Belgrove Senior Girls' School

Oral language

Hi ladies 🙂 ,

Over the course of 5th class we’re going to work on our oral presentation skills. This will help us when presenting projects and other topics.

For homework, every so often, we’ll have a familiar topic to prepare and then do a one minute presentation on it in class. You’ll have to prepare bullet points on the topic in your copy and practise presenting it at home with your family.

Here are the success criteria;

– eye contact with your audience

– clear voice (no ’ems’ or ‘likes’)

– familiar with your topic (use copy only as a guide)

– good posture, with hands by your side or use hand gestures

– opening and closing statement

Reading

Here are some reading questions you can ask your child before, during and after reading their library book. It is important to take the time to read with your child on a daily basis and discuss the book. Your child should read aloud to you every day. This helps with their fluency, comprehension, articulation and vocabulary skills. Please click the link to view the list of general comprehension questions.

Before During and After Questions for reading

Authors

Roald Dahl     J.K. Rowling    Michael Murpurgo    David Walliams

Marita Conlon-McKenna       Enid Blyton

(Jacqueline Wilson has some fantastic books for this age group, but do be aware that she also writes for teens and some of her books are inappropriate for primary school).

Books

Here are some excellent books that 4^th  & 5th  class girls have recommended;

1. Harry Potter series
2. Billionaire Boy
3. Heidi
4. Percy Jackson series
5. The Secret Garden
6. Mallory Towers
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
8. Wizards of Once
9. The Nine Lives Triology
10. Tom Gates
11. Wonder
12. Auggie and Me
13. Black Beauty
14. A Series of Unfortunate Events
15. Katy
16. The Heros of Olympus
17. The Faraway Tree
18. Matilda
19. Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls

Be aware of your own daughter’s ability when helping her choose books. Read the blurb together and discuss the choice.

Summer stars have some great tips on how to choose a book with your child, engaging reluctant readers, reading development etc.

http://www.librariesireland.ie/summer-stars/supporting-childrens-reading-information-sheets/

Vocabulary;

When children come across new words in different contexts they develop a stronger understanding and a more detailed vocabulary. Try using new vocabulary from the reading in daily conversations.

Spellings

Here are some activities to help you practise your spellings at home. All you do is click on the PDF link below and print out these activities. Have a spare spelling copy at home and choose one of these activity cards each evening.

Spelling activities

This is also a great website to practise your spellings through online activities and games. You have to register first for a free account (ask an adult for help with this) and then add in your list of spellings each week as you go. There is also a link for some commonly misspelled words. Practise a few a theses each evening/week using the website.

https://www.spellingcity.com/

commonly misspelled words

Have fun learning to spell 🙂 

Hi cailíní 🙂

Throughout the year I will be adding useful websites to help you at home with your homework and projects. There will also be educational websites with games and activities for you as an option.

• Please ensure there is adult supervision when online as although the websites have been tried & tested, unsuitable advertisements could still pop-up.

Hand sewing video clips.. Please practise one or two of these stitches at home if possible 🙂

https://youtu.be/i1-B01FB56s (running stitch.. the easiest stitch for beginners)

https://youtu.be/f58woIqfz3o (how to finish off your stitch at the very end)

https://youtu.be/sjHm8CL9WDA (back stitch… similar to a running stitch, just with an added step)

https://youtu.be/S9zegUYdPmg (blanket stitch; bit trickier… for those who already know the other basic stitches)

https://youtu.be/dEXSDKPtrs8 (french knot stitch.. again, a trickier stitch for sewing in eyes…. or you can simply glue on eyes instead with the fabric glue I have)

MATHS WEBSITES;

https://youtu.be/xJbi6RahnsI (long division song)

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm#basicoperations

https://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games

https://www.futuristicmath.com/games/4th-grade-multiply-2-by-2-digit-numbers-monster-board-game.html (long multiplication game; tablet friendly)

https://www.khanacademy.org/  Khan Academy is a free online (American) maths resource. Can be used to revise topics or challenge oneself. 3rd grade would be mainly revision. 4th/5th grade to revise and challenge.

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/category/22/most-popular  (lots of free & tablet friendly games, careful with pop-up ads)

Interactive online games and activities to make learning tables fun!

 http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm#mixedoperations

 https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables (lots of tablet-friendly games)

https://www.timestables.com/games/

Problem solving game involving time;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/maths/telling_the_time/play/popup.shtml

Games to explore fractions;

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/fractions/mathman_fractions_number.htm

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals (tablet friendly games)

https://www.mathplayground.com/index_fractions.html (some tablet friendly activities)

Games/activities for decimals;

https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/decimals/scooterQuestDecimal.htm4

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/place-value/place-value-charts (tablet friendly)

Maths challenging puzzle activities (including sudukos & magic squares)

https://www.transum.org/Software/Puzzles/ (tablet friendly puzzles)

https://www.mathwarehouse.com/riddles/math-riddles.php (challenging riddles)

http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg2/powerlines/powerlines1.html (power lines)

Activities for division practice;

http://www.softschools.com/math/division/long_division/

http://www.hoodamath.com/games/demolitiondivision.html (some tablet friendly activities)

http://www.novelgames.com/en/quickmath/ (tablet friendly but watch for pop-up ads)

GAEILGE;

Mé féin frásaí & focloir

Bia Frásaí & Foclóir

http://www.isfeidirliom.ie/ (can only be played on devices which support flash player such as laptops & computers)

http://digitaldialects.com/Irish.htm (also needs flash player enabled)

https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/ (website for pronunciation)

The girls had a brilliant time today for our 4th class school tour in Tayto Park. We had lots of activities such as the thrill seeking rides, a zoo tour, a lemur walk and some pupils had fun in the playground. We were also very lucky with the weather ☀️

Have a look at some of our gorgeous sunset silhouettes 🙂

Please listen and practise these songs everyday so that we know the words off by heart.

Táimid an-ghnóthach i seomra a seacht, ag canadh amhráin agus ag damhsa do Lá Glas agus don Chéilí. Tá na cáilíní ag déanamh iarracht a chuid Gaeilge a úsáid i rith an lae. Déan cleachtadh ar na phrásaí atá ar an Class Blogs.

Inné bhíomar ag foghlaim faoi Mháirt na hInide agus d’itheamar pancóga blasta. Beidhimid ag déanamh seanfhocail agus ag tarraingt postaer chun na seanfhocail a mhíniú.

Rinneamar hataí freisin inniu. Féach ar ár hataí an-fhaiseanta!

Éist leis na hamhráin seo agus déan cleachtadh orthu; An bhFaca tú mo Shéamuinsín 

                                                                                               Beidh Aonach Amárach 

https://youtu.be/p0R-nRkIl0U

We have had a very busy week this week, with some exciting activities happening in room 7. We have been preparing for Italian Day since January and the girls really did themselves proud today presenting their fantastic projects, maith sibh cáilíní! 

We also had a marine biologist visit the class yesterday and he showed us some very fascinating creatures.

The girls have been learning about bridges with Ms Hazel and have started planning their designs. After mid-term they will put their creative plans into action.

Check out some of the photos from the week 🙂

Last week we began long multiplication in class. Before now we have only been multiplying by a one digit number. Now we can multiply by 2 digit numbers.  The girls have been very quick at grasping this new maths skill! Well done girls 

We want to keep the steps fresh in our minds, so we will have a long multiplication sum/sums every night for homework in January.

Here are the steps the girls came up with;

1. Cover the 10 from the bottom 2 digit number – now the sum is a manageable 2 digit by 1 digit sum
2. Do this sum (as we were taught in 3rd) and cross off the unit when finished
3. Add your hero zero on the bottom and  uncover your ten
4. Start multiplying by the unit first
5. Add the two answers together to get the answer to the long multiplication question

(This may not make sense to those at home. These are the steps the girls have been using. Ask them to explain the process when they are doing their sum for homework.)

In order to be long multiplication experts, it really helps to know your tables!! Keep revising! Below are some websites you can use to practise at home;

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm#basicoperations

https://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games

https://www.timestables.com/games/

https://www.futuristicmath.com/games/4th-grade-multiply-2-by-2-digit-numbers-monster-board-game.html (long multiplication game; tablet friendly)

*PLEASE SUPERVISE CHILDREN WHEN USING THE INTERNET IN CASE THEY STRAY FROM ORIGINAL PAGE

As discussed in class, this project will be done in groups.

The girls have already decided which two topics they will each complete. Research will be started in school and continued at home. The girls will then, in their groups, layout and design their project on a large poster in class. The project should have a mixture of information (neatly written and displayed), maps and pictures. 

Example topics are;

• Roman society
• Roman Gods
• Roman Army
• Fall of the Roman Empire
• Roman homes, food & clothes

Remember, each girl in your group should be able to talk about all of the information on the poster.

If you have room at the end of the project you can add in other ideas e.g.  Interesting Roman Facts/ Quick Quiz

The project is due 8th of February (at the latest). 

Italian day will be Friday, 15th of February.

To help get you started;

https://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_rome.php

http://www.historyforkids.net/ancient-rome.html

https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/zwmpfg8 (good information but videos don’t work in Ireland)

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/Romans.html

*Supervision when using the internet is advised.

The library is also a great resource to use when doing projects. See if you can find any books that we could use in your local library.

Homework task; Create a storyboard on the legend of ‘Romulus and Remus’.  Re-watch the video clip of the legend.