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All posts above are from this year's class 8

September 2014 

 - below are posts from last year's Class 8    2013 / 14

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Here is a video to remind you of the method we used in class. 

If you need any more help please come and see me in school :) 

Hope this helps. 

Miss Connor 

We all had a fantastic time in London...the show was amazing! We also went sightseeing in the big city and visited the Science Museum. Take a look at some of our photos below.

You can also read some of our reviews of the show. This week we have also been using the sights of London to inspire our poetry please check back to read our work!

My review of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Aran 

On the 5^th June 2014, Abercanaid School’s very own class 8 went on an overnight stay in London, where on the first night, they travelled to the Drury Lane theatre to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

      At first I  personally didn’t think it was going to be as fascinating as it was, because I thought that it was going to be boring to be honest! Our class entered the theatre, and saw Charlie as lively as a sugar- rushed toddler, he was getting ready for the show, and we could clearly see he was excited.

     The show started, and Charlie started singing a song about how he loved life collecting chocolate wrappers and “antique” items from the dump. Next he returned his shack near the old Wonka Factory. I enjoyed the part when Charlie and his dad created signal for the TV, and they found out that the old Wonka Factory will re-open and there will be a competition to find 5 golden tickets inside Wonka bars, if you were a lucky winner you would get a complimentary tour around the large, magnificent factory of the mysterious man, Mr. Willy Wonka!

     Every time anybody from anywhere in the world won a ticket, they would broadcast a performance of how the child who won felt on the TV.

     Another part I adored was when the Bulgarian “monster” Augustus fell into the chocolate river, and then had his mother watch him go down a shoot with oompa loompas. I also relished the moment when Verruca Salt went down the nut shoot like a raging rocket…

     After all the spoilt, naughty and irritating children had all gone, and there was Charlie, who was even more excited by now than when he was before the show, left. Willy Wonka showed the happy, fulfilled child to a room with a book of Wonka’s ideas, and Charlie had a peak when Wonka had gone… Well it was a little bit more than a peak, because Charlie started writing his own ideas…

     Wonka told Charlie off when he re-entered the room, but then eventually forgave him after seeing Charlie’s work. Mr. Wonka then decided to take Charlie on a ride he will never forget, on the All Famous… Glass Elevator!

     I enjoyed the production and I’m positive everyone else did to, being a show and not a pantomime, the wonderful creation was surprisingly very interactive, by this I mean that the cast acted as if we; the audience, were another cast member and treated us as just part of the show!

Review of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Laney  

On the fifth of June, for our school trip year six went to London for a night. What we really was looking forward to is going to the west end theatre to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

As we came face to face with the theatre it was so huge I felt like an innocent insect stranded in the middle of nowhere. But as we entered everyone knew there was much more to see. We walked through the humungous halls into the theatre and as we walked in we took a seat. The seat was a pillow which touched my head with its gentle touch.

Before the show we got ourselves prepared with sweets and ice cream.

Finally the show began. Charlie came on. Charlie was about 10 years old and was the liveliest child I had ever seen. The first scene was at the dump where Charlie stood gloomily in. Then women came on with a cart that lightened up the stage. Charlie watched as the cart came by and as people bought the beautiful chocolate and smothered it into their mouths. Then the people dropped the wrappers on the floor and Charlie picked them up excitingly. Then Charlie went home.

The next scene was at his house his family all began t sing a song about the wonka factory opening but there was only one ticket left since Verucca Salt, Augustus Galoop, Mike TV and Violet Borriguard won the rest of the tickets. Also one of the funniest grandpas (grandpa George gave money to Charlie to buy another chocolate bar. When the sweet cart came again Charlie rushed to it and opened the chocolate bar and disappointingly there was nothing there. Then Charlie bought another then the golden ticket appeared.

Then they went to the chocolate factory where they met Willy wonka but unfortunately violet blew up into a blueberry, Augustus got stuck in the chocolate tube, Verruca got thrown down the bad nut hole and Mike TV turned tiny. Charlie was then the last one and went on a see-through glass elevator they road up into the sky they sang another song and Willy Wonka told Charlie his prize that he will be able to keep the chocolate factory forever!

My favourite song was when Charlie and Willy Wonka sang a beautiful song in the glass elevator. It was really amazing.My favourite character was Violet she was a brilliant actor. I liked how she performed on TV. The set was awesome too with all the equipment they used they made the show outstanding. 

My Review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

On the 5^th of June 2014, year six went on a school trip to London. We stayed over night in the Ibis Wembley Hotel 

which was very fun! We also went to see ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ in Drury lane theatre.

As we walked into the Theatre it was as grand as Buckingham Palace with statues everywhere you looked.

 At the door they were selling Wonka bars and programmes for very expensive prices! As we walked up the twirling 

steps to the room where the show was played, I imagined what it would be like and how they were going to make the

 chocolate room on stage. We sat down and got all our chocolates and sweets out I was sitting next to Tillie. 

The lights slowly went off and the curtains moved across to reveal the stage.

The story is about a young boy called Charlie Bucket who lives in a small wooden hut with is mother, farther,

 two grandmothers and two grandfarthers. Charlie goes to the dump everyday to get things for his ‘house’ and family.

 But for his birthday he has a Wonka bar for his birthday but he doesn’t get a golden ticket, the next day he goes

 to the dump and a Lady selling Wonka bars comes round and Charlie finds a pound coin on the floor. He buys a

 Wonka bar and has the golden ticket. Charlie and his Grandpa Joe go to the Chocolate factory. They meet

Willy Wonka and four other children Veruca, Mike, Violet and Augustus. They had a tour around the factory and 

at the end of it Charlie was the only one left. Veruca went down the nut shoot, Mike got shrunk, Violet turned into

 a blueberry and Augustus got stuck up a tube. Because Charlie was the last left, Willy Wonka took Charlie in a 

great glass elevator. When they came back down to the ground Willy Wonka told Charlie that he can keep the 

chocolate factory and his family surprised him by jumping out and saying “congratulations Charlie.”

I thought the show was good because when they changed the background and the set it slid across the floor 

quickly so you didn’t notice as much as if they were pushing it. Also, I thought the great glass elevator was cool

 because it went up in the air and for the background there was stars and a moon and they were actually in it. I 

didn’t like the part where they shrunk Mike because the lights kept flashing and there was loud bangs.

By Katie Phillips 

Ordering decimals 

Recalling tables 

Here are a few games you can play in school and at home ...just click the picture! 

There is always a drama in Class 8…

On Monday the 2^nd of June class 8 started our Drama for this term. We started with ‘what’s in my box’ (charades) warm up. After that we did a small scene using the story line of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!’ My partner and I did a scene where there was a rich boy and an orphan and they both wanted the golden ticket. This was very enjoyable Miss Connor asked us to perform our scene in front of the class it was very nerve racking.

After that we had a little chat about what the theatre will be like and what the show will be like. We can’t wait until Thursday!

Sunflowers

In Class 8 we have been going green! We have planted sunflower seeds, in about an inch of soil. We all took them home for the holidays! It was a competition to see who can grow the tallest sunflower! I have watered mine daily and it has grown about 1-2 inches so far. Some other people in the class have also had their grow…fingers crossed every sunflower grows! When it full grows it will be like these and then you have to buy a bigger plant pot because it wont grow in a small plastic cup!

Reported by Taine

Visit Merthyr! 

In class 8 we have been creating leaflets to encourage people to visit our wonderful town, Merthyr Tydfil. We have used lots of different ways to persuading people, including good pictures of places in Merthyr that people would maybe like to visit. Such as, Leisure Centre, St Tydfil’s town, Vue Cinema, Frankie & Bennies and Adventure land.

We also put in maps of the places in Merthyr and put a key so when they looked on the front page they matched the numbers on the map, so then they could read about.

Reported by Ella and Mia 

Crack the Code 

In class 8 we have been experimenting with coding! It hard but very fun! Computer coding help computers function computers, and also enable games to work. To experiment with coding and learn how to speak code (yes it is a whole new language!) we have been using Angry Birds and Plants v Zombies mini games. Through coding we have been able to make certain things happen in the game. Eventually we are going to make our own game...watch this space! 

Reported by Lloyd and Aran, Class 8. 

Did you know Computer programmers use code to make games?  

Lunar Landing

Take a look at this moon buggy! 

The children of Class 8 started making moon buggies!  First we had to design them. After that we made the chassis, this is a posh word for the body.

 To make them we had to saw pieces of wood and use sand paper to smooth the edges and glue them together with a glue gun. That’s how far we’ve gone so far… all we need to do it put wheels, doors, roof, seats and a steering wheel and all of the details (not much at all!) Here is a picture of people in our class busy making their buggies. 

Reported by the children of Class 8! 

Take a look at us in action! 

When Huw Lewis met Class 8!

On the 7^th May we visited the Senedd in Cardiff Bay. The Senedd is where all of the assembly members debate and discuss. We travelled on the bus and the journey took us about forty minutes. When we arrived there we ate our food on the Roald Dahl plas and there were lots of hungry and greedy seagulls. Once we finished eating our food we walked over to the Senedd. Before we entered the building we had to go through security scanners. Next we got led into the old debating chamber. All the children sat down and listened to Huw Lewis explain his role. After that we had our own debate on whether children should be slapped when they’re naughty or not. Next we went into the new debating chamber to watch a real debate between all the assembly members. Not long after that we went back to the bus and went back to school. Everybody enjoyed that day because it was very interesting and fun!

Reported by Jade and Leah 

 

Valley Art

In class 8, we have been doing art work in the style of Martyn Evans. Martyn Evans sketches Welsh valleys and he draws the houses using triangular shapes. We used his picture as inspiration for our own pictures of marvellous Merthyr. We coloured our houses in felt tip and the detailed buildings and the sky in water colour paint and pastels. All of the class enjoyed doing art in his style and can’t wait to carry on with them!  We will upload pictures of our final masterpieces very soon! 

You can see more of Martyn Evan’s work by visiting http://www.valleysart.com/index.php

Three, Two, One …BLAST OFF!

Astro Cymru came in to talk to us about rockets! After she talked to us  it was time to make our own rocket! We made a cone shape out of paper for the top of the rocket and then we could design our own wings. We had to make them aerodynamic! After break time we went over to the field to launch them… the woman had a pad with a stand that when you press the button it would shoot up in the air they went really high!

A couple of days later we had bottles of coke and some mentos. We made our own rockets using a chemical reaction. We put the mentos into the coke and whoosssh! The last one was the biggest one because we put loads of mentos in it and it went really high. We all had a go of putting the mentos in but we had to run fast when we did or we would get splashed with coke (and no one wanted that!).

Reported by Tillie-Rose Taylor 

Marvellous Maps

By Aran Harris  

We used our Geography and Math skills to interpret and estimate where specific places are on the Ordnance Survey Map, but we had to write for instance: Port Talbot is estimated as 60cm- 30km away from Abercanaid, but actually 67cm- 33.5km. We had to use scale to work this out, every 2cm on the map was equal to 1km.

This week in school we are learning how to tell the time. We will be looking at am and pm. We will be looking at the use of time tables and the analogue and digital clock. Play the game below at home to help you secure these skills.

Click this link!

Marvellous Maths

Marvellous Maths 

Although there are lots of links to play on the link page, here are a few extra for you. They are all about fractions, decimals and percentages. These are very important in Year 5 and 6! The more you practise the more confident you will become with them.  

Click here for a fraction game 

Try this game to improve your decimals...

Try the mission below using fractions and decimals...


In this game, you need to order and compare fractions...



In this game, you need to use percentages...



Also do not forget... 

 Techniquest came in to our school to do problem solving; she went around to every class in the school. It was based on a crime scene, she was using the white bored with "Special Investigators" the naughty boy Jonny Jewells pinched the diamonds; the whole point of this was the maths.

 Reported By Jay and Ella

Science Week

What a week!

Class 8 have enjoyed a busy fun filled week of Science and Technology, as part of National STEM week. They have completed many challenges and experiments, including, blood squirting, bouncing eggs, spaghetti towers, catapults, frozen Lego men and were even luck enough to receive a visit from Dr Claire Price (an actual Scientist, from Swansea University). Take a look at some of the pictures below. 

Be Bright Be Seen Day

Science Week! 

This week we have made rocket balloons, took part in the great jelly race, made bouncy eggs and we have squirted fake blood out of a big bottle to see if we are as strong as our heart!  None of us succeeded as the highest was 7 to 8 metres (the heart does a whole 10 metres.) Also in the week we have created News Reports, we are Raving Reporters. Do you like our hats?  In the jelly race we learnt about friction, the first time we done it we had more friction without the oil the second time we did it with oil and we had less friction. Today  we are going down to make some fake coloured snow with the Infants, we are very excited! Phew it has been a busy week and we are only on Wednesday! Keep checking the blog for more updates. 

Welcome to the New Class 8 Blog

Over the coming weeks we hope to use this blog as an easy way to share some of our 

photographs, work and news about what has been going on class.

Please check back here from time to time... Thanks for visiting!