The children have used the reflective gem across this unit of work.
In RE, the children have been learning about Buddhism. The children have learnt about the Buddha, the Sangha and the Dharma, the Triple Gems, the Monastics and Laity, the Five Moral Precepts and about the path of enlightenment. Whilst doing this they have also learnt how the Buddhist ideals are useful to us all in our everyday life, for example being happy with what we have, considering how we live and of course how this relates to friendships.
The children have used the reflective gem across this unit of work.
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In science, the children have been learning about gestation periods (the length of time it takes for a baby to grow in its mother's womb). They learnt that small animals, such as mice, have just a 20 day gestation period, compared to that of an elephant, nearly a whopping two years. The children created some stunning bar charts showing the gestation periods of different animals. Then, we looked at pregnancy in people. Following a lengthy discussion about pregnancy and watching a video about how the baby develops over the 40 weeks, the children produced timelines of the baby's growth.
The children has used the concentration gem today. The children have been working on imagery in class this week. We have looked at expanded noun phrases, personification, similes and metaphors. Then, today the children wrote a piece of imaginative writing showing off their imagery skills, with some stunning results. The children then critiqued each others work. Today, we used the creative gem.
Over the last few weeks, the children have been learning about playscripts. The children have learnt that they are laid out differently to stories. Firstly, that they have a cast list and different scenes. That they have the speech element, written differently to usual speech and that the stage directions are written in italics. The children also learnt about shifts in formality, such as the setting for the scene written in a formal manner. They also learnt about how to convey the different characters, such as a King with no contractions and always speaking formally, compared to that of a peasant, who would use contractions and colloquialisms. In addition, the children have learnt about the use of ellipsis, subordinate clauses, conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. Of course, all of this could not have happened without the children acting out the scene and portraying the different characters. The children's next task, is to act out their playscripts.
Over this writing unit, the children have used Creativity, Cooperation and Independence Gems. We have introduced our new class book to the children today, The boy at the back of the class. This is one of my favourite books and I am so excited that we are using this for our guided reading lessons. Today, we just looked at the front cover of the book and the children made predictions about the book from what they could see. I was amazed at how reflective they were as we talked about the illustration and the children came up with so much about the character. They suggested that he was lonely; that he would sit at the back and have no one to talk to; that he wouldn't want to join in with class discussions; that he had a different religion; he might be bullied and have no friends and that he clearly didn't have much money. The children then wrote their predictions about the book, mainly focusing on the character on the cover. I was amazed that they they were able to think so deeply about this showing some really creative and reflective thinking. We used the creativity and the reflective gems today,
The children have had a fun day exploring the new Times Tables Rockstars that we have launched in school today. Here are the photos of the children dressed up as rock stars. Today, we set a base-line assessment for the times tables and then the children played ten games to show their current status. We use the adventurous gem today as we explored and learnt about the new program and app. In writing over the last few weeks, we have been developing lots of new grammar skills and building on skills learnt in previous writing. Following on from our biography about Steve Irwin, the children have been learning about Australian animals using our model text about the saltwater crocodile to help them to learn about how a non-chronological report is written in a formal manner, with the writer sounding well-informed. Also, developing grammar skills such as relative clauses, subordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, commas in a list, parenthesis, apostrophe for possession and sustaining the third person. The children had to conduct their own research about their chosen Australian animal and some of their facts were amazing to learn that they discovered. Attached are some photos of some of the beautiful work that the children have produced and is from a variety of our writers. I'm sure you will agree that the children have produced some stunning work. The children have used the perseverance and independence gems.
Yesterday we spent the morning in the Wildwood having lots of fun doing a range of activities and we even had time for some play! The children did some Christmas designs in clay which they then pressed onto the trees, bug and leaf hunts, worm digging (to feed the chickens), fat ball making, path sweeping and of course, plenty of chicken petting!
In RE we have been learning about Buddhism. We have learnt about the Triple Gems, where the lotus flower rises from the murky waters and gradually unfolds. We have learnt that the gold gem represents the Buddha and wisdom; blue symbolises the Dharma - Buddha's teachings; whilst the red symbolises the Sangha - the Buddhist community. We have used the Reflective Gem today.
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May 2024
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