Weekly Update:

Grade 5:

Language Arts:

We began the week with some creative writing practice using a variety of visual prompts and some free reading time which I am keen to encourage every week.
Moving on, in literacy we began the 'Mystery' unit by, oddly enough, examining 'Scooby Doo'! This allowed the class to discuss and identify key features of mystery story telling, apply this to other media ( in this case a graphic novel style piece) and to use these to form predictions based on the evidence they identified. This will develop in to a small drama piece in which the grade 5 students will be producing their own mystery drama scene, forming part of their first marked work.

Within our communication skills lessons this week we tackled the concept of 'Classification'. The students looked at classification in the world around us, what keys are used and developed this in to their own using objects and them images. We will be extending this next week to include alphabetical ordering and it application in libraries and other sources of information such as indexes. 

Finally at the end of the week the novel study in to 'Coraline' began, we discussed first impressions and the authors use of 'Optical Illusions' in his illustrations. We then listened to the first two chapters and found out the main characters .

Art:

In Art and Design we have started to look at the '7 Formal elements' those factors which are vital to all art work. Our first element is 'line', there will be some examples of the excellent work produced online soon!


Grade 6:

After starting the unit 'Your Choices' last week, the grade 6 class moved on to the topic, 'Operation Brainwash' The objective of this class was to open up our thinking about what is real and what can be manipulated in mass media. The extended in to the concept of self-esteem and the impact that TV, magazines and the internet can have on young people, both positively and negatively. I have been hugely impressed by the level of maturity shown by the class and the hard work put in!

In communication skills, in an extension from grade 5, we revised and applied classification techniques but extended this to include the imbedded concepts of dichotomous keys. This will be linked with the groups library study skills sessions on a Friday where I am encouraging use of wider ranges of sources when gathering information for projects. 

As it stand we have only just opened the novel study, 'Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh'. To date we have discussed one of the main topics, animal testing, its place in the world and our viewpoints.

Grade 7:

Our two topics this week in literacy require some very mature minds, some empathy and focus. I am delighted, as normal with the grade 7, their focus and commitment to their studies has been nothing short of excellent.. Tackling the short poem 'First they came' and the the lyrics of the song 'Universal Soilder' we worked on figurative meanings in text and spoken word. This up-comming week we will be reading the piece 'Resisting Hitler'.
We have also completed out class discussion surrounding the topic 'Are parents always right?' 

The grade 7 communication skills objective this week involved sentence structure and how we can apply simple variation in our sentences to improve both flow and interest level. We worked on simple, compound and complex variations, looked at using dialogue in our work and applying commas and colons. 

We have begun our novel study after working on the concept of 'Scapegoating and Stereotyping'  and watching a short film surrounding the holocaust, its causes, outcomes and impacts. 


Grade 8:

After beginning the week with some free reading and discussion of their book choices the grade 8 moved on with their literacy studies involving 'Globalization and the concept of being a Global Citizen'. In groups we explored how one person could possible make a difference, linking this to the Rosa Parks discussion from last week. We then used a T-diagram to consider the pros and cons of globalization and watched a short film surrounding the concept. 

On Thursday the class looked in to audience and purpose, using PIE to remember the key terms: PERSUADE, INFORM and ENTERTAIN

In our novel studies we have to date explored William Golding's life, influences and possible impacts on his writing. 


I have been hugely impressed all week, some minor issues with no equipment concern me, especially higher up the school and I will be writing home if this continues.