Central Idea: Present-day societies are built upon the systems and technologies of past civilizations.
Line(s) of Inquiry :
- The connection between past and present
- Societal errors of the past
- Processes involved in collecting, analysing and validating evidence
Science - We started off the week by finding out what kinds of simple machines were used in ancient times. Three important ones we found were the pulley, the screw and the lever. We built models so that we would have a better understanding of them. Another activity involved watching a video and looking for all of the examples of these simple machines. There are lots of books on 'Get Epic' about these machines, we particularly enjoyed 'Stone Age Science- simple machines'. If you'd like to get busy at home with something to make, that book has wonderful instructions on how to make the machines.
English - Reading. We began by reminding ourselves about how information is divided into paragraphs. We read about Cleopatra and worked on identifying the main idea of each paragraph. Next week, we'll begin looking at good phrases for beginning paragraphs. We'll read and see how good authors do this.
Writing - the objective this week was to write an information report about health, education or government in an ancient civilization. Again, the focus was on organising writing into paragraphs and having a clear focus for each one.
Maths We have had a crazy week in Maths, but we have worked hard as usual. Thankfully for Year 7, we have already been doing a lot of practice with Google Classroom to ensure they were ready for in case the school needed to close. Sadly, that has come to be, but we will continue to provide essential maths learning online via Google Classroom.
We have focused on a lot of content this week as we started our new topic of 'Fractional Thinking - Addition and subtraction of fractions'. The content we covered was:
To understand representations of fractions
To convert mixed numbers and fractions
To add and subtract unit fractions with the same denominator
To add and subtract fractions with the same denominator
To add and subtract integers from fractions expressing the answer as a single fraction
To understand and use equivalent fractions
As learning moved online this week, it is still expected for the students to complete the daily maths work provided. This is uploaded at 7am every day with a deadline of 6pm to allow flexibility for other learning. I am available to video call between 10am and 12pm Monday to Friday should the students wish to speak to be about the maths work. Alternatively, all parents and students are free to send me an email at any time and I will do my best to respond as soon as possible.
The students completed their 'Directed Number' assessment last Friday. The students were emailed on Wednesday that if they wanted their results and their current percentage average to email me.
Next week, we will continue our topic 'Fractional Thinking'. The content we will cover is:
To add and subtract fractions where the denominator shares a simple common multiple.
To add and subtract with any denominator.
To add and subtract improper fractions and mixed numbers.
To use fractions in algebraic contexts.
To use equivalence to add and subtract decimals and fractions.
The assessment date for 'Fractional Thinking' will be Monday 30th March 2020. Details on how we will complete this assessment at home will be announced later next week.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please ensure that the students are submitting their work and completing any maths corrections they may need to do. : )
Online Learning with Google Classroom
Midweek we moved into online learning. There is a lot of good content on there. Please get used to using it. We're making it as interactive as possible.
As always, don't hestitate to ask about anything that is unclear.
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