Good morning, 

Remember our zoom call is at 12, so don't forget to bring your reading answers plus your English and maths work. If you are stuck, we are here to help from 11-12. Most importantly it is Red Nose Day so we can't wait to see those hero outfits (nature bear or superman, for example). Mr Bond also has a nose-based quiz for you. 

Fancy Dress Friday

Today, as it is Red Nose Day, we are all dressed as our favourite super heroes, so we thought we would have a Joe Wicks style work out together. Same Zoom code and password, bring your energy and your costume and we will do a short workout together from 9:30 until 10. 

Spellings

Time to fill in some missing letters in our spellings today. Below are our spellings with some bits missing, can you fill in the gaps. 

in_ _ _ _ ntial

ma_ _ _ _ l

sp_ _ _ al

par _ _ _ _ 

confid _ _ _ _ _ _

es_ _ _ _ ial

subst _ _ _ _ al

po _ _ _ _ ial

seq _ _ _ _ ial

tor _ _ _ tial

English

As we have quite a lot to do in our Zoom session today, I will set your English work on here. We will read a little bit more of Clockwork later altogether, so you might want to wait until we have heard a bit more of our story before having a go at the activities below.

Firstly, I would like you to have a think about what has happened in our story so far.

Can you take the events below and put them in the correct order? Some of the events might be happening during our Zoom call today!

One of the key features of this story is the tension that Philip Pullman manages to create. One way to create tension is by withholding information or leaving it up to our imaginations to fill in some of the blanks. One example of this is how Pullman ends Part 1, with Gretl left alone with the animated Sir Ironsoul. 

It can create a lot more tension when things are only half-seen or are difficult to make out. Before Karl runs out of the tavern, Pullman writes that he 'lifted the curtain and peered through the window, but there was not a single light in the town square'. This makes the story a lot more tense than if it was a bright, sunny day.

I want you to return to your description from yesterday of Dr Kalmenius's laboratory. Can you up-level your writing to make it any more tense? Maybe you could think about what can't be seen in the laboratory, or the mysterious noises that you can't quite make out. Remember, an ellipsis (...) at the end of a paragraph doesn't make a cliffhanger or create tension on its own, it is the information that is being held back from the reader that leaves us feeling tense or on edge.

For example, 'The figure slowly but purposefully began to move towards Gretl, raising its razor-sharp sword and steadily, stealthily, surely, drew closer and closer to the unaware girl...'

This leaves us wanting to find out what happens next, by keeping that information from us, for now!

Change, tweak and improve your laboratory descriptions from yesterday by adding in extra details, by holding information back from the reader or by ending the paragraph in suspense!

Good luck!

Reading

Another chunk of Holes today, we are going to read chapters 9, 10 and 11. We are really getting into Stanley's story now, along with the other stories that run alongside it. Below are four questions for you to have a go at. Bring the answers along to our zoom call. 

1. Why was there no drain on the floor of the shower to catch all the water?
2. What did Stanley do to make sure his mum wouldn’t worry about him?
3. Find evidence from chapter 9 that shows that X-ray, Armpit and Squid like and respect Stanley.
4. In chapter 11, why did Stanley think it was a good thing that he had promised to give anything interesting that he found to X-ray?

Maths

We are starting with a bit of arithmetic this morning, so have a go at the 12 questions on our arithmekit below. If you want give yourself a challenge, set a time limit of 10 minutes to get them all done. We will check our answers during our Zoom call. 

Then continuing with our ratio work today, we have our normal sheet and video to help you along, as well as an extra couple of questions to challenge your thinking on the subject of ratio. Find the video here and the task below. 

Think carefully about the relationship between ratio and fractions for the challenging questions below and think about what you know. If you want some help with these, we will be available on Zoom between 11 and 12.

RED NOSE DAY

Obviously it is Red Nose Day today and we are encouraging you to dress up as your hero. So this afternoon we are going to have a bit of hero-based work. Our challenge to you is to write a biography on your hero. It doesn't have to be the hero you are dressed up as, but an inspirational person to you. 

Your hero might be fictional, a celebrity or someone you know and admire. We would like you to tell us as much as you can about them. 

This could include:

• Where and when were they born
• how old are they now
• profession, hobbies, interests
• what inspirational things have they done
• why do you relate to them or are inspired by them
• how long they lived for (if it is a hero from the past)

It might be similar to your non-chronological report, or ideally it will be a more conventional biography. It might be fun to do this for superman or wonder woman, a completely made up super hero (become the next Stan Lee), a person from history or a celebrity. Your hero might be a grandparent, your mum or dad. The choice is yours.