Maths: Measuring Up!

We have officially wrapped up our unit on Length and Perimeter. To finish the week, the students were challenged to calculate the perimeter of various straight-sided shapes.

Things got technical when we looked at shapes with missing side lengths. The children had to use their knowledge of shape properties (eg. knowing that opposite sides in a rectangle are equal) to calculate those "mystery" measurements before finding the total perimeter.

We have also enjoyed some time playing the game 'Hit the Button' on the smartboard to practise our times tables. It is fast paced and Lucas W said "It really helps with times tables." We all divided we would love to have go at home, just search 'Hit the Button' on the TopMarks website!

English: Dear Dr. K. Fisher

In our writing sessions, we reached the finale of our letter-writing unit. The classroom was filled with laughter as the students took on the roles of various animals writing to the famous Dr. K. Fisher to complain about their hilarious problems. Logan wanted to ask Dr Fisher why he was called a 'ladybug' when he was actually a male. He signed off his letter, 'Confused Manbug'!

However, the real challenge came next: shifting the tone. When writing back as the Doctor, the students had to ditch the silliness and adopt a formal, professional voice to give their expert advice. Balancing "funny" and "formal" is no easy task, but the results were brilliant!

Learning Means the World: Under the Canopy

We officially launched our new theme, 'Under the Canopy', which takes us deep into the world's rainforests. To understand where these rainforests are located, we first had to master our global geography.

We spent time identifying and labeling key lines of latitude and longitude on a world map, including:

• The Equator
• The Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
• The Prime (Greenwich) Meridian

Keaton was really interested to find out about Meridian line as he told us "I didn't know that's where different times come from!" 

Art: Rainforest Colours

Finally, we enjoyed a vibrant session with Ms. Needham. Using the lush scenery of the rainforest as inspiration, the students used oil pastels to capture the "flora and fauna" of the jungle. We practiced blending techniques to recreate the bright feathers of tropical birds and the deep greens of exotic plants. The cloakroom is looking much more colourful already!

A little reminder that children have until Monday to send in any entries for the Art competition.