Sunday 29 November 2009

Year 5 at Cardiff Bay




On Thursday J5 and J6 had an amazing day in Cardiff Bay. Both classes had a fun packed day where they saw, heard and learnt a great deal.





J6 carried out their geographical research first whilst J5 went to visit the welsh assembly. We did a land use survey to see what the main land uses were in the bay.































We then carried out a traffic and pedestrian survey.












After the survey we moved onto the Welsh assembly. The new chamber was opened in 2006, before that, the Welsh Assembly Members would debate (communication and thinking skills) in this room. We were able to go in and have a debate on carrier bags (an issue that was debated just a fortnight ago in the Welsh Assembly). If we wanted to speak, we pressed a button and then spoke into the microphones.






















We used the digi blue camera ICT skills to produce the video below.


















We used the panel above to vote on charging for plastic bags. Green was yes, red - no and yellow - unsure. You can see the what we all thought.































We then moved onto a conference room where we had a quiz on the Welsh Assembly, here we were given answers but had to come up with the questions thinking skills.









Next, we walked around the new WAG building, most of the materials come from Wales except the roof which is Canadian timber.









After the Welsh Assembly we moved onto the Visitor Centre where we could see a scale model of the Bay.









Then onto the boat trip, the boat gave us an excellent view of the bay and the barrage. It helped us understand that the bay is fresh water and the sea the other side of the barrage is salt water.































We still had work to do on the boat!!















Finally onto the land train, here we saw the docks, where Doctor Who is filmed, St. David's Hotel and where the new set for Casualty is to be built.


















This is an example of the well thought out comments that both classes made whilst debating in the chamber.



Thursday 26 November 2009

Cardiff Bay - The National Assembly Part One





J6 went to the debating chamber first. We discussed sustainable methods of getting to school.

We all had something constructive to say Communication skills. We understand, that listening is just as important as speaking if you are to have a good debate.






J6 really did think about their comments before making them.




This activity required us to think about questions not answers, so we really had to use our thinking skills.



We worked well in groups and rushed up to get our answers ion the board.




Geography - Cardiff Bay Fieldwork Part 2


Once we had finished our debate we got soaked as we made our way to the Visitor Centre to see the scale model of the Bay.





The tour guide has worked in the bay since 1973. He used to be a docker and could tell us lots of information about how the Bay used to look.




We then watched the video that showed us how Cardiff has changed over the last 200 years. It was only a small town in the 1790's.

We even took Freddie Framework to Cardiff Bay.


Roald Dahl was christened in the Norwegian Church.




We found out that this building is where all of the coal was measured. The Titanic set sail using coal from the valleys, that coal would have been recorded in this building.













This is one of the locks that allow boats to come into and go out of the Bay.


Science - Investigating Ice


J5 and J6 had an enjoyable afternoon investigating ice. They developed their science skills and suggested enquiries for their fellow class mates to undertake with ice cubes.

The children came up with interesting enquiries and then had to choose the one their group were going to undertake. Plenty of thinking skills were incorporated into the lesson and many groups came up with interesting activities such as "Where would the ice cube melt fastest?" or " Does stirring the ice cube make a difference to the time it takes to melt?" Up above we can see one J5 boy eagerly waiting for his ice cube to melt.

Many groups used salt and vinegar to try out different enquiries.
Once the children had started undertaking their enquiries, they had to think carefully about the best way to present their evidence. What were thay going to measeure or time?


One group decided to put the ice cube outside as the weather was cold, in the hope that this would keep it solid the longest.
Pleny of numeracy skills used to time the ice cubes and to record the temperatures.
A fun afternoon of enquiry science had by all.

MATHS MATHS MATHS - WHAT A FUN PROBLEM SOLVING DAY

What a great problem solving day we had last Friday!
As usual, Mrs Marlow has put the photos on in reverse order, so our first activity is at the end! Not to worry!
Here we can see our number winners with their Pudsey bear biscuits! Well done - fantastic costumes.

Here we can see two of our girls on the coordinates trail around the school. Did they find the telephone number for elite systems on the side of Mrs Pope's classroom?


Number Fun out in the yard.
Here we can see the children being challenged and using plenty of thinking skills!
They were challenged to split into teams and get from one side of the pitch to the other without standing outside the hoops. The children loved the exercise!








This must have been one of the most fun sessions of the day. We can see the children playing a game that Mrs Marlow used to play in brownies.....yes I can remember all those years ago!
The game involves telling a story and whenever a number is mentioned, the children have to run down the middle, around the sides and back to their seats as quickly as possible, trying to beat their opposite number.




















The second session of the day involved lots and lots of dolly mixtures!
The children were challenged to predict the number in the bag, predict the weight of the bag and predict the total length of the dolly mixtures if they were in a line touching each other.








The children enjoyed counting and finding out how near they were to their predictions and most of all enjoyed eating the dolly mixtures!





































Techniquest came to Pontyclun Primary School! J5 and J6 were maths detectives and listened to a series of videos about a burglary. They had to then use their maths skills and work out who committed the crime.