Shadow Puppets

This term we made shadow puppets to retell the story of Rama and the Demon King.

What do you think?

Circulatory system

This term Year 6 have been learning about the heart and the circulatory system. This week we got to look at some real hearts. We used different tools to explore the parts of the heart and how blood enters and exits the heart.

What did you find out by looking at a real heart?

What questions do you still have about the heart and circulatory system?

The littlest hobo

Where do you think the robot came from?

Why do you think it is alone in the woods?

How can you tell that it is lonely?

Challenge question

Does the film remind you of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel and why?

Year 4's Jungle grill

In Year 4 we created our very own jungle grill just like Uncle Rambashi in The Firework Maker's Daughter. 

Now write a review of what you thought of the grill. What dish did you like the most and why? Which was the hardest to cook? What would you do next time to improve the Jungle Grill.

Rambashi's Jungle Grill

In Year 4 we have been preparing to turn our classroom into a Jungle Grill just like in our story The Firework Maker's Daughter. We have been learning all about recipes and looking at weight 

measurements in our maths. 

Below our some games to test out your weighing skills. Can you write a comment below given everyone else some tips so that they don't make mistakes. 

http://www.ictgames.com/mostlyPostie.html

http://www.ictgames.com/weight.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/games/alien_cookbook/big_sound/full.shtml

Thousand yard stare

What was the old woman thinking as she stood looking at Hansel and Gretel eating her house?

Exploring Thailand

In our book the Firework Maker's Daughter, we find several characters walking through rugged terrain across Thailand in search of potions and secrets. Adding to our work in English, we have been looking at everything Thailand has to offer.

Now follow the link to this Padlet and share your ideas. 

https://padlet.com/gblair2/5etbodcbhg8s

You can use these links to help you with your ideas. 

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-thailand/

http://www.oocities.org/teacherkab/countries/thailand.htm

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/countries/thailand.html

Dark thoughts

This picture below shows Hansel and Gretel's stepmother hovering over the children's bed just before they awoke to be taken into the deepest part of the forest.

1) How do you think the stepmother felt in this picture? Why do you think this?

2) If you could interview her here, what would you want to ask her?

Carnival Masks

Year 5 were very fortunate to have another John Lyons workshop where they created their own carnival masks.

Write a set of instructions to inform other children how to make these masks.

Magnetic personalities

These children enjoyed investigating with magnets.

What do you know about magnets? Do they always attract magnetic things towards them?

Think about what magnets are and where you have seen them used in real life.

A tough cookie to solve

The witch used 20 biscuits to decorate the roof of her house.

She lined them up and put icing on every second biscuit.

Then, she put a cherry of every third biscuit.

Then, she put a chocolate button on every fourth biscuit.

How many biscuits had no decorations on top?

Did any biscuits have all three decorations on top?

No sleep for the hungry

One night, when too hungry to sleep, Hansel and Gretel heard their stepmother convincing their father to leave them in the forest the next morning. "They will never find their way home, and we'll be rid of them," she said.

Why do you think the stepmother said this? How do you think the children felt?

What would be your advice to Hansel and Gretel?

Halloween maths

Last night a pupil in Year 5 commented that she couldn't think of any maths to do with Halloween. 

How about these?

Last night I hollowed out a pumpkin and placed it outside my front door for Halloween. 

1. Estimate how many seeds you think I found inside.

2. How much do you think my pumpkin weighed before and after?

3. What do you think is the circumference of the pumpkin? 

When you have finished answering them, post your own maths problems about Halloween for everyone to solve.

Year 4 sounds

Do you ever just stop and listen to what is going on around you...

What do you hear? How do you hear it?

Use the links below to research into sound and hearing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/science/physical_processes/sound/read/1/

http://www.ducksters.com/science/hearing_and_the_ear.php

http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/ears.html 

http://www.scienceforkidsclub.com/sound.html

If you go down to the woods today ...

In Year 3, we have started to explore Anthony Browne's version of the classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm. Anthony Browne is famous for his wonderful illustrations and this is where we have started.

Can you describe the scene below? Think about what you can see and how it makes you feel. Remember to use descriptive language and write in short sentences.

What might the children hear and feel in this scene?

Hidden numbers

Work out what each of the missing numbers were in these multiplication and division calculations and explain how you know you are right.

(Once you finish that why don’t you check our the links below to practice your multiplication skills)

Flash games for the laptop

http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/grand-prix

http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/cave-run-multiplication

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

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?b=maths/multiplication

http://www.mad4maths.com/4_x_multiplication_table_math_game/

Without flash for the Ipad

http://mrnussbaum.com/speed-math-ipad.html

http://mrnussbaum.com/math-slalom-ipad.html

http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/cone-crazy

http://mrnussbaum.com/becoming-lord-voldemath-ipad.html

Ultimate Challenge 

http://mrnussbaum.com/around-the-world-ipad.html

Creative writing challenge: 1

To start the new term we are introducing the first in a new series of story writing challenges for all pupils in KS2. We are looking for you to continue the story below. Aim to write as much as you can and remember, if you haven't finished you can always end your comment with To be continued. Simply publish your comment and then continue at a later date.

So Year 3 sharpen your pencils, Year 4 ready your quills, Year 5 dust off your bureau and Year 6 get ready to type. The challenge begins!



Harry Shepherd opened his eyes and gazed up at his bedroom ceiling. He crinkled his eyes up and yawned, then rubbed the sleep from them and sat on the edge of his bed. The previous evening his mum had opened the window slightly, letting a gentle breeze through. Mrs Shepherd knew that her son preferred it when the house was cool at night.

However, when Harry sat on the edge of his bed, his room was not cool: it was freezing! Harry shivered, pulling his Spiderman duvet over his bare legs. “What on Earth?” he muttered to himself. There was a gale blowing through his bedroom window. Thinking that it must be an extremely windy day, Harry walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out a jumper. Pulling the jumper down over his head, Harry strolled over to the open window. He drew back the red curtains expecting to see the leaves blowing all over their garden. Maybe even the garden furniture had blown over like it had last time the weather was bad.

The sight that met Harry as he gazed out of the window was certainly not what he had expected …

Now continue the story. Make sure you use a range of punctuation and try hard to make your writing interesting and believable. You might find it useful to think about the following questions:

What did Harry see what he looked out of the window?
How do you think he felt when he looked out?
Why might Harry not have realised what was happening sooner?
Of all the possessions you have in your house?
Which are the most important to you?
If you could afford to buy everything that you ever wanted, what would you buy?
Would buying all of these things mean that you were happy?

Light up Diwali

Diwali is a Hindu festival that celebrates the belief that good will always triumph over evil. The word means series of lights and during the festival, houses and shops are decorated with candles and lights.

The date of the festival is calculated according to the position of the moon and is usually in October or November. This means the date of Diwali changes each year and in 2017, the main date this year was October 19.

Find out why Diwali is celebrated by Hindus. 

(Clue: It has something to do with the story of Rama and Sita.)

KS2 Maths Challenge: No 5

Two girls and two boys can play tennis.

Nathan said: "I will only play if Zoe plays".
Zoe said: "I won't play if Destin is playing".
Destin said: "I won't play if Mory or Laura plays".
Mory said: "I will only play if Monica plays".
Monica said: "I don't mind who I play with".

Which two boys and which two girls play tennis?

If All The World Were Paper

Please take a look at year 4's poems that we shared in our class assembly last week

What would you make your parent or siblings into if they were paper?

Perfecting poetry

Year 5 were very fortunate to have a visit from John Lyons. He showed us the following words:

What do you notice about these words?

What links can you see?

Can you write a stanza of a poem? 

Remember John's top tips:
1. Show, don't tell
2. Senses
3. Similes

Year 6 become paleontologists

Year 6 have had an exciting start to their Science topic Evolution. During a lesson about how fossils are formed everyone had the chance to make a fossil. A week later, it was time to excavate! Like all good paleontologists we used a range of tools to carefully uncover the fossils.

What questions would you ask a paleontologist?

What do you know about fossils already?

British Empire

What does this map tell you about the British Empire?

Medical Marvels: Part 2

What can you tell me about this portrait of Mary Seacole? What is the story behind it and what does that tell us about how Mary Seacole was remembered?

Colour Poems

Year 6 have been enjoying poems from Cosmic Disco, our class poetry text by Grace Nichols. Last

week we wrote and performed our own versions of the poem When the colours spoke.

What colour do you think is most important? Why?

Could you write a line or stanza that persuades others why your colour is most important?

Number crunching

What can you tell me about this number?

1. How can I rearrange these numbers to make it smaller? Explain what you have done.

2. How do I rearrange these numbers to make it a multiple of 5? Explain what you have done.

3. How do I rearrange these numbers to make it an odd number? Explain what you have done.

Medical Marvels: Part 1

Florence Nightingale played a very influential role for the development of medicine and how we treat people who are sick.

Write a paragraph discussing what you know about her.

Why is she so important? 
What did she do that was so special? 
Do you know any other interesting facts about her? 

All about Rio

What can you find out about Rio Ferdinand?

Write a short paragraph or biography about Rio Ferdinand. 

Remeber to include where he grew up and what he is famous for.

Werewolf Club Rules

In Year 4 we have loved getting stuck into our class poetry text, Werewolf Club Rules by Joseph Coelho. Below are several links to poems performed by the author himself. Pick a poem and answer the questions below.

Conquer

I Am A Writer

Gingerbread Man

What words and phrases do you like? What puzzles you about this poem? What do you think the poem is about?

Local landmarks

What landmarks do you remember from our walk around Brixton?

Which places do you think are the most important?

Challenge

Tell me everything you can about the history of one landmark in Brixton?

Poetry please

This term we will be exploring lots of different poems. 

What poems have you read?

What is your favourite poem and why?

Switched on

What do you know about light?

Blog for victory

So we begin another year of blogging. Welcome to all the children in Year 3, who will be
commenting on the Hill Mead  KS2 blog for the first time. Just like last year, each Year group will have a blogging supremo. Someone who you can go to for all your blogging needs. So start thinking about ideas for new posts. They could be about the Maths, English or Topic work you are doing in class. Mr Highman, Miss Thilthorpe, Mr Amiss and Miss Smith are all really looking forward to reading your comments and sharing all your ideas and work online. So ...

Ready, Steady, BLOG!

Rise of the machines ...

What could be happening to the rainforest?

How will this effect the animals?

Will it effect anyone else? (Explain how and why)

The once and future King

What do you know about the legend of King Arthur?

Year 6 Memories: Part 2

King of the jungle

Imagine you are an explorer deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. 

Write a diary entry based on the events that happened on just one the days you are there.

Remember to use your senses to describe the environment.

Carry on camping

We have just come back from our residential.

Tell the rest of the school what we did there.

What activities were there?

What did you enjoy the most?

Did you overcome any fears?

Year 6 Memories: Part 1

We're all going to the zoo ...

You have £38 to spend on tickets at London Zoo.

1. How many adults and children can you buy tickets for?
2. How many teachers and students can you buy tickets for?

Remember, there is more than one right answer to each question. Think of all the different combinations you could have for each question.

Trouble in paradise

What do you think these animals (howler monkey, sloth, tapir, parrot and blue morpho butterfly) thought  and said when they heard what the toucans had said?

Remember to think about the characters of each of the animals and how this might effect their thoughts and speech.

KS2 Maths Challenge: No 4

The pages in this pupil's book are numbered from 1.

The page numbers have a total of 555 digits.

How many pages has the book?
How many of the digits are a 5?

Zoo - investigate the characters

This term we will be reading Zoo by Anthony Browne.

What can you tell about the personalities of the four main characters from looking at their pictures above?

Tropical quiz

Looking at a map of the world, think about where rainforests are located. 

Why do you think all the Earth's rainforests are in these areas?

What might the climate and the temperature be like?

Why are rainforests so green?

Singing your praises

Year 5 have filled their lungs and begun singing for our school play.

Those who want to practise at home can find the songs here.