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!