Masterclass Virtual Classroom

Write a comment (in French!) and discuss what you enjoyed best about your trip to Normandy. Think about what you enjoyed, where you were and why it was so important and memorable.

We are finding out about looking after pets.

Download.  It is 8 years old and is very healthy.  I look after it well.

We are going to make a pamphlet about looking after goldfish.

 Click here to go to a site and read about how to look after a goldfish.

Find one tip that you think should be included in the pamphlet and post it.  Can everybody post a different tip?

We will collate them in class next week.

You should really listen to the audio file first and then have a look at the movie file of this poem. How does image help to convet meaning. Is my interpretation of the poem enhanced in this format? Let me know what you think.

Download

Have a listen to ‘The Watergaw’ by Hugh MacDiarmid. This poem uses the watergaw (a rainbow) as a metaphor for life and death. What do you think of the poem and my interpretation of it.

Listen to: The Watergaw

“When I was at primary school I got picked on non-stop for two years. No-one talked to me. I hadn’t done anything to get blamed for, and I still don’t know the reason I got picked on. I wasn’t any wealthier or poorer or a different race.

I used to cry myself to sleep every night. I was miserable. My parents knew and they talked to the headmaster but he wasn’t interested and said he couldn’t do anything about it. My parents knew all the bullies’ parents. One girl even lived in the same street and we had been friends since we were two. Like a sheep she dumped me because no-one else talked to me.

This all happened in primary 6 and I have lost nearly all my self-confidence and hate being on my own. I’d hate to think this was happening to anyone else. I have a fear that if one girl doesn’t talk to me they will all start again and it will never stop. I don’t want it to go on for the rest of my school life. I couldn’t cope.” (Jackie, 14)

Why do you think Jackie was picked on?

What could have been done to help?

If you were Jackie’s friend, what advice would you give her?

Post your comments below.

Your task is in three parts. Download the recording sheet on which you will record information on the quality of two websites. DOWNLOAD

Click on the Space Shuttles to go to the websites. Fill in the recording sheet.            

Site 1 Site 2

From the notes on the recording sheet, comment on this post in around 100 words.

This poem was written in response to the feelings aroused by aspects of the Scottish countryside.

What does the poem make you feel?

Click here to listen

… are you relaxed, or disturbed? …do you feel angry or sad? …what about the sound of the words? Do they create a picture in your mind?

Blog about what Inversnaid did for you…

You have each been given some blotting paper, aluminium foil, wire and a bulb.

Carry out the instructions below.  Write a short report on your experiment, telling us if you were able to light the bulb or not.  Did you have any difficulties?  Did you try to explore the idea by, for instance, changing the number of coins?

Do you have any ideas about why it works?

1. You can make a simple battery by using a pile of ten 2p coins interspaced with blotting paper and foil.
2. Cut out some round shapes from the blotting paper and aluminium foil (a little larger than a 2p coin).
3. Soak the blotting paper in salty water.
4. Place a piece of foil over a 2p coin and a piece of salty blotting paper on top of that. Repeat these layers to make a small pile.
5. Fix the end of a piece of wire underneath the pile and another on top. Now connect the free ends of the wire to your bulb. 
6. Does it light?

Together, we are going to write a letter from the trenches. 

Imagine that you are a soldier – Private McKay - in the trenches writing home to his mother. You are 20 years old and have been in the trenches for a couple of weeks.

Have a look at this site to get an idea of what life in the trenches was like -

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/trenchlife.htm

Here is an example of the kind of letter that could have come from the trenches -

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/uvic/pearkes/plv5/trenches.html

One of the things that really scares private McKay is the amount of rats in the trenches so make sure you mention them in your letter. Here is a site that tells you more about rats in the trenches http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWrats.htm (Don’t read this if you are afraid of rats!)

We’ll write this in 6 paragraphs in the comments. I’ll start it off then each person will add their paragraph. The order will be

David – Karen – Allan – Michael – Pamela

 The letter should be completed by . . .

We have been looking at telling the time in class this week.

I would like you to go here

Look at Sam’s clock with only one hand.

What do you think the solution to this problem is?

Post your solution here and explain why you think this is the solution.

Could there be other solutions?