Thursday 30th April 2020

The first thing I did this morning was 2 more pages on my brochure.  I did a page on historical sites and a page on skyscrapers.  We found lots of photos online and then I did my Top 5.  This is what I did:

I then moved on to Maths and completed my White Rose Maths worksheet and the Oak National Academy Maths lesson.  This was still on reflection but today I had to apply the rules I had learned yesterday to make predictions about the reflections on the X and Y axis.  I got all of the questions right.

I then did the Joe Wicks PE lesson.  This set me up for lunch!


After lunch I continued to read my book.  I then did the Oak National English lesson. The focus of the lesson was writing character descriptions and relative clauses.  I wrote a description of Darrell Rivers from the Malory Towers books (I'm reading them at the moment).

I also thought about one of the discussion topics set by school.  I chatted with mum about lockdown and travel and how things have changed.  I am missing school and seeing my family and friends.






I then did a science lesson.  Today I learned about rock.  There are 3 types of rock:

• Igneous
• Metamorphic
• Sedimentary

The focus of the lesson was on how igneous rock is formed.  I learned that igneous rock can be formed in 2 ways:

• Extrusive - Outside the crust
• Intrusive - Inside the earth

There was an experiment with chocolate which I recreated.  It shows how the magma comes through the earth's crust as lava and cools quickly.  The solidified lava is extrusive igneous rock.

Wednesday 29th April 2020

Just as as I completed Operation Jump for Joy the weather has turned.  Typical.

Anyway mum had maths to cheer me up - not! I did the White Rose Maths worksheets and got 2 wrong.  One I copied down incorrectly and the other I only went to 2 decimal places and it should have been 3.

I then did the Oak National Academy Maths and English lessons.  I did well on the Maths.  I learned the rules for reflecting shapes along X and Y Axis.

• If reflected on the X axis the X coordinate stays the same and the Y becomes positive or negative.
• If reflected on the Y axis the  Y coordinate stays the same and X becomes positive or negative.

In the English lesson I looked at some of the key features of good character descriptions.  These include:

• Expanded noun phrases
• Relative clauses
• Emotive language
• Fronted adverbials

I then had to identify these features in an extract from a book.

For the last lesson before lunch I did the Joe Wicks PE lesson.  I really enjoyed this!

I am currently reading Malory Towers so I read a few chapters after lunch.

After lunch I did some more work on my holiday brochure. I revised some of the features and layout of brochures and looked at examples.  I then picked some hotels for my brochure and I wrote a review.  I also designed a logo and slogan for my travel company.

My company is called Star Holidays and the slogan is:

5 Star Holiday, 5 Star Service, 5 Star Satisfaction. 


My mum helped me to make my logo in Photoshop.

I did 2 more pages of the brochure:

Tomorrow I will do the pages on the sites and the skycrapers.

Tuesday 28th April 2020

A drizzly Tuesday today. Operation Jump for Joy is underway and we have done some research into trampolines to present to Dad.

Then we did our morning misery - I mean Maths.  I completed the White Rose Maths Sheet and put this on the school site.  I got them all right so I was pleased.  I then did some rounding up of decimals.  I completed all of the lessons on the Oak National Academy.  I did the Maths lesson were we continued to look at reflections and identify the patterns.  I learned that if the line of reflections is parallel to the X axis then the coordinates of the original and the reflection on the X axis will stay the same.  This is the same when the line of symmetry is on the Y axis - the Y coordinates in the reflection will be the same as the original.

In the English lesson the focus was on word meanings so I had to pick out key words and look at synonyms.  The best lesson was Spanish.  We went over the numbers and the letters of the alphabet.  We then looked at greetings and questions such as What is your name, how are you and how old are you?  Me and my mum had a conversation in Spanish when we put it all together.

Seren:  Hola.  Buenos dias!
Mum:  Buenos dias.  Como estas?
Seren Muy bien.  Como te llamas?
Mum:  Me llamo Caroline.  Y tu?
Seren:  Me llamo Seren.
Mum:  Cuanto anos tienes?
Seren: Tengo diez anos.

We then recapped the animation 'Tuesday' that we did yesterday.  I read the opening of a report and I had to continue it writing in the speech.  We looked at the rules for punctuating speech and then I finished the report.  Mum checked my punctuation.

One of the tasks my teacher has set me this week is to write a holiday brochure for a US State.  I have decided on New York because there are lots of interesting places to visit and it's great for shopping and fashion!  Yesterday, I looked at persuasive features so I can use these to help persuade people to go on holiday to New York.  Today, I researched the state and decided I would just focus on New York City because there is so much to write about.  I watched some videos about it and made notes.  I then researched the weather and geography for the introduction.  I picked some good photos too.  I wanted the statue of liberty on the front of my brochure because everyone knows it. My first page has my introduction - I tried to use good language and to give clear information.  I am going to do a page on the landmarks tomorrow.

I then did some quiet reading.  I have tap and ballet later.

Monday 27th April 2020

Happy Monday everyone!

White Rose Maths to start the day.  I completed the first lesson and went through the answers.  I got 2 wrong because I made the error of saying 11-7 =5 - doh!  I then put it on the website so my teacher could see.

I then did the national academy Maths lesson: To identify and describe reflections. This was quite easy as I could pick the correct line of symmetry.

I then did the English lesson online about character descriptions.  I liked this as the descriptions they used were of Robin and Wonder Woman.  I got all of the fact retrieval questions correct but my mum says I have to stop guessing because it isn't a memory test and I should only write down what is in the text.  My teacher had also set me a fact retrieval task on Annie Edson Taylor.  I answered these questions and my mum took a photo for me to upload to the school website.

I then one of my homework tasks was to choose a recent US president to research.  My first choice was Trump but my mum suggested I picked someone less orange!  I nearly picked Barak Obama before I decided on JFK.

I enjoyed learning about JFK because I liked watching the videos and doing the research.  I read his speech and the famous part:

"Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country."

I made lots of notes and then turned these into a timeline with photos.  After reading about him I do think he was a good president but not a very good husband! You can read my work here.

JFK Biography

Later we watched a very strange animation called Tuesday. I broke the story down into 6 key parts and drew a storyboard.  See I told you it was weird!

I revised modal verbs and answered some questions before I imagined I was a detective investigating the strange events on Tuesday.  I decided to interview  a farmer who saw the frogs falling.

The last task of the day was the most important one.  I really want a trampoline but I need to persuade Dad to get me one.  Earlier dad had been telling me all about conspiracies (because I was researching at JFK).  Now me and mum have a conspiracy for HIM!!!!

I looked at some of the main persuasive features.  My mum told me daforest will help me to remember them:

• Direct address
• Alliteration
• Facts
• Opinions
• Rhetorial questions
• Emotions
• Statistics
• Triplets (power of three)

I used this writing frame to write the letter.  Here it is:

Dad said it was very persuasive and he said I can research trampolines and present my findings for him to consider.  He wants to go on it too!  Phase one of Operation Jump for Joy has been completed successfully!

Friday 24th April 2020

I had a choice of Maths or English to start the day.  I picked Maths to get it over with!

This week I have completed all of the national.academyhttps://www.thenational.academy/ Maths lessons.  As far as Maths goes, I have liked doing these lessons because they are not too easy and not too hard.  Some of the maths terms have been:

• Coordinates
• Translations
• Congruent
• Axis

After a break I completed some more Maths.  Mum gave me some worksheets to help me to revise addition and subtraction problems, decimals and estimating differences. 

I don't like these as mum writes challenges that are too challenging!  She says that's the whole point. Have mercy woman!

Anyway I did the 3 worksheets and got every question right apart from question 1.  Guess what I did?  Yes you guessed correctly.  I subtracted when I was asked to add -
argh!!!!!!

This afternoon I did some more English.  We looked at examples of setting descriptions and then I read an example and spotted some of these features. To help me write my own setting description I was given the following advice:

• Set the time period e.g. ancient, modern, futuristic
• Paragraph 1 - wide picture
• Paragraph 2 - zoom in on detail
• Include senses (e.g. smell, touch, sight, hearing, taste)  to engage the reader
• Use adjectives to give lots of information and detail
• Use personification
• Include similes
• Prepositions to set the scene

I decided to write about an underwater setting.  I started with the beach and then zoomed in under the sea. Here is my description:

I then went through my description and wrote at the side what picture I wanted for my reading.  I then found the images and put them in order making them longer or shorter to fit the words.  I am really pleased with the results. Here is my reading with the pictures:

I ended the day with grammar. It was a quick test to see if I had remembered what we had done this week.

It has definitely been a successful week.  I am most proud of my description today. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday 23rd April 2020

Mum surprised me this morning.  We started with English. 

I completed a reading lesson.  I read the opening of the book 'Sky Song' by Abi Elphinstone.  It was really good and I am adding it to the Books I Must Read list in my notebook.

I had to answer some questions to find information and also to see if statements were true or false.

I then did some grammar.  We revised clauses and phrases and I looked at some sentences to identify the main and subordinate clauses. 



We also had a discussion about standard and non-standard English.  I know that how we speak is not always how we should right.  My mum's pet peeve is when people say of instead of have.  You should not write should of  and could of but should have and could have.



However, it wasn't long before I was drowning in maths again.  It wasn't so bad to be honest.  First I did some mental calculations making sure I was rounding up/down.  For example I had one question that was something like 87,965 + 1997.  I started by rounding up to 2000 then subtracted 3.  This method does make it easier.  I then did some column addition and subtractions.

The last lesson of the morning was learning about coordinates and translating shapes.  We did 2 of the lessons on national.academy and they were very clear and easy to understand.  As Maths is often boring (have I ever mentioned that?) I made up a dance to help me to remember when plotting coordinates and writing translations you must make sure you do X first then Y.

After lunch we read a poem about a the by T.S Eliot.  Here is a link to a reading of the poem: SKIMBLESHANKS.

I identified the rhyming scheme and then we watched some extracts from the stage show and the film.  I am really hoping that my dance show next year does not have the musical CATS in it.  I think the characters look weird and the songs are just bad. 

We ended the day with a fantastico Spanish lesson - Me llamo Seren - me speako tooto lingo!!

I learned some key sounds and the alphabet plus my numbers.  My favourite word that I heard today was balones (football).  I also like pinguinos (penguin) conejos (rabbits).  

Wednesday 22nd April 2020

This morning we started with Maths - again!  Death by decimals.  I was adding and subtracting decimals without using pencil and paper.  I learned that if you have to + or - 0.9 then it's easier to round up to 1.0 and then + or -0.1.  You do the same thing for numbers ending in 0.1.  It's easier to round down and then + or - 0.1. 

For example:

2.8  + 4.1 (add 4 then add 0.1)

2.8 + 3.9 (add 4 then subtract 0.1)

4.3  - 3.1 (subtract 3 then subtract 0.1)

4.3 -3.9 (subtract 4 then add 0.1)

My mum then gave me a test and went through the answers with me.  There was some Frightful Fractions hidden in the decimal test.  Mum says fractions is the next topic  - I'm missing decimals already! Frown.

Next we looked at 4 different types of sentences.  I then had to match them.  When I had done this I  learned about simple, compound and complex sentences.  

I then had to read some examples and  identify the main clauses and subordinate clauses.  I then made up my own sentences.

After a break I did a lesson at the computer.  I enjoyed this as it was reading and I love reading!   You can do the lesson here: Setting Description - Fact retrieval

I listened to the teacher's instructions and then I read the description and answered the questions.  It's good because you then go back to the video to check the answers. 

I really liked the description so my mum showed me some of the film so I could see the house.  It looks so pretty and green.  I want to live there!

I had fish fingers, chips and peas for dinner - yummy!  I had jelly and cream for pud with a few Haribos stuck in the cream.  I told mum she needs to work on her presentation.

I also had a task to do from my dance.  I had to send a creative photo of myself saying thank to the front line workers.  Is that creative enough? 

It was then back to lessons and first I read a story called 'Hunted'. It was about a guy running from soldiers in a forest.  He got away by finding a trap door and a deer saved his by hiding it from the soldiers.  We talked about some of the unanswered questions like why was he running and why did the deer help him?  

I was going to write a prequel but I got a bit bogged down and so we did another story instead.

This story was called 'Ouch' and was about a group of Shepherds who fall asleep under a tree and when they wake up their legs are all tangled and they don't know which legs belong to which shepherd!  

A woman comes along and she has a sun and moon brooch.  They ask for help so she starts stabbing the feet with the pin on her brooch.  Who ever screams 'Ouch!' knows that foot is theirs.  

I liked the story and wrote about what happened next.  

I also designed the sun and moon brooch.  

You can hear my story here:

Tuesday 21st April 2020

Today,  I started with conjunctions.  I watched the Grammaropolis song and then looked at some examples.  I then had to identify the type of conjunction.  There are 2 types:  Coordinating and Subordinating.  The song makes it easy to remember coordinating conjunctions because they use the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).  Subordinating conjunctions are words like because, if, although, whenever, after.



After grammar,  I did some more work on dastardly decimals.

I revised what I did yesterday and then I answered some questions on my own.

Mum gave me a few hard ones which I got wrong and she went through with me.  She told me this trick which helped.







After a break,  I did some English.  I read the a story called 'Butterflies' about a girl writing a poem about butterflies.   The words of the poem become butterflies.  I looked at how the writer had used adverbials and I then wrote what I thought happened next.  I enjoy writing stories.  Here is my story and a design for one of the butterflies.

After lunch,  I researched the life cycle of a butterfly and looked at the monarch butterfly.  There are 4 stages:

• Egg
• Larva
• Pupa
• Imago

I used my notes and research to produce an information sheet for Year 3 pupils.

For the last task of the day I read about Annie Edson Taylor who was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.  I completed the task my teacher set and posted it to the school website.

Monday 20th April 2020

Welcome back to homeschool!

I started today by completing the maths set by my teacher on decimals. I made a couple of silly errors - adding instead of subtracting!  Once I worked it out and it was the right answer but then copied the wrong answer into the box.  I really need to read the questions carefully and check my answers.

I then set up a scrapbook on the school website and started my diary.  I tried to use fronted adverbials.  I wrote about the dastardly decimals I had been doing and I put this photo in.

When I had completed that I revised some of the grammar I had done before Easter and did a little test.

I then had a play in the garden with Ziggy.

After lunch we started to research the Battle of Little Big Horn.  It wasn't long before my dad heard us.  He stopped work and came in to tell us all about it - he's mad for it and loves history.  My Grandad Wales has been to Montana and visited the site.

We watched a couple of videos and looked at lots of images.  Here is a good summary:

As part of my research I had to put the statements in the chronological order.  I then drew what I thought Custer saw before he died.

The part of the research I most enjoyed was learning about some of the people involved in the Sioux Wars.  I read information about them and made some notes.  I then had to decide who I thought was the biggest warmonger.  The worst person I read about was Chivington.  I made my fact sheet and added it to the school website.

When my I was researching and talking about the battle and the people with my mum dad kept interrupting so I decided to interview him.  

You can hear the interview here:

I also did some TT Rockstars and ballet stretching.

See you tomorrow.

Friday 3rd April 2020

It's the end of our second week of home school!

First thing we did some Maths.  I revised Place Order, Roman Numerals, Comparing Numbers and Negative Numbers and Rounding Numbers.  I then did a test.

After Maths is Grammar - urgh!  Today we looked at ADVERBS and ADVERBIAL PHRASES. My mum went through a presentation and we did some exercises.  My favourite part was the Grammaropolis song.  They are so funny!  You can see the adverb song here:



Next we did MACBETH!  My mum loves Shakespeare and she said Macbeth is a brilliant play.

We watched a short animation of the play and then read a story of Shakespeare's play.  At the end of each chapter we watched an animation of the events and talked about the characters. 

This page was really useful:

BBC KS2 MACBETH

For my first Shakespeare play I think it is quite good.  I liked King Duncan and I felt sorry for him. 

I really like the main idea of the play and how Macbeth changes from being a brave hero to a murderous tyrant! 

The best part of the story is at the end as he realises the witches have fooled him. 

I think the moral of the play is to be grateful for what you have and be careful what you wish for!

Overall I would rate the play 9/10 because I think the ending was very gruesome! 

After I finished the book I designed a poster to advertise a new version of the play.  I wanted my poster to show how Macbeth changes from a noble man to a greedy serial killer.

To celebrate the end of term we are now eating snacks and watching the Horrible History Movie!

Happy Easter Everyone. XX

Thursday 2nd April 2020

Good morning I started the day with some tap dancing!!  My teacher posted a little routine online and I gave it a go. Here it is:

I then completed the Roman Numerals Gold Challenge.  It was hard because there was roman numeral additions and subtractions and sums with parts missing.  I got 19/20 so I got my 10 extra Haribos!!!

I then watched a Math Antics video about NEGATIVE NUMBERS.  The video is really good and did explain the topic well.  You can watch the video by clicking HERE >>>>

I then did a test and got them all right so I'm pleased about that as the last question was hard.

After lunch we looked at PREPOSITIONS.  These are words which relates a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence.  It tells us the position of something, where or when. 

I then had to read a description of a scene on a beach.  Then I had to draw a picture using all of the information in the description.  I picked out the prepositions first so I could position the characters and objects.  I could pick out all of the adjectives then colour everything in.  Here is my finished picture:

My final lesson today was writing.  First I picked one of the topics my mum gave me.  I picked School Uniform.  We discussed the pros and cons of school uniform.  I decided to argue for school uniform so my mum gave me the task.  She said Mr Woods was planning to scrap school uniforms and from September everyone could come into school wearing their own clothes.  I had to write a letter to express my opinion and explain why he should not do this. I didn't let anyone see it and then I read it aloud.  My mum was crying and my dad gave me a high five!  I think that means they liked it.

The best thing about today was the writing task.

Wednesday 1st April 2020

Mum woke me up this morning and reminded me it was Aprils fools day.  We plotted  to play a joke on dad.

First I went into Dad and told him he had overslept.  I said 'Do you know it's a quarter to ten?'  He shot up!!  Then before he came downstairs mum pretended to scream at the dog and I ran upstairs and told dad the dog had been sick everywhere!!  Dad rushed downstairs and we shouted 'APRIL FOOLS!!!"















The first lesson of the day was the Roman numerals Silver challenge.  I answered all of the additions and subtractions in Roman numerals and won 5 extra Haribos. Tomorrow I go for GOLD and a prize of 10 Haribos!!  My second lesson was a revision of Place Values and Number Orders.  I then completed a test and got 18 out of 22.

We then did some Grammar.  Mum went through a presentation on ADJECTIVES and I had to read out a story and every time I spotted an adjective I had to whisper it. We looked at making ADJECTIVAL PHRASES too.  We looked at sentences and tried to improve them. We put adjective phrases  before and after the noun.

My favourite part of this lesson was the adjective song.  It's really good.  You can watch it here:

Next we watched a short animated film called 'Lighthouse'.  We watched it together. As we watched it again I made a timeline and wrote notes on what happened. We then talked about:

• How the lighthouse keeper was feeling
• Why he was worried when the light went went out

I then used my notes to write the lighthouse keeper's diary.

Here is the short film.  I really liked it!

I really enjoyed this activity.  I like writing stories.  I then read this out for my mum and dad and mum recorded it for me.  We found some pictures from the film and put them together to go with my recording.  This is me reading my diary entry:

Then I read some of my Little Women book and watched some of the film.  I'm now up to chapter 5 and I'm really enjoying it. I will read some more at bedtime.  I like Beth because she is really kind and Jo is funny.