The Discovery

The children disembarked the bus, and stood huddled together on the road. It was a cold, foggy day, and so the children, wrapped up in coats and scarves, shivered as they waited.

Their teacher beckoned them closer, and as one they edged cautiously towards the skeleton. What was supposed to be a boring school trip had just got a whole lot more exciting! Were they on the verge of making a terrific discovery?

Continue this story ...

Creative Writing Challenge

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.



The girls huddled together and peered cautiously out of their bedroom window. They had been awoken, just moments earlier, by a strange light that burst through their curtains, filling the room with a silvery, white hue.

As one, they had tip-toed towards the source of the distraction, carefully dragging chairs across the room with them so that they could take a peek together.

They stared in awe and wonder, and the sight that met their eyes. Something magical was happening…
Now continue the story. Make sure you use a range of punctuation and try hard to make your writing interesting and believable.

Venice

Piazza San Marco



                                                        Pick one of Venice's famous
                                                        landmarks and research it.
                                                     
                                                        Persuade your reader why they
                                                        should go to Venice and visit this
St Mark's Basilica                           landmark.







Rialto Bridge

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?

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.

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.

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?

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?

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

British Empire

What does this map tell you about the British Empire?

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.

Poetry please

This term we will be exploring lots of different poems. 

What poems have you read?

What is your favourite poem and why?

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!

The once and future King

What do you know about the legend of King Arthur?

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?

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.

Life as a Victorian

Using your knowledge of the experience at the Ragged School, explain what life would be like as a Victorian child.

Runaway story

'If he tried to leave the men would find him and take him back to Nick, Jim was sure of it. There was no escape, ever.

But Jim did try to escape one night. He had been living with Nick nearly a year before his chance came.' (p.138)

Complete this section of the book Street Child. What might happen next?

Write it in a similar style to how the story has been written so far.

A scene of maths

How can you connect maths to this scene?

You in university?

What do you know about university?

What questions do you have about university?