• Spellings

4LW 2019-20

Welcome to our class page. Here you can access our weekly update, class spellings and homework. Our P.E. days are Monday (swimming) and Wednesday the children will be outdoors on a Wednesday weather dependent, so please ensure that they have appropriate kit.

My name is Mrs Whipp. I have been at Offley for six years now, having initially started as a maternity leave cover for Mrs McLoughlin. Before joining Offley, I taught at a variety of schools across both Cheshire and Manchester. My subject responsibility at school is Computing, which I love. Outside of school, I live with my husband and two cats. I enjoy walking, drawing, photography and reading. As I love learning new things, I am currently learning to quilt.

You can check if a book you are reading at home has an Accelerated Reader quiz in your ZPD range by following this link and searching for the book.

We have been developing our typing skills using BBC DanceMat typing, you can keep practicing at home by following this link.

Science Week

Once again we will be hosting Science week in school. This event allows our pupils to get involved with hands on experiments and listen to science and engineering professionals. We want to engage pupils in jobs for the future and this is a great insight for them, so please come and share your skills and passion for science and engineering. Examples of previous helpers:

• Structural engineers doing a hands on experiment teaching how to make structures out of spaghetti and paper

• Nurse – teaching children first aid

• Forensic team - setting up a crime scene and getting the children to solve the crime

These are just a few of the ideas that we have had in previous years, so if you know anyone who could spare half a day or even an hour, then we would love to hear from you. Please call the school office on 01270 685355 to express your interest or email admin@offleyprimaryacademy.co.uk or see Miss Allan or Mrs Till.

Science week is Monday 9th March – Friday 13th March 2020

Weekly Update

Another week has flown by in 4LW. In Maths, we have started our work on fractions. We have found out that the denominator in a fraction tells us how many EQUAL parts makes one whole and the numerator tells us how many of the parts we have. In addition to this, we have explored mixed numbers, numbers that have at least one whole and a fraction of a whole. We looked at different ways of representing these numbers, as a mixed number, through a drawing and on a number line. After this, we moved on to looking at equivalent fractions and found out that whatever we do to the numerator we do the same to the denominator. We also discovered that we can only multiply or divide the numerator and denominator to make equivalent fractions.

In English, we have researched what happened on the day of the eruption in Pompeii and used this information to help us write a diary entry from Tranio’s point of view. We used a drama continuum to decide what we felt the characters should do next. A statement was placed in the middle of the continuum: Tranio and Livia should stay where they are, and the children had to decide how they felt about this statement from strongly agreeing to strongly disagreeing. There were some fantastic justifications for differences of opinion on this statement. We then watched an explanatory video about the events that took place, which not only explained why they happened, but gave us some scientific facts about the events. This was used to plan and write our own explanation letters to Tranio and Livia, incorporating some of the technical language we had learnt. For example: the menacing ash cloud rose 14km into the atmosphere and was so dense that it blocked the sunlight from reaching Pompeii.

Also this week, we have continued our work on sound in Science. The children have been exploring pitch and amplitude through experiments with musical instruments. In our Computing session, we experimented with the different sections of code on Scratch and started to storyboard our guides to living either near a volcano, or near an earthquake zone. In Geography, we have created posters showing the benefits and dangers of living near a volcano. During R.E. this week, the children have found out about the 5K’s associated with Sikhism: Kara, Kesh, Khanga, Kachha and Kirpan.

Next week in Maths, we will be simplifying mixed numbers and improper fractions, before moving on to adding fractions. In English, we will finish reading our text: Escape from Pompeii. We will be writing a letter from Tranio’s point of view reflecting on all the events that happened on the 24^th August 79AD, before creating a flashback narrative. Also next week, we will be completing our work on volcanoes, finding out about the different shapes of volcanoes and researching individual volcanoes to create our own fact files. In addition to this, we will be exploring the song: The Lion Sleeps Tonight and recognising how patterns fit together including the use of rests.