Fun with Ceramics

“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Our Fieldtrip to the Art Museum

We had a fabulous day out on Thursday, to the Llang Llang Art Museum in the south of the city. Students had a fun-filled day of activities planned: Kite designing, making and painting; batik making and ceramics. Plus a MacDonald's lunch! We don't have a MacDonald's up here in the North, so it was a real treat for many of the students!
Students came home with two self-created beautiful kites each, and we have to wait a week for their ceramics and batik samples to be delivered.
We had so much fun!

When we arrived back at school, 5B were so excited by their kites that I let them run wild in the playground to see if they could get them to fly. It was brilliant!

Thanks, Mrs. Mitchell for organising our special day out.

“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Growing Plants with Acid Rain

Our Science unit this semester has been 'Pollution'. We have learned all about Land, Air, Water, Noise & Light Pollution and the consequences each of the forms have on our planet. Students have been so excited, as every lesson I've tried to incorporate a practical experiment or investigation for them to work on. The photos above are of our experiment that has continued over 10 days. Each group planted grass seeds in 3 tubs of soil. Then, watered one tub with tap water, of pH 7, one tub with full acid water and one tub of water with 1/2 tap water and 1/2 Acid water.
The effects can be seen above. The first one is obviously the tap water. The middle one is the acid water.
So, acid rain has a frightening effect on our planet - not only can it dissolve buildings, statues etc, it has a ghastly effect on the rate of growth and quality of our plant life.



“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Happy Birthday Thara & Kay-Li!

We had two birthdays this month as December came to be; Kay-Li celebrated hers on the 1st and then on the 2nd, it was Thara's special day. Thara's mum and dad kindly brought a birthday cake in for everyone to share. Above are some cute photos of Thara's celebration.



“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Reading Groups

We have started levelled reading groups as part of our reading programme, and 5B students now spend every other morning reading and discussing novels within their gorups. Eagh group is reading a different novel, and students are working hard at confidence building, speech, discussion and reflection skills.
Students can choose to sit anywhere they like in their groups; hence one group who have chosen to sit under their work-tables!



“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Multi-Cultural Week

Don't they look fabulous in all their nations' finery? I was so proud of them in Multi-Cultural week - they all dressed up in the required costumes each day to end the week in their own country's national dress. They also played amazingly in the Multi-Cultural performance night on 'The Gamelan'. What great musicians they are!

“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Our Spooky Jacks!

Grrrrrrr!


“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Cookie Decorating

Budding chefs?!


“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Halloween Pumpkins

The week of Halloween was spent carrying out a lot of 'spooky' activities, including learning about the history of Halloween and the rituals involved, ghost stories, writing news articles about strange phenomena, carving pumpkins and decorating Halloween cookies.

I think it's so important for the students to celebrate or acknowledge each culture's traditions.

First hand knowledge and experience leads to acceptance and understanding.

That's why we have celebrated and will celebrate Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentines, Chinese New Year, Easter, and anything else that may come up between now and June!

“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown

Recycled Goods

As promised, an update on what has been happening in 5B!
The photo above are pots/bowls that the students made out of recycled paper. They are actually, incredibly strong! The kids loved doing this project as part of their 'Pollution' science unit of work.
The unit is very exciting and the students have been doing some amazing experiments.
So far, we have:
1) classified and measured the amount of trash found on the NJIS campus per day
2) worked out how long it would take our class to fill up with trash.
3) Devised products made from recycled goods.
4) Collected water from different samples (canals, rainwater, taps, fountains,. puddles, gutters) and measured the acidity of the water as well as filtrated it to make cleaner, clearer looking water.

Next week, we will be testing for acid rain in our rainwater and looking at how acid rain affects living things. (including growing plants in acid rain water). Very exciting!


“Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you will land among the stars!”-Les Brown