English: Cracking Contraptions! 🤪⚙️

This week in English, we channelled our inner inventors and stepped into the wonderfully wacky world of contraptions! We've been writing about and, even better, inventing our own cracking contraptions. Imagine a machine designed to do the most ridiculously simple task in the most complicated way possible—think Wallace and Gromit! The creativity has been amazing. We've got inventions like the 'Automatic Biscuit Dunker' (needs some fine-tuning to avoid soggy disasters!) and the 'Self-Tidying Homework Piler'. The children have been focusing on using detailed descriptive language and technical vocabulary to explain how their bizarre machines work. It's been a cracking way to use our persuasive and explanatory writing skills!

Science: Levers and Mechanisms! 🔬💪

Our Science lessons have been hands-on and investigative as we dove into the world of mechanisms. We've learned about simple machines and how they make work easier. A big focus this week was on levers. We explored the three different classes and how they use a fulcrum (or pivot point), effort, and load to lift or move things.

We even got to design an experiment! In small groups, the children were tasked with creating an experiment to investigate how changing the position of the pivot point affects the effort needed to lift a set load. There were some fantastic predictions and some very accurate results. We're well on our way to becoming master mechanical engineers!

Physical Education: Try Time in Tag Rugby! 🏉🏃

Outside on the field, we've been running, dodging, and passing as we continue with our Tag Rugby unit in PE. The children are getting much better at looking for space, communicating with their teammates, and, of course, ripping those tags! We've been practicing the crucial skill of passing the ball backwards to move forward as a team. The energy and sportsmanship have been brilliant, with everyone cheering each other on during our mini-games.

School Life: A Beautiful Diwali Assembly 🙏🏽🕯️

This week, we were treated to a truly beautiful school assembly celebrating Divali, the Festival of Lights. It was wonderful to see members of Wharfe Class take a lead role! Rohini performed a lovely traditional dance that captured the joy of the festival, and Vadant confidently told the fascinating story of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god. It was a colourful and informative celebration for the whole school.

Mathematics: Multiply Those Digits! 🔢✖️

In Maths, we tackled a big one: long multiplication! We're building on our multiplication skills from previous years and applying them to multi-digit numbers (like multiplying a three-digit number by a two-digit number). It's all about remembering our place value and keeping those digits neatly lined up. It requires a lot of concentration, but everyone has been incredibly resilient and we're starting to see lots of correct answers and confident column method use. Keep practising those times tables—it makes long multiplication so much easier!

That's all for this week! Have a super half term, Wharfe Class!