March Mayan Mayhem!

Date: 5th Mar 2019 @ 12:59pm

 

We are currently on the countdown to SATs - as I'm sure you're all aware - so we are working extremely hard in all lessons to be the best we can be. 

 

 

Image result for literacy gif

In our literacy lessons, we have been completing an assessed piece of writing. Our story for this topic, The Mystery of The Maya, has really inspired us to create our own adventure stories. We worked through the features of adventure stories before writing our own. 

We have since moved on and today we looked at using a technique called 'Show, not tell'. This is all about showing how a character is feeling without actually saying the name of the feeling. We took part in some table activities, where we had to explain what feelings looked like and how they presented visually to other people. We then stuck these on our whiteboard and were given an example of a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like).

 

After looking at an example of Show, not tell, we had a go ourselves at writing about how a character was feeling based on their actions and thoughts. Here is an example of our work:

Moana is standing as still as possible and as straight as possible. She looks through the window and curls up in a ball. Her heart is beating really fast. Moana's breathing is super fast. She is shaking, but frozen to the spot. Her face is drained of colour. Moana does not blink. 

By Amy 

As you can tell from the 'Show, not tell' piece of writing, Amy's character is feeling scared.

 

Art

Image result for Mayan gif

In art lessons, we have been looking at Mayan artwork in all its forms. We have researched Mayan paintings, sculptures and masks and we have tried hard to replicate a piece of original Mayan artwork. 

We have also experimented with printing: in previous years, we have looked at block printing, but this year we have branched out and looked at different kinds of printing. Two of the types of printing we have looked at is collagraph printing and tin foil printing. 

In our next few art lessons, we will be designing, creating and evaluating our very own Mayan masks using a range of media. Keep your eyes peeled on our gallery for photographs of the finished products!

 

Science

In science lessons, we have been taking planning and carrying out an investigation into the growth of microorganisms. We were given two slices of bread and were asked to put them in sealed, ziplock bags. We then placed the two pieces of bread in different conditions: we did this to see which piece of bread would grow the most mould. After placing our bread in the desired locations, we left them for two whole weeks! Needless to say, when we returned from the school holidays, we had lots of mould to talk about!

We learned lots of things as a result of this investigation. Here are some of the things we have found out:

  • Mould grows quicker in hot conditions than in cold conditions.yes
  • Damp bread grows mould at a much quicker rate than dry bread. yes
  • Bread that is in a light place grows mould quicker than bread that is placed in a darker place. yes
  • Some of us are extremely squeamish! no

 

 

 

St Mary's Birchley Catholic Primary School

Birchley Road, Billinge, Nr Wigan,

Lancashire WN5 7QJ

Main Contact: Mrs Janet Ollerton

SENDCO Contact: Mrs Andrea Hymers

Tel: 01744 678610

Email: stmaryrcbp@sthelens.org.uk