Discoverers Class

Welcome to the Discoverers class page!

In our class we are taught by Miss Curphey. We are in Year 5, which means that we are 9 turning 10 (we love to share our birthdays). 

We have busy weeks in here, with English and Mathematics lessons taught daily, and some lessons that happen once a week, like computing with Mrs Gurney on a Wednesday afternoon. 

Also on a Thursday, we have magical music with Ralph (our amazing music teacher). We need to remember to practice our instruments at home, and then bring them in on a Thursday morning ready for our lesson.

On a Tuesday morning, we have swimming, so need to bring our kits in for this. We usually leave our PE kits in school for the half term, and take them home just before the holidays.

We bring our books and reading records to school each day, and change them when we have finished reading them. This happens during the week when we share our books with Mrs Curphey.

Each week, homework is set up for us on Sumdog. Sumdog is a fun website, which helps us practice our maths skills through playing games. It is set up for us to complete on a Thursday. We also get spelling homework too. This happens every other Thursday, and we are tested on the spellings during the Tuesday of the second week. We practice our spellings during the week at school, too.

Below, you will find blogs that we write, to share all of the special memories we make in this class. Feel free to check them out ðŸ˜€ 

Tuesday 23rd June 2020

Good morning, Discoverers, 

I hope that you had a lovely day in the sunshine yesterday 😀

How are you finding statistics so far?

Here are your questions for today’s maths task?

Let me know if you need a hand with any of them. 

 

Yesterday, in English,  we looked at pairs of things, where one comes after the other. In the story, there is a particular emphasis on the second outcome being more positive than the first. Especially rain (miserable) rainbows (wonderful), clouds (dull) sun (bright).

Can you think of any pairings, where the first thing is more positive than the second. For example: lots of ice-cream before feeling sick, long walk before big blisters. 

You could write your pairs, or draw them, which ever you would prefer 😀

 

Yesterday, you drew your journey in life so far, and today, we are going to look at this journey. 

Just as Christians have particular celebrations throughout their journey e.g. Christenings, marriages, Christmas etc. I would like you to think about which celebrations have been most important in your life so far. 

It may be a Christian celebration, or it may be one of your own. 

You could add them to your journey, if you haven’t already, or write about them separately. I would love to see them 😀 

Have a great day everybody, 

Mrs Taylor 

 

Monday 22nd June 2020

Good morning, Discoverers,

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend, and managed to enjoy the ever-changing weather.

It certainly helped with our rain and cloud experiments!

We are going to move on to learning about statistics, in maths this week.

We have looked at this in class previously, so hopefully it will come back to you when reading the questions I have attached.

Statistics is looking at data, which is usually in the form of a table, a chart or a graph, and analysing this.

Today, I want you to simply focus on the graph that you have been given, and see if you can answer the questions related.

Then, using the information in each table, create two bar charts to represent this. Use the bar chart in the first question to help you lay out your own.

 

This week, in English, we are continuing to look at our story: Rain Before Rainbows.

In the story, there are many examples where something comes before something else. For example: rain before rainbows, clouds before sun.

Today, I would like you to try and think of some other examples of this. For example: closed eyes before dreams, clean wellies before muddy walks, etc.

 

We are going to be learning about RE this week, and focusing on two key questions:

Why do some people think that life is a journey? What significant experiences mark this?

Today, I want you to think about your life so far. Do you think that it has been a journey?

To help you answer this question, you can draw a map of your life so far.

You can do this however you like: you may wish to draw key events on a timeline, or write captions along a road.

Get creative, and have fun 😀

Have a wonderful day,

Mrs Taylor 

Friday 19th June 2020

Happy Friday, Discoverers, 

I hope you’re having a great week so far 😀

Today, in English, we are going to be creating a piece of art. 

I would like you to listen to the story again: Rain Before Rainbows, and then draw a picture that represents how you feel when you listen to it. 

It may be how you feel at a particular point in the story, or the overall feeling you get after listening to the whole thing. 

You can draw anything, or simply use colours to capture your mood. 

It would be great if you could write a sentence underneath your picture, explaining why you have drawn this. 

Here is the link to the story, incase you would like to read it yourself: http://stayhome.walker.co.uk/rainbows/pdf/Rain_Before_Rainbows.pdf

 

Here are the answers for yesterday’s maths questions. How did you get on? 

In maths today, I would like you to answer this word problem. 

Try to explain your answer as thoroughly as you can, and use an example to prove your point. 

Continuing with our weather theme, today you could make a raingauge. 

A rain gauge is a tool for measuring the amount of rain that has been produced. 

Follow these simple instructions, and let me know how much rain there is where you live. 

Have a great day, and a wonderful weekend, 

Mrs Taylor 

Thursday 18th June 2020

Good morning, Discoverers, 

Today, in English, we are going to be focusing on a line from our story: ‘and treasure to find…’. 

What is treasure to you? I would like to think about this question today, and consider the things that are precious to you. 

I would like you to draw a treasure box, and inside, draw all of your special things. 

You may draw actual objects, people, places, emotions etc. 

 

Here are the answers for yesterday’s questions. 

Today, we are moving on to converting hours into minutes. 

There are 60 minutes in 1 hour. Do you know which calculation will help us to work out the conversions?

That’s right! We will need to multiply each hour by 60. 

 

 

In science today, we are going to be learning about evaporation. 

Yesterday, we looked at evaporation as part of the water cycle.

This week, I thought it would be fun for you to do another practical experiment. 

You are going to find out how long it takes for a puddle to evaporate. 

To do this, simply chalk around a puddle outside, and make a note of the time, then wait until the puddle has evaporated and see how long it took. 

I would love to hear your answers, and see how big the puddles are that you’ve chosen to investigate. 

 

Have a great day Discoverers, 

Mrs Taylor 

Wednesday 17th June 2020

Good morning, Discoverers, 

In English today, we are going to be focusing on another line from Rain Before Rainbows:

‘Friends who will help us, courageous and kind. A rope to hold on to’ 

Here, the friends have been referred to as ‘a rope to hold on to’, which is a metaphor for their support. 

Today, I would like you to think of any metaphors that can describe the people who are special to you. 

For example, you may refer to your adults at home as: A quilt to keep me warm. This would suggest that you feel warm and safe when your family are around. 

Think of as many different metaphors as you can, and write them down however you would prefer.

 

Today, in maths, we are going to be converting minutes into hours. 

In order to do this, we know that there are 60 minutes in 1 hour. Therefore, we can divide the number of minutes by 60, and this will help us find how many hours there are. 

 

 

In science today, we are going to be learning about the water cycle. 

I would like you to watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5gFI3pMvoI

Then, draw a picture, illustrating the water cycle. Remember to add key vocabulary to your picture.

Have a great day,

Mrs Taylor 

Tuesday 16th June 2020

Good morning, Discoverers, 

How did your discussions with family go yesterday? Did you manage to think of some points to support your answer in English? 

A line from Rain Before Rainbows is: A map that will guide us when troubles arise. 

Today, I would like you to think about how you would like your future to look. Think of the places you would like to visit, and the things that you may achieve. Then, draw a map of the things that you believe will be included within your future. 

 

Here are the answers for yesterday’s maths questions. 

Today, we are converting minutes into seconds. Can you think about which calculation we may need to do, to convert from minutes to seconds?

You’re right! We would need to multiply the minutes by sixty, because there are sixty seconds in one minute. 

Have a go, and see how you get on. It may help to write down your six times table, and remember, sixty is simply six multiplied by ten. 

 

Does rain always come from dark clouds? This is the question I would like you to try and answer in science this week. 

Here I have a cloud colour chart, you can print it out, or make your own. 

Each time you see it raining outside, look through the middle of the colour chart, and make a note of the number in the colour which matches the colour of the cloud. 

If you do this for around seven rainy days, you may be able to answer this question. 

Have fun 😀

Mrs Taylor

 

Monday 15th June 2020

Good morning Discoverers, 

How was your weekend? Great I hope!

This week in English, we will continue to focus on our new book: Rain Before Rainbows. 

Today, I would like you to watch the video again, and try to notice any change which happens throughout. For example: the weather, the time, the place etc. 

Your task is to then discuss this question with an adult: is change a good thing? 

Try to explain your answer using examples, whether you decided to choose that it is a good thing, it is not a good thing, or that you believe it’s both. 

You do not need to write anything down, unless of course you would prefer this. This important part of your task is the discussion that you have. 

 

Here is my answer for Friday’s question. How did you do?

This week, we are going to learn about time. 

Today, I would like you to convert seconds into minutes and seconds. 

To do this, you need to divide the amount of seconds by 60, because there are 60 seconds in a minute, and then if you have any left over, these will be the remaining seconds. 

We are going to continue learning science this week, but we will be focusing on the weather, as this is a key theme throughout Rain Before Rainbows. 

There has been a lot of cloud recently, and today I would like you to use this cloud wheel, to help you name the different types of clouds. 

You can print it out, or make your own. 

Throughout the week, see if you can match the wheel to the clouds in the sky, and make a note of the clouds that you see. 

 

For once, lets hope there are clouds for us to identify,

 

Mrs Taylor 

 

Friday 12th June 2020

Hi there Discoverers, 

I have been happy to hear and see all of the lovely activities that have been keeping you busy during the rainy weather. As well as school work, you continue to find creative ways to entertain yourself, well done!

In English today, we are going to be focusing on the weather. Within our new story: Rain Before Rainbows, you might remember that the weather is a key theme running through the book. 

Today, I would like you to think of all the different types of weather, and write them in their own bubble on a piece of paper. Then, coming off of the weathers, it would be great if you could write down all of the different words that describe the particular weather. For example: Rainy – wet, damp, dull, miserable etc. 

Try to think of adjectives, which describe what the weather looks, feels and sounds like: it may even be appropriate to link some smells to it too. 

 

Here is my answer for yesterday’s maths questions. How many amounts did you find?

Today, I would like you to try and work out which items belong to which children. You may need to add some different amounts of money together to help you. 

Then, you will look to see which items you are able to buy within a particular limit of money. Try to find lots of combinations of items for your money. 

 

Yesterday, in science, we focused on the dangers of deforestation, and we looked at why we should try to stop this. Today, we are going to focus on how to protect other plants and nature. 

Watch this video, which provides lots of useful things that we can do to help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg_lLaGTu7M&feature=emb_logo

Then, it would be great if you could create a poster, advertising the wonderful things that humans can do, to help protect plants and nature. 

You could draw your poster, or write catchy headlines, or a mixture of both. 

 

Have fun,

 

Mrs Taylor 

Thursday 11th June 2020

Good morning Discoverers, 

I hope that you had a great night’s sleep last night, and are ready for a new day 🙂

In English today, you are going to use Tuesday’s list of differences between night and day, and create a setting description which focuses on the nighttime. 

You worked excellently with your daytime paragraph, and again, I would like you to think about including adjectives, similes and metaphors in today’s. 

Remember to describe what you can hear, see, touch, taste and smell, if all of these are appropriate. The more the better! 

If you would like to, you could write your setting description in the style of a poem, and it could be written in any shape or format. 

Well done on your efforts for yesterday’s maths problem. You worked through this patiently, and managed to work out which amount you would prefer. Here is my answer for you, so you have an idea of how you would explain the reasoning for it. 

Today, I have another problem for you, which not only requires you to find a particular amount, but it also wants you to find more answers, that meet the same criteria. 

Again, work slowly through the problem and try to find as many combinations as you can. 

In science today, we are going to be looking at the effects of deforestation. 

Here is a video for you to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFcIxfc8nCg&feature=emb_logo

For today’s science work, it would be great if you could create a poster to help stop deforestation. 

To make the poster effective, you could include some of the problems that deforestation causes. 

I hope that you all have a great day,

 

Mrs Taylor 

Wednesday 10th June 2020

Happy Wednesday Discoverers,

I hope you had a great day yesterday. I have been, as always, impressed with the work you have been showing me, and the tremendous effort that you have been putting in to it. Thank you. 

Today in English, we are going to continue looking at different themes from our next focus story, ‘Rain Before Rainbows’. Today we will be focusing on ‘daytime’. 

I would like you to use your list of differences from yesterday, to help you create a setting description for the daytime. This paragraph would usually include lots of adjectives, similes and metaphors, and simply describes a scene during the day. 

To make it more interesting, try to include descriptions of things that stimulate people’s senses, such as what you can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. 

Even though the weather is a little dull today, why don’t you find a nice scene outside to describe? It could be in your garden, or out on a walk, or simply be a description of things you imagine during the daytime. 

 

How are you finding working with money in maths, this week? From what I have seen you are doing really well 😀

I have uploaded my answers from yesterday, but don’t forget, you may have different combinations of coins, which still add up to the same amount. If you combination is different to mine, ask an adult at home to check it for you.

Today we are focusing on a money problem. 

Try to work through the problem slowly, figure out which operations you may need to use, and then give me your answer, with an explanation for it. 

 

In science today, we are going to look at the differences between plants during the different seasons? 

Here is today’s video for you to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFVOI9Duj8M&feature=emb_logo

After you have watched the video, I would like you to draw a tree which is in Spring, then Summer, then Autumn and finally, Winter. You will draw four trees in total, but each of them will look differently, because they change throughout the year. 

 

Have a lovely day everybody, 

 

Mrs Taylor