Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

Be in with a chance to win a £10 Love2shop voucher

Send us a picture via email of a piece of work you are most proud of, a picture of you with your Blue Peter badge or tell us about something you have achieved during lock

down. Maybe you completed some experiments or recipes from the newsletter or raised money for charity.

Please ask parental consent. Send entries to

st-best-l@brownhillsoa.co.uk

How many Blue Peter Badges can Brownhills School achieve in 2020?

It is great to see Brownhills students being awarded their Blue Peter badges. If you have not applied it’s not too late

The Blue Badge is awarded for sending in interesting letters, stories, makes, pictures, poems and good ideas for the programme which is on the BBC.

Please send Blue Peter a creative contribution to earn your badge

Also include: your full name, your date of birth, your home postal address and postcode (not your school address)Post it to Blue Peter with the correct stamp on it.

Send your application letter and any other materials to the following address:

Blue Peter Media City UK Salfordhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/about-blue-peter-badges

We can’t wait to see all those badges on your school blazer when we return!

If you apply for a badge email st-best-l@brownhills.walsall.sch.uk or if you have been successful in being awarded one so we can share your success.

English Work from Mrs Brook - Become a book illustrator!

There are lots of You Tube tutorials on how to do illustrations, cartoons and animations.

Why not have a go at doing your own illustrations for some of the books we have read this year: Treasure Island , A Christmas Carol, In The Sea There Are Crocodiles, Gothic Literature, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

You could even illustrate your Accelerated Reading book

Check out these Youtube tutorials:

Draw with Rob Biddulph Pete Mc Keen’s Cartoon work shop How to draw an alien Intro to illustration by Alison

Woodward

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

How to design children’s book characters using models

And loads more!

Are you interested in Illustration as a career? Why not search Universities which offer Illustration/ Animation courses and see where it takes you? For example: Leeds, Hull, South Devon, Derby, and Nottingham

The Bright Ideas Challenge Competition

What will cities look like in 2050? How will they be powered to be vibrant, healthy and clean places to live? The Bright Ideas Challenge, Shell’s cross-curricular schools’ competition, invites young people aged 11-14 to use their creativity, problem solving and STEM skills to devise innovative solutions that could power cities of the future. With fantastic STEM prizes up for grabs, there’s every reason to think big!

The Bright Ideas Challenge 2019-20 is still going ahead. In light of the nationwide school closures, we’ve made some adjustments:

We have extended the competition deadline to 5pm on Friday 19th June to give students more time to work on their entries.

We have changed the entry criteria to allow students to enter the competition individually, rather than only in groups.

We have increased all our cash prizes and doubled the top prize compared to previous years!

Find more information about the prizes here

https://www.shell.co.uk/sustainability/society/supporting-stem/bright-ideas-

challenge.html?utm_source=http%3a%2f%2fschools.tecl.co.uk%2feducationcompany4lz%2f&utm_mediu

DARTS improve your Maths skills.

You can use a proper dartboard, a children’s Velcro board or why not even make your own!

Darts is a sport that’s been around for generations. Some would argue that it’s more of a pastime played in the comfort of the home. Others would claim it to be a social sport that’s played in the local pub. However Darts is more of a global sport these days, broadcast to millions of homes throughout the year on TV.

As a young lad I used to watch the darts on the TV, wondering how the players knew where to throw and what exactly they were aiming for. My uncle used to play for the county and I used to watch him practice and sometimes he’d even let me join in.

The basic rules are as follows. Each player begins on 501 points (or 301 for beginners) and the aim is to gradually reduce your score down to zero with as few darts as possible. Each player throws 3 darts on their turn and adds up their score and subtracts it away from 501 or 301.

For example take a look at the image on the left. My top dart has hit the outer part of 20. This outer part is worth double points so this dart scores me 40 points. The middle dart in

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

the black section has just hit the single 20 so I only get 20 points. However, the bottom dart has hit the inner 20 which is a really thin section and is worth treble points so this dart scores me 60 points. Altogether O have scored 40 + 20 + 60 = 120 points.

I now need to subtract 120 away from my starting score of 301 (I’m still an amateur) and this leaves me with 181 points still to get.

The only other rule you need to remember is this. You must land on a double (that’s the outer section) in order to win. You can also finish on the Bullseye which is worth 50 points.

So for example, imagine I’ve been throwing my darts and I’m left with 56 points to try and get. I have 3 darts in my hand. What could I aim for to try and win? Remember I need to finish on a DOUBLE or the Bullseye!

Well half of 56 is 28 and there is no 28 on the board. In fact the highest number is 20. So what do I do?

Well don’t worry I have 3 darts in my hand so I can score 56 points. I decide to go for 16 first. 56 – 16 leaves me with 40 points.

I know that halve of 40 is 20. So if I can hit double 20 then I can win the game. Luckily, I’ve got my eye in and manage to hit it

straight away. Funky Kids Hot Dog Pasta

1 Tin Hot Dogs (the thicker the better)

100 grams Spaghetti

½ Tin Tomato Soup

to taste Dried Mixed Herbs

add Salt and PepperPrep:10min › Cook:10min › Ready in:20min

Cut hot dogs up into 2-3 inch pieces. Take the dried spaghetti and stick some through the hot dog pieces. Cook the spaghetti and the hot dogs together in salted boiling water, as directed on the pack.

Meanwhile, heat the tomato soup and add herbs to taste. Drain the spaghetti and hot dogs, then add to the soup and stir. Season to taste and serve.

Spaghetti Towers Science

Building towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows is a great way to encourage children to think like engineers. Aoife McLysaght does this simple, easy and cheap science activity at home with her children. By creating structures out of these cheap kitchen materials, Alice and Lorenzo start to think about the properties of objects, the factors that contribute to stability, and the importance of testing things out. A good structure must be stiff and strong, able to take a lot of force before it collapses. Different shapes have different strengths and weaknesses. Experimenting with squares, triangles and other shapes is a great starting point for thinking about the process of building things like houses and bridges.

What you need

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

Packet of spaghetti (uncooked)

• Packet of marshmallows

Questions to ask children

Before activity: what kind of shape do you think you want for your tower? Why? As they build their first structure: can you predict what will happen? Why do you predict that? If structure doesn’t stay up: why is it falling down? How can we modify it so that it doesn’t fall down? What can we change about the spaghetti to make it better to use? What can we change about the marshmallows to make them more useful? What kinds of shape are good for building a tall structure? What happens to the spaghetti and marshmallows at the bottom of the tower as the tower gets taller? Why? Using these materials, how high do you think you could build a tower that doesn’t collapse? What do you think will limit the height of the tower you can build?

The science

Testing materials and structures is an important part of the process of building things like buildings and bridges. A good structure needs to be stiff and strong - that means it takes a lot of force before it bends or collapses. A tall tower will have a lot of weight pushing down on it from above, so the base needs to be stronger than the top. Some shapes are better for building structures than others. As Alice found out in the film, if you build a simple cube with the spaghetti and marshmallows, it only needs a little push on one corner to make it collapse. That’s because the corners of the cube act as hinges. Any shape made of more than 3 straight sides can be bent out of shape just by changing the angles. Triangles cannot change shape like this because the corners are not like hinges; the third side holds the other two in place. So, if you make structures based on triangles

instead of squares, you can apply more force and it will still keep its basic shape.

Watch the experiment on https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental/spaghetti-towers

What is Project 200?

Project 200 is a writing challenge made to get your creative writing skills flowing!

How does it work?

You will be writing 200 words in 25 minutes. You will have a task, a key word to use as well as a list of techniques which you need to use at least two of.

If needed:

Use a dictionary if there are any definitions you are unsure of.

You can also email the English Department.

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

French from Mrs Wakelin

La chasse au trésor dans ta maison!1.Trouve quelque chose de bleu.2.Trouve quelque chose de blanc.3.Trouve quelque

chose de rouge.4.Trouve quelque chose de typiquement français.5.Trouve quelque chose de typiquement anglais.6.Trouve quelque chose de froid.7.Trouve quelque chose qui a quatre pattes.8.Trouve quelque chose qui a deux pattes.9.Trouve quelque chose de vert et qui a des feuilles.10.Trouve quelque chose qui a les mêmes couleurs que le drapeau français.

Have a look around your house and take a photo of each description then make a collage with all of your photos. Send your final picture into school so I can see them!

Literacy

What is a demonstrative and when do I use one?

Rules:

The demonstratives this, that, these, those, show where an object or person is in relation to the speaker.

This (singular) and these (plural) refer to an object or person near the speaker. That (singular) and those (plural) refer to an object or person further away. It can be a physical closeness or distance as in:

Who owns that house? (distant) Is this John's house? (near)

Or it can be a psychological distance as in:

That's nothing to do with me.. (distant) This is a nice surprise! (near)

2. Position

Before the noun. Before the word 'one'. Before an adjective + noun. Alone when the noun is 'understood'.

Highlight the demonstrative in the following sentences. Next to it, write down whether it is singular or plural.

This tastes good. Have you seen this? These are bad times. Do you like these?

That is beautiful. Look at that! Those were the days! Can you see those?

This is heavier than that. These are bigger than those.

Circle the demonstrative adjectives in each sentence.

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

( 1 ) That bus ride is too bumpy for me to do my homework on.( 2 ) Is my term paper somewhere in that stack of papers?( 3 ) I think those kids are watching us.( 4 ) I think that battery is dead.( 5 ) We need to wash all of those dishes before we watch any television.( 6 ) What do you see in those clouds?( 7 ) Any of those computers should be good enough for what you need.( 8 ) We ate dinner at this restaurant last year.

A FULL MOON GOES BANANASBy Ryan Parker

There was a full moon outside. I understand that sounds cliché, and that it’s probably

overdone, but it’s really important for you to know this. There was a full moon outside the waxy yellow of an old car headlight.

It was Saturday night, and in my house, that meant my parents were going out for dinner

and a movie. That also meant that, being ten years old, I was stuck at home with a babysitter. Usually, our neighbour, Jessica, comes over to watch me. She’s alright. She’s a high schooler and usually spends the night texting her boyfriend, so I spend the night eating pizza and playing video games in my room. It’s an arrangement that works well for both of us. But it’s summer, and she’s gone on vacation with her family, so my mom went on online and found a new babysitter for tonight.

I was reading a comic book in the living room when the doorbell rang. My dad went to answer it and came back with an old lady in tow.

“Liam, this is Mrs Bunches,” Dad said. “She’s your babysitter tonight.” Mrs Bunches smiled and waved. She had huge, pink glasses that magnified her eyes and large moles all over her face. And she was wearing a yellow

tracksuit, the kind you see basketball players warming up in before their game.

“Well, aren’t you adorable,” Mrs Bunches said, bending over and smiling at me. She had a strong, sweet smell. I recognized it but couldn’t quite remember from where. “You’re just so cute I swear I could just eat you up!”

“Uh…thanks…I guess,” I replied. I mean, what do you say when an adult says something like that?

“Well, have fun you two,” my mom said.

“It’s a late movie, don’t stay up for us,” my dad chimed in just as the front door shut and they were gone.

As soon as my parents left, Mrs Bunches pulled a book of crossword puzzles and a pen out of her purse and sat on the couch. She looked up at me. “I’ll let you know when it’s time for you to go to bed.” I looked out the window. It was getting late, but since it was July, there was still a bit of sunlight left. I shrugged in response. Time for some video games, I guess.

I made my way upstairs and started playing Galaxy Defenders. It’s a game where you fly a spaceship and try to protect Earth from these evil aliens try to take over the world. I’m pretty awesome at it. After a couple of hours of playing, I was almost to the end, fighting through swarms of enemy ships to try and blow up the mother ship controlling all of the alien fighters when I heard a noise downstairs.

WHUMP

“Uhh…Mrs. Bunches…are you okay?” I called out. No response. I left my room and started down the stairs. “Mrs Bunches, it’s me, Liam, are you okay?” Still nothing. I got to the bottom of the stairs, and I saw a yellow blob on the living room floor. “Hello?”

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

Whatever was on the living room floor started to stand up. It kept getting taller and taller, until it was almost touching the ceiling. It turned around.

What stood in front of me could only be described as a half-monster, half-giant banana. It was covered in brown spots, and its mouth was open, showing two rows of pointed teeth. Drool was dripping from the sharp ends and down the side of its mouth. It had arms and legs that ended with sharp claws and was wearing a pair of large, pink glasses.

“Ah, Liam, is that you?” it said. I recognized that voice, and it was Mrs Bunches!

“What happened?” I managed to stutter out.

One of those claws pointed to the window, the nail so sharp it looked like it

could pierce the sky itself. You could see the moon coming out from behind the clouds. She squinted her eyes at me. “Oh my, you do look delicious.” The words dripped out of her mouth like applesauce. “Yes, very a-peeling”. She started moving toward me.

Now, I’m going to tell you this part at the risk of you thinking I’m a wimp, but I didn’t know what to do. I had this huge, lumbering banana monster coming at me. I did the only thing I could think of. I sprinted up the stairs and locked myself in my room.

I sat on the edge of my bed, breathing hard. My hands were shaking, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.

THUMPTHUMP

Mrs Bunches was pounding on the door!

THUMPTHUMP

The entire upstairs shook with every hit. There was no way the door could last

much longer, and then those jaws would turn me into pudding.

I had an idea. I grabbed my video game controller. My parents didn’t splurge on the wireless one, so it had a long cord that I detached from the console. I opened my window. There was a small overhang that connected my room and the bathroom. I squeezed outside while Mrs Bunches kept banging on the door. Luckily, the bathroom window was open as well, and I was able to climb in. I cracked open the door, so I can see what’s happening in the hallway.

THUMPTHUMPTHUMPCRACKCRASH

Mrs Bunches had broken down the door. She barged into my room. “Where are you, sweetie?” she called out. “You can’t hide from me forever.” She threw the mattress off of my bed, no doubt hoping to find me hiding under it.

With the monster distracted, I saw my chance. I ran out of the bathroom and to the stairs. I took the controller cord and tied it between the handrails on either side, about a foot off of the top step.

I jumped the cord and went down the stairs. “Mrs Bunches,” I called out from the living room, “I’m down here.” I could hear her heavy footsteps leave my room, followed by the sound of thunder as she tripped on the controller wire and fell down the stairs. The sight of a giant banana cartwheeling down the stairs would have been comical if I wasn’t fighting for my life.

Mrs Bunches was face down right in front of me in the living room. Was she unconscious? Was she hurt? Was just she playing a trick and waiting for me to get closer before pouncing? Before I could do anything, I started to hear a sizzle, and she began melting

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

and disappearing through the carpet. After a minute, all that was left was a pair of pink glasses.

Just then, the front door opened up. It was my parents. “Oh, Liam, I didn’t think you’d still be up,” Dad said.

Mom looked around, “Where is Mrs Bunches?” I reached down and slipped the glasses into my pocket. I stood there for a second. I mean, how do you tell your parents you just narrowly escaped being eaten by a giant were-banana monster?

I shrugged. “She said something came up.”

“Alright, well, it’s past your bedtime,” Mom said.

As I walked up the stairs, I could hear Dad talking to Mom. “It’s crazy that she just

left like that. She didn’t seem like she was one to just split.”

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020

Well done from Miss Price

As all of the KS3 students who are using Google Classrooms know, Miss Price has been running a very exciting biology competition this week. Students were asked to produce a model of a cell from items they could find in their home. This fantastic year 8 student had blown Miss Price away by creating this amazing plant cell pizza. Not only is it such a creative idea, but all of the cell structures and clearly visible and it looks delicious. Well done!

Young Historians Project 2020

Hello Brownhills students!

Would you like to research, write and present your ideas about a historical theme or interesting time period?We want young students to get the bug for writing about history in an incisive, interesting and critical way. The Historical Association has organised a series of awards for outstanding history scholarship. Young people aged from 11-19 years around the country are being asked to investigate, analyse and write about history.Why not use some of your time taking part in this national

competition. Send any competition entries as either a document or photo to the History department. (history@brownhillsoa.co.uk) All entries need to be sent into school by Monday 6th July. Other ideas are on the school’s website! The History department looks forward to seeing your completion entries!

Brownhills teaching and learning newsletter edition 8 2020