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!

This week has been a busy week in Learning Journey. We have completed the geography section of Water for Everyone and have started focusing more on the science aspects now. In geography task 3 MP3 worked collaboratively to produce a news broadcast about droughts and floods. You can see some in the clips below. In science task 1 we looked at dangerous water creatures. Most of us thought that sharks, crocodiles, or box jellyfish were the most dangerous creatures in the water. How wrong we were... Come check out the displays outside of Y6 to see who the real dangers are!

In Y5 the learners have been really impressing us with their fantastic maths skills- they have all been great thinkers! Next week we will be moving on to looking at multiplication. As well as practising our multiplication facts, we will be looking at different mental strategies we can use to solve more challenging questions mentally.
For example:
If I know that 5 X 3 = 15
Then I know 50 X 3 = 150
We will also be learning the formal written method for multiplying one and two digit numbers by larger numbers and then using this to solve different word problems. 

In Y6 the learners are taking on a very special task. They are all becoming learning facilitators for a lesson! In pairs Y6 are planning and delivering a maths lesson on a topic that we have learnt this year. As great LFs they are responsible for planning the lesson, making sure to include different Beginning, Developing, and Mastering level activities, and to focus on the Knowledge, Skills, and Understanding required for each learning goal. Stay tuned, as next wekk they will deliver the lessons that they have planned!

This week year 5 have begun to write their own mystery stories.  We are basing our story on the short film Road's End. We watched the film then made story maps to support our writing. We are focusing on using different sentence types to make our readers curious and intrigued. We know that using simple sentences in our writing can build up tension and create a tone of suspense. 

​In Literacy this week, Year 6 have written their explanation of how Wallace and Gromit's Turbo Diner works using their notes from last week. They had a checklist to ensure their writing was high quality. They had to think about the layout, the punctuation and language they would use. Their specific learning goals were to use the correct tense throughout their writing and to use third person. Year 6 also carried on our ongoing goal of using ambitious vocabulary. ​

Breaking News! We interrupt this blog to bring you an important announcement...

MP3 have been learning about floods and droughts this week. 5J and 6P worked together to research drought, and 5A and 6V worked collaboratively to find out all about floods. We looked at a number of different websites, reports, videos, pictures, and newspapers to gather all of our information. We are currently using this info to create a TV News report on a specific flood/drought affected region.

Make sure to tune in next week to watch our news reports...

Below are examples of MP3 teaching MP2 all about water pollution

Y5 have been brilliant thinkers using the RUCSAC method to solve tricky multi-step word problems. Next week we will be continuing to solve a range of increasingly challenging multi-step addition and subtraction word problems. We will then be learning about factors and multiples. Knowing our times tables is really useful for finding factors and multiples so we will be practising these through a range of games and activities.

This week in maths Y6 have revised our knowledge of factors and multiples. We then extended this by learning about what the Highest Common Factor and Lowest Common Multiples are. Finding the LCM and HCF of just two numbers seemed too easy, so we ramped it up by adding in a third and fourth number as well.

Through the lens of Geography and ICT, Milepost 3 recapped and extended their knowledge and understanding of the Water Cycle. We identified all the key geographical vocabulary and then used this to make a stop animation. We then dropped these into iMovie and did a voice over explaining the process before adding music, titles and credits. We had lots of fun working in groups and used our cooperation and communication personal goal skills to work well as a team. We then answered geographical questions by following QR codes that led us to picture, text or video information. ​

In our next Geography learning were focusing on the causes of water pollution. In order to share our knowledge and understanding we are creating a teaching resource to share with MP2. We are working cooperatively and being great thinkers to make sure our resources have all the essential information so that MP2 will learn lots about the causes of water pollution. We are making comics, board games, writing plays and presentations! To try help other teams to improve, we have given them specific feedback to give them ideas and positive comments about their resources.

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This week in maths Y5 have been practising our addition skills. We have been using a variety of strategies to practise adding in our heads. We shared our ideas with each other, which was really helpful. We have also been practising a written method of addition - the column method! We practised answering lots of questions and talked about the mistakes we might make. Then we showed our understanding by using the column method to solve challenging word problems! We were all great thinkers and were able to complete the challenges. 

We followed this by working on interpreting and solving a range of addition and subtraction word problems. We will be using the RUCSAC method to help us achieve this:
Read the question
Understand and Underline key words
Choose the operation
Solve the question
Answer including units
Check your work

Y6 has been focusing on multiplying and dividing decimals by powers of 10. We discovered effective ways to calculate these by simply moving the numbers along the place value chart. We then looked into negative numbers and how they are used in every day life. Y6 delved deeper into the negative number world, solving complex problems and even writing our own word problems for the learning facilitators to solve! We have reviewed prime numbers and are beginning to look at factors and multiples.

In swimming lessons this term the Year 6 classes have been learning about survival swimming. They have been practicing swimming in clothes and have also learned how to use their clothes as flotation devices in an emergency.

Thursday 13th September: MP3 residential meetings straight after school. Y5 in 5A's room and Y6 in 6P!  

Wow! What an amazing way to start our new learning! Our new unit Water for Everyone was kick-started this week with a whole school Entry Point! All learners from Nursery to Year 6 participated in a variety of obstacle courses and relay races involving water. It was so nice to see so many of the personal goals on display. All groups were being great communicators and very respectful when working across the mileposts, and the cooperation shown was off the chart!

After the hype of the entry point, it was time to bring it back down and learn about how all the fun we had was going to relate to our learning in the upcoming weeks. In the Knowledge Harvest and Explaining the Theme we learnt all about water use and the specific learning goals that we will be achieving in geography, science, society, and international throughout this unit.

This week Y5 have been planning and beginning to write our autobiographies. We are thinking about using different skills including: writing in first person, past tense and using lots of adjectives to make our work interesting. Next week we will be continuing with our biographies and then working on editing and re-drafting. It has been really interesting to find out about the different things our class mates have done in their lives!

This week Y6 have been learning how to write in chronological (time) order, use past tense accurately, use time connectives to link paragraphs, and use ambitious vocabulary. We have focused on making our work interesting and exciting for the reader as we recounted our summer holidays. We planned these carefully using the iPads to create a visual plan and a story map to plan the order. We also made sure we started with an introduction, used clear well-structured paragraphs and finished with a conclusion. 


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This week Y5 have been practising and improving their measurement skills. We measured different items in the class and recorded their length accurately up to 2 decimal places. We were great thinkers when we made links with out learning about place value from last week. We practised converting cm to m, mm to cm and m to cm by multiplying or dividing by 10 or 100. 

Y6 have focused on place value this week. Learning all about numbers from thousandths up to trillions. Working out efficient ways of reading, writing, and saying large numbers and working cooperatively to ensure that we understand what each column in the place value chart represents. Y6 have also started rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 or 10,000 and are working on rounding decimals to the nearest whole number and to 1 or 2 decimal places. It's been a busy week!

The first week or so of the year has been all about Brainwave in MP3. In this unit we ​have been learning all about the brain and how we learn.  This is so that we can make sure we are looking after our brains and ensuring we are always learning to the very best of our ability.

For our Entry Point we thought about why we needed to learn about the brain and used a Mix, Pair, Share to share our ideas with the rest of the milepost.  Then we were able to explore real animal's brains through looking, touching and dissecting both pig and cow brains. Though we were initially quite apprehensive about this investigation, we used our personal goals of resilience and risk taking to show the maturity that comes from being in MP3.  Once we had investigated the real brains, we made salt dough models of them, thinking carefully about what we observed.

For our Knowledge Harvest we were challenged to complete a Who wants to be a Millionaire? quiz and in the Explaining The Theme part of Brainwave, we completed an activity where we needed to find the missing words that helped us learn about what we would be learning!

9 PERSONAL GOALS. 
We read Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, and considered which personal goals were being shown in the book. If any of our personal goals were not being shown, we considered how the characters would need to change to show them.
 
GROWTH MINDSET. 
The MP3 learners were used as guinea-pigs in a growth mindset experiment! They did not know it but were being given sudukos and half were being given growth mindset praise, the other half were being given fixed mindset praise.  We then looked to see if the type of praise we were given affected the challenge we gave ourselves.   
 
We thought about the factors that affect our learning and these can differ for each individual. We then gathered information from the rest of our class looking at HOW WE LEARN BEST, thinking about sleep, food, subjects, time of day and feelings.  
 
We also learned about NEURONS AND THE BRAIN. We know how neurons work and how they make connections which help us to learn.  We  were able to draw diagrams of neurons explaining how they worked.
 
MP3 were also learning about MEMORY  We know what memory is and the difference between long and short term memory.  We have tried some different strategies to help you to remember more, such as, Chunking and Association. 

In INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS we  created our own definitions of what International Mindedness means to us and created a logo which represents International Mindedness.  

For our Exit Point we had wobbly brain jellies!  Inside the jelly were some hidden KNOWLEDGE questions all about things that we had learnt over the course of the unit.  We answered these with our team and then got to eat up the rest of the jelly!