We found out about the animals in africa. Once our homework was finished we shared our research and chose the best ones for certificate. Well done to Marie, George and Jonathan.

Click on this picture to continue your research. Write any interesting facts or ideas you find here for a house point.

We read stories like " Why the snake has no legs" and 'How the camel got its hump' and ' How the leopard got its spots'. In all the stories there was an animal that was not well behaved. Something happened to them because of this and so their bodies have changed shape. 

We wrote our own endings about how the snake lost its legs and we wrote our own " How the..."stories. They all started " Long ago when the world was new....". We focused on getting the tense correct as some of us get confused with the past tense. We also tried to use speech marks, time connectives and interesting words. 

As Zheng He went to Africa we wanted to find out more about the other animals he saw there. We read that there are many sorts of animals- insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds and lots of very famous mammals. We also found out about African art, focusing on sculptures. We decided to make clay sculptures of African mammals. We used books and National Geographic to research these animals and study their key features. The clay was a big ball and we had to pull and pinch it to make the shape. We also used tools such as tooth picks and lolly pop sticks to create shape and texture.

It was tricky trying to work out how they will stand up as they are quite heavy and thin legs would bend before the sculpture dried- what was your solution?

We are not sure how long they will take to dry but when they are will will varnish or paint them.

We planned our own version of the Magic Paintbrush making sure we used speech marks, full stops, conjunctions, connectives and interesting verbs. We also checked our work made sense. Joseph and Daniela got a certificate for their extra efforts. Most people can write a page now and the stories are really exciting.

We found out who he was and where he went. These are some of the things we found out:

-He made 7 journeys starting in 1405. He sailed to Iran, Vietnam, Java, Sumatra, Sri Lanka, Malaka, India, East Africa, Maldives, Oman, Yemmen and Malaysia. 
-He went to trade with the new countries and find new treasure.
-He had a 'Treasure fleet' of 317 boats, 4 were as long as 1 1/2 football fields. 
-He made friends with the Prince of Malacca in Malaysia and protected them from Pirates.
- We think Zheng He died on the way back from Iran near India but it is difficult to get good information.

What else can you find out?

This boat is a model of one of the treasure fleet boats- the small one is a model of Christopher Columbus'.

This week we are learning wr/rr/r phonics, the first sounds of Stage 3-The Complete Code. These games will help you practice.

The powerpoint below recaps all the phonics from our last stage- The Advanced code. You can use this to catch up or revise those sounds.

We have had a wonderful week exploring the new toddler house and surrounding area and drawing maps. It was great to dress up as explorers, pretending we are crossing different terrains in PE and planning what we would pack to take on an expedition. The children have clearly been thinking hard.
Where would you like to explore?