Data Handling

We made our own survey about whatever we wanted and went to other classes and asked if we could do a survey. Ailsa did favourite Disney movies and Leo did favourite Minecraft skin. We also learnt how to read tally charts, tables and bar charts. We were really good at that!

Adding 3-Digit Numbers

We were learning how to add biggest numbers like 235 + 458. We had to remember to carry if it went to more than 10. We found it tricky but then kinda easy.

Volume

We were thinking about volume and how much space things take up. We can tell you which thing holds more liquid and what cars or trucks are bigger or smaller. We can read scales with litres and half a litre like 2 and a half litres or 3 and a half litres.

By Leo F and Ailsa

Time Duration

We learned how long it is between a time for example how long is it from 3:00pm to 3:15pm - how long is that? We would say 15 minutes. We also did harder ones that lasted for lots of hours like 4:45pm to 8:20pm. It was much easier when it was only 15 minutes, but when it was lots of hours it was much harder!

Triangles

We looked at different types of triangles like scalene, right, obtuse, acute, isosceles and equilateral. We made a fancy circle with all the different information about them like how many equal sides they have or how big the angles are. Then we learned how to work out all the angles inside a triangle. Did you know they add up to 180 degrees?!!!!!

Division with Decimals

We have been learning how to use decimals instead of remainders for example 51 ÷ 2 = 25.5 instead of 25 r 1. We found it quite tricky at the start and still need to do a bit more practise, but we know we will understand it if we practice more.

By Fay and Sophia

In maths we have been learning about algebra. We saw how letters are sometimes used instead of numbers like a code. Like 7 + b = 19 so b = 12. The b is a letter but it is also the number 12. Miss Itcovitz also gave us challenge questions like 3x + 2 = 14 so x = 4.

Then we learned about coordinates. It has to be the x coordinate then the y coordinate but most of us made the mistake of doing y then x. We made a variety of animals including snakes, lions, birds, bees, foxes, fish and dogs. 

Now we are learning about numbers less than 1 - decimals! We have been looking at tenths and hundredths for example 3.68 = 3 units, 6 tenths and 8 hundredths. Then we learned how to calculate one tenth or three tenths up or down from a number. For example, six tenths more than 1.2 is 1.8. We also used number lines to help us learn how to use decimals. Some of us found it a bit tricky at the start, but now we are feeling confident. 

By Fatima and Mohit

In Maths we have been learning about angles and converting weights.

When we were learning about angles, Miss Itcovitz showed us how to use a protractor and then we had to use this skill to measure angles in of lots of different ways. A lot of people found the context tricky because we kept measuring from the wrong side of the protractor and using the wrong scale! We measured angles inside geometric animals, inside our names and angles on a football pitch. We even created our own mini golf course where we had to have a certain number of different 2D shapes and specific angles within the course. We could decorate it any way we wanted.

Now we are learning about measuring weight. We began this section with how to convert between grams and kilograms and some problem solving questions about weight which we did really well.

By Callum, Bilal and Alex

For the past few weeks we have been learning about climate change. We talked about how weather is temporary like if it is sunny or raining on a day and that climate is the weather in a  place over 30 years. We learnt the different types of climates - polar, temperate, desert (arid), tropical and Mediterranean, and where all of these are on a big world map. 

Next we learnt about what climate change actually is - when the Earth's usual weather changes over many years. Most people think that just means getting hotter but it can also be colder like when an ice age happens. Right now though, it is getting hotter. We had to find out what global warming, greenhouses gases and the greenhouse effect mean. 

We learnt about the Industrial Revolution and how so many factories were built. They cause lots of pollution and made lots of people move to big cities to have a job. We found out more about types of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Did you know cows make methane when they fart?!!!! 

We learnt about the causes of climate change like burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas, deforestation and intensive farming.

Then we thought about the effects of climate change. There are so many! 

• Extreme weather like floods, droughts and storms

• Rising temperatures

• Sea-level rise as glaciers melt. Islands could disappear!

• Erosion - when rock is rubbed away by wind and water

• Animals and plant dying if they can't adapt like polar bears

• Buildings, roads and trains can be ruined by extreme weather

• We could run out of food or have prices go up if bad weather ruins farms and our food

• Pollution from factories and cars

• Warmer weather means some diseases can spread easier

• Air pollution causes breathing problems like asthma

We made really cool posters all about this.

Then we talked about all the things we can do to help stop climate change - the whole world, our country, our school and us. Use public transport or electric cars, eat local food, recycle, turn off lights and devices when we're not using them and having showers not baths. We made campaign posters to tell everyone what they can do.

Climate change is not a good thing. Although everyone has to change to stop it and it seems impossible, everyone can do some small things to help.

By Amy, Mariam and Leo d F

We have been learning about Natural Disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes and wildfires. 

Did you know?

• There is an area in the Pacific Ocean called the Ring of Fire where 2/3 of the world's volcanoes are. 90% of the world's earthquakes also happen here.

• The Earth has 4 layers - the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core.

• The inner core can go up to 5,500ºC!

• The world volcano comes from the island "Vulcano" which is named after the Roman god of fire - Vulcan. Romans believed that if Vulcan was angry then the volcano would erupt to they tried to be food.

• There are 3 types of volcanoes - active, dormant and extinct. 

• There are volcanoes in the ocean that erupt under the water

• Magma is liquid rock inside a volcano, but lava is the name for liquid rock after is has come out of the volcano

• The largest active volcano in the world is Mauna Loa in Hawaii

• Some famous volcanoes from around the world are Mount St Helens in America, Mount Vesuvius in Italy, Mount Fuji in Japan and Popocatepetl in Mexico

• Mars has the largest known volcano called Olympus Mons

• The volcanoes on Triton (Neptune's largest moon) don't put out lava, they put out ice!

• The Earth is made up of tectonic plates which are always moving

• The edges of plates are called fault lines - they can rub together, go towards each other or move away from each other. This is where earthquakes happen

• Earthquakes are measure using seismographs 

• A tornado is a swirling funnel of air that comes down from clouds

• Storm chasers go into storms like tornadoes to film them and collect information about what is happening to try to help keep us safe

• Tornado Alley in America is where most tornadoes happen. It goes right down the middle of the country

By Jessica G and Ben

Our class made presentations and models all about a Natural Disaster that we found interesting and we got to present them at the STEM Fair. In the morning we chose who was going to go down to the gym hall for each year group. We explained our projects as well as showed off all our posters and art linked to our Natural Disasters. 

We also got to see other peoples' projects in different classes like how to make a dam, making windmills out of recycled paper, designing bridges using art straws, how to save polar bears and red pandas and lots of other ones linked to science.  

Jessica C and Kriya

In art we created leaf lungs to represent the fact that trees are the lungs of the Earth. We could choose from a few different styles and be creative.

We also made half and half art linked to climate change where one half of the picture was a bad side with all the negative effects and the other side was the good side with all the positive effects. Again we could choose the style for example using a world, a leaf or a tree in the middle.

Then we created art thinking about the small creatures that live on our planet that could be hurt by climate change. We could choose any habitat we liked and had to draw a magnifying glass with an animal inside like it was zoomed in on them.

By Stanley and Emily

Thank you tothe charity Show Racism the Red Card who came to our classroom to teach us all about Racism. We talked about stereotypes including what others think of Scottish people, different types of racist situations and what we can do to help if we see someone being racist. We learned that it's not always safe for us to directly get involved but there are other options.