Our New Curriculum

This year, we will be using the International Primary Curriculum as the basis for our study, instead of an adaptation of the English National Curriculum.

There are quite a few differences between the two, one of which is the greater flexibility that we have when using the IPC. It allows us to choose different units of study, or modules, instead of following whatever they do in the UK. Another difference is the way that all of us work together.

If we had the idea before that the teacher passes on information to the children and the children soak it up, that isn't the case any more. Teachers and children will be working together, with teachers acting as guides. The children will be given a lot more responsibility over their own work this year. Of course, teachers will still be supervising and helping, but they will not be there to stand at the front and talk at the class.

It's going to be an interesting, challenging year. Let's get it started!

New Start

Ok, here we are again. Hmm. Not much has changed here in a while, has it? Well, I'll use the excuse that I thought that the class names were all changing, so y4-5.blogspot wouldn't be the right name any more. But, we've kept the old names so I guess that I can keep the old blog as well.

Now, that's not the only change. There are lots of new things happening at school this term, including a new class (Hello!) so I'll get around to adding the necessary new bits as soon as possible.

One of those is about the new units of study we'll be covering. I've been looking for some useful websites to help with research and I'll be adding them to the link list on the right. In the meantime, be patient!

Back soon.

Problems

It's fraction time again in Y4-5. Lots of us are having problems with fractions, especially converting one fraction to another. Here's an idea!

Look at the maths links in the side bar. There is a lot of information about fractions on the Marvellous Maths site.

Here's another one that's good. Click on this link. If you go to the bottom of that page, you can change the worksheet so that it gets harder, as you get better!

New Bits

I've added a link to the collection on the side. It's under the heading 'Science'. As we're now studying electricity, I've found a site about safety and electricity. Some of it is for older kids but there are games and other things that will be helpful to us.

Have a look at it and see if there's anything you already know!

Writing it right

Congratulations to our winners! I don't know if you have noticed but the handwriting competition winners, which have been posted outside our room for the last couple of weeks, have had stars added to them. The stars tell you who came 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in all of Y4 and the best two calligraphers in the year group are...

Arshee and Cara!!!

Well done you two. More apples are being grown, as we speak. I shall have to plant a special orchard for all of the apples that Arshee is winning.




Well done also to our other winners from Y4-5: Abdullah (who managed to spell his name right), Damian and Nadia.





Apples for you as well. Someone needs to keep track of them all!

Earthquakes in the news

As we're on the subject of earthquakes and volcanoes and general geological activity, there has been an earthquake in Indonesia. Have a look at the BBC report here. It mentions a little bit about the centre of the earthquake and which parts of the world were affected. It also gives a little bit of information about other areas of Indonesia which have suffered from tsunamis and earthquakes over the last 5 years. A housepoint for anyone who can first tell me which months and years they happened in.

Reading it Right

It was our class Book Week performance reading competition today. It seemed that everyone had practiced at home, which was encouraging, and there were some really good performances. Honourable mentions should go to Omar and Serena, who did very well but, when I added up the points that you gave them, the winners were: Tamara, Nadia and Arshee. Apples all round and well done to everybody else.

Getting to the bottom of the problem

Oh, look at this.
It's a chair. But hold on though. It is sitting nicely on the floor and not being rocked backwards and forwards, from side to side or spun around on one leg. It can't be a chair from our classroom, can it Abdullah, Gasim, Omar, Mohammed, Nadia, Tara, Hamid or Damian?

Could everybody please try to remember how to use chairs this week? Pretty please? Thank you so much.

Star of the Week

This week, I chose Arshee. My main reason was for her exceptional art work. Her latest piece, a mosaic, is now on display in the Art Room. Pretty much everything she does is extremely careful, extremely thorough and extremely good. Well done Arshee!

Things to remember for Book Week!

• Choose a reading for the competition. Maximum 1 minute.
• Think of a costume for Wednesday. No movie characters!
• Choose a cartoon character to draw for our book cover.
  

Book Week!

As you know, it's Book Week coming up and to celebrate that auspicious occasion we will be 'doing' an author. I have scoured the literary world to find an example of the kind of educational, improving, informative and morally uplifting art that will inspire our children to become better people, for there is no greater aim than that.

After an exhaustive elimination process I have decided upon

Of course, there is much more to Dav Pilkey than merely 'Captain Underpants'. You can find out all about him and his characters on his website. Just click here.

Star of the Week

This week I chose Nadia. She might be very chatty in class and has trouble sitting properly on her seat but she has really made a big effort to improve her work, especially her maths and handwriting. When I think about what she was like before Christmas, oh my goodness! But now; amazing! Well done Nadia!

Sports' Day

Ok, it was Sports' Day a while ago but I haven't had a chance to put any pictures up yet. It seems to be taking ages as well so I won't do them all at once. I think I managed to get everyone so your picture will appear, just maybe not at first.

Star of the Week

This week I chose a new boy; Majed. He's settled into a new school very well and has surprised me by doing some really good work straight away. Usually new children take time to fit in with the rest of the class but Majed looks like he has been here for much longer than a few weeks. Well done!

Star of the Week!

This week, it's Ali. I sometimes have a problem thinking of people to put in the Golden Book and this week was one of those times. I was looking around the class, wondering who to choose, when I thought, "Ali is always sensible, always does his best and always has sensible things to say in class." So well done Ali.

Coming Up

So, are you ready for the Sports' Day practice on Saturday? Are we going to see Y4-5 marching quickly into their teams, showing everyone else what to do and impressing all of the teachers with their enthusiasm, organisation and discipline? Or are we going to see Y4-5 running around like sheep, shouting that they all know exactly what team they are in, before heading off to the wrong line and being told off by Mr Pringle? Let's hope it's the first option.

A reminder from Mrs Saadi: please bring your IT homework on Tuesday, not Wednesday. I will try to remind you in class as well, if I remember.

Sports' Day!

Right, it's nearly Sports' Day so you'd better all get ready.

Make sure you look at the list by the housepoint board to check what team you are in.

Make sure you are ready for the practice on Saturday.

Make sure you cheer for your team when it does come to Sports' Day.

Make sure EAST win!

Star of the Week!

Congratulations to our Golden Book boy; Abdullah.



He has been extremely kind and considerate towards Majed, our new boy, which is exactly what we want to see in Y4-5. Well done Abdullah!

Congratulations as well to Omar, Mohammed and Serena for some really interesting presentations on animals. They will be adding their apple to the class tree.

Benchball Champions

It was Benchball day today. For the first time, all of the children in the MS played on the same day. Unfortunately, there must have been a lot of cheating, fouling and rule-breaking because East house DID NOT WIN!!!

I am sure that you will be as upset as I am to hear about that. I can't bring myself to write the name of the winners because we all know who it SHOULD have been. See if you can guess who it was from the clues in this paragraph.

Anyway, one of our class was in the team for the Y3 v Y4 final. In fact, he was the captain. Perhaps they thought looking like you've just woken up would be the way to win. It worked!



What did you think of the day? Was there anything that you think we should change for next year? Tell us and it might happen!

Last Day of Term

Here's some photos from the end of term in December 2006, including Jack's last day.