Hello everyone!
It has been so lovely meeting with those of you who were able to attend Parent Teacher Conferences. I really appreciated the opportunity to talk about your children and celebrate their progress.Parent Teacher Conferences have now come to an end, but please remember that parents are always very welcome to come in for a chat at any time if they would like to. I would also like to wish all of our families a very happy Seollal. I hope you have a restful and joyful holiday spent with family and loved ones.
Here is what we have been up to this week:
Maths
Year 5
| Decimals and Percentages |
| Spr.3.10 – Round to the nearest whole number |
| Spr.3.11 – Round to 1 decimal place |
| Spr.3.12 – Understand percentages |
| Spr.3.13 – Percentages as fractions |
| Spr.3.14 – Percentages as decimals |
Year 6
| Decimals & Fractions, decimals and percentages |
| Spr.4.4 – Fractions to percentages |
| Spr.4.5 – Equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages |
| Spr.4.6 – Order fractions, decimals and percentages |
| Spr.4.7 – Percentage of an amount – one step |
| Spr.4.8 – Percentage of an amount – multi-step |
Literacy
In Literacy this week, we have finished our writing unit and all students have written their own stories featuring a character who experiences a redemption arc. They worked hard to include a range of writing skills that we have been learning about in class, including expanded noun phrases, relative clauses, personification, speech marks, writing in the third person, past tense, and using semicolons both to join related ideas and to show contrast. I am really looking forward to spending some time reading their stories over the Seollal holidays.
Next week, we will begin our new focus text, Island.
IPC
This week in IPC, we continued exploring how our sense of hearing works, focusing on how sound waves cause vibrations and how those vibrations help us hear.
We made our own model eardrums using cling film stretched over a bowl with rice on top. When we created sounds nearby, the rice began to move, helping us see that sound is caused by vibrations travelling through the air. This practical activity helped the children understand that sound is not just something we hear, but something that physically moves in waves.
We also watched videos of larger scale experiments to observe how vibrations create visible wave patterns. These clips helped reinforce the idea that sound travels as energy through different materials.
The children then rotated through mini experiments to investigate how sound travels:
- We explored how sound can travel through water.
- We tested how a glass cup placed against a wall can help us hear more clearly.
- We watched a demonstration showing that sound cannot travel in a vacuum when the air has been removed.
- We carried out an investigation using cups filled with different amounts of water to explore the difference between volume and pitch.
Through these experiments, the children learned that pitch is how high or low a sound is, while volume is how loud or quiet it is. They discovered that changing the amount of water in the cups changed the pitch of the sound produced.
To extend their understanding of sight and hearing, the students worked in pairs to research an animal with unique visual or hearing abilities. They created informative posters explaining how their chosen animal uses its senses to survive and thrive in its environment. I was very impressed with their teamwork and the quality of research they produced.
Useful Information
As we are about to begin a short holiday, I have only sent home Maths and Vocabulary homework this week.
The answers for the Maths homework will be emailed to parents. If you would prefer printed copies of the answers in future, please do let me know and I will happily arrange this.
Have a lovely weekend! ☺️
