Maths for the week:

Year 3: Multiplcation and Division problems, Textbook 3, pages 67 - 79

Year 4: Decimal Numbers in Length, Textbook 3, pages 38 - 48

Year 5: Area and Perimeter, Textbook 3, pages 65 -75

Maths for the week:

Year 3: Polygon Properties, Textbook 3, pages 57 - 66

Year 4: Calculating Area and Perimeter, Textbook 3, pages 27 -37

Year 5: Short Division, Textbook 3, pages 55 -64

English:

1) Consider ideas for an alternative ending to the play Romeo and Juliet, perhaps something happier, or even a funny ending? Suppose a different potion was used - what might the effect have been? Draft ideas for an alternative ending to the story, starting from the potion scene, in the form of a playscript.

2) Refine and edit your playscripts. Try to arrange acting out your finished versions with members of your family. Use 'character voices' to bring your playscripts to life!

Maths for the week:

Year 3: Adding several 2- and 3-digit numbers, Textbook 3, pages 45 - 56

Year 4: Mental and written multiplication, Textbook 3, pages 20 -26

Year 5: Comparing Fractions, Textbook 3, pages 46 -54

English

1) Read a simplified version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Think about the different parts of the story, particularly the tragic ending. Consider such questions as, "What was the effect of the potion in the story?"

2) Retell the main events of the story using a storyboard. Draft a sentence or speech bubble for each part of the storyboard sequence. Before getting started on your final storyboard, work out the parts of the story that each section of the storyboard will capture.

Maths for the week:

Year 3: Adding 2-and 3-digits: Mental strategies and written methods, Textbook 3, pages 35 - 44

Year 4: Understanding decimals - Textbook 3, pages 11 - 19

Year 5: Column additon and subtraction: Textbook 3 - pages 34 - 45

English:

Try to write a chorus or connecting couplet for the couplets you've written, to replace:

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

For example:

Feed that fire to keep it hot;

The potion bubbles in the pot.

Topic investigation idea

Look around the house for everyday items that use gas. Use the Internet to research how the gas is being used to suit the purpose of the item, or how the properties of the gas make the product hazardous. Answer these questions to promote your scientific thinking - Why does a squirt of air freshenener make the whole room smell better? Why is smoking a cigarette harmful to the people around the smoker? Why would a football bounce higher than a ten pin bowling ball?

Maths for the week:

Year 3: Dividing 2- and 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers, Textbook 3, pages 22-34

Year 4: 5-digit Numbers, Textbook 3, pages 4 -10

Year 5: Three Place Decimals, Textbook 3, pages 23 - 33

(This is one of my favourite English activities!) Read the spell from William Shakespeare's Song of the Witches in Macbeth Act IV, Scene I.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

Notice that each each two lines rhyme - these are called couplets. Try to think of some rhyming ingredients for a spell of your own. You could have some great fun working on this with parents, brothers and sisters.

For example:

Tongue of snake and wing of bat

Eye of the tiger and whiskers of cat

Experiment with some couplets of your own!

A basic internet search on "macbeth act four scene one" threw up lots of ideas.

Topic Investigation Idea!

Follow instructions or 'spells' to make homemade bathbombs using harmless essential oils such as bergamot, chamomile, ginger, lavender and lemon. Observe what happens when they are placed in a water tray. A basic internet search will give you lots of ideas, and there are lots of YouTube tutorials!

Maths for the week:

Year 3: Multiplying by 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8. Textbook 3, pages 14 - 21

Year 4: Dividing 2- and 3-digit numbers by a 1-digit number. Textbook 2, pages 84 - 88

Year 5: Short Multiplication. Textbook 3, pages 14 -22

Topic Investigation Idea

Use a kettle to investigate what happens when water it is boiled. With an adult, pour cold water into a cup, cover with clingfilm or paper and heat in the microwave. Describe what happens in the heating and cooling water investigation, recording observations in a scientific report with diagrams or photographs. Be careful and be sure to work with an adult! This activity will work with water that is warm - it doesn't need to boil.

Maths for the week (Use link to textbook pages below):

Year 3: Add and subtract using number facts - Textbook 3, pages 4 - 13

Year 4: Place value of 4-digit numbers - Textbook 2, pages 74 - 83

Year 5: Adding money using mental methods - Textbook 3, pages 4 -13

Topic Investigation Idea

Follow 'spells' to make bones bendy! Explore the properties of bones before the investigation, recording your observations for later comparisons. Working scientifically, ensure that the effect of the variables are explored, for example, using different volumes of liquid, different lengths of time or different temperatures. Ask scientific questions, such as, 'Does the length of time the bone is in the vinegar affect how much the bones bends? Do smaller size bones become bendy sooner? Do different types of vinegar affect how bendy bones become? (Vinegar will break down the calcium in the bones, making them bendy. Fill jars with different types of vinegar and place the bones in the vinegar. Replace the vinegar every 2-3 days. Remove the bones after about a week. What has happened?

Maths for the Week

Year 3: Ordering 3-digit numbers - Year 3 Textbook Two, pages 71 -78

Year 4: Adding amounts of money - Year 4 Textbook Two, pages 57 - 64

Year 5: Subtracting 4-digit numbers - Tear 5 Textbook Two, pages 76 - 84

Topic Art and Design Idea

Create a large scale 'canvas' using melted wax crayons. Melt crayons over a canvas using heat from a hairdryer and watch them mix to form new colours and textures. Work into the wax whilst soft to spread, print and add pattern. Get your parents to help you. Do not touch the end of the hairdryer as it will get very hot.

Topic DT Idea.

Make chocolate love hearts! Melt chocolate, adding ingredients for taste and interest such as finely grated orange peel, raisins or vanilla essence. Tie a ribbon around the heart and make a message of love for a friend of family member.

Watch these videos of the BubbleMan and see if you can do what he’s doing!  See if you can turn a bubble inside out; see if you can make lots of bubbles from just 1, or try putting a straw through a bubble without bursting it!   I’d love to see your videos of your bubbles. 
Stay safe everyone!  

Thank you to BubbleMan and Rainbow Gecko Face Painting and Bubbles for producing these great videos for us.

Week Beginning 20th April 2020

Hello Magpies! I hope you are all well and have all enjoyed the strangest of Easter holidays. I trust you're finding time to get on to your ActiveLearn accounts in order to help keep your maths and literacy skills topped up. I hope you're finding the time to do some exercise every day, whether that is through Joe Wicks, Davina McCall, walking the dog  or developing your own routines. Look below for some links to other activities and ideas to support your learning at home.

Take care all

Mr Jones

Topic Investigation Idea!

Restart a heart! – Observe the chemical reaction when a balloon is inflated with the magical ingredients of vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. Use a funnel to add bicarbonate of soda to a balloon. Pour vinegar into a bottle, carefully fitting the balloon over the bottle opening. Once fitted, allow the soda to fall into the vinegar to make carbon dioxide gas and watch the balloon inflate. Consider how to affect the size of the balloon or inflation speed by changing variables such as the temperature of the vinegar or the amount of soda. What other variables might affect the outcome?

Equipment – Plastic bottle, 150ml of vinegar, one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda, balloon, funnel

Method –

1. Place the funnel into the mouthpiece of the balloon and pout the bicarbonate of soda into the balloon.
2. Remove and rinse the funnel.
3. Use the funnel to carefully pour the vinegar into the bottle.
4. Stretch the mouthpiece of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle. Do not allow the bicarbonate of soda to fall into the bottle.
5. Once the mouthpiece of the balloon is securely fitted, lift the balloon and tip the bicarbonate of soda into the vinegar.
6. Observe and record any changes that happen to the mixture and the balloon.

Topic Investigation Idea!

Bubble Trouble! Investigate the properties of bubbles using bought or homemade bubble wands and bubble solution. Make bubbles of different sizes including trying to make gigantic bubbles using hoops or tiny ones using straws. Think about what is inside the bubble and why this substance is able to take the shape of the bubble skin. Investigate whether you can freeze a bubble, by placing it in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. Describe what happens. How long does it take a frozen bubble to melt and what might have happened to the substance inside the bubble?

Good evening. Children's ActiveLearn accounts now include activities from the Grammar and Spelling Bug and Bug Club Independent (Lots of eBooks), as well as the usual maths-based activities. Please have a look and let us know what you think.

Hello to all children and parents of Class 4/5! I hope you are all safe and well and getting used to your new routines. In the days and weeks ahead I will be populating our Class Page with links to online learning resources and suggestions for home learning opportunities. As a school we've decided to update our page at least every Sunday evening - so please check in on us regularly!

Children have been given two books - one larger book that I hope can evolve into some kind of journal or scrapbook, where children diarise this unique period in history in any way they see fit. They have also been a handwriting book. If your child's handwriting is good then don't worry too much about this book. If it needs a little work then this could be the ideal time to refine and perfect correctly formed letters and a fluent, joined-up style!

Everyone's ActiveLearn has been filled right up with activities. If anyone is having difficulty logging on then please get in touch. 

I am hoping that we'll all be able to somehow begin to regard such a challenging time as an adventure and opportunity, where we can develop our own, bespoke, informal curricula that many of us struggle to find the time for in our modern day-to-day lives. Who knows, perhaps we'll all someday soon return to school as bird-watching, tree-identifying, community-spirited conversationalists (that will be experts in personal hygiene and be able to do their laces up!).

Watch this space

Take care, and stay safe

Mr Jones

This is the webpage for Class 4/5 pupils (Mr Jones).

Please check back regularly to share some of the things we get up to in the classroom.

Class 4/5 average attendance for the term so far is 94.80%. 24 out of 34 children are still on 100%. Keep on coming! Did you know, if you miss on average one day a week throughout your time in primary school, you'll have missed out on over one and a half years of school by the time you leave.

Miss school, miss out!

Are you interested in Kingswood Colomendy this year?!

We are hoping to run the trip late in late July/June 2019- either from a Sunday -Wednesday or Friday to Monday. The trip will cost around £130-£150 per child, payable in manageable installments.

This term our topic is Flow. A school trip is planned to Welsh Water's Cilfynydd Education Centre on Tuesday November 6th. We need a few parent volunteers for the trip. If you are interested in coming please call in the see me or send a message in with your child.

17th October 2017

Today we had great fun taking part in the Aspire Sports Academy experience with Rhys Williams.

Are you working on your ActiveLearn homework challenges?!

10th March 2017

Today we have held a Fairtrade Friday in school.  We have researched Fairtrade and what it means to farmers in developing countries.  We have also been comparing prices between fairtrade and non-fairtrade prices of products.  Our favourite activity was making Chocolate Brownies using fairtrade chocolate, cocoa and sugar.

Happy New Year!

Our first Spring Term topic is Pharaohs.

Let's travel back 5000 years to the dusty realms of Ancient Egypt. Cruise along the Nile, entering a world of mysteries and curses, mummies and Kings.

Find out about life on the river's fertile banks, discovering Egypt and its fascinating culture.

Unravel the secrets of ancient tombs, using historical sources and age-old artefacts. Find out about powerful pharaohs and grandiose gods! Make yourself a nemes and you'll really look the part!

Become an apprentice and work for Romose; he's the chief embalmer at The Beautiful House. Help him prepare a body for its journey to into the afterlife.

Now open the doorway into Ancient Egypt - who knows what treasures you will find?

We Like Sharing A Book

To begin the year we have been sharing the book 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl.

Roald Dahl is a famous Welsh author who wrote books for children and adults.

You can find out lots more about him and his stories (and have some fun) by clicking here:

During the spring term we have been reading Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce.

"When Tom hears old Mrs Bartholomew's grandfather clock in the hall striking thirteen, he goes to investigate".

..    Have you seen the Kids' Zone? Play games and visit some cool websites. You can vote for your favourites.    ..