The children studied reports about deadly animals and highlighted the features of reports. They found title, subtitles, labeled diagrams, bullet points and factual information. After choosing subject to write their own report on using these features, they used the internet to research and find information.
Recapping on data collection – 24.06.15 Glexi school
J & lily collected data on their family’s favourite animals and creatively captured the information in their own versions of tally charts and then created pictograms from the information.
They were able to answer questions about the data from their pictograms including, which was the most/least popular pet? And How many people did you collect data from?
Money bags – structured play with money for real life experiences
4 money’s bags were hidden in the garden containing all different coins and notes. The children found them and estimated the amount in each bag. Next, they counted the amount in each bag.
J used mental strategies and then checked with colomun addition to add up all the money in the bags. Then he solved money problems with colomun subtraction.
Lily played shops by and labelled items with price tags. She told J how much each item would cost and he worked out how much change he would get using a £50 note using column addition and subtraction.
Lilly’s thinking about solving money problems.
So he wants to buy these tissues that cost £2.30 and he has a ten pound note. 10 take away 2 is 8 because if you have 8 and count up to 10 it’s 1,2. so he gets £8 change. But there was 30p as well so it needs to be a it less. I don’t know. There are 100 pennies in £1. 100 -30 is 70. So it’s £7.70
Writing notes on non-fiction texts about animals.
The children planned to have an animal themed flexi-school.
There were four deadly creatures hidden in the garden for them to find.
Once found J & Lily read the information they recalled interesting facts. Following this, they chose their favourite animals to write notes about remembering to write short sentences with only the key information and checking it made sense to them.
After a five minute challenge of making notes the children used the internet to research their own chosen animals finding lots of facts!
Lily researched kangaroos
- Kangaroos can swim
- They can’t walk backwards
- Eat grass
- Babies are called joeys
- Group of kangaroos = a mob troop
- Largest marsupial
- Live up to 6 years
J researched goriallas, camels, dodos and the dodos closest living relative, the pigeon pheasant.
- Camels are two-toed to stop them sinking in the sand.
Flexi school 10.06.15 animations to inspire writing
After a while term with no flexi school and the children’s holiday of a lifetime we were back!
Using the incredible website “the literacy shed” we watched “partly cloudy” a Disney Pixar animation using personification. The children chose a creative writing activity to do after watching it.
7 year old Lily wrote a letter from Peck to Gus expressing what the stork could not say to His friend Gus.
Dear Gus,
You need to make different animals! I am dying!
Love Peck
And 9 year old J wrote a conversation between two pelicans about Gus and Peck:
Bird: Ooh Peck has a right strange life.
Bird 2: I feel sorry for him. That Gus will be the end of him.
Bird 1: You shouldn’t feel sorry for him! After all it’s his fault. Why does he even stay with Gus if he makes such horrible…
Bird 2: Now you be quiet! Peck is being a good friend.
Bird 1: suppose so. Bye then.
Bird 2: Bye!
Pirate themed flexi school
At school the children are having a pirate themed week so we extended it at flexi-school. In maths we revised 2D shapes. To begin the children chose a pirate story and as we read it we studied the shapes that we could see in the pirate ship and then created our own using origami paper. This was a great activity to talk about shapes by recapping their properties and how to spell them.
Fables flexi school 7th January 2015
We are learning to identify elements of fables
We watched an animation of The tortoise and the hare
And discussed the characters and the story line
What do you predict will happen?
Who will win the race?
What do you think about the hare?
What do you think about the tortoise?
Lily read aloud the definition of a fable which she had discovered rolled up in a scroll held by her favourite teddy bear:
A fable is a shirt fictional story, often with animals who talk like people and has a moral lesson
Outside in the garden, lots if statements had been hidden.
The children ran out to collect them all and identify whether they were true or false statements for a fable.
Next J read aloud a printed version of the tortoise and the hare. We identified the elements of a fable in this short story.
Now it was time for the children to write their own fables as a speed story in 10 minutes.
Every time I saw an element of a fable being applied in their writing, I have them a gold star.
Place value Flexi school 7th January
To learn place value using our whole body through movement (kinaesthetic learning) we played a game to learn and practise place value up to hundreds of thousands.
The children drew around their own foot and put in a random digit from 0-9 in each foot.
A digit was put in each column and then the children read the whole number aloud as the stomped on it with their own foot.
This was differentiated for the children; lily who is 6 put digits in the hundreds, tens and units and column and J is who 9 put them upto hundreds if thousands.
This activity could be extended very simply for decimal place value.
All you need is:
Duck tape
Marker pen
Paper
And a foot!
Festive feelings flexi school! 10.12.14
Today we linked up our previous learning about emotions and our five senses in creating a poem filled with poetic language including alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile and metaphor.
The children chose an emotion and wrote about what it looked, smelt, sounded, tasted and felt like!
In our final flexi school session of the this year the children were given the freedom to choose what the tWould like to do… They decided they would like to do Art and make Christmassy pictures. J researched for inspiration on Pinterest.
educatingsophie 