Today's Homework

1. Finish the 'chasing square' or, in Michaela and Nadine's case, the 'chasing triangle'. That means you need to colour it as beautifully as you have been drawing it.
2. Abacus workbook p.114 + p.116.

Today's Homework

1. Abacus Workbook p.16 & 17
2. Finish the willow pattern picture

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 1
2. Learn spellings
3. Reading
4. Quite complicated so pay attention!

• Youssef, Michael, Ayesha - Letts p.71 questions 1,2 & 3
• Badr, Yousef - Letts p.49 questions 4 & 5
• Tariq, Ula, Faisal, Peter, Sagal - Letts p.49 question 6
• Everyone else - Letts p.49 questions 1,2, 3,4

I hope that's clear! If you were paying attention in class I'm sure it will be.

And on the second day, they created a myth...

Here's a few photos of the posters that people made as part of their presentations of creation myths. As you might be able to see from the (small) pictures, a lot of work went in to them. They were very colourful, bright, covered in pictures and interesting for us to look at while we listened to the stories that were on them. I'll be trying to find a place in the classroom to display them so we can keep them around us for a while longer.

One of the most interesting aspects of the presentation, which we'll be thinking about this week, is the effect that these myths might have had on the people who told them. Many of the myths tell us that the Earth was created in conflict or because of an argument between different gods or people. Some of them talk about how one god created all that was good and then another god created all that was bad. Some say that one of the gods tricked another into creating things or even killing someone in order to have power over creation. Only one myth, that we've come across, tells of how man and nature lived together originally and everything is equal in the eyes of the creator. I wonder if there is any connection between the creation myths and the way we see the world working around us?

Anyway, enough of that pessimistic talk. We are the children of the 21st century, as some old song puts it. We can create a better world tomorrow through our efforts today. Enjoy the photos!

Mystery Question

The answer to last week's question came in two parts: the next number in the sequence is 21. You find the next number by adding the two previous numbers together so 8 + 13 = 21. The sequence is named after, but was not discovered by, an Italian mathematician named Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Fibonacci. He is said to have set himself the following puzzle: how many rabbits will you have after a year if you start with a male and female and the female has two babies every month?

Another important contribution Fibonacci was able to make was the idea of decimal numbers, the numbers we all use today, instead of the Roman numeral system which was in use in Europe in his lifetime. He knew of the decimal system because of his background in the Islamic countries of North Africa. So, the next time you do some maths in class, remember to thank Fibonacci as well as the Arab and Indian mathematicians who came before him. Without them we'd all be adding like this:

LXXXVII + MCMXC =MMDXXVII !!!

Away Games

Congratulations to our footballers, who were off in Khobar yesterday, thrashing the pants off every team they played. In fact, the only time a BISJ team lost a game was when they played against another BISJ team! However, as we know, winning is not the most important thing. They played and acted at all times with the spirit of sportsmanship and courtesy that we hope for in all of our students. Or so Mr Murphy tells me. Well done everyone!

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 5
2. Similie and Metaphor sentences - write the sentences in your ITU book, changing the similies or metaphors into literal language, eg 'Mr Ward was like a raging volcano, destroying the villages which had not prepared for the eruption' really means 'Mr Ward was very angry with the children who had not done their homework.' Read the six sentences on the paper and write what they really mean.
   

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 1 & 3
2. Comprehension: Letts p.37 Sentence Box or Letts p.52 Sentence Box
   

Mystery Object

This fearsome creature is the Minotaur, about to be killed by Theseus who found him in the centre of the labyrinth on Crete. The labyrinth was designed by Daedalus, father of Icarus, who was locked in a tower after finishing his design.

Congratulations to...Michael! I think he was the only one to get the answer correct so 1HP to him. Don't forget the question in the Primary Post. This week they were set by me so I'll be checking to see if anyone from our class answers them.

Today's Homework

1. Finish the picture of the mythical creature that you started yesterday. It should be colourful and should also include some kind of background to suggest where the creature lives, eg cave, sky, water, forest, castle etc
2. Abacus workbook - Group 1 & 2 should do p.13 (Halving); Group 3 should do p.14 (Doubling)
   

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 4 & 5
2. Abacus workbook p.11 & p.113 - there will be an amazingly, unbelievably, wonderfully stupendous prize for the best mystic rose (eg 1cp). Try your best!
   

Presentations and Treason!

Remember, remember the 16th of November,
PowerPoint, Posters...the lot!
I see no reason
Why creation myth presentations
Should ever be forgot!

Please work on your presentations over the weekend. You will have to give them on Sunday and practice, as adults are so fond of saying, makes perfect.

Sixty Different Countries, Sixty Different Cultures

Tomorrow is...International Day!! Hurrah!

Here's what to do: come to school in clothes connected to your country of birth or perhaps the country to which you feel you belong. For example, Hannah and James were born in Kuwait but they are not Kuwaiti. Mrs Ward and I were hoping to put James in a dishdasha (thobe) tomorrow but he refused to wear a costume on Halloween so we thought he wouldn't like to wear a dishdasha either. Bring some lovely, delicious food for our picnic. If it is from your country, great. If it is from Krispy Kreme, even better!

BUT! Do not wear a flag. Do not bring a flag. Do not wave a flag. If you have a tiny, tiny flag on your costume, that's ok. This is not.

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 3 - Fractions. You should divide by the bottom and multiply by the top eg if the question is 2/3 of 15 then divide 15 by 3 = 5; 5 x2 = 10, so 2/3 of 15 = 10. Simple!
2. Reading
3. Learn your spellings - this includes finishing the cloze procedure - filling in the blanks in the sentences.
4. A tricky one here, pay attention:

• Ayesha, Michael, Youssef - Comprehension Plus p.12 Section A. Youssef, you will have to write your answers on a paper as you didn't take your homework book home.
• Tariq, Ula, Faris, AbdulRahman, Farida, Joe, Naufal - Letts p.34-35. Do questions 1, 4 & 5 from the top box and question 1 from the middle box.
• Everyone else - Letts p.34-35, questions 1, 3, 4 & 5 from the top box.

Phew!

Guess again!

Here's another amusing game I found. Apparently, in the Oxford English Dictionary are more than 2 billion words! That's 2 000 000 000, or 2 000 000 000 000 if you use a British billion. Whatever it is, it's a very large number. We don't use 2 billion words in our speaking and writing, we only use a few thousand. This website asks you to guess the 100 most common words that we use from day to day. How many can you get? Here's our class scores:

Naufal 13% (he went first)
Tariq 24%
Faisal 28%
Mr Ward 51%
Aly 20%
Ula 20%

http://quizicon.com/100-Most-Common-English-Words-Quiz.html

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 2
2. Prepare a presentation on the subject of a creation myth. It can be a story of how the world was made, how a part of the world was made or how humans or animals were made. You should use the questions I gave you today to help you with your research. The presentation can be on a poster, through a talk, on a Powerpoint show or any way you think will help you pass on the information you have found. You have one week to do it and the presentations will be given on Sunday 16th November. Do not choose creation stories from the Bible or Quran.
   

Mythter and Mytheth

As I was scouring the interweb, slaving away until the wee small hours, I discovered a fantastic website for creation myths. It has short movies telling the story of creation myths from different parts of the world. I've put it in the Myths and Legends section on the right but I'm making a special post because I thought it was so good.

The website is called The Big Myth and you can find it here.

Mystery Question!

Did you guess correctly? Here are the details from the McDonald's website.

Product	Fat (g)
Big Mac	24
Quarter Pounder with Cheese	25
Large French Fries	23
KitKat McFlurry	16

So the fattiest meal is a Quarter Pounder with Cheese! Who guessed that one?

Parents' Evening

It's almost here!

Please make sure that you return the letter to let me know who is coming and who isn't. If the time you have been given isn't convenient, I can see you at various times during the school day between now and the 17th. Let me know what's best for you.

Today's Homework

1. Write a book review of a myth or legend story - if you don't have one at home you should have taken one from the class library. If you didn't do that either...have a look on one of the myth or legend websites on the right.
2. Finish the cautionary tale. Remember, repetition is good in this case. We need the bad things to happen again and again, gradually getting worse and worse until...the child dies!! Well that will teach them not to do it again, won't it?
   

Today's Homework

Just the one today!

1. Trojan War worksheet - we read through the story of the Trojan War yesterday. You should have finished choosing the parts that you thought were true or false. Today's homework asks you to choose a true and a false section and explain why you thought it was true or false. Of course, you need to finish the first worksheet before you can do the second. I do not want to see any 3 or 4 word answers. As clear an explanation as possible please.
   

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 3
2. Abacus workbook p.34 & p.112

We've been working really well in maths lately and getting a lot done. Let's keep up the effort and see what we can do!

Mystery Object

Congratulations to Peter and...Michael! Yes, that's right. We have a new winner this week. Peter finally has some competition. Of course, that still leaves the other 19 people in the class who haven't guessed...

For those of you still in the dark, this little chap is Asterix, the famous French warrior who defended his little village from the invading Roman army. You will see many of his stories in the library. More information can be found here.

Today's Homework

1. Abacus workbook p.125 - It's about bar-line graphs
   
2. Find the advantages and disadvantages of different things in our food - you had to choose one thing from this list:

• vitamins
• fat
• sugar
• fibre
• protein
• salt

• then you have to find out why we need it in our diet and what the consequences might be if you have too much or too little of it. Have a look on the websites you can find on your right if you can't find anything elsewhere.
  

Today's Homework

1. Daily maths 4
2. Spelling sentences - you should have my sentences stuck in your book. Write them yourself and insert the missing word from the spelling list. I shall be thinking about the next set of pen licences to give out so BE NEAT!
3. Bring an empty food or drink packet. We had a short talk about healthy eating today and we were all shocked to find out about the amount of sugar in some of the drinks we usually have. Did you know that blackcurrant juice has much more sugar than cola?

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 2
2. Key Comprehension p.25 questions 1-5 OR 'The Story of the Seasons'. If you're doing Key Comprehension, write the answers in your green homework book. If you're doing 'The Story of the Seasons' rearrange the story and stick it in your green homework book.
3. Learn your spellings - I'll be interested to see how Sagal, Ayesha, Nadine and Carolina manage this.
4. Reading
   

Mystery Object

Well done again Peter! You were the first to identify this person


as Sami al-Jaber, the Saudi footballer. It seems that many people in class knew who he was but only Peter came to tell me so Peter gets the house point.

This Week's Spellings

health
healthy
stealth
stealthily
ready
steady
treasure
measure
headache
weather
little
number
small
between
while

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 1 & 3
2. Write adjectives, verbs or adverbs for the space nouns - you should be able to think of at least 3 for each noun. Think about what it looks like, how it moves, what it might feel like etc
3. Reading
   

Today's Homework

1. Abacus Workbook p.26 & 27
2. Reading
   
3. That's it!
   

Today's Homework

1. Abacus workbook p.25 DID YOU REMEMBER IT THIS TIME ALY?
2. Finish your Oort Cloud diary. I have read some really good ones so far. Let's make the last one the best. Remember, this is the moment you have been waiting for all of your life! Will it all work out ok?
   

A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Here's a few videos that might be interesting or useful. We saw a couple of them in class on Saturday.

Journey to the Edge of the Universe


The Most Important Image Ever Taken


The Real Perspective on the Solar System


Inside The Sun

Today's Homework

Just the one homework today but it's a biggie!

1. Finish your Oort Cloud diary up to the end of day 4.

One person was working so hard in class this week that he has finished day 4 already. I have a feeling that there might be someone who was working so slowly that he is still on day 2. Whatever day you are on, do your best at home and stop after 45 minutes. That means 45 minutes work, not 40 minutes staring out of the window and 5 minutes work!

Remember, the diary should include details of your daily activities (what you have been doing) but also your thoughts about things (such as when you discover ice on Mars; what else might be there?) and your feelings (like when the doctor tells you that you have radiation poisoning).

Matball: The Revenge!

Well, as we all know, it's not the winning, it's the taking part. Unless East win. Today was not such a day. Today was the chance for the plucky underdogs to have their turn in the sun. Yes, the team that usually comes last in everything came first! In Y5/6 and Y3/4! So let's have a big cheer for...North!!!

When the matches were over and the results were known I took a photo of my class. At least, I thought it was my class. The picture seems to show a gang of wild animals but perhaps you will spot my class in there somewhere.

Matball!

Remember! Tomorrow is Matball day! Do you know your team? Do you know the rules? Do you know what to wear? Do you know what tomorrow is? If the answer to any of those questions is 'no', you haven't been paying attention and your last lifeline is to phone a friend!

Today's Homework

1. Answer the questions about 4 newspaper articles - we already did 1 in class so you should have 3 more to do, IF you were working in class time. Gosh, that's a big if.
2. Sun, Moon and Earth worksheet - it shows a graph about sunrise times over the course of the year. The questions on the worksheet are about those times.
   

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 2
2. Reading - you should be doing this for 15 minutes every night!
3. Write a book review - do this in your 'Books I Have Read' book. Don't write about one of your reading books, write about a book you have chosen from the library or one you have at home. Non-fiction is best.
   
4. Finish your newspaper article - some of you have given me a USB stick, as I suggested yesterday, so you can do it on the computer. Everyone else will have to handwrite it. The topic is Eratosthenes, of course, and you should have enough information in your English book and from your research to finish it off.
   

Princes of Pen!

Congratulations to the first five people, chosen by popular acclaim, to be in receipt of our new Y5 Pen Licences. We have, in no particular order: Peter, Faisal, Aly, Tariq and Joe. Well done to you all!

Today's Homework

1. Day and Night Worksheet - this should have been stuck into your ITU book already. Answer the questions in the book.
2. Learn your spellings - you should have made your list before the holiday. The words come from mistakes you have made or from the science list.
3. Finish the print of the pictures from the Art lesson - make sure they are all done so that you can paint them in school.
4. Daily Maths 1
   

Welcome Back!

Hello again and welcome back after your long, early holiday. I do hope everyone is rested and re-energised and ready for two months of rewarding, relentless work! I know I am!!

Crazy Colour Day!

What a great day Colour Day was! Lots of colourful clothes, some crazy, creative costumes and a chance to cram cartloads of class points in as well.

Remember...

It's colour day tomorrow! One class point for each colourful thing you wear, if it matches your team. Two housepoints from the house leaders if they think you have made a big effort! Ooohhh, the excitement!

Mystery Object

Well done to Peter! The first, in fact, the only person who found the right answer! This

is a solar flare. Look how enormous it is compared to the Earth! If that happened near us I think we'd get REALLY bad sunburn.

Congratulations Peter! One housepoint and the knowledge that you are the class brain is yours.

Today's homework

1. Daily maths 1
2. Write some ways that we can prove or show that the Earth is round - in your topic book please.
   
3. Research Galileo and Copernicus - think about these questions:

• When did they live?
• What did they discover?
• How did they discover it?
• When did they discover it (What was their discovery called)?
• What happened afterwards?

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 3
2. Haydn Richards p.22 OR Haydn Richards p.25 - make sure you do the correct one
   

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 2
2. Round Earth, Flat Earth worksheet
3. Spelling wordsearch - stick this in your grey spelling book
4. Learn your spellings - 5 minutes every day is all you need, not 15 minutes on the day of the test!
   

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 1
2. Write the 4 paragraphs about your partner neatly on blank paper
3. Learn your spellings - test tomorrow
   

Spellings: Week Beginning 13/09/08

awful
awfully
raw
draw
drawing
drawer
jaw
prawn
strawberry
thaw
children
without
once
enough
took
orbit
eclipse
astronaut
telescope
satellite

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 3
2. Key Comprehension p.69 - Please write all of your answers in full sentences in your green homework book
3. Finish your 3-d name
   

Today's Homework

1. Daily Maths 2
2. Crossword (stick it in your spelling book)
3. Abacus workbook p.4+5
4. Learn your spellings - last week, only Peter took his book home to learn them. Remember to take it this week!
   

It's The End Of The World As We Know It!

The World Is About To End!!!!! Well, sort of, maybe. There is an experiment about to take place in Switzerland in which scientists will try to create the same conditions that existed in the Big Bang. They are going to smash together tiny particles of matter in giant underground tunnels at almost the speed of light. The temperature will reach 100 000 times hotter than the core of the Sun and it's possible that the energy created will destroy the Earth. If it does, there will be no homework next week.

You can find out more by watching the video on the BBC site.

Today's Homework

1. Research Eratosthenes - who was he, where did he live, when did he live, what did he do, how did he do it, what effect did his discovery have, what happened to him? All these questions and more should be in your mind when you are researching this famous mathematician. Use the links provided on the right or try searching yourself. You can write answers in your homework book, your jotter or your ITU book. You could even type them or print them.
   
2. Daily Maths 1 - in your maths homework book please.
3. Science worksheet

All pieces of homework to be handed in tomorrow.

Spellings: Week Beginning 06/09/08

altogether
already
although
alter
always
equal
central
national
capital
musical
house
world
school
important
until
astronomy
space
solar
system
Earth
planet

Today's Homework

1. Abacus workbook p.1 & p.2
2. Science worksheet - Colour the Earth to show the shadow created by the Sun. Fill in the missing word in the sentences.
3. Write the times of sunrise and sunset for Ramadan. Do this in the back of your ITU (Topic) book.
   

Today's Homework

1. Learn your spellings: the list is in your grey book, the test is on Monday.
2. Write sentences using your spelling words: copy the sentences from the paper. There are 5 words left over which you must put into your own sentences.
3. Complete the 100square: it's times tables. Keep a note of the how long it took you to complete. Let's see what the class record is!
   

Spellings Week Beginning 30/08/08

Week 1 Spellings (revision of high frequency words):

1. about
2. how
3. would
4. could
5. who
6. now
7. people
8. called
9. know
10. through
11. right
12. because
13. does
14. different
15. should
16. something
17. thought
18. always
19. together
20. asked

New Beginnings

Welcome back to all those of you who have returned from your holidays. Hello to those who are viewing this from afar, especially in darkest Sabah al Salem.


It's almost the start of a new term and there have been lots of changes around the school. Of course, most of you will have to wait until Saturday before you find out what they are. Let's hope they come as a nice surprise.

Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye

That's it then. Year 4 has come to an end for all of us and we're off to Year 5. I hope you've enjoyed your time in Y4-5. I know I've enjoyed teaching you, or trying to. Have a good holiday, take care and we'll see each other again in August.

Today's Homework

• Er...
• There isn't any
• That's it

As this is the last day for homework, I will be kind and not set any. If today is any guide to tomorrow, we'll have a lot of absences so many people will not be returning books/papers.

If you'd like to, you can have a go at cracking this code:

Csjoh b ljet ewe boe xf dbo xbudi ju jo dmbtt.

T-Shirt Tacular!

Today's Homework

• Wash your face
• Wear a clean (school!) t-shirt, ready to be tucked in
• Face the audience
• Smile!

Of course, this means that there is no written homework because of the End Of Year Celebration

Today's Homework

• Daily Maths E
• Finish the picture for the Magic Books story. You should finish the writing if the picture is already done.
  

Queens (and Kings) of the Catwalk

After many hours labouring over a needle and thread, the results of our t-shirt designing are here. Have a lo0k and tell me who will be the Yves Saint Laurent of the future.

Today's Homework

• Daily Maths C
• Draw a picture to go with your story of the future. It could be a book cover or an illustration. It should show the moment when you arrive in the future. You can give it in on Monday, which means I should be able to see how carefully you have done it in the two days available. Scribbled colouring and careless, half-finished drawing will show how little effort you have made.
  

You've Got To Work Hard If You Want To Compete

We were watching some break dancing this morning, along with lots of other kinds of dancing. Here's some more.

Mystery Object

Last week's mystery object was a map!



Actually, no it wasn't. We had been studying coordinates in maths and I gave you some coordinates for a map reference. They were the coordinates for...Jeddah. Pretty easy really but only one person got it right. Ahmed! So he gets the housepoint.

Spellings Week Beginning 14/06/08

sleeve
waist
pocket
cardigan
jacket
fitted
leather
cotton
linen
polyester
sandal
straight
shirt
velcro
shoe

The Mystery Machine

How many of these do you remember? How many did you get right the first time round?