LB6 Week 6 Friday 1 June
31/5/2018
Learning Journey
What an amazing way to end the Time Tunnel unit. Thank you to all the parents and families who came out to participate in the amazing trivia quiz! The learners really had a chance to showcase all of the knowledge, skills, and understanding that they picked up over the past few months. A HUGE congratulations should go to the winning team One Boy who narrowly edged out the second and third place contenders MKD and Z Minus. Thank-you’s should also be extended to the A-Team (parents) who, although they tried valiantly, could not keep up with the outstanding learners in MP3
iCAN’s Got Talent
Another iCANS’s Got Talent has come and gone, with the winners this year being 6!
6R worked together to perform a modern dance mash up of some well known songs. The learners had lots of fun putting it altogether and are very proud to be this year’s iCAN’s Got Talent winners! Special mentions to the runners up Brandon, Nina, and Noya.
Literacy
This week in literacy Y6 have started creating their own personalised story books to share with Y3. The books focus on a superhero from each class and will tell an exciting story. After editing and illustrating, year 6 will eventually go to Y3 and read their books aloud.
Y5 hosted their first ever poetry slam this week! The learners hit the stage in an open mic style showdown – belting out some haiku, free verse, and acrostic poetry. The quality of the verse was outstanding and the audience loved every second of it. Well done to those brave learners who shared their rhymes with us up on the big stage.
Maths
Y5 this week became the learning facilitators. The lessons that they spent last week preparing, were delivered this week with such professionalism it made me question my own worth! They learners displayed their knowledge of the subjects, created worksheets, explained the hows and whys and used cooperative strategies to boot! Well done Y5 – Your, slightly jealous, learning facilitators were very impressed with what you produced!
This week Year 6 , inspired by their visit to the Puzzle Chamber, have been designing their own maths themed board games. The learners have worked in groups to plan, design and make their games, ready for year 5 to play next week.
Last weeks talk topics about music was a nice one, I was pleasantly surprised with the lack of chat about Justin Bieber and Beyonce; but was also slightly disappointed and taken aback when the rock classics were referred to as the old peoples music… Anyway, next week is the last of the talk topics and its a cracker of a theme: Holiday plans. Are you going back to your home country for the summer? Are you going to a new country/ place? Will you be visiting family/ friends?
LB6W6 Friday 1 June
31/5/2018
Learning Journey
International Mindedness is the final subject in our Time Tunnel unit. This week we have thought about what makes up the foundations of a future society. We created building blocks to show the key elements that would be needed to ensure that the future generations were more successful than some have been in the past.
Football
On Sunday Mr Tom took several children from Year 6 to watch Svay Rieng play against Beuong Ket. The game was scheduled to be played at Olympic Stadium but was changed last minute to the Old Stadium. Beuong Ket won the game 3-1 , much to Mr Tom’s disappointment, but all the children had a good time. Some even managed to get on TV!
Literacy
This week in literacy Y5 have been creating our own poetry collections in anticipation for our upcoming poetry slam. We have explored a range of styles, from acrostic to free verse to gain inspiration for our own work. We needed to think about how we were going to present these on stage so that they would best engage the listener.
In literacy, Y6 have retold the story of Pandora’s Box. Initially, the learners acted out the story using their knowledge of the characters to inform their interpretations. They then reviewed the features of play scripts with the view to writing their own. Each learner re-wrote the story of Pandora’s Box with a twist.
Maths
In Y5 we have started to review our maths learning. We are doing this by becoming the learning facilitator for a lesson! Our task is to take a specific learning goal and then teach it to the class. We need to create a power point to help us, use cooperative structures and differentiation, and then finally teach it to the class. This week we have been creating the lessons, next week we will deliver them. What a time to be alive!
Y6 are a week ahead and have already become the learning facilitators. Using their knowledge of a range of topics they were able to plan and deliver lessons. It was great to see the learners reflect on their understanding and consolidate their learning from across the year.
Stars of the Week !
All the talk this week was about transitions – who would be staying or going? Who would be your new learning facilitator. What an interesting topic. Now that we all know, we are putting that behind us and next week talking about Music. Who is your favourite artist? What genres of music do you like? Have you heard a great song recently?
Learning Journey
As we near the end of the unit time tunnel MP3 continue with geography. Creating a scale drawing of Angkor Wat proved more challenging than anyone expected. This task involved skills from a range of different subject areas; learners needed to convert between units of measurement (maths), use tools with accuracy (technology) use scale and maps (geography) and research the correct dimensions of the temples (information technology). The end results are sensational!
Literacy
This week in literacy Y5 have been continuing to explore: personification, similes and metaphors within our poetry unit. We have crafted poems about a range of animals using the simplistic Haiku frame structure. Our poems had to give clues about the animal but needed to follow the line pattern of 5, 7, 5 syllables. Can you guess which animals we were describing?
Deadly carnivore
Skinny flexible body
Venom injector
Shadowy black fur
Magnificent coloured beak
Polished bead-like eyes
Chocolate brown fur
Ripped, muscular light brown legs
Do not mess with him
This week in Literacy Y6 have performed a version of Pandora’s Box. We brought the various characters to life through expression and characterisation. We were able to use our knowledge of play scripts to then write our own. We used the story of Little Red Riding Hood and adapted it for the stage. We thought about accents, storylines and stage directions in order to create a modern version of the traditional tale.
Maths
This week in maths Y5 continued to work with graphs and data. We finished our line graphs before looking at other types. It turns out that some data sets lend themselves better to a particular style of graph! We needed to look at the data and then decide which graph we would use to represent it visually.
This week in maths, Y6 learners have been the teachers! Working with a partner, learners have had to plan a lesson to revise our maths learning this year. Each pair was given a different learning goal alongside the Knowledge, Skills and Understanding break down for their set goal. The learners then used this to complete a blank lesson plan sheet. Next they designed their PowerPoint complete with questions and finally they made their own activity or worksheet. The learners will be delivering their lessons next week to the rest of their class.
Thinkers Reward
Year 5 filled their thinkers pot with beads, and as a reward for displaying the thinkers personal goal they were set a marble run challenge. In this challenge Y5 needed to create a track where a marble would: travel 3m, run both up and down hill, cross a bridge, touch two tables, change directions at least three times, perform a vertical drop of 20cm, go down 7 steps made from Lego, cause a domino effect with 10 dominos, and then finally finish in a plastic cup!
This weeks discussions around birthdays really raised some interesting points. I heard that turning 10 was a much bigger deal than turning 11 – who would have thought? Next week the discussion is all about Transitions. Who will your new Learning Facilitator be next year? Are you moving to a new milepost or school? What are you excited about? Are you feeling any other emotions?
LB6 Week 3 Friday 11th May
8/5/2018
Learning Journey
MP3 continued to focus on the geography part of Time Tunnel this week; again working with maps. For this task we were required to use a map and scale to find the actual distance from one place to another in Cambodia. We then decided to see if we could use that knowledge of scale to create an accurate representation of Angkor Wat. It is proving a remarkably challenging task creating a scaled drawing of this ancient building, even for this sensational bunch of learners. Stay tuned next week to find out how they got on…
Literacy
Y5 have been continuing with poetry this week. We have edited, redrafted, and improved on our original poems through the use of personification and targeted descriptive words which provided the reader with a much richer image. Y5 then began to look at haiku, and are looking forward to writing their own haiku next week.
Y6 have been exploring themes and ideas behind the Greek myth Pandora’s Box. We have used drama to bring characters to life. We needed to make sure that we could read play scripts and identify the various features. Next week we will be choosing a specific Greek myth and then write our own adapted version in the form of a play script.
Maths
Y5 have continued to explore line graphs this week. We have looked at which graphs work best for certain sets of data, and how to accurately choose the right graph for the right set. We created our own charts based on both given data and our own research. Come check out our display as it builds over the next week.
This week in Y6 learners have revised using the four operations with fractions. We have not looked at this since Learning Block 3, so Mr Tom was pleased to see most learners had remembered how to add subtract multiply and divide fractions. We had to spend a small time reviewing how to solve problems with mixed numbers. A very worthwhile week of reviewing.
This weeks talk topic of plastic created a lot of good discussion about how we could be better recycling this material. A lot of learners were surprised to find out exactly how long it takes plastic to biodegrade. Next weeks talk topic is Birthdays. With the Kings Birthday next week it might be a good time to reflect on birthdays: How do we celebrate birthdays? Do all cultures celebrate the same? Is turning 10 more interesting than turning 9 or 11?
LB6 Week 2 Friday 4th May
2/5/2018
iCAN’s Got Talent!
This week saw the semi-finals for the MP3 section of iCAN’s Got Talent. We were witness to a range of acts from this talented milepost.IDK produced a singing and dancing act to a medley of songs, Sebastian the Greatshowed off his mastery of the Rubik’s cube (solving it in 1 min 10 sec) Pagna belted out a beautiful ballad Electricity, Nina tugged at our heart-strings with her own song about iCAN, and finally 6 put together an eclectic modern dance showpiece. Congratulations to all the acts and good luck to those moving into the final!
Learning Journey
In learning journey we continued working on the geography section of out Time Tunnel unit. We looked at how the borders of different civilisations changed over time and tried to find out the reason for this changes. We then looked more closely at maps as a tool for finding our way around! It is important to pay attention to the scale on the map, some things were a lot further away then we thought.
Maths
This week in maths Y6 learners had great fun finishing off their algebra work by writing their own sequences for their partner to find the nth term. They then had to mark each others work and discuss and explain any answers they thought to be wrong and agree on the correct answer using reasoning skills. The children showed great co operation skills and enjoyed learning from each other.
In maths this week Y5 started looking at graphs and data. First we read and interpreted graphs given to us. We solved equations relating to comparison, sum, and difference by interpreting the graphs. After this we moved on to drawing our own graphs based on data given. We needed to choose an appropriate scale, label the axes, and give the graph a title all before plotting the data.
Literacy
In literacy Y6 learners went back in time to read myths and legend tales from the Ancient Greeks. We enjoyed reading about Theseus and the Minotaur and had fun hot seating characters, acting out scenes and discussing the difference between a myth and legend tale and a fairy tale. Children then rewrote the story of Theseus and the Minotaur as a comic strip.
This week in literacy we have been looking at poetry. Using similes, metaphors and imagery we have created poems that personify things in the world around is. We used existing frames to help us with the structure and form of these. Take a look at some examples from Year 5.
LB6 Week 6 Friday 1 June
31/5/2018
Learning Journey
What an amazing way to end the Time Tunnel unit. Thank you to all the parents and families who came out to participate in the amazing trivia quiz! The learners really had a chance to showcase all of the knowledge, skills, and understanding that they picked up over the past few months. A HUGE congratulations should go to the winning team One Boy who narrowly edged out the second and third place contenders MKD and Z Minus. Thank-you’s should also be extended to the A-Team (parents) who, although they tried valiantly, could not keep up with the outstanding learners in MP3
iCAN’s Got Talent
Another iCANS’s Got Talent has come and gone, with the winners this year being 6!
6R worked together to perform a modern dance mash up of some well known songs. The learners had lots of fun putting it altogether and are very proud to be this year’s iCAN’s Got Talent winners! Special mentions to the runners up Brandon, Nina, and Noya.
Literacy
This week in literacy Y6 have started creating their own personalised story books to share with Y3. The books focus on a superhero from each class and will tell an exciting story. After editing and illustrating, year 6 will eventually go to Y3 and read their books aloud.
Y5 hosted their first ever poetry slam this week! The learners hit the stage in an open mic style showdown – belting out some haiku, free verse, and acrostic poetry. The quality of the verse was outstanding and the audience loved every second of it. Well done to those brave learners who shared their rhymes with us up on the big stage.
Maths
Y5 this week became the learning facilitators. The lessons that they spent last week preparing, were delivered this week with such professionalism it made me question my own worth! They learners displayed their knowledge of the subjects, created worksheets, explained the hows and whys and used cooperative strategies to boot! Well done Y5 – Your, slightly jealous, learning facilitators were very impressed with what you produced!
This week Year 6 , inspired by their visit to the Puzzle Chamber, have been designing their own maths themed board games. The learners have worked in groups to plan, design and make their games, ready for year 5 to play next week.
Last weeks talk topics about music was a nice one, I was pleasantly surprised with the lack of chat about Justin Bieber and Beyonce; but was also slightly disappointed and taken aback when the rock classics were referred to as the old peoples music… Anyway, next week is the last of the talk topics and its a cracker of a theme: Holiday plans. Are you going back to your home country for the summer? Are you going to a new country/ place? Will you be visiting family/ friends?
LB6 Week 5 Friday 25th May
25/5/2018
Learning Journey
International Mindedness is the final subject in our Time Tunnel unit. This week we have thought about what makes up the foundations of a future society. We created building blocks to show the key elements that would be needed to ensure that the future generations were more successful than some have been in the past.
Football
On Sunday Mr Tom took several children from Year 6 to watch Svay Rieng play against Beuong Ket. The game was scheduled to be played at Olympic Stadium but was changed last minute to the Old Stadium. Beuong Ket won the game 3-1 , much to Mr Tom’s disappointment, but all the children had a good time. Some even managed to get on TV!
Literacy
This week in literacy Y5 have been creating our own poetry collections in anticipation for our upcoming poetry slam. We have explored a range of styles, from acrostic to free verse to gain inspiration for our own work. We needed to think about how we were going to present these on stage so that they would best engage the listener.
In literacy, Y6 have retold the story of Pandora’s Box. Initially, the learners acted out the story using their knowledge of the characters to inform their interpretations. They then reviewed the features of play scripts with the view to writing their own. Each learner re-wrote the story of Pandora’s Box with a twist.
Maths
In Y5 we have started to review our maths learning. We are doing this by becoming the learning facilitator for a lesson! Our task is to take a specific learning goal and then teach it to the class. We need to create a power point to help us, use cooperative structures and differentiation, and then finally teach it to the class. This week we have been creating the lessons, next week we will deliver them. What a time to be alive!
Y6 are a week ahead and have already become the learning facilitators. Using their knowledge of a range of topics they were able to plan and deliver lessons. It was great to see the learners reflect on their understanding and consolidate their learning from across the year.
Stars of the Week !
All the talk this week was about transitions – who would be staying or going? Who would be your new learning facilitator. What an interesting topic. Now that we all know, we are putting that behind us and next week talking about Music. Who is your favourite artist? What genres of music do you like? Have you heard a great song recently?
LB6 Week 4 Friday 18th May
17/5/2018
Learning Journey
As we near the end of the unit time tunnel MP3 continue with geography. Creating a scale drawing of Angkor Wat proved more challenging than anyone expected. This task involved skills from a range of different subject areas; learners needed to convert between units of measurement (maths), use tools with accuracy (technology) use scale and maps (geography) and research the correct dimensions of the temples (information technology). The end results are sensational!
Literacy
This week in literacy Y5 have been continuing to explore: personification, similes and metaphors within our poetry unit. We have crafted poems about a range of animals using the simplistic Haiku frame structure. Our poems had to give clues about the animal but needed to follow the line pattern of 5, 7, 5 syllables. Can you guess which animals we were describing?
Deadly carnivore
Skinny flexible body
Venom injector
Shadowy black fur
Magnificent coloured beak
Polished bead-like eyes
Chocolate brown fur
Ripped, muscular light brown legs
Do not mess with him
This week in Literacy Y6 have performed a version of Pandora’s Box. We brought the various characters to life through expression and characterisation. We were able to use our knowledge of play scripts to then write our own. We used the story of Little Red Riding Hood and adapted it for the stage. We thought about accents, storylines and stage directions in order to create a modern version of the traditional tale.
Maths
This week in maths Y5 continued to work with graphs and data. We finished our line graphs before looking at other types. It turns out that some data sets lend themselves better to a particular style of graph! We needed to look at the data and then decide which graph we would use to represent it visually.
This week in maths, Y6 learners have been the teachers! Working with a partner, learners have had to plan a lesson to revise our maths learning this year. Each pair was given a different learning goal alongside the Knowledge, Skills and Understanding break down for their set goal. The learners then used this to complete a blank lesson plan sheet. Next they designed their PowerPoint complete with questions and finally they made their own activity or worksheet. The learners will be delivering their lessons next week to the rest of their class.
Thinkers Reward
Year 5 filled their thinkers pot with beads, and as a reward for displaying the thinkers personal goal they were set a marble run challenge. In this challenge Y5 needed to create a track where a marble would: travel 3m, run both up and down hill, cross a bridge, touch two tables, change directions at least three times, perform a vertical drop of 20cm, go down 7 steps made from Lego, cause a domino effect with 10 dominos, and then finally finish in a plastic cup!
This weeks discussions around birthdays really raised some interesting points. I heard that turning 10 was a much bigger deal than turning 11 – who would have thought? Next week the discussion is all about Transitions. Who will your new Learning Facilitator be next year? Are you moving to a new milepost or school? What are you excited about? Are you feeling any other emotions?
LB6 Week 3 Friday 11th May
8/5/2018
Learning Journey
MP3 continued to focus on the geography part of Time Tunnel this week; again working with maps. For this task we were required to use a map and scale to find the actual distance from one place to another in Cambodia. We then decided to see if we could use that knowledge of scale to create an accurate representation of Angkor Wat. It is proving a remarkably challenging task creating a scaled drawing of this ancient building, even for this sensational bunch of learners. Stay tuned next week to find out how they got on…
Literacy
Y5 have been continuing with poetry this week. We have edited, redrafted, and improved on our original poems through the use of personification and targeted descriptive words which provided the reader with a much richer image. Y5 then began to look at haiku, and are looking forward to writing their own haiku next week.
Y6 have been exploring themes and ideas behind the Greek myth Pandora’s Box. We have used drama to bring characters to life. We needed to make sure that we could read play scripts and identify the various features. Next week we will be choosing a specific Greek myth and then write our own adapted version in the form of a play script.
Maths
Y5 have continued to explore line graphs this week. We have looked at which graphs work best for certain sets of data, and how to accurately choose the right graph for the right set. We created our own charts based on both given data and our own research. Come check out our display as it builds over the next week.
This week in Y6 learners have revised using the four operations with fractions. We have not looked at this since Learning Block 3, so Mr Tom was pleased to see most learners had remembered how to add subtract multiply and divide fractions. We had to spend a small time reviewing how to solve problems with mixed numbers. A very worthwhile week of reviewing.
This weeks talk topic of plastic created a lot of good discussion about how we could be better recycling this material. A lot of learners were surprised to find out exactly how long it takes plastic to biodegrade. Next weeks talk topic is Birthdays. With the Kings Birthday next week it might be a good time to reflect on birthdays: How do we celebrate birthdays? Do all cultures celebrate the same? Is turning 10 more interesting than turning 9 or 11?
LB6 Week 2 Friday 4th May
2/5/2018
iCAN’s Got Talent!
This week saw the semi-finals for the MP3 section of iCAN’s Got Talent. We were witness to a range of acts from this talented milepost. IDK produced a singing and dancing act to a medley of songs, Sebastian the Great showed off his mastery of the Rubik’s cube (solving it in 1 min 10 sec) Pagna belted out a beautiful ballad Electricity, Nina tugged at our heart-strings with her own song about iCAN, and finally 6 put together an eclectic modern dance showpiece. Congratulations to all the acts and good luck to those moving into the final!
Learning Journey
In learning journey we continued working on the geography section of out Time Tunnel unit. We looked at how the borders of different civilisations changed over time and tried to find out the reason for this changes. We then looked more closely at maps as a tool for finding our way around! It is important to pay attention to the scale on the map, some things were a lot further away then we thought.
Maths
This week in maths Y6 learners had great fun finishing off their algebra work by writing their own sequences for their partner to find the nth term. They then had to mark each others work and discuss and explain any answers they thought to be wrong and agree on the correct answer using reasoning skills. The children showed great co operation skills and enjoyed learning from each other.
In maths this week Y5 started looking at graphs and data. First we read and interpreted graphs given to us. We solved equations relating to comparison, sum, and difference by interpreting the graphs. After this we moved on to drawing our own graphs based on data given. We needed to choose an appropriate scale, label the axes, and give the graph a title all before plotting the data.
Literacy
n literacy Y6 learners went back in time to read myths and legend tales from the Ancient Greeks. We enjoyed reading about Theseus and the Minotaur and had fun hot seating characters, acting out scenes and discussing the difference between a myth and legend tale and a fairy tale. Children then rewrote the story of Theseus and the Minotaur as a comic strip.
This week in literacy we have been looking at poetry. Using similes, metaphors and imagery we have created poems that personify things in the world around is. We used existing frames to help us with the structure and form of these. Take a look at some examples from Year 5.
Stars of the Week !
I really enjoyed talking about travel last week with all the learners. There are so many well travelled people here at iCAN, some visiting places I had never even heard of! Next weeks topic is Plastic. What happens to all the plastic that gets thrown away? Do you follow the 3 Rs? (Reduce, reuse, recycle) How can we help protect the environment?
LB6W1 Friday 27th April
24/4/2018
Learning Journey
This week in Time Tunnel MP3 have begun the geography portion of this unit. In Geography Task 1 we first needed to look at scale and understand how the scale of a map can make the map have very different purposes. The three maps below are of exactly the same place; they just use different scales, and as such, have different purposes.
Over the years various empires and civilisations grow and shrink in size, the MP3 learners researched the border size and different times in their civilisations history and mapped them on the same map using a colour coded key to show chronology. Choosing an appropriate sized scale, and accurately mapping borders is tricky work; but then explaining why the borders changed and what events caused these changes…. well that was just outstanding reasoning by these marvellous learners!
Literacy
n literacy this week Y5 have done nothing but talk! However, it has been for the benefit of our learning; we have been using closed and open questions in conversation. Using follow up questions has helped us to hold more interesting conversations and show an active interest to the listener. We used a chat show structure to practise this skill, trying to be good active listeners and respond in an interesting way to the person talking.
This week in Literacy Y6 have begun to look at traditional Greek myths and legends. We identified the key features of both and explained the differences. We compared different versions of the stories of Medusa and Icarus. It was interesting to see the similarities between different Greek myths, especially how harshly people were punished for their sins! We took this to mean that perhaps myths and legends have been used over time as cautionary tales.
Maths
This week in maths Y5 have continued with the geometry of position and shape. More specifically we looked at translation. We found out that translation is a term used in geometry to describe a function that moves an object a certain distance. The object is not altered in any other way. It is not rotated, reflected or re-sized. In a translation, every point of the object must be moved in the same direction and for the same distance.
Y6 have continued looking at algebra this week with the learners showing superb resilience and thinking skills to demonstrate their improved understanding. The learners have often worked collaboratively to solve problems such as the one below. Each shape is a number from 0-12. Can you solve it? Towards the end of the week we looked at finding the nth term of a sequence of numbers. .
Stars of the Week !
It was great talking to all the learners about the auditions for iCAN’s Got Talent! I had no idea about the number of talented individuals running about the place. Next weeks talk topic is Travel. Where is the most interesting country/ place that you have visited? Where would you love to travel to if you could? Who would you take with you on your trip?
LB5W7 Friday 13th April
10/4/2018
Learning Journey
History Task 4
Our learning journey lead us to start looking at significant events in different civilisations and the effect that they had on society both then and now. Some significant events we looked at in Cambodia’s history were The Construction of Angkor Wat, The Fall of Angkor, French Colonialism, and the Khmer Rouge. After looking at these events we then needed to try to see how they impacted society at the time, and if there were any lasting impacts.
After doing this together as a class, we then split into our working groups to look at significant events in the Egyptian, Aztec, Mongol, and Roman civilisations and what lasting effects that they had. The results surprised us all!
Maths
In maths this week Y5 have continued learning about geometry. This time though, they are grappling with the tricky concept of the reflection, rotation, and translation of objects across an axis! The learners used mirror lines to reflect shapes across both the x and y axes, and then practised following a set of instructions to translate a shape across multiple axes.
In Y6, children had great fun randomly selecting differentiated ratio questions out from a hat, and working together to solve the problems. If you picked this question out could you solve it?
“A fruit drink is made by mixing 60ml of orange juice with 180ml of pineapple juice. What is the ratio of orange juice to pineapple juice in its simplest form?”
Towards the end of the week learners began their introduction to algebra by solving fun problems where numbers were replaced by images. Can you solve this grid below?
Literacy
In literacy this week our Y6 learners have demonstrated their understanding of discussion texts. They practised a range of skills including: using semi-colons and colons, embedded clauses, connectives and imperative verbs. Learners produced a discussion text based around a topic of their choice. Topics ranges from School uniform should be mandatory and Solar cars should replace petrol cars by 2020. Our learners were able to present balanced arguments that explored different opinions and evidence.
This week in literacy Y5 have been developing our sentences using adverbs, adjectives and additional clauses to make our writing more interesting. We looked at existing texts and used ideas from these to improve our work from our Big Write. We found that choosing an appropriate adverb or adjective can be a tricky task as it can change the entire meaning of the sentence!
Stars of the Week !
Wow! I really enjoyed hearing all about Khmer New Year this week. So many people have great ways to celebrate this holiday! Have a great break, and when we return the talk topic will be iCAN’s Got Talent. Are you entering IGT? What talents do you think will win? What is the scariest part of performing on stage?
LB5W6 Friday 6th April
2/4/2018
Learning Journey
In literacy this week Y6 learners have been developing their debating skills across a whole host of controversial issues. Children have been using their speaking and listening skills by performing debates, but importantly practising their research skills, finding only relevant information from a variety of sources. They then began to plan the write up of their debates using the P.E.E. method, Point, Evidence and Evaluate. The week culminated with a fantastic debate in the new learning space, hosted by our debate club attended by MP3 and MY learners. Well done to everybody involved.
This week in Literacy Y5 have been reflecting on our stories and looking at how we can improve them to make them more interesting to the reader. We explored how developing a character through descriptions can build a clearer picture and create suspense or intrigue in the story.
Some of our stories from Grandma’s perspective might make you reconsider how innocent she really is. Read them and see what you think for yourself.
Learning Journey
Milepost 3 continued with history this week in learning journey. After looking at the rise and fall of the Khmer Empire last week it was time to look at our Home Base Team civilisations. That meant researching aspects from the ancient Romans, Aztecs, Egyptians, and Mongols. We looked at such things as the styles of clothes, housing, food, inventions, wars, and trade. In groups we researched two of these, took notes, and finally created reports in our own words.
Maths
Year 5 continued with geometry this week; we looked at angles and the properties of different triangles and quadrilaterals to work out the missing angles. We then looked at different types of triangles and how to classify them. Whats the difference between an isosceles triangle and a scalene? How can you tell whether that 3 sided shape is a right angle triangle or an equilateral?? Ask a Y5 learner. While you have their attention, also ask them about regular and irregular polygons – a lot of learning took place this week!
This week in maths we finished our data handling unit. At the beginning of the week, Year 6 invited Year 5 learners in to solve a differentiated question sheet they designed alongside their line graphs. Learners had great fun and the Year 5 children were able to answer most of the questions and gave good feedback to the Year 6 learners. Year 6 then had a terrific lesson on our family learning day, investigating the mean mode and median number of smarties in a packet then analysed the results looking for trends. Finally, Year 6 finished the week solving difficult problems to do with pie charts. A great week of learning.
Stars of the Week !
It was great hearing all about peoples families this week around the lunch tables. Next week’s topic is Khmer New Year. New year in April – how strange?! How are you celebrating? Where are you going?
LB5W5 Friday 30th March
28/3/2018
Maths
Y5 spent time becoming familiar with protractors this week. We learned how to use them, read them, and how to draw exact angles using them! It is not as easy as first thought, drawing a reflex angle measuring 327º is a tricky process to go through. We also leaned about the properties of different shapes and used this to discover the missing angles.
A triangle has two angles measuring 60º and 70º, what is the size of the missing angle?
This week in Y6 learners began their data handling unit by creating their own line graphs based on their interests. Learners had to first of all use different sources to collect their data. Examples the learners chose to research included: revenue of 4 different Premiership clubs over a ten-year period, number of YouTube subscribers over a month and comparing the profits of four fast food chains over a ten-year period.
Once they had their data they could then plot their line graphs thinking carefully about the scales used. Finally, once they had plotted their data, they had to come up with 6 differentiated questions for Y5 learners to answer.
Children had great fun researching and plotting from real life contexts and thought carefully about designing questions that would need deeper understanding for the year 5 learners to answer such as “Why do you think the highest YouTube viewers are on Sundays?”
Learning Journey
This week in learning Journey MP3 looked at the reasons behind the fall of the Ancient Khmer Empire. We learned a great deal about the Khmer Empire from the 800s through to the 1300s and how the borders of the Empire were constantly changing due to war, invasions, and trade. We learned that the Khmer Empire changed from Hindu to Theravada Buddhism in the 12th century and this was largely responsible for the collapse of the Empire about 200 years later!
These maps show the difference in the borders of Cambodia (Khmer Empire) in the 1200’s (above) and the current day (right)
Literacy
Y5 have spent this week in literacy editing and improving our version of the classic tale Little Red Riding Hood. We typed up the stories, responding to feedback as we went. Our version of this story is told from the perspective of Grandma, what was she doing? Thinking? How did she contribute to this story? Were her and the wolf secretly friends? Did she really like Little Red that much? You will have to read a story or two to find out.
In literacy this week Y6 have begun practising debates to support us writing discussion texts. We watched debate club present a live argument that became quite heated! We then spent time planning and researching the motion: meat is unethical and should be banned. This then provided us with evidence to write a balanced argument that would look in detail at both sides of the argument.
Stars of the Week !
Last weeks talk topic, theatre, was a show stopper! I loved hearing about everyone’s favourite part of the iCAN version of Grease. This week we will be talking about Family. Who is part of your family? Who do you live with in your house? What are your favourite things about your mum, dad, grandpa, aunty…?
LB5W4 Friday 23th March
20/3/2018
Learning Journey
For our history task we focused on gathering information from different sources. It was lucky then that we had two special visitors come to class: Lady Penh, for whom the city in which we live is named, and the famous singer Sin Sisamouth came back from the past to answer our questions. We had to think carefully about what to ask to gather useful information, and then spent some time interviewing them. We moved from the hot-seat interview onto using a variety sources to gather information on historical figures from our own civilisations before creating a fact file on them.
Literacy
In literacy this week Y5 have been getting into role and exploring a story through the eyes of a different character. We tried to think about how it would feel to be Grandma; we took on her personality, dialogue and thought processes to really understand her character. Using story maps, character profiling and grammar strategies we were able to plan our own version of the story, Little Red Riding Hood. Let’s just say, Little Red Riding Hood may not be as innocent as she may seem…
In Literacy this week Y6 have been thinking about grammar, spelling and punctuation. We spent some time reviewing sentence types and tenses. We also thought about what an antonym is and came up with specific examples. With Mr Shannon’s help we also worked out the difference between active and passive voice. We then wrote down examples and asked our classmates to figure out which sentence was which.
Maths
This week Y5 started looking at geometry. In particular we focused on shapes and angles. First we looked at 2D shapes and 3D objects, do you know what faces, edges, and vertices are? Y5 do – and the definitions surprised us! We made Quiz Quiz Trade cards based on the properties of 3D objects: Who am I? I have 2 faces, 0 edges, 0 vertices? Finally we started looking at the different types on angles and how to measure them using a protractor. What a week!
In maths this week Y6 have begun learning about mean, mode, median and range. We practised these skills in order to apply them to a set of data. Initially, we needed to review our knowledge of each one. Then using a set of numbers, we figured out how to find the mean, mode, median and range. It wasn’t as tricky as we thought – the tricky part was remembering what each word meant!
Stars of the Week !
Happiness and what makes us happy was a delightful topic this week. I spent so much time hearing about what makes people happy that I couldn’t help but to start to feel happy myself! Next week the talk topic is Theatre. What is a play? What is your favourite play or performance? What personal goals must people involved display? Did you see iCAN’s Grease? What was your favourite part?
LB5W3 Friday 16th March
13/3/2018
Learning Journey
In learning journey this week milepost 3 have jumped inside the Time Tunnel and gone back in history to ancient times! We started this history task looking at the Ancient Khmer Empire; When was it? How long did it last? What important things happened during those times? We then split into groups to focus on another ancient civilisation, either the Romans, Egyptians, Mongols, or Aztecs. We also created a timeline to scale (of 1 metre = 1000 years) and plotted the rise and fall of the various civilisations on this giant timeline! In order to plot the times accurately we needed to understand how time is recorded, learning about BCE (BC) and CE (AD) was tricky at first but we quickly got the hang of it.
Literacy
This week in Literacy Y5 have been looking at fractured fairy tales. We realised that a story can change hugely, depending on the perspective that it is written from. We studied the original text of Little Red Riding Hood, a modern day take on the same story and a version from the wolf himself. Using these texts as a base, we used a range of different techniques to summarise and understand the key parts of the story. We are not so sure now who is the villain in the story and if he really is a big, bad wolf…
This week Y6 have been using Alice in Wonderland as our stimulus for writing our own fantasy stories. We have analysed the features of fantasy writing and looked at similarities and differences compared to other genres. We then wrote a short descriptive story describing Alice falling down the rabbit hole and discussed how we are going to enter and exit our own fantasy words. Stay tuned next week to read our finished stories.
Maths
In Y5 this week we have been focusing once again on converting units of measurement. We have been practising and revising how to multiply and divide by powers of 10 in order to better convert from one unit of measurement to the next. Y5 have learnt about mm, cm, m, and km in length; ml, cl, and l in capacity; mg, g, and kg in weight; and seconds, minute, hours in time.
This week in maths, Y6 have been reviewing everything they have done so far during their time in year 6. This included checking their knowledge and understanding of fractions decimals and percentages, place value, multiplication, division converting measurements, geometry and properties of shapes
So much good chat this week about the Oscars. I was very surprised to find out that Ms Fee’s favourite film is The Sound of Music and that Mr Tom’s favourite is The Terminator! As next Tuesday is World Happiness Day, the topic next week is Happiness! What makes you happy? How do you make others happy? What does happiness look like? Get your smiles on people!
Stars of the Week !
LB5W2 Friday 9th March
8/3/2018
Book Week 2018
Year 5 and 6 have had a jam packed week of fun this Book Week! The week began by creating scenes from our fantasy text, Alice in Wonderland. We used this as inspiration to decorate the classroom doors. We loved the scene of the card soldiers and decided that these would be the perfect way to guard the Year 5 doors! Year 6 explored the fantasy world that Alice discovered down the rabbit hole, including the Mad Hatter’s tea party and the fierce Queen of Hearts.
Bedtime stories kept us staying up until late on Tuesday evening. Story teller Phil took us on another whirlwind adventure and we loved listening to the Middle Years bring the books to life in front of a roaring fire!
Continuing the theme of fantasy, MP3 listened to a trilogy of stories throughout the week from Phil the storyteller. He had us hanging on the edge of our seats for the next one! We had to be risk takers when standing up and recreating parts of the story for the rest of the milepost, but this really helped us remember all of the twists in the stories.
There has been loads of speaking and listening in our sessions and storyteller Phil has helped us develop our performance techniques. We are really excited to explore these in our fiction work this learning block.
Check out our amazing Book Week doors and costumes from the week. Can you identify any of your favourite stories or characters?
Stars of the Week !
What a weeks worth of awesome chat with book week. I found out so much about the types of books we are reading in MP3. I never knew that Tom Gates and Diary of a Wimpy Kid were such big deals… Anyway, next week our talk topic is The Oscars! What are the Oscars? Who is your favourite actor/actress? What types of movies do you enjoy?
February 27th, 2018
27/2/2018
Learning Journey
MP3 began our new unit this week; The Time Tunnel. We started with an amazing tuk-tuk adventure around Phnom Penh. Learners needed to follow a set of clues to historic building and monuments around the city and take photos with them. We then needed to order them chronologically. In the Knowledge Harvest we found out how much we already knew about some ancient civilisations, and finally in the Explaining The Theme we worked on a Time Tunnel crossword! So much learning in such a short amount of time!
Literacy
This week in literacy Y5 have started getting excited about Book Week! In preparation for next week, we have been using note-taking techniques to summarise key parts of different fiction texts and better understand the main ideas in the story. We have used both video and oral stories to practise these particular skills. This required lots of concentration because we had to listen and watch what was happening really carefully.
This is our final week exploring the themes of the hugely popular Wonder in Y6. We have finished this text study by writing a letter to the schools of Phnom Penh, persuading them to introduce Wonder into their curriculum. We wrote detailed plans that followed a clear structure and reflected the formality of the letters we would write. Writing a persuasive letter required a multitude of skills including rhetorical questions, imperative language and conjunctions. Combining our knowledge and skills we have written letters that are extremely informative and persuasive!
Maths
Do you have the time? Well Y5 do! We spent the week looking at time in Y5. Everything from refreshing our knowledge of reading analogue clocks, to converting between digital and 24 hour time. We even looked at various timetables from around the world. If you need help catching a train in Northern England or ferry in Sydney – just go and ask a Y5 learner.
In maths this week Y6 have been looking at coordinates. Coordinates can be tricky because you need to remember the order in which they go. To help us remember we said that for the x axis, you travel into your house along the corridor to the fridge before you go up the y axis stairs! We applied our knowledge by answering a range of questions to find missing coordinates on a plotted graph. We also practised translating shapes to identify old and new coordinates. We then looked at shapes on a graph and their reflections across positive and negative y and x axis.
Stars of the Week !
We spent the first week back talking about the Winter Olympics – what a great spectacle that was. I really liked the curling, a fine sport if ever there was one. On to next week’s talk topic though; Favourite Books. Next week is book week so what better way to celebrate than to talk about our favourites..
LB4W6 Friday February 16
14/2/2018
Yet another amazing week here in MP3. The Y5 and Y6 learners participated in a number of creative arts week activities over the past few days and really showcased their inner artists!
EPic Arts Dance Workshops
The crew from EPiC Arts, where Every Person Counts, traveled up from Kampot to give MP3 some dance lessons. After a few games and ice breakers to get the limbs moving, the MP3 learners made up their own Haka! It was a fierce show, I hear the All Blacks are coming to Cambodia for Haka lessons before the next World Cup.
Digital Arts
Under the guidance and tutelage of Mr David and Mr Sergi the MP3 learners used a green screen to make movies. It may be too late for this years Oscars, but look out in 2019 for iCAN to be dominating the awards, best acting and best special effects are a shoe-in.
Cambodia iconic buildings: stencil relief
Using iconic buildings from Cambodia, MP3 made stencil reliefs on maps. They first chose a building and made it into a stencil. The next step was to stencil over a map of the area to be laminated then mounted.
Independence Monument
Y5 and Y6 traveled separately to the Independence Monument to sketch this iconic landmark. We got some top tips from Ms Becky and used our hour in the park to really get a good likeness. After this, back at school, the learners used water colour to bring their sketches to life!
Beats & Strings
More special guests with a team of musicians from East West International School coming out to run workshops with our very own Ms Joaan. The focus was on percussion and strings. Whether they were having a go at the violin for the first time or banging on a drum, the MP3 learners were having a ball!
LB4W5 Friday 19th February
7/2/2018
Learning Journey
Well what an exit point! Our brave astronauts returning safely to Earth with their recommendations on colonisation of Mars. We heard from Geologists, Historians, Scientists, Engineers, Sociologists, and of course the astronauts themselves. They fronted the iCAN Space Academy press conference to answer all of our questions and explain their Mission to Mars.
We will start our new unit The Time Tunnel in the new learning block with an exciting entry point on the first day back.
Maths
This week in Y5 we continued with measurement and learned all about area and perimeter. We worked out how to calculate both of these and had plenty of practice using the formula A = L x W. We drew upon our previous knowledge of multiplication of decimals when working out the area of some of the rectangles that had sides that were not quite a whole centimetre. We discovered that it was possible for rectangles to have the same perimeter but to have very different areas.
This week Y6 have been continuing with our geometry topic. After recapping properties of 2D shapes and 3D objects; learners had great fun learning about circumference, diameter, and radius of circles before drawing their own circles using a compass. This was trickier than first thought! We then looked at measuring angles using a protractor. We learnt that all the angles inside a triangle add up to 180 degrees and were able to find missing angles in triangles and other shapes.
Literacy
This week in Literacy Y5 have been comparing and reflecting on our debates about whether or not it is better to be a boy or a girl. We tried to give each other constructive feedback, about how balanced our arguments were, to see where our next steps might be next time. Who knew there were so many different perspectives out there about whether or not is better or not to be a girl! What do you think?
Continuing with our text study of Wonder Y6 have also begun to compare the book version with the movie. There are lots of interesting comparisons that we made. Some of the characters were not what we were expecting at all and some were exactly as we predicted! We have also noticed that the book is written from the perspective of several different characters which was more tricky to portray through the film adaptation.
Stars of the Week !
Well I wish we could talk more about all the wishes that we were wishing for this week. As always there was a lot of good chat around the lunch table about this weeks topic of Three Wishes. I am really looking forward to next weeks talk topic Travel. Where have you been? Where do you want to go to? Are there places you don’t want to go to?
LB4W4 Friday 2nd February
31/1/2018
Sports Day
Congratulations to the Siamese Crocodiles taking out the 2018 iCAN Sports Day Cup! All of the teams tried their best and showed off their personal goals throughout the event, but on the day the crocs were just too good. The behaviour of the learners and the effort they put in was outstanding. Every person I saw competing were trying their hardest, the supporters were cheering themselves hoarse, and even the staff got involved in the last, and possibly most anticipated, event of the day; The staff tug-o-war.
Learning Journey
Our Mission to Mars is almost upon us. The iCAN space cadets have very nearly completed their training and will soon be blasting off to the red planet. We have chosen a select team of scientists, geologists, historians, sociologists, engineers and astronauts to carry out this mission. If the weather is right, the calculations correct, and we remembered to pack our bags – these intrepid cosmonauts will be landing on Mars, collecting data, and then returning back to Earth on Thursday 8th February. Upon their safe re-entry to iCAN Space Academy we will beholding a press conference exit point that we would love you to attend. This press conference will take place at 1:05pm Thursday 8th February in the MP3 classrooms, and will be an amazing opportunity to question these brave cadets about their experiences on Mars.
Stars of the Week !
Last weeks talk topic of sports really got some of us talking. What were your favourite sports? If you could be the best in the world at 5 sports what would they be? Such great over lunch chat.
Next weeks talk topic is sure to be as entertaining. If you had 3 wishes what would they be? Think carefully now, you only get three – and wishing for more wishes is not allowed!
LB4W3 Friday January 26th
24/1/2018
Learning Journey
Its been a busy week for our space cadets! First they needed to finish engineering their Mars Rovers to take with them on their long and dangerous journey. After this, as part of researching the Red Planet, they had to look at popular myths about Mars. The cadets studied the City of Cydonia and the Martian canals. Do these structures point to intelligent life on Mars? Will a hustling bustling city be there when they arrive? Has Brown Coffee got there yet? All these questions will be answered as our cadets enter the final few weeks of their training.
Literacy
In Literacy this week Y5 have been focusing on building and structuring an argument within a discussion. We have looked at how to strengthen our opinions with evidence, to support what we think. Using examples from our base text, Bill’s New Frock, we have been considering alternative perspectives when challenged by someone else’s opinion.
This week in literacy Y6 have been looking at persuasive writing. We analysed features of persuasiveness that advertisers use, including the use of catchy slogans and rhetorical questions. We then designed our own advertising campaign for a selection of random, hard to sell items. We had great fun filming our own TV adverts with lots of persuasive spoken language.
Maths
This week in Y5 worked at finding a percentage of a whole number. We practised finding 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, and 50% of a given number. Once we were confident at that we learned how to find more unusual fractions such as 47%. We then said goodbye to fractions, decimals, and percentages and have begun to look at measurement. We learned about standard units of measurement and why we just can’t measure in pencil lengths rather than centimetres. We found which unit of measurement would be most appropriate to measure different things and could explain our choice.
This week in maths Y6 have recapped how to find area and perimeter of squares and rectangles. Following on from that children then had to find the perimeter and area of compound shapes. This was more challenging as the children had to demonstrate their previous learned knowledge to find missing lengths before splitting the tricky irregular shapes into two or three regular shapes, then adding them together!
Stars of the Week !
Next Weeks talk topic is Dreams.
Why do we have dreams?
Why are dreams so weird?
Why do they get scary?
Many cultures believe what we dream about affects our real life and that we can read our dreams. What do you think about this?
LB4W2 Friday 19th January
16/1/2018
Learning Journey
What a week for the MP3 space cadets! They needed to learn the difference between mass (kg) and weight (N), how to calculate them, and how they would be different on Mars (due to the different gravitational pull). Luckily there was a song that helped to clarify the difference.
Now that they calculate the difference between the weight of items on Mars and Earth, they needed to put that information in practise when building a Mars Rover. The rover needed to preform a number of tasks, collecting samples, photos, testing the soil/atmosphere/gravitational pull of the planet.
Literacy
This week in Literacy Y5 have been looking at Bill’s New Frock in greater detail. We started to discuss the effect that gender stereotypes have on the way that Bill is treated in the story. Many of us felt that Bill was treated unfairly in the book and felt that lots of the things that happened in the story were due to him wearing a dress and being perceived very differently because of this. Using this as inspiration, we created poems called cinquains that challenge gender stereotypes and encourage others to be who they want to be regardless of what gender they are. We are using our mindfulness sessions to think more about what makes us unique and creating montages of images and words that represent who we are as individuals.
In Literacy Y6 have continued reading the novel ‘Wonder’. This week we have begun thinking more about the reactions of other people to Auggie. We wrote diary entries from the perspective of Jack, Julian and Charlotte; who met Auggie and gave him a tour of the school. Our learners had to think about how each of these characters had a very different reaction to Auggie and convey this through their writing.
Maths
In maths this week Y5 have been revisiting a lot of things done earlier in the year – except this time we added decimals to make it impossibly tricky. As it turned out though the rules don’t change! We discovered that adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, rounding, and placing them in order is done the exact same way! Just with a decimal point. Phew – that was relief. We also looked at how to find a percentage of a whole number. This comes in handy when shopping and we need to take 25% off the marked price!
In maths Y6 have been thinking about converting between measurements. We thought about different types of measurement including time, length/distance, weight/mass and capacity. We answered tricky word problems that required us to break down the question into parts. We had to be adaptable and resilient when answering these problems and think about all the different ways to find the answer.
Run Tom & Adrian Run
Dont forget Mr Tom and Mr Adrian are running the Angkor Wat Ultra Marathon this weekend. If you would like to sponsor them please visit:
https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/tomandadrianultra
Stars of the Week !
Well i heard a lot of New Years Resolutions this week, only time will tell if we can live up to the goals we have set. Next week we have a different topic: Rule the World! If you were in charge of the world what would you do? How would you make the world a better place for people? If you had the chance to be in charge would you do it? Why/Why not? I cant wait to hear this…
LB4W1 Friday 12th January
8/1/2018
Learning Journey
MP3 were all set to blast off to Mars to start our colonisation plans, that was, until that pesky scientist Dr Spacetastic was convinced that Venus would make a more inhabitable planet. Naturally this threw the iCAN Space Academy into a spin. We needed more thorough research and Milepost 3 were just the cadets for the job. They launched themselves into this new theory and set about determining which planet would be the most suitable. Te research clearly shows that Mars is by far the best planet for colonisation. Dr Spacetastic’s tenure is currently under review. More on the M2M to come…
Literacy
In literacy this week Y5 have been having loads of in depth discussions. Using the text Bill’s New Frock, we have looked into how gender is stereotyped in many different ways. We have listened and respond to other people’s opinions, even if we did not agree with them. It has got us thinking about how we perceive things in our own lives and questioning whether or not this is right. We concluded the week by making calligrams that incorporated stereotypical words and phrases about gender. Come and check them outside the Year 5 classrooms!
In Literacy Y6 have just started reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Wonder follows the story of Auggie who was born with a facial disfigurement due to a condition called Treacher-Collins syndrome. This week we have focused on understanding the difficulties that Auggie faces on a day to day basis. We have thought about how to develop empathy for other people using drama to explore the various viewpoints of different characters in the book.
Maths
Year 5 have been working on a maths assessment this week all about fractions. This assessment had a slight difference however: Y5 were creating the test rather than answering it. They needed to draw upon all their previous learning in order come up with as set of effective questions that would show their understanding of the fractions unit. Everything from equivalent fractions to multiplication, addition, and subtraction of fractions needed to feature. The assessments are displayed on the boards in the corridor – feel free to come and answer a few questions.
In maths this week Y6 have begun looking at different types of measurements. We discussed the difference between length, mass and capacity and explored the ways to measure different things. We also practised converting between miles and km and discussed why we might need to do this. We worked out that when Mr Adrian and Mr Tom run 128km next weekend they will be running roughly 80 miles!
Stars of the Week !
Welcome to 2018! I hope we all had an amazing break, I have been hearing all about the holidays and goings on of MP3 all week. Next week out talk topic is New Years Resolutions. What goals do you want to achieve in 2018? What new things will you try? How are you going to be a better version of you?