So why is reading important?

William Kamkwamba built a windmill near his home in Malawi.  See the video here.

He found out by getting a book out from his library.

If he couldn't read, he wouldn't have been able to do that.

Happy reading.

Coketooth Tuesday update

Well the tooth had a break from the coke at the weekend (I forgot to put it back in the coke after taking the Friday pictures!)

Here is the Tuesday picture...still in one piece and it even has some white enamel showing.

 

The picture below shows some mould which started to grow on the surface of the coke.

I wonder why that happened?

I cleaned it off with a tissue and the tooth sits at the bottom of the glass beaker.

Tomorrow is the last day of school so who knows what will be there when we get back on Tuesday 5th January.

Christmas is just around the corner

What a great Christmas concert last night at school!

Only two days of school left this term now and here are a few seasonal sites...

For some jokes, look here.  Here's a taster:

What's a child's favourite king at Christmas?

StocKING!

Here is a Christmas tree you can decorate yourself. 

Here is a version of the Christmas Story.

These Christmas wordsearch problems look very tricky...can you solve them? 

Or if you love doing maths calculations, have a go at these (addition HTU) or these (subtraction HTU) ! These (addition) and these (subtraction) are a little easier.  (Thanks to Kidzone for these resources).


Have a great Christmas and New Year! 


 

Teeth - the latest shot - and a new word discovered, thanks to Poon

Here is the latest picture of the coketooth.

After nearly 3 days, the tooth is covered in a thick brown layer.  What will be left on Monday?



We discovered a word today thanks to Poon...chyme.  I immediately thought that Poon meant chime, as in hear the bells chime...but no!
Chyme is the word for the semi-liquid contents of your stomach as they are about to pass into the duodenum (the next place in the journey of food as it gets digested).  See here for the online dictionary definition.

Tooth picture

Here is the tooth after nearly 48 hours of being in coke.

Have you brushed your teeth today?

More times tables help

This site has lots of helpful ways to learn the times tables.

Here is a totally different site which lets you create amazing artwork using balls which float around after your cursor. 

Thanks to MrC's blog for the tip.

Teeth and Coke

The tooth from home.

What we did
We decided to put a tooth in coke because we wanted to see  what would happen. (Laure)

Prediction

I think it will go a bit stained and get holes in it and it will  dissolve. (Toby)

It will start to go black and rot then dissolve. (Ali)

I think it will disappear. (Jessie)

I think it will go rotten and black and then it will start to dissolve and then it will start to go to liquid. (Poon)

I think that if it stays in long enough then it will get holes in it and it will turn into a bit of acid. (Guilli)

What we found out...

At 2:30 - after about 6 hours, the tooth is starting to look a little bit brown...I'm glad it is not still a working tooth in anyone's mouth!

We have a holiday tomorrow - Constitution Day - Falling on December 10 every year, Constitution Day, a public holiday, commemorates the historic event on December 10, 1932, when King Prajadhipok (Rama VII), graciously presented the first-ever constitution to the Thai people. (From Ministry of Culture, Thailand website).

This means that we will be unable to show pictures of the tooth during the next 36 hours...

What will it look like when we come back to school on Friday?

Any time for Times Tables?

If you like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, you will love this x table version with three different lifelines:

ASK AN ALIEN,
ASK AN ASTRONAUT,
50:50

You may not end up with more money but you will be mathematically richer!

Can you get to the start?

Do you have the power to be...Mission Controller?

Money

We were having a go at some mymaths tasks today.  If you haven't seen this great site then it is worth a look.  Lots of homework tasks with helpful lessons which go along with them.

Money was an area which caused problems for a few people.

Here are a few BEAM activity sheets and games.  Some of these were set as this week's homework.

Here are some other UK money sites from Crickweb:

Money box - drop money into the moneybox and add it up!
Slot machine to 50p - pull the handle, let it spin and add up the coins.
Slot machine to £2 - - pull the handle, let it spin and add up the coins
Mr Toffee's sweet shop - Go to the shop, buy some items and pay.  Click on Show total for help.
White Elephant Shop - buy items up to £20 and give the correct coins.

Remember to comment on the games you liked the best.

Please say why...What did they help you learn?...Were they fun?...Did they make nice noises?  Did they help you teach your sister?

Here are some other interesting UK money facts.

Smoothie taste-off!

We had our smoothie tasting today!

Each group made their favourite smoothie from last week.  This time we made it with 5 x the amount.

We then took them to the classroom and gave each a score.

We did not know which smoothie was made by which group.

Well done to Richie Cane Tinn Toby for winning the vote with an average score (from 1-10) of 7.18 points.

Close behind were Melyssa Rita Punn Bua Melanie with 7.09 points.

Well done to all the smoothie makers for testing, tasting and scoring.

Quote of the day goes to Tom:"  I gave it a 5 because I didn't like the aftertaste!"  What fabulous vocabulary...maybe he is a food taster of the future!

Annabel Anika Jessica Laure Jessie

Learning Conferences,Reading and Local Area Trip

It was great to see so many parents and children at the conferences during the past few days.


One of the common areas I talked about was reading. I want to make it clearer that 20 minutes reading every night is a homework expectation.  

How should I read?

• If you are a very fluent reader and you understand most of what you read, then an adult can help you by asking questions about your reading.  
• If you are becoming fluent then you should read aloud for some of the reading time.
• If you need help with quite a lot of help with words, then read aloud to an adult.
  

I would like you now to start recording what you are reading in your blue reading record.

What should I write in my reading record? 

• Write the date and the title (if you are continuing with the same title from the day before, then you can write "same as yesterday" to save time). 
• When your parents hear you read or ask you questions about your reading, please ask them to sign your reading record.
• I will ask some children to do a more detailed reading target.  This will mean they need to read 4 books from a list, write about them and post blog comments ALL WITHIN A MONTH...wait for more information. 

 
Here are some photos, hot off the press, from our trip around our local area.  There are some pictures from the wall which celebrate the King of Thailand.

Which special day is coming up soon in Thailand?