Literacy/Art - Chinese New Year report and art

It's the beginning of the Year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar, so we're going to have a look at the traditions behind the Chinese New Year and how billions celebrate it around the world. We'll be writing a non-fiction report and completing some art showing fireworks, lanterns and fans for our "World Around Us" board in class. You need to log on to PurpleMash to find the 2Dos with today's date.

 

To warm up your brain this morning before we get cracking, we've some reading to do. Can you read through the information and complete the comprehension quiz below? 

 

To start our report, let's take the celebration itself - usually a key part of Chinese New Year is people gathering and watching the Dragon Dance (not this year, for obvious reasons). For the first part of the report, can you imagine you're describing what the Dragon Dance is like for viewers? Can you describe how the dragons are decorated, how they move, what sounds and sights you would experience if you were there?

Have a look at the decorations in this video - you'll need to bear in mind how Chinese New Year decorations are patterned and coloured (lots of red for good luck!). How do people celebrate this festival, and what will be different this year?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/56028082

 

Lastly, there's a fun little story which explains all the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. Can you recap it for the last part of the report? 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38668427

Maths - I am learning to identify and wirte fractions

I know, I know, normally we do an investigation on Fridays but I want us to be 100% with these fractions, and the words 'numerator' and 'denominator'.

 

Have a look at this clip on writing fractions;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z3rbg82/articles/zt7nfrd

 

On Mathletics, we've two tasks. One is to write fractions, the other is to match them.

Let's break this one down. The entire circle is one whole. How many bits has it been divided into? 3 - this has to be the denominator as it's job is to tell us how many bits the whole is in.

What about the numerator? That's how many is shaded - in this case, 2. So on top we've got 2, then 3 goes underneath. Again, you can think of the line as saying 'out of'.

 

 

It's the same deal for this one - the entire circle is the whole. How many equal parts is it in? That's right, 5. Then how many are shaded?

Geography - I am learning how people prepare for earthquakes.

Large earthquakes aren't a problem we have to deal with in this country, but they can cause massive problems for countries like Japan, China, Nepal and the USA. Do these countries just give up? Not at all - they learn the lessons of previous disasters. The biggest dangers from past earthquakes in these countries has been buildings falling down. 

 

That leaves one important question - how do these countries stop this happening and help people prepare for these disasters? One way is by building structures in a special way. Have a view of this video to see the tricks used to stop buildings being destroyed when an earthquake hits:

Another thing these countries do is have drills - just like we have fire drills - on what to do when an earthquake hits so that as few people get hurt as possible. Have a look at these top tips on what to do if you're ever caught in a tremor!

 

Starts at 1:33:

Using the information above, on an A4 sheet of plain paper I want you to design, draw and label your earthquake proof building and include a 'safety box' that tells people who live in this building what they should do if an earthquake hits.