Year 4 have been having a go at some maths challenges today. They come from The Liverpool Mathematical Society and we had great fun trying them for the first time.
You can see a video of us working below. I was really impressed with the positive communication within the teams today. Well done!
PS the video is a large file, so sit tight while it loads!
We are getting used to using the Wii now and how to find our way around the African Safari, so Day 5 brought lots of surprises. Here are a few journal extracts:-
Sam Luigi
Yesterday we had the best day ever because we found the most interesting animals on the game. We found a hyrax which was a little animal on some big rocks, a warthog walking through the grass, a fish jumping lots of times, a dangerous lion on top of a big rock and finally an ostrich with a tiny head and a thin neck.
Millie
Yesterday Year 2 class had a wonderful day in the adventurous water of the warthogs, or should I say, the fierceness of the lions and finally the house of the hyrax.
Grace
Yesterday my heart was pumping with excitement when I saw the lions.
Alex B
We saw some of the most amazing but most unusual animals, one that I hadn’t even heard of. When we saw them I stopped dead in amazement.
Rhys
Down by the river there was a big surprise. There was a hyrax sitting on a big rock. The hyrax was brown.
Chris S
There was a very interesting fish that was jumping up and down because it was trying to get to (go) the opposite way that the water was going.
Yesterday we saw the most amazing animals. We saw an animal called a hyrax. It looked like a small ferret or a beaver. It was on a rock on its back legs then two more came to join it. Near the rocks there was a river with lots of reeds. By the waterfall we saw a big fish jumping lots of times out of the water and back in again. When it went back in the water it made a big circle of ripples flowing around the stream. On the banks of the stream we saw some very very long grass and in the grass were some cliffs. Lions were basking on the top. Near the big tall cliffs were two small ostriches with very long necks. Even when they tried to eat they had to bend their necks at the very end near their heads, but surprisingly their heads were very small and very black. By the ostriches was a small grunting figure looming out of the grass. It looked like a cross between a calf and a piglet, but when we got closer we saw it looked more like a boar, but it really was a warthog.
As part of our Africa topic to help us find out a little more about the Masai people who live in the Serengeti, we read a story called Masai and I, then wrote about how their life differs from ours.
Here are a few well-crafted sentences:-
Alex B
The Masai people have lovely jewellery which has very strong colours, and as you get older you can wear bigger and thicker necklaces and bracelets.
William
I need to go to the zoo to see a giraffe but Masai people share the space with the animals, so they just need to go out of the door.
Bob
I wait for my dad for dinner. If I were Masai we would sit separately, sisters and mothers will (would) sit in one places, brothers and fathers in another place.
Charlotte J
If you lived in Africa (the Masai Mara) your house would (might) be made out of sticks and cow dung. They wet the cow dung so that they can use it almost like clay to spread out.
Today on our African Safari adventure we spotted ostriches for the first time – two of them grazing beside the stream. Our first mission tomorrow will be to search for their nest. Luckily for us, Chloe brought in an ostrich egg shell that her dad had brought back from South Africa, so we all know what size they are. What we don’t know is how many eggs an ostrich typically lays or how long they take to hatch.
She also brought in a steinbock hide and some South African rand, which have beautiful pictures of animals on them.
Miss Christie taught her last lesson as a student teacher on Friday. To say farewell to Year 4, she brought in un petit dejeuner francais!
Year 4 were visited by Garulf the Viking on Friday. We all learned lots of things we didn’t know about the Vikings. Here we are listening to Garulf:
Rifka kindly brought in some different types of African fabric and some photos taken by a friend who had lived in Africa for a year. Here are some models with their helpers.
This batik fabric shows typical African patterns and the children have used it to give them ideas for the front covers of their journals.
Mrs Okoye, our resident Africa expert, kindly brought in some Nigerian money. 250 Naira is worth around £1.
Year 2 have continued on their African Safari, finding out more about giraffes. They added the information to their journals. Here are just a few facts.
William
The babies can be attacked by lions, tigers, cheetahs and leopards. Baby giraffes are 2m tall.
Lottie
When they want to drink they dip their long necks down and lick with their tongues.
Daniel
Giraffes spend nearly all day eating leaves.
Lily
When a giraffe walks it puts its right hoof down, then its other right then it puts down its left hoof then its other left.
Bob
You may think giraffes have horns to fight with but they are for if they bang their head it does not hurt.
Rifka
Baby giraffes normally get left in nursery groups with some mums so the other parents can feed.
Charlotte J
Giraffes are the tallest animals in the African Safari. They may be the tallest animal in the world.
Alex C
When they are in a fight they kick with their legs.
Maisie
Giraffes can run faster than your car going on a road in Otley. They go 35mph!
Sophie
Giraffes have seven bones in their neck just like you.
As it was the first day of the World Cup in South Africa on Friday, We had a go at writing some AFRICAN stories. The twist is that the story had to be a six sentence story using the letters of Africa:
Joespeh wrote:
Adam rushed down the stairs and turned on the TV. Furiously, he threw the buttons to the ground because he had missed the first half! Right after he had done that, the oponents scored. Incredibly, we were still winning. Cautiously I looked out of the window; mum was still at work. After the whistle: England 3 USA 2.
Miriam wrote:
Andrew forgot his spelling book. Frantically he sped up stairs. Reaching energetically fo his book, he thought of grumpy Miss Worberton. I(e)mtionlessly, he walked into the cramped classroom. Arranging the pages, he found it was the wrong book…!