This week in Learning journey MP3 continued to research about our host country, Cambodia. We visited the Bophana Centre to use their archives. The Bophana Centre is a audio visual archive. It is full of videos and films from Cambodia's past, we even saw a film of Apsara dancers dancing for King Norodom in 1890!! In addition to all of this research MP3 looked into how our host and home countries are linked. Some were linked through trade, war, sport, investment, or tourism - just to name a few.

This week Y5 have continued reading Bill's New Frock. We have been empathising with the main character,Bill, and thinking about how he would be feeling after waking up and everyone thinking he was a girl! We have started writing some amazing diary entries from Bill's perspective. We have done a fantastic job of using a thesaurus to find adventurous new words to make our writing interesting.

This week in literacy, Year 6 continued to work on skills linked to books and reading. We read about Roald Dahl on his website and thought about the common themes across his books such as using children as the main character, using magic and often having a problem his characters had to overcome. We worked in pairs to discuss the books we were reading. Our partner would ask us a set question, listen to our answers and then ask a follow up question to test our understanding about characters, settings, genres and the author's intent. We continued to extend our vocabularies by looking up new words we read in our books in the dictionary and seeing if we could use these correctly in a sentence. ​

Saturday 19th Jan:   Kite flying day @ Olympic Stadium 8:30am - 10:30am

Friday 25th Jan: Year 1 - Year 9 Sports day @ Northbridge

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This week in Learning Journey MP3 embarked on the History part of our Here and Now, There and Then unit. We looked at how Cambodia, in particular, how Phnom Penh had changed over the years. In order to do this we split into teams and looked at a variety of sources to answer questions. Each room was set up with one of the following sources:
- photos
- video 
- internet
- books
 Learners rotated through the rooms gathering as much information as they could. Phnom Penh has certainly changed over the years. Below are pictures of central market from the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, and 2018. What information about how Phnom Penh life has changed can you ascertain from these pictures?

This week Y5 have been super thinkers when investigating the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. We have been practising describing and classifying shapes by their properties and learned lots of new information! Did you know that a circle is not a polygon? Also, a square is a rhombus, but a rhombus isn't a square! A rectangle is a parallelogram, but it isn't a rhombus. 

In maths this week Y6 began looking at ratio. Ratio is a tricky concept to master, and this was a new concept for all of us. We learnt that In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers indicating how many times the first number contains the second. We practised this using diagrams and lego to help us.

This week Y5 have begun a book study of Bill's New Frock by Anne Fine. It is a funny novel about a young boy who wakes up one day and everyone thinks he is a girl! We have read the first two chapters and focused on answering a variety of different questions. Next week we will be writing a diary entry from Bill's perspective and then continuing reading the story.

This week in Literacy, year 6 has focused on reviewing books, spellings and homophones, We recapped over different genres and wrote a book review of a book we have recently read. We revisited root words, prefixes and suffixes and looked at how these help us to spell a range of new words correctly. We looked at the difference between a homonym and a homophone and set ourselves a target to identify a common homophone we often mix up like two, too and too or there, their and they're. ​

In PSHCE Y6 talked about appearances and how the media, the internet, music and films can often make people think they should look a certain way. We also talked about gender stereotyping and how boys and girls should not be limited to what people think girls should like or boys should like. ​

On Wednesday Years 4, 5, and 6 traveled to Northbridge to participate in the YAPP sports event. It was a wonderful day out in the sunshine running about on the grass. The learners represented iCAN beautifully, they tried their hardest in all events, listened carefully to the staff in charge, and encouraged all to achieve their best. Well done, your LFs were very proud of your efforts. A big thank you to Mr Daan and all the staff who made this day so much fun!

This week, schools all over the world have been celebrating the annual Hour of Code event. In today's world where we have so much technology, there is a huge demand for skilled coders. This event shows learners how much fun coding can be and that it is something we can all have a go at. Milepost 3 used our coding skills to program games to follow our commands and wrote our own lines of code. We had to be thinkers as you have to use a very logical mindset and everyone was really resilient by keeping going if their code didn't work the first time. ​

This week in Learning Journey MP3 looked back to their home and adopted countries and all of the different things that they have to offer. The learners were tasked to make a video advert for tourists, point out all of the amazing things to do, see, and experience in their home countries. We used imovie  to help make the movie, researched all the facts and figures, and wrote and performed the script. There is a lot that goes into making a 2-3 minute advert!

This week in maths Year 5 have been deepening our understanding of fractions, decimals and percentages. We have practised converting between the three and know that they are different ways to talk about amounts of a whole. We have made links with our understanding of division when converting in-equivalent fractions into mixed number fractions. What we have found challenging this week is learning about decimals and we want to practise more on this so that we can improve!

​In Y6 we continued to look at the relationship between decimals, percentages, and fractions. We have been converting between the three, as well as using them to solve calculations. We are becoming better at finding fractions and percentages of an amount, such as 37% of 310 or 5/8 of 72.

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Tuesday 11th & Thursday 13th: Learning review meetings

Friday 14th: Last day of the Learning Block - school finishes at 11:30am

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MP3 have continued with the Geography portion of our unit this week. We have been making pamphlets/leaflets this week. Our task was to create a leaflet that would provide useful information for a new teacher moving to Cambodia.

This leaflet had to be eye catching, based on facts, in our own words, and supported with pictures. The leaflet needed to provide information about Cambodia's: culture, cities, geographical features, attractions, climate, and environmental issues.

​The most challenging part of this learning was not finding the information, we are getting better at research, but summarising the amount of information into just a few sentences. 

This week in Literacy Year 5 have been learning how to write a persuasive text. We know that a persuasive text tries to convince the reader to believe their point of view, convince them to do something or buy something. We learned about the features of a persuasive text, and we know that it is written in formal language in a certain structure,  including an introduction and a conclusion. Next, we are going to choose a topic of our own choice and begin to plan how best to convince you that our point of view is right! 

In Literacy this week, Year 6 has continued to enjoy the thrilling story of Stormbreaker. We are focusing on skills that we will need in the next week or two to write our own action/adventure stories.We have recapped how to use speech marks to show direct speech and learnt how to write a 3 action sentence. For example: Alex opened the window, look at the fifteen story drop and then leapt out on the flag pole. ​

In maths this week Y5 have been building on our knowledge of fractions. We have really impressed our learning facilitators with what great thinkers we are, grasping new and challenging concepts. We have learnt about improper fractions and mixed number fractions and how to convert between the two. We’ve also been learning to recognise equivalent decimals and percentages. Next week we will be learning to add and subtract fractions as well as how to calculate fractions of an amount.
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This week in maths Y6 have continued to explore fractions. We have looked at multiplying fractions by whole numbers and by other fractions. We began the daunting task of learning about how to divide by fractions! Much to our surprise it wasn't as difficult as we imagined! We have also started to take a peak at how fractions, decimals, and percentages relate to each other.

Monday 3rd: Sign up for learning review meetings (to be held 11th and 13th December)

Tuesday 4th: Planning day. Learners finish at 11:30am
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Friday 7th: Primary Learning Reviews issued

In learning Journey this week MP3 have continued with Geography. We learned about position and maps this week. We found out about latitude and longitude and how they work dividing the entire globe up into a grid. We practised using longitude and latitude coordinates and tried to place famous landmarks on a globe. Check out the famous building at 11.5466° N, 104.9304° E. MP3 also used a fun site geogussr.com to increase their knowledge of geographical sites and positions on a global scale.

This week in Maths Year 5 have been deepening our understanding of fractions of amounts. We used fractions on a number line to help us. We practised ordering fractions on a number line, then used this to help us solve problems. We have also been improving at justifying our answers. Now we can prove that 1/2 is greater than 1/3 by using our words, instead of drawing pictures to explain. 

Y6 this week have been learning about division. We have been practising doing long division and then turning the remainders in fractions or decimals. We have used interactive resources and have spent time learning different techniques from each other. We have also spent some time revising how to add, subtract, and multiply fractions that have different denominators! 

The amazing 5A are all stars for producing a spectacular assembly which displayed all of the learning we have done this past year!

In geography task 1 we needed to do a number of things;

• Look at different types of maps and learn about what they are used for.
  
• Locate where we are from and find out some geographical information including climate, and position.
  
• Plan a journey from Phnom Penh to our home (adopted) country, which includes all of the following information: mode of transport, travel time, distance covered (km), time difference between countries, and lay over time.
  
• Map the journey and create a key explaining all the above.
  

It was a lot more challenging than we expected, we needed to research not only the distances and routes taken, but also the different airlines, time zones, and departure/arrival times!

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This week Year 5 have been consolidating our knowledge and understanding about fractions of shape and amounts. We can identify incorrect representations of fractions, and show our understanding by justifying our answers. This was challenging as we really had to be thinkers to decide how to explain our reasoning. 

In maths this week Year 6 continued to look at BIDMAS, square numbers, square roots, cube numbers and cube roots! To show their understanding in all things order of operations; Year 6 created a quiz for a learner in another class to complete. Just to make it a little trickier, the learners were asked to make their quiz at either a Beginning, Developing, or Mastering level. The learners needed to think about very specific outcomes and how to achieve this through a series of questions.

What an exciting, action-packed week Year 5 had in Kampot and Kep. 

When we arrived at Les Mangiuers, we were thrilled to see all the things that we could do. We had a lot of fun playing with friends on the football pitch, foosball table, archery, ping pong and making a fuss of all the lovely animals. Tuesday night we went on a wonderful river cruise to spot the fireflies. It was magical!

Over Wednesday and Thursday, Year 5 took part in 4 different activities. We got our creative juices flowing by designing and making our own 3D city using lots of different tools and practising and creating dances with Epic Arts. We climbed our way up the sides of mountains and crept through holes as part of our caving experience. Everyone was a fantastic risk taker, even the adults who were a little nervous to start with. We also got to take part in sailing activities with a specialist instructor. It was a lot of fun but very tiring!

Last week, Year 6 had a fantastic time at Siem Reap and Battambang. We used lots of our personal goals to tackle the different challenges and activities. The first we had to do was be risk taker to handle and eat tarantulas. Yikes! At Siem Reap we had an awesome time cooking up fresh spring rolls, fish Amok and delicious fried bananas. I hope some of the learners have cooked this for families at home. We explored the ruins of Beng Mealea and had fun tracking down specific places in the ruins. 


Then we moved to Battambang where we got to ride the famous bamboo train. After that, we had an amazing day at Phare doing a circus skills workshop, a dance workshop and then finishing with an epic circus performance by some of the gymnasts and dancers we'd worked with earlier in the day. 

All the learners were great and really adaptable at being away from home. All the staff were really impressed with the behaviour and would like to say a big well done to the Year 6 learners. 

Family learning day is Tuesday 13th November
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This is a great opportunity to visit the class and participate in a lesson with your child. Please sign up (classroom door) if you haven't already!

For our Entry Point MP3 broke into groups and created a brand new country! We gave our new countries a name, climate, population, different cultures, government styles, currency, laws, traditions, a flag, native plants and animals, Everything we could think that a country needed! In the Knowledge Harvest we looked at our Home (or Adopted) countries and made a mind map of all the things we already knew about them. Finally moved our attention to our Host country, Cambodia, and looked at the things we knew about the Kingdom of Wonder.
 

In maths Year 5 have been showing their understanding of the 4 operations by solving mixed word problems. We have been using RUCSAC (read, understand, choose, solve, answer and check) to help us answer the word problems and we are practising using the inverse operation to check our answers. We have been very resilient and have been using our growth mindset - we can find our mistakes and learn from them. We know that mistakes help us to improve our skills and deepen our understanding. 

​In Y6 this week we have been learning about square numbers, cube numbers, square roots, and order of operations! Y6 were blown away to discover that the order in which you do your operations has an effect on the outcome! (pffft - mind blown)
For example: 3 + 4 x 2 = 
If you do this sum from left to right you will get 14 as the answer; however if you were to do it correctly (ask a Y6 learner to explain it to you) you will get the answer 11.

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Next week our amazing learners will be heading off on an exciting adventure!

Year 5: Heading to Kep and Kampot on Tuesday and will return Friday. Don't forget to bring your packed bags to school on Monday Y5! 

Year 6: Will be heading to Siem Reap and Battambang on Monday and will return Friday

Keep in touch with your children by following us on the padlet. This will be updated at multiple points throughout each day.

Y5: https://padlet.com/ican/kepkampot2018

Y6: https://padlet.com/ican/srbb2018

This week Year 5 have been using lots of different skills during ENGINEERING WEEK! The challenges included building towers, slides, zip lines and other contraptions! On Day 1 we had to build the tallest tower using only 1 block as the base. On Day 2 we had to find a way to transport a bucket of ‘tomatoes’ down the mountainside without them getting squashed. We came up with a range of creative ideas to try and do this. On Day 3 we had to build a structure that was tall, but also strong, so that we could balance a dictionary on top. Throughout the week we have been using our personal goals. We were Thinkers when designing our structures; we were Cooperators when working as a team; we were Resilient – we didn’t give up even when our structures collapsed again and again! We also had to be good communicators and be respectful to our team mates. Engineering week was very exciting, amazing and enjoyable! ​

Wow! What a show! Just in case you missed it, the Y6 assembly was a theatrical masterpiece, showcasing learning that Y6 has completed so far this year in an informative and entertaining way! The learners were outstanding in writing, practising, and performing their roles. All the personal goals were on display, although cooperation and resilience were practised more than most.

Congratulations Y6 it was an excellent way to showcase all the hard work and learning you have done!

In maths this week Year 5 have been improving and consolidating our skills  when using the bus stop method for division. We know that division is the inverse of multiplication and can use that to help us complete our work and check our answers. We have shown great resilience when doing this and learned from our mistakes by demonstrating a Growth Mindset. ​

Year 6 for being resilient, cooperative and adaptable when writing, pratising, and preparing the assembly!

Dates to remember:

Tuesday 23rd October: Learners go home at 11:30am

This week at iCAN all learners from Y1-Y6 participated in the Water exit point. What a day it was! Thank you to all of the families who managed to make it into school to celebrate with the learners and see all of the hard work and learning that has taken place over the past 8 weeks.

Learners of all ages got to share with the families and other mileposts all of the geography, science, society, and international mindedness learning. In addition to this learners participated in an activity that simulated fetching water. The average distance covered for those fetching water in Asia and Africa is 6km per trip. The learners got to see how far they could walk carrying a 10L bucket of water in a specified time. 

All week we have been raising money to donate to an organisation called Trailblazers who help to provide clean, safe water in rural areas of Cambodia. The learners have participated in various fun activities including: a bake sale, water play, water quiz, face painting, crazy hair, and a water based dress up! Thank you to all those who participated or donated their time, money, and baked goods! We are please to say that we raised a significant amount of money to be used to build wells and provide clean safe water. We will share the exact amount just as soon as it is all tallied. 

Milepost 3 have continued the water theme this week, learning about re-hydration solutions in science. They first learned how to make a re-hydration drink, and then devised a fair test to compare it to store bought ones (like RoyalD). In society we learned that you may experience the same thing differently depending on which social category you are in! In places where water needs to be collected daily, this job often falls to the women and girls in the villages. So, depending on gender you may have very different experiences of the same situation! We also looked at a variety of social categories, including age, health, fitness, ability etc to see how people in the same situation, but in different social categories, experience things differently.

This week has been a collaborative week for Year 6V and 6P. At the beginning of the week, we shared our water learning with Year 1 and in turn they shared what they had been learning with us. The Year 6 learners also taught them specifically about water pollution and how it impacts on sea life. On Thursday, Year 6 enjoyed going to see year 7's art exhibition of work inspired by Andy Goldsworthy's natural art. ​

Next week in Y5 we will be consolidating our learning on using the written method for multiplication. We will be practising calculating quickly and accurately. Then we will apply our skills to solve different word problems and puzzles.

​In maths the Y6 learners have continued in the quest to be better Learning Facilitators than the current mob at iCAN. They have planned, resourced and prepared lessons to teach the other Y6 learners. At the halfway point of these lessons I would definitely say that these Y6 learners have bright futures as teachers ahead of them. The lessons have been amazing and educational. LFs from other classes have even dropped in to receive some top tips from the Y6 teachers!