Have a wonderful Summer Y5.5 class of 2011

Dear All,
I know it has taken me a week to put this good bye message on the Blog but in my defence, I have packed up my whole house and flown to the other side of the world since school ended on 6th July.
I was so touched by your generosity on the last day and I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate your wonderful words and my very special gifts. I will treasure those memories.
You have been a great class. yes, you DID drive me NUTS at times, but we also had a very special year and I have seen you all grow as people. I hope you will remember Year 5 with fondness.
I will continue my Blog with my new class but of course, it will be somewhat different!
At least you can keep track of what I am doing and see my new victims (pupils).

Lots of love to you all and may you all have a fabulous summer.
Think of me as I start work on 20th July! and Hannah and James start school on 1st August!!!

Bye for now,
Mrs. Ward
XXXX
PS the picture is of our new house in Cebu. xXX

Today in Y5.5

Hi Folks,
Nice to see Nisha back with us today after her short trip :-)
Today it is Arabic homework day, so just do the Daily Maths part 2 please.
If you are leaving early (the ones who have already given me a letter or email about this) can you make sure your return any outstanding library and text books to me before you leave please?
Thanks and have a wonderful evening.
Mrs. Ward.
XXX
PS for those who had very good reasons for not completing yesterday's homework, please do it tonight.
X

Today's Homework

Hi Folks,
Today was such an emotional day with my surprise first thing this morning. I couldn't believe the presentation. I was blown away by your lovely comments. XXX
Today was also Hannah's last day which was very sad :-( But I KNOW we will keep in touch.

Yes, there is homework as we still have a few things left to do to round off the year.

Daily Maths 1
Spelling Activity
PCM was it 98??? It's the one about using known facts... Sorry I am at home now and can't quite remember the page!


Anyhow. Good luck. I am not going to give you new reading books as we have to have them all re-shelved this week, but I will let you borrow from the class library.

Love,
Mrs. Ward
XXX

Final Day: Competition Day!

HI Folks, Well, you know what they say: All good things must come to an end. Today marked our last day on the beach and it was another brilliant day. You had to work as teams this morning for a series of tricky challenges. Everyone was trying their best for the team which was great to see. Enjoy the pictures...
Tomorrow: Back to reality. POETRY RECITAL day. If you didn't do yours last Wednesday you will have to do it tomorrow as we have to choose the class winner tomorrow.
See you then.
Mrs. Ward XXX

Day Three: Reef expedition and MAN hunt.

Hi Folks,
Another amazing time was had by all today. You kayaked out to the fore reef and did some amazing snorkelling this morning, then came back to the beach for a well earned lunch. After lunch you had to hunt the teachers. I thought I was so smart swimming out to the other side of the island but you spotted me from the beach and Ryan and Faisal jumped in a kayak to catch me. Enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow we will have a great Competition Day and the Barbeque, so make sure you know what you are bringing along...
Mrs. Ward XXX

Day Two.. Developing Kayak skills and reef snorkelling

Hi Folks,
Another super day at the beach! Working as a team, making a raft and sailing it back to shore, snorkelling the reef and more..... See you tomorrow for Day Three...
Mrs.Ward. XXX

Outdoor Education Day 1: Kayak skills and snorkelling

Hi Folks,
GREAT first day. Well done to all of you, we had lots of compliments from the staff. :-)
Enjoy these pics of day 1.
Mrs. Ward.
XXX

Poetry web sites

Hi Folks,
Here are a couple of good web sites if you need inspiration for the Poetry Recitation Competition. If you have poetry books at all, all the better, but here are some ideas if you are stuck:

http://www.poetry4kids.com/poems
http://www.pitara.com/talespin/poems.asp
http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/poems.html

Have fun. Please choose your poem BY this Wednesday and give me a printed out hard copy. We will do the class competition NEXT Wednesday on 22nd June.
Good Luck and be INSPIRED!

Mrs. Ward
XXX

One week until we hit the BEACH!!

Hi Folks,
Just noticed on the countdown that this time next week we will be packing our bags for the beach. It has finally come around. The week you've been waiting for all year!
You'll get a letter this week reminding you of what to bring (and what not to bring) with you each day.
Mrs. W. XXX

Poetry Recitation Competition

Hi Folks,
You may have seen in the Primary Post that we are having a Poetry Recitation Competition at school. We will talk about this in class this week but I wanted to give you some words of inspiration from my favourite living poet, Michael Rosen. Recently, he visited a Primary School in the UK and the Year 6 children interviewed him. One question they asked was:

Can you give us a tip on how to read and perform a poem aloud?

If you're reading and performing on your own, you have to think that you're an actor. You're making the sounds and pictures of the poem live in other people's heads. You have the words to do this with,which means that every word and phrase has to have the right sound. You have to think of these words as flying into people's heads. If you say them too quietly or too quickly, they won't fly. You have to think of your voices, faces and bodies as part of the way in which people will enjoy what you're saying. This means thinking about how you stand, how you look, and what movements you make. If a poem is very rhythmic, you may want to make your head or your hands or your body carry the rhythm. If it's several of you performing a poem, think how you can use your different voices. It's possible for a 'chorus' (that's a group of people who aren't saying the main part of the poem) can carry emotion, rhythm and feeling. They could do this by repeating words as an echo, by being the voice of say the last line of each verse, or the first line, or single words that you want to emphasise. It might be good to mime some of the poem or alternatively to turn some of the moments into a 'tableau' or a still photo shot. A chorus can also make a rhythm behind the main voice by whispering a sound or a word. This could start before the poem begins, carry on through the poem and carry on afterwards. It's a good idea to play around with many of these ideas just to see which effect sounds best.


That should give you something to think about!

See you tomorrow.
Mrs. Ward
XXX

Happy Weekend (after a teary end to the week!)

Hi Folks,
A huge thanks to Luke who helped me get to the end of 'The Butterfly Lion' this afternoon. I got to the very last page and the tears overcame me and I couldn't finish it. As I said, it gets me every time.
Some people said they did not get the story as we were leaving and I did not have a chance to explain...

The author Michael Morpurgo wrote this as an introduction to the book (preface):


The Butterfly Lion grew from several magical roots: the memories of a small boy who tried to run away from school a long time ago; a book about a pride of white lions discovered by Chris McBride; a chance meeting in a lift with Virginia McKenna, actress and champion of lions and all creatures born free; a true story of a soldier of the First World War who rescued some circus animals in France from certain death; and a sighting from a train of a white horse carved out on a chalky hillside near Westbury in Wiltshire.

The small boy in the story is HIM (Michael Morpurgo). He did try to run away from his boarding school, that bit is true. There was a pride (family group) of white lions which Chris McBride wrote about. There is a woman called Virginia McKenna who is an actress and who was really a huge supporter of lions (Google Her!) He used SOME true things and then intermingled it with fiction parts to make it into a great story.

Was Michael really met by the ghost widow of Albert Andrews, who took him into her old house, gave him tea and scones and told him about Bertie, the white lion and her life as they grew up? And she did all this even though she had died over ten years before? That's the magic of great storytelling...
Somehow or other Michael knew that she wanted him to keep the chalk lion clean and clear, so that he (and Bertie) was never forgotten.

Hope that helps you to appreciate it a bit more.

By the way, at the end of the day one of you walked off with the book. Can you please bring it back on Saturday as I need to return it to the library. you can fight over it on your library day.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Mrs. Ward XXX

Tuesday already!

Hi Folks,
Here is your homework for today:
1. Daily Maths 3
2. PCM Page 82 (Rounding Decimals)
3. Decorate the TWO separate covers for the Plants and Feelings topics. You need to do one that has the word FEELINGS on it somewhere prominent, and the other one must have the word PLANTS on it somewhere. You can do it on a computer as long as you have the words on there. You can draw or import images which you think match with the theme of the topic. Stick the FEELINGS cover on the outside front cover of your new ITU book. Stick the PLANTS one on the back cover. It's as simple as that folks! You MUST remember to bring your books in to school tomorrow as we need to finish the 'scream' work and other work in that book.
4. Read and work on Log tasks.
5 Spelling test tomorrow.

Plus if you have not yet brought in your instrument, the deadline for those is BY Wednesday 15th June, just so you know.

See you tomorrow,
Mrs. Ward xxx
PS hope you like the new green look of the Blog to go with 'Plants'. Actually it also goes with 'Feelings' as I love trees and they make me feel happy. :-)

Today in Y5.5

Hi Folks,
We finally had the rest of our presentations today about Vision Aid and Sightsavers. They were very impressive, so well done to all of you. I can see how much you have grown in your awareness of the issues faced by many countries in the world who are not lucky enough to have good eye care available.

Today's homework is Daily Maths Part Two
A Comprehension about NOISE
Reading and reading log tasks.

You all did really well with your rounding of decimals today and your homework tomorrow will be about that, so don't forget how easy it is, and what to do!!!

Keep those straggling musical instruments coming in guys.
Mrs. W.
XXX

Welcome Back! and today's homework

Hi Folks, Well I hope you all made the most of your day off yesterday! The Ward family had 12 hours of people packing boxes of our stuff ready for shipping to Cebu. I can tell you I have gone right off the sound of brown parcel tape (and I wasn't that keen on it to begin with!!!)
Today is officially Arabic homework day, BUT you still have daily maths and some of you have a spelling activity and your handwriting sample to finish. (Some people managed to finish it in class).
Sorry to those who still have not had a chance to do their Vision Aid or Sightsavers presentations. Time ran away with us on Wednesday and also today, as we had to fit in changing everyone's reading books and new spelling lists which we normally do on Saturdays. It's always busy in Y5.5.
Tomorrow we WILL do the remaining presentations so be prepared.
Quite a few people have now brought in their musical instruments now and I have been VERY impressed with the quality. I will add some pictures tomorrow so the rest of you know what you're aiming for.
Until tomorrow...
Mrs. Ward.
XXX

Today in Y5.5

Hi Folks,
Today is Arabic homework, but please do Daily Maths 2, READ, look at your spellings and make sure you are getting prepared for your Vision Aid/ Sightsavers presentation.
We have had a few instruments in, so thanks to you guys...I hope others will soon follow.
Mrs. W.
XXX

Today's Homework

Hi Folks,
Just in case you forgot:
Daily Maths 1
Finish 'Never Mind the Watermelons'
50 Red Caps comprehension. Finish if not finished in lesson time today.
Reading and log tasks.
Spelling list (revision list this week) make sure you know them and their meanings.

Don't forget you need to have your Vision Aid/ Sightsavers presentation ready for this Wednesday. If you are ready early we will do some on Tuesday to break it up.

Plus your musical instrument. Remember it should be percussion,

See you tomorrow.
Mrs. W.
X

Eye, Eye!

HI Folks,
So, can YOU guess whose eye is whose?
When I was downloading these, it really struck me not only how different our eyes are, but how beautiful they are. Have you ever looked closely into your eyes? It's worth it. Sorry some of them are not in focus, we had quite a few attempts and it was really difficult to get good shots...
Mrs. W.
X