
Will Femi go back to his ordinary self and begin to speak with Sade again?
What do you think will happen next?

1 to 20

These pupils had a pack of twenty cards numbered from 1 to 20.
They arranged the cards into six unequal piles.
The numbers on the cards in each pile added to the same total.

What is the total and how could this be done?

(To work this out, you will need to use the cards numbered 1 - 20 which are kept in the teacher's pen pots in your classrooms.)

What if ...

What if you were Beverly Naidoo and had decided to write another book set after Journey to Jo'Burg, where Naledi had grown up and become an adult. Write a paragraph explaining what would happen in this sequel.

Consider the following points
Would she follow in Grace's footsteps or her mother's?
What would become of Tiro and Dineo?
What problems will Naledi encounter and how will she face them? (Think about what you have learnt about apartheid in South Africa.)

Name that face

(No real names have been used. Remember, do not name children in blog posts.)

Max, Polly, Ray and Ella are friends.

Their nicknames are Doughnut, Lexi, Dusty and Bozza, but not in that order.

Can you work out the nickname of each of the friends.

Clues

Ray plays tennis with Lexi and goes swimming with Dusty.

Ella has been on holiday with Lexi but travels to school with Bozza.

Doughnut, Lexi and Max play in the football team.

Doughnut sometimes goes to tea with Ray.

True Grit - the Duke evades capture

What would have happened if Duke hadn't been caught?

Write an alternative ending to the story A Thief in the Village.

What I'm reading: The White Giraffe Series

I’m currently reading The White Giraffe series by Lauren St. John. Based in South Africa, these books tell the tale of courageous young Martine. Throughout the five-part sequence, she is faced with many exciting experiences and challenges, including meeting a great variety of wild African animals.

In this third book, The Last Leopard, Martine travels to Zimbabwe with her friend Ben. When they uncover a plot in which the fate of a magnificent leopard and the lost treasure of an African King are mysteriously linked, their friendship faces its greatest test. Martine and Ben must use every skill they possess to save the magical beast – and each other.

This adventure story has the style of a traditional fable with an African twist. Lauren St. John, who grew up in Zimbabwe herself, has captured the country’s blend of danger and appeal! What especially interests me in this story is learning about these rare animals and how the protagonist, Martine, bravely stands up for her beliefs against all adversity!

What books have you read that involved a strong friendship between two characters which helps them to achieve their goal?

Which wild animals would you like to meet in Africa? Why and what do you know about them?

Black authors: Ifeoma Onyefulu

I have chosen a selection of short stories called The Girl Who Married a Ghost, by the Nigerian author Ifeoma Onyefulu. The book transports you through a magical world where animals talk, a world not so much about happy endings but more about learning a lesson or two.

One tale is about a greedy tortoise, who hides food from all his jungle friends during a famine only to learn the importance of sharing after he is caught out.

But it's not all about morals. There are some funny moments usually involving the tortoise. My favourite was when tortoise is dances around inside a cooking pan in Talented Grasshopper. 

Now it's your turn. Read the book and tell me what your favourite parts are.

Mr Amiss's parade

Mr Amiss wants to throw a parade along Brixton High Street. He needs 30 children. He wants to know how many different ways the group of children can march in the parade. The group of children must march in equal rows and there must be more than one child in each row.

How many possible combinations are there for our march?

Using what we have learnt about arrays, show all the different ways the group of children can march in the parade, writing each way in a multiplication sentence.

Guilty as charged?

In the story A Thief in the Village, the character Big Walk is accused of stealing yams, coconuts, goats and chickens. Opinion in the village is split. Mr Anderson, Duke, Uncle Slim and Cousin Dago think he is guilty, Neena wonders if the evidence really stacks up.

What do you think? Is Big Walk guilty or not? Remember to give reasons for your answer. 

Word challenge

What do we mean by scapegoat? What other words could you use to mean this?

Horses for courses

Each picture represents a number.

Can you work out the answer to the last calculation?

Tell us how you worked out your answer.

Fowl play

Everyone seems to be enjoying our new visitors.

Now click on the picture to the left and see what you can find out about chickens. you may also do a wider search of the internet.

Now tell us what the most interesting fact you have learnt about chickens. 

Remember to explain why you think your fact is so special.

Moving matchsticks

I made this calculation with some matchsticks. But it's incorrect, something's gone wrong. I think I put one matchstick in the wrong place.

By only moving one matchstick how can I correct this calculation?

How many different answers can you find?

Beverley Naidoo

Last week we met Beverley Naidoo, author of The Other Side of Truth. She told us all about her life and her work, and even signed some of her books for us!

What inspired Beverley to become a writer? 

What did you find interesting about what she had to say? 

Do you think that you would like to be a writer and why?

Funky chickens

The children in Key Stage 1 have named one of the chickens we are looking after. They named the chicken Coco Pops. The light brown hen Miss Binnie is holding remains nameless. Now it is your turn, make sure you vote on the poll on the top left of our blog.

Good vibrations: Part 2

Test your knowledge of sound by answering the questions below.

1. Name five things that sound can travel through.

2. What is the pitch of a note?

3. Al-Baraa rings a bell and then touches it with his hand. Why does the bell stop making a sound?

4. Which material do you think would be best for muffling sound? Plastic bag, stone or foam padding.

5. Sound can travel through water. True or False?

Castles made of sand

This pupil was helping out in Nursery this week. In five days she made 80 sandcastles. Each day she made four fewer castles than the day before.

How many castles did she make each day?

She went on making four fewer castles each day.

How many castles did she make altogether?

Sparks in the sky

A volcano has just lit up the sky in the peaceful village of Tos! Old Naca has awoken from a long sleep. Life as you know it will never be the same. 

Imagine you are witnessing this as a villager.
 Now write a couple sentences describing what you can see and how you feel.

Building shapes

What shape would come next and why would it fit?

Would it be a regular or irregular shape?

Black authors: Benjamin Zephaniah

I love to read. Every spare second I get - sitting for the bus, walking to school, waiting for the microwave to ping - I spend with my nose in a book, a newspaper or staring at an article on a screen. I mainly read non-fiction but whenever I start to read a fictional book I cannot put it down.

I recently found the book Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah. Its a book of short poems, which is perfect to dip in and out of when I have a few moments spare. I love Benjamin Zephaniah's writing: he speaks so clearly but so imaginatively and he says things that I really resonate with. If you'd like to read this book too, you can find it on the book display in the middle classroom in Year 6. Have a look!

"Rap comes from the oral tradition. The oral tradition gives voice to those who would've otherwise been voiceless."