Class Blog for Year 5

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Maps and Micro:bits 

Maps and Micro:bits

We have had a great week this week.  As well as learning about suspense stories in English, and converting mixed numbers and improper fractions in maths - we have had a chance to get into our new topics.

In our learning adventure we are learning about China - and comparing China to the UK.  We were excellent at using the atlases and maps to identify the different continents and labelling the UK and China.  We found out that although China has the worlds biggest population, it is only the third largest country in the world.

We looked at how China is separated into provinces, and autonomous regions and compared it to the UK, which is split into counties.

We also had the chance to learn how to use Micro:bits.  They are small computers which we can program on the i-pads.  We used our algorithms to create a name badge which displayed our names on the LED lights of the Micro:bits.  We can't wait to use the Micro:bits again as we were becoming a lot more confident!

 


Haunting learning 

Haunting learning

This week, we discovered that St Cleer is haunted by a ghost!  To launch our writing unit on 'suspense narratives' we were told the story of 'The Ghost of St Cleer.'

Year 5 and 6 were taken into the hall, given a candle to hold and all the lights were turned out!  Mr Hazlewood told us the ghost story.  Incredibly, while he was reading the story the fire-door slammed and at the end of the story we came face-to-face with the GHOST!!

Once we had calmed down, we learned our story map and are starting to learn about tricks we can use as authors to build and drop the tension in our stories!

 


Christmas carols 

Christmas carols

This Thursday we were excited to visit St Cleer church for our Christmas Carol service.  We always enjoy our carol service and there were SO many of our parents and friends there to join us!

As well as singing some of the songs we have learned in singing assembly, we listened to poems from our student leaders and the sermon.

It was also a chance to perform the music we have been learning in our music lessons for our parents.  Mr Warwick said that it was the best we have ever performed the song!

Merry Christmas!

 


We've been elfed! 

We've been elfed!

There have been some suspicious events happening over the last few weeks!  Mistletoe - the school's mischievous elf - has gone missing and we've all had to help search for her!

We know that she is still in the school because she leaves clues - and mischief - wherever she has been.  Mrs Spencer's room had all of the furniture tuned up-side down.  Other classrooms have been glitter-bombed by Mistletoe and she has even kidnapped class teddy-bears!

Unfortunately, our class was elfed this week.  We arrived to warning tape across our classroom door - and it was clear that Mistletoe had left her mischievous gifts in our class.

After our initial concern that something might have been stolen - we soon realised that Mistletoe just wanted to bring some fun to our classroom!  Merry Christmas!



 


Thirza Schaap 

Thirza Schaap

Our art topic this half term has been about environmental art and sculpture.  We have been using the artist Thirza Schaap as our inspiration.  Thirza Schaap is a Dutch artist who also lives in South Africa.  She creates things of beauty using plastic that she has found which has washed up on the beach.

We have thought about what we like about her work and looked at themes she tries to convey through her work.  We have also studied her use of colour and will be creating our own environmental sculptures based on those by Thirza Schaap.

This week we considered how Thirza Schaap uses colour in the background for her sculptures.  We used chalk pastels to try and create some different effects which we might want to use in our final art work.

 


The moon is not made of cheese... 

The moon is not made of cheese...

...it's made of Jaffa cakes!

As part of our continuing journey of learning about the Solar System - we focussed on the moon.  We learned about how we can see the moon and what the moon is really made of - then we learned about the different phases of the moon.

We were interested that a new moon is completely dark (that seemed a bit weird) and that when the moon seems to be getting brighter it is called 'waxing' and when it is getting darker it is called 'waning'.

To consolidate our learning, we represented the phases of the moon using Jaffa cakes!  We weren't allowed to eat the Jaffa cakes until we had completed our poster!!  We loved this learning and can remember a lot of it...and we even left two Jaffa cakes for Mr H.


 


To infinity and beyond... 

To infinity and beyond...

We are loving our new science unit learning about Earth and Space.  We already know quite a lot of facts about the Solar System but we have learned a lot about each of the different planets, and how our understanding of the Solar System has changes over time.  We learned the mnemonic 'My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Nothing' to help us learn the order of the planets from the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).  For some reason we just love saying the name Uranus??

We learned about the Terrestrial planets and the Gas Giants, and that they are separated by an asteroid belt.  We created an artistic model of the Solar System and also laid out a scale model of the Solar System on a piece of string.  The children were blown away by the fact that each centimetre on our scale model represented 20 million miles!!

We then moved on to learning about why we get day and night on Earth and how the Earth's orbit and rotation influences the different seasons.
  

 


Leaps and vaults 

Leaps and vaults

LIn our Gymnastics unit this half term, we have loved learning different types of leaps and rolls.  This week we extended this into learning how to vault.  Many of us have learned some of the techniques in our parkour and gym clubs outside of school.  We were learning to hurdle leap onto the springboard, vault onto the raised bench and then either Straddle or Pike leap down onto the crash-mat.

On the lower benches we could get a bit more creative with our leaps!

We set up different stations in the hall so that we could practise the different skills - and enjoyed learning how to vault (although it was quite scary for some of us to begin with)




 


Women in World War 2 

Women in World War 2

We have really enjoyed learning about World War 2 in our Learning Adventure.  This week we were focusing on the role which women played on the Home Front.

We learned that before World War 2, many women were not able to (or chose not to) work.  However, when the men were called up to join the war effort the country relied on women to fill the roles which were left.

We found out that women were employed as code-breakers, in munition factories, in the land army, in the women's auxillary air-force (WAAF), the women's royal navy (WREN), the air-raid precaution corps (ARP) and the women's voluntary service (WVS).

We created recruitment posters to try to persuade women to take on the different roles.  We looked at different recruitment posters from the 1940's to give us ideas and then we tried to recreate that style in our own work.  I think we did a great job! 


 


Tower of Babel and Mustard seeds 

Tower of Babel and mustard seeds

Lorem  We are really fortunate as a class to be able to invite Deborah in to teach us RE.  Her depth of knowledge is amazing and she finds ways to relate the key points to the children in meaningful and creative ways.

This half term, she has been focusing on the key question - What kind of king is Jesus?

We have tried to recruit a king with the values that we would like, and learned a lot from different bible passages.  We have also learned all about King Herod, and were interested to learn about what the bible says about the Tower of Babel.  This week, we learned about the parable of the mustard seed.  We examined different types of seeds - and then interpreted what the parable demonstrates to us about Jesus.  We're looking forward to learning what Deborah is going to bring with her next week.

 


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Our Values...

Creativity

Creative

We are bold and innovative in our approach to find new solutions to the challenges we face.

Curiosity

Curious

We are inspired by the awe and wonder of the world.

Integrity

Responsible

We take responsibility for our actions in an environment of mutual respect.

Enthusiasm

Enthusiastic

We are passionate about learning.

Excellence

Excellent

We are the best we can be.

Determination

Determined

We overcome all barriers to reach our potential, developing a capacity to improve further.

Open Learning afternoon in classes from 1.30pm - come and join your child's class for a lesson and take the time to look at their books. School closes at 1.30pm on Thursday followed by PTA disco.


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