Welcome to Year 5!

2023-24

In Year 5, our teachers are Miss Wilson, Mrs Gilchrist and Miss Potts. We are also supported by our dedicated Learning Support Assistant (LSA): Miss Jackman. 

If you have any questions, please speak with your child's class teacher. You can speak to your child’s class teacher by phoning the school and requesting an appointment if they are not around at pick-up.

Keep referring back to this page for regular updates about the children's learning. 

Update - Thursday 27th March 2024

Art

We worked in small groups to create a relief form for our art. We looked at the properties and artistic potential of the materials explored in the previous session outside in nature. We had to  find natural materials in the local environment and create a low-relief piece of land art. We then used these to create our small-scale, low-relief sculptures and, when complete, took photographs of our work. Here are some of our photographs:

Geography

For our innovative challenge, we were tasked with becoming gardeners who wanted to set up a market gardening business. We had to create a proposal for the market garden, which considered all the factors that are important for successfully growing, distributing and selling your produce. We began by looking at the location, using a map and thinking about a suitable area to have the market and the features of this area. Then, we used our knowledge of seasonality and thought about which fruit/vegetables we would like to produce and when they would need to be sown and harvested. We also thought about what we would not be able to grow, such as bananas, because of our climate in the UK. We considered the farming practices that we would use and not use at our market garden, such as fertilisers. Finally, we considered where to sell our produce before pulling all of this together to present our proposal to the class. 

Update - Friday 22nd March 2024

Science

This week, we tested our thinking and knowledge of human ageing. We looked at a reaction test to test the speed at which humans can react to something. We predicted that our reactions would slow down as we got older. We used our knowledge of the changes that happen to adults and older people, such as muscle deterioration and decreased eyesight. We used the results from the test to plot a graph and noticed a positive correlation. This showed us that as people get older, their reaction times tend to increase because it will take them longer to react, and this could be for many reasons associated with ageing.   

PSHE

This week, we finished our Healthy Me unit by thinking about what makes a healthy body image, including diet, exercise, social media and other factors. We created a recipe for a healthy body image:

Update - Friday 15th March 2024

RE

This week, we thought about what we would like to ask a Christian about salvation. We were lucky enough to have a visitor from the local church come into school to answer some of our questions. We learnt that we can gain salvation at the end of our lives if we have truly reflected, are sorry for our sins, and have made an effort throughout our lives to make good choices. We also learnt about the commandments Christians live by to help them with their choices and what our visitor thought heaven would be like for her. 

PSHE

In our PSHE lesson this week, we looked at the impact of social media on our health and how we feel about ourselves. We discussed what it means to have a positive body image and how it can differ for everyone. We then discussed what it meant to be 'normal'. This caused many different viewpoints, such as fitting in, looking the same as others, and even just being ourselves. Finally, we looked at how images can be altered to fit the purpose of the person posting them, such as this:

We considered whether this was a good idea and how it could negatively affect other people viewing the photos online. 

Update - Friday 8th March 2024

Music 

For our music unit, based on linking colours to sounds, we listened to different music from various genres and thought about what colours we may associate with them. This could be linked to our feelings about the music, the instruments we could hear, or even the piece's pace. We then listened to one song in more detail and broke it down into sections to consider how the music changed. 

Computing

Using iPads this week, we used plasticine to create a short animation clip of a ball being transformed into something else. We learned about the term ‘stop-motion animation’, which is made by combining still images captured with a camera to simulate movement. We then watched a short clip of Wallace and Gromit and thought about how the video was made. Everything that appears to move has been carefully adjusted between the two photographs. We used this technique with the ball. 

World Book Day

Our theme in Year 5 this year was around The Wizard Of Oz. The teachers dressed up as the main characters. In our learning, we explored the novel's first section and unpicked some tricky words that were hard to understand. We then chose a section of text to bring to life. We thought about how the characters would feel and how this would show in their bodies and actions. We then role-played this in small groups. In the afternoon, we heard our teacher's favourite story. 

Update - Friday 1st March 2024

Science Day

On Wednesday, it was Science Day! We were given the scientist Mae Jemison. Dr Mae Jemison is the first Black female astronaut and woman to travel into space. We looked into her life and created a fact file about her. In the afternoon, we completed different science investigations. 

English

We began our new unit by looking at the human heart. We have learned about the heart as a vital organ, the different parts of the heart, and transplants. Some fun facts we learnt include: 

• Your heart beats 115,000 a day (around 2.5 trillion times in your lifetime!
• 2000 gallons of blood go around your heart every day
• Your heart is around the size of your first and weighs about the same as a can of fizzy
• If you lined up your blood vessels, they would stretch around the Earth TWICE!

Update - Friday 23rd February 2024

Art

This week, we used our black-and-white photographs from a previous lesson and a range of different mediums to create a representation of our photo. We used layering and different sketching techniques to create a replica of our photograph:

Computing

In our new unit based on stop motion animation, we explored the history of animation and had a go at making some simple thaumatropes, flip books and zoetropes. A thaumatrope is a disc with an image on each side attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twisted quickly, the two images blend into one. The first flip book appeared in 1868 when John Barnes Linnett patented it under ‘Kineograph’. A flip book is a series of still images with slight movement between each page, which gives the illusion of a moving image. A zoetrope is a cylinder with a series of still images. On the outside, there are slits that someone can look through. When someone spins the cylinder and looks through the slits, it gives the appearance of a moving image. 

Reading

In Reading, we have begun our new book, Pig Heart Boy. We have thought about the main character, Cam, and how he has an illness affecting his heart, which requires a transplant. He has just been told that he may be receiving a pig heart! We have discussed the character's thoughts and feelings around this. 

Update - Friday 9th February 2024

PSHE

In PSHE, we have compared our dreams and goals to those in different countries with different experiences. We discussed how this can affect our dreams and goals and how they can be influenced by factors such as money and family. We used this to look at a case study of a rich and poor child and discussed the similarities and differences between their lives, including their dreams and goals for the future. 

Safer Internet Day

Today, we looked at online bullying and how it can come across in many forms, such as in chats, emails, gaming, and WhatsApp. We looked at the similarities and differences between online bullying and in-person bullying. 

Art

We continued to explore the use of black and white, this time using photographs. We discussed how we could still see light and shadow through the photographs and tell the contrast in colours, even though we could not see any colour itself. Here are some of our photographs:

Update  - Friday 2nd February 2024

DT

In DT this week, we designed our soup recipes and made our soups from scratch. We chose a range of seasonal vegetables and used spices for flavour. Here are some of our soups:

English

In English, we have started our apprentice pieces narrating the story of Tristan and his travels through time in 'The Viewer' back to the beginning of time.

Geography

In Geography, we have been looking at the parts of a plant and their purposes in the fertilisation process in farming. We dissected our flowers to label all the parts and looked at various flowers.

Update - Friday 26th January 2024

Art

In art this week, we have explored using different mediums to show light and shade. We used ink, and also black paper with white pencil. Here are some photographs of our work: 

RE

In RE this week, we continued exploring our golden rule: Treat others how you would like to be treated. We worked in groups to apply this rule to a story with the rule as a moral. Here is some of our work: 

PSHE

We used this week's lesson to explore our dream job in more detail, thinking about the steps needed to make it possible. This included the qualities and skills needed and any training required for the role. We had jobs such as marine biologists, police officers, chefs and even biologists.

Update - Friday 19th January 2024

English

We wrote our interviews for our chosen animal this week, and on Friday, we shared these with our target audience: Year 2! Here are some pictures of us sharing our interviews with koalas, axolotl and cats!

DT

This week, we were tasked with using a recipe to make a healthy vegetable soup. We had to use the skills of chopping, dicing, and peeling our vegetables and carefully measuring the ingredients. We then used a slow cooker to let the soup cook for 4 hours. In the afternoon, we tasted our soups and evaluated them on taste, appearance, smell and texture. 

Update - Friday 12th January 2024

English

This week, we learned which animal we would interview from our year 2 friends. Class 7 will interview a koala bear, class 8 an axolotl and class 9 a cat. We have been exploring what our animals eat and their living conditions and thinking about how their personality would come across when interviewed. 

PSHE

In PSHE, we began our Dreams and Goals unit. We looked at different job roles and pictured what we would like our life to look like when we were older. This included things like family, house, hobbies and job. In the following lessons, we will look at what we need to make our dreams and goals possible. 

DT

In our next DT lesson, we looked at what fruits and vegetables are currently in season, and we used this to think about a recipe for a soup. We used the BBC Good Food website to look at a seasonal calendar. 

Update - Friday 6th January 2024

English

We began our new unit, Interview with an Animal. We started by thinking about 'if animals could talk, what might they say? How might they act? What persona would they portray?' From here, we thought about animals that year 2 children might like to interview, and we emailed the teachers to ask their classes to vote! We are awaiting their replies... 

Music

This term, with Miss Chisnall, we are exploring West and South Africa and looking at traditional African music. This week, we learned a song called Shosholoza in Ndebele, the language Bantu people speak. 

French

This term, with Miss Wilson, we are learning how to read, write and speak about our house. We will be learning about the different rooms in our homes and the areas in which we live. 

Update Friday 15th December 2023

English

 Year 5 has been busy practising its poem for the end-of-term performance in front of the school and parents. We have been learning the poem Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah. 

We were also lucky enough to be invited to the Vyne school to watch their performance of Annie. We reflected on their intonation and tone when performing and have been trying to include some of this in our poetry!

Geography

In Geography this week, we explored continents and the world's major cities. We have been thinking about the climate and biomes of the areas to help us think about what it would be like if we were there. 

Science

We have come to the end of our unit on Space by researching a particular planet and presenting this to the rest of our class. Here are some of our posters: 

Update - Friday 8th December 2023

English 

This week in English, we started our new English unit around Christmas Poetry. We have been exploring and performing many poems, using intonation, tone and even actions! Year 5 has been very busy getting ready for our big performance next week for our parents!

RE 

In RE, we have continued to look at the term interpretation. We have looked at two different birth narratives and discussed their similarities and differences. We have also looked at interpreting events in our lives and how this can often affect outcomes. Different people will often interpret other things based on various factors such as their religion, upbringing, family values and age. 

Art

We completed our Taotie by creating our masks. We used the skills from last week to make it. Here are some of our final pieces: 

Update - Friday 1st December 2023

We had great fun in art on Thursday afternoon! As we learned about Taotie, we watched a video about how ancient Chinese bronzes were created. We discussed what we had learned about the process of bronze casting. Although we were not casting with bronze, we explored some simple casting techniques. We worked in small groups and set up a workshop environment. We had the Casting instructions on tabletops with the resources and followed the instructions to complete the task.  At the end of the session, we discussed what we found challenging or satisfying about each task. We found getting the consistency of the silicone particularly challenging- it was either too watery or thick! Here are some pictures of our afternoon: 

Update - Friday 24th November 2023

Art

This week, we started our new art unit on Taotie. A taotie is a gluttonous creature in Chinese

mythology which is always hungry no matter how much it eats. Its name translates to ‘legendary

voracious beast’. We looked at different taoties and sketched them in our books. We thought carefully about the shape, shading and size of our drawings. 

Science

In science this week, we looked at how we get our different seasons on Earth. We learnt that the angle of the Earth's tilt causes the seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. When the axis is tilted towards the Sun, that hemisphere experiences summer. When the axis is tilted away from the Sun, that hemisphere experiences winter. 

Update- Friday 17th November 2023

History

This week, we finished our unit on the Shang Dynasty. We looked at the Silk Road. We learnt: 

From this, we showed our new learning by creating a fun game! Here are some of our games:

PSHE

This week has been Anti-bullying Week. In our PSHE lesson, we created games based on bullying. We had to include what bullying was, the different types of bullying, and how to help if someone is bullied. We did this through questions, rewards and consequences on the game. Here are a few of our games:

Update - Friday 10th November 2023

Science

In Science, we have been exploring how our knowledge of our Solar System and the planets has developed into what we know now. We were asked to think of questions we would like to find out about the scientists who first discovered and developed this knowledge. We then used a text about scientists, such as Aristotle and Copernicus, and the internet to explore our questions. Here are some examples of our work:

DT

This week, we were allowed to make our pneumatic machines to use around the house. We had to make sure they could move using one of the systems we had previously explored in our DT lessons. Here are some of our amazing pieces:  

Update - Friday 3rd November 2023

The children have settled back into year 5 well after the half-term break. This week, we have been continuing our DT unit, and the children have worked in groups to design their pneumatic machine that could be used around the home. Here are some of our designs: 

Reading 

We have begun our new book for this term, There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. We have begun by exploring the front cover and blurb, predicting what the book could be about based on these, and asking questions about them. 

Science

In Science, we have also begun a new unit around Earth and Space. We had great fun exploring the size of the planets by comparing these to everyday fruits and vegetables:

Updated - Friday 20th October 2023

DT

In DT this week, we have continued exploring pneumatics and applying this to a more complex structure. We discussed why a strong structure is essential when using a pneumatic system. We followed a video to create our own structures, using a level and pneumatic system to give a mechanical advantage to lift a load. Here is a picture of one of our systems: 

History

This week, we have been learning more about Fu Hao. She was the wife of King Wu Ding (there were 64!). She was also a military general and high priestess. At the time, it was unusual for females to have any power as this was all down to men. We researched more about her life and used this information to create an informative poster. Here are some of our creations: 

Update - Friday 13th October 2023

In D&T, we have continued our unit about ‘fresh food’. We have been looking at different types of food packaging from the present day and throughout history. We also looked at future food packaging because we have to make sure it is sustainable and good for the planet. We then completed a table looking at the different types of food packaging so we could compare them.

After this, we evaluated our designs, thinking about how well they moved, how alike they were to their original design and what they would do to improve it if they were to make it again. 

Update - Friday 4th October 2023

English 

This week, we started our new unit around persuasion. We looked at a letter from our reading text- The Boy At The Back Of The Class. We read the letter the main character wrote to the Queen to persuade her to keep the gates open to find Ahmet’s family. He is a refugee, and Ahmet was living with a foster carer. We felt the letter was poorly written and was not very persuasive! We looked at what a persuasive letter needs and what this would look like in a letter to the Queen. 

Maths 

In Maths, we have moved on to our next addition and subtraction unit. We have looked at mental strategies and used what we know already to help us with larger sums, e.g. if 9+6=17, then we know 90,000 + 60,000. We have linked this to our place value unit by using partitioning in our heads to add more complicated numbers without needing a written method. 

DT

In DT this week, we began our new unit called Pneumatic Machines. We explored how air can be used to move objects with little force. We explored this using a bottle, balloon, books, and syringes. We learnt that as the air was pushed out of the bottle and into the balloon, this caused the balloon to inflate, therefore moving a stack of heavy books! We learnt that this machine is used in everyday life too, such as when fixing cars. 

Update - Friday 29th September 2023

History

In our Shang Dynasty topic, we have been exploring how the people of this time lived. We have learnt that rich people lived very different lives from poor people, and men and women were treated differently. The rich had slaves to work for them and lived in lavish buildings with bronze statues. The poor often had to beg for food and wore hemp for clothing. 

RE

In our Belonging unit, we have explored what it feels like to belong to something and how we show we belong. We have also examined how Muslims and the Five Pillars of Islam show they belong. With this, we designed our prayer mat, thinking about how it would help Muslim children to feel and show that they belong. 

Art

In art, we have been creating our final pieces. For this, we had to design our landscape and use tints, tones and shades to bring our landscape to life. Here are some of your pieces: 

Update  - Friday 22nd September 2023

This week, we have moved on to looking at the life of Marcus Rashford, another influential black person in our country. We have learned about his achievements and challenges and we have been focusing on our cohesion skills when writing a biography. 

In our music unit, Body Percussion, we have been trying out making music with our bodies along with music. This includes clapping, clicking, stamping, and also taking breaks! We tried this with the song Can't Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake. Although, this song is quite fast so we had to really concentrate to try and keep up!

As part of our Shang Dynasty unit of work, we have been looking at the Chinese Bronze Age. We have linked our learning back to our artefact lesson from last week, to explore the use of bronze during this period. 

Update - Friday 15th September 2023

English

In English this week, we have been looking at relative clauses and fronted adverbials. We have used these English skills in our apprentice piece which is a biography about Simone Biles, her life, achievements and challenges. 

PE

Year 5 have begun their swimming lessons at the Sports Center. All of the children have had their initial assessment with the swimming teachers and have started their lessons. 

History

In our Shang Dynasty unit, we have begun to look more at artefacts from this time, including oracle bones. We have learnt that these were used to communicate with the Gods and ask them questions on harvest and health. We have also looked at religion within the Shang Dynasty and how this is the same and different to what we know of religion today. 

Art

In our art unit, we have been exploring tints, tones and shades and how to create these within a piece of art. We have been using these skills to colour-match to various pieces of artwork. Here are some of our pieces.

Update - Friday 8th September 2023

English

We have begun our new English unit based around Black History Month. We will focus on two influential black people, Simone Biles and Marcus Rashford. We have been exploring Biles in more detail, looking at her life, achievements, and challenges. 

Reading 

In Reading, we have started to read There's a Boy at the Back of the Class. We have learnt about Ahmet, a refugee child who has arrived at a new school and is being questioned by other children. Ahmet isn't talking to anyone, and we are beginning to understand more about Ahmet and his life. 

History

Our new History unit is based around the Shang Dynasty. We have started by looking at a timeline of Ancient China and how the dynasties at the time were created. We role-played a story about the Yellow Emperor and the Xia dynasty and loved acting out the different parts. 

Welcome to Year 5!

2022-23

In Year 5, our teachers are Mrs Tamsett-Tate, Mrs Smith, Miss Purver and Miss Spencer. We are also supported by our dedicated Learning Support Assistant (LSA): Miss Cameron. 

If you have any questions, please speak with your child's class teacher. You can speak to your child’s class teacher by phoning the school and requesting an appointment if they are not around at pick up.

Keep referring back to this page for regular updates about the children's learning. 

Update - Thursday 13th July 2023

Art

In art this week, we have been continuing our unit on Expressionism. We have been looking at photographs of people showing different emotions, such as anger, happiness, loneliness and sadness. We used these ideas to give each picture a colour. Then we used this to add colour to the photos and words to describe their feelings. Here is some of our artwork:

History

This week we have looked at key Greek people such as Alexander the Great. We looked at his life and his achievements. We also looked at the Olympics and the history of how the Olympic games have become what they are today. 

Science

In Science this week, we have been exploring irreversible change. We have found out that we will know if an irreversible change has occurred if it has:

• changed colour
• changed temperature
• gas has been produced
• light has been produced
• sound is produced
• A smell is produced

To test this, we tried a few different experiments. One of them was popping candy, and we heard the sound of the candy exploding in our mouths. This showed an irreversible change. We also looked at sour milk and saw that the milk had begun to curdle. There would be a smell (although we did not smell it, yuck!) and a slight colour change. 

Update - Friday 7th July 2023

Geography:

This week we have enjoyed a range of activities including some orienteering work for our Geography revision. We explored the four cardinal directions as well as the intercardinal points. After working on this knowledge, we then applied this by working in teams and completing an orienteering task around the school field. We had to find a given country information sheet, answer the direction question and then follow the compass directions to find the next one. Using the compasses was very tricky and it took us a while but we got there in the end!

Update - Friday 24th June 2023

English

In English this week, we have been designing our own wonder rooms. These can be anything from our imagination. Here are some of our best ones: 

Art

In art, we have begun our new unit on expression. We looked at art from different expressionist artists such as Edvard Munch. We then discussed how the use of colour helps to show how someone is feeling. We used mirrors to look at and draw our own facial expressions for different feelings.  

Update - Friday 19th June 2023

English: 

Last week in English, we started our new unit on the Nowhere Emporium, where we will be writing our own diary entries. Over the week, we explored lots of different magical and amazing things to immerse us in our learning before we began looking at diary entries.  

We then received a diary entry from Lucien Silver, and with a partner, we had a go at annotating the key features:  

Art: 

In Art, we created our final pieces for our mixed media unit. We used lots of the skills from across the unit, such as mixed media collage, paper collage and surrealism, to create our work. They all turned out great:  

Maths: 

In maths, we have been revisiting our multiplication skills. Not only are we ALL now multiplying using the column method, which is fantastic, but some of us also even started multiplying decimals! Alongside this, we have been exploring reasoning questions related to multiplication to help us look at different ways we may need to approach multiplication. 

Update - Friday 9th June 2023

English

This week, we started our new unit based on the book The Nowhere Emporium. We arrived on Monday to our classrooms, being transformed with balloons, confetti, and door streamers. We then thought about what makes a wonder to us and watched different clips of wonders, such as places, science and magic. We were then the critics and had to review the wonder, what we liked about it and how it made us feel (some of the circus clips made us feel a little sick as the lady was very bendy!). We will be working towards creating our own wonder. 

Art

We created our final piece in art using a mixture of the techniques we have been studying, including: 

Paper collage

Photo collage

Surrealism

Here are some pictures of our work: 

Update - Friday 23rd May 2023

This week in art, we have been using fabric crumbing to create our own masterpieces! We used different pieces of fabric and glued them onto a piece of felt. Then we added embellishments such as buttons and attached them to one another to create a class piece. 

English

This week we have planned and written our final pieces. We were given the task of writing a new trial for Hercules to complete. We had to create our own beast for Hercules to defeat and then write about how Hercules did this using a range of writing techniques, including figurative language. 

PSHE

We ended our unit on Relationships by creating a poster to show the SMART rules for being safe online. We used the previous lesson's learning and the SMART rules to create our posters. 

Update - Friday 19th May 2023

Science

We have been looking at thermal insulators and thermal conductors and investigating whether an object is a conductor or an insulator using thermal imaging paper. If the item were warm in our hand and conducted heat, then it would change the colouring on the imaging paper. 

Art

During our art lessons, we have been exploring paper crafts. This week, we have had a go at making our own paper. We used a paper frame, tissue paper, scraps of newspaper, and warm water. We also added embellishments such as sequins and dried petals. We enjoyed making the paper pulp as it was very squishy!

History

In our Greeks unit, we have been conducting research enquiries into how the Ancient Greeks lived and what happened to them during the era. We have been exploring the civilisation of the Minoans, named after King Minos, and have been learning about where and how they lived. We created our own research questions and using texts and kley websites to help us find out the answers.

Update - Monday 15th May 2023

Science

Each class had some new members last week that we have carefully monitored and looked after. Our caterpillars have begun to turn into beautiful butterflies. We love checking on them each day and seeing how they are growing. We will be releasing them this week. 

Art

In our new art unit, we have explored paper and created different effects, such as quilling and decoupage. We even had a go at creating our own. 

English

In English, we have continued to explore the Hercules story and other Greek myths such as Theseus and the Minotaur. We have been using storyboards to map out the story and have been thinking about using different English features for effect, such as relative clauses. 

Update - Friday 5th May 2023

English

The children have now completed their orgamites scientific report about organs! After spending the last few weeks researching organs and learning about how to write scientific reports, the children chose their own organ/organs to write about and produced their final pieces. Here are some examples:

The King’s Coronation:

In preparation for next Monday, we have been learning about the King and the Royal family. We have completed a range of tasks and are looking forward to our picnic afternoon! Due to the fact that King Charles is heavily involved in saving our rainforests, the tree frog is linked to him and we spent some time designing frogs using our year 5 theme of nature (which links to our art unit of work)

Earth day:

During Earth day, we completed our year 5 pledges to help protect our planet. Here are some examples of our work:

Art:

As part of our nature work, we spent time using the resources in our school forest area to create some pieces of artwork. Our objective was to try to use materials such as wire to create height on our designs. Here are some of our pieces of work:

Update - Thursday 27th April 2023

We have had the exciting arrival of 5 little furry creatures- caterpillars! They arrived very small but soon grew quite hairy and wiggly! Before long, they will turn into chrysalis, then hatch into butterflies, which we will release into the wild. Each class has 5 caterpillars, and we keep a diary of their daily changes.

We have been creating our final piece sculptures using natural materials in art. Our first task was to create a piece of artwork inspired by one of the natural artists we have been studying. Then we had the challenge of making our art 3D.  

Update - Thursday 20th April 2023

Science

As part of our life cycles unit in Science, we had some exciting arrivals in our classes this week. First, we received a pot with five tiny caterpillars inside. We will keep a class diary of what is happening with our little friends each day. By keeping a close eye on the changes, we will be able to watch our caterpillars grow and develop, from tiny insects, into beautiful butterflies. 

Reading

This week, we started our new book, Who Let The Gods Out. This story is about a young boy called Elliot, who finds the goddess of stationery in his cow shed and together, they accidentally release Thanatos, the Daemon of Death.

PSHE

In PSHE, we have started our new unit on relationships. We began by thinking about self-talk and what it means to have positive self-talk. We had the task of writing positive words about ourselves before thinking about positive comments to describe someone else in our classroom. Some of us found it harder than others to think of positive words to describe ourselves. We thought about ways we could improve our self-confidence and esteem, including affirmations and focusing on positives rather than negatives. 

Update - Friday 31st March 2023

English

This week we have been getting stuck into our new unit, The Orgamites. We have researched an organ in the human body and have written a scientific report about its purpose and how transplants of that organ work.                           

Geography

This week we have looked at food miles and the journey our food takes to get from where it is produced to our plate. We were shocked by some of the food miles of common foods such as bananas and tomatoes. We then thought about the pros and cons of importing foods. 

Reading:

In reading, we have finished the story Pig Heart Boy and have thought about our feelings about the end of the story. It was a sad ending in some ways, but we were glad Cam survived with his new heart!  

Update  -Thursday 23rd March 2023

Art

This week we have started our new art unit called Nature’s Art. We went outside to explore resources which could be used to make land art and who we could use them, e.g. sticks, leaves, and petals.

We then looked at various different land art created by different artists and evaluated them, thinking about

PSHE

This week we have looked at first aid procedures, including the recovery position. We then had different emergency scenarios, and as a group, we had to come up with steps we needed to take to help the person in need. We have also explored how images are altered online to create a more ‘normal’ looking image to promote certain body types. We were shocked by how much some of the images had changed. We then advised different children on how we can support a positive self-image.

English:

In English this week, we have begun our new unit called The Orgamites! This unit will explore different organs inside the human body and their function. We will be writing a non-chronological report, so we are doing lots of research on the organs.

Update - Thursday 16th March 2023

This week in Science we have continued our life cycle learning and are now focusing on the human life cycle. We started by zooming into the first stage of the cycle and learnt about gestation and the beginning of life:

We learnt about the embryo and its development into a foetus, through to giving birth and being a newborn baby!

We then zoomed into the juvenile stage of the cycle and researched the development of new-born babies, toddlers and then young children:

In geography this week, we have explored how citrus fruit is grown and the conditions it needs. Having explored North and South America, we focused on California and discovered how oranges are grown. We looked at the skill of ‘grafting’ and mind-mapped our key ideas.

In English this week, we have been writing our final pieces for Emperor Zorg. We have been completing the middle section of his story, and we cannot wait to show you some of our work when they are all complete next week!

We have focused on using figurative language, relative clauses, a range of subordinating clauses and key skills such as building up an atmosphere when we write.

So far, the teachers have been really impressed, and our handwriting has been amazing!

Update - Thursday 9th March 2023

Science:

We spent some time exploring the human life cycle this week. After exploring the different stages and processes, we showed off our learning by creating a poster informing the audience about the life cycle. Here are some examples of our work:

Geography:

We have been exploring modern-day farming and the benefits and drawbacks of the processes. Considering the environment, we came up with pros and cons based on the farming technique's effect. Here are some examples of our work to inform people about the types and effects of modern-day farming:

Update - Thursday 2nd March 2023

Art:

Last week, we completed a piece of artwork within our unit of line, light and shadows in which we recreated one of our photos using chalk and white pencils. We thought carefully about the skills we learned throughout the unit and applied this knowledge to create our artwork. Here are some of the examples we created:

Science:

In science, we studied the mammalian life cycle and explored the similarities and differences between the cycles of 4 different mammals:

Maths:

We have started our Ratatouille work unit and are delving into fractions. Last week we looked at finding equivalent fractions and ordering them in ascending or descending order. We explored what a fraction is and will continue with more fraction work this week.

Update - Thursday 23rd February 2023

English:

We are currently working towards writing our middle chapters for Emperor Zorg and have been focusing on action description writing. This week we have learnt about dialogue and its purpose within writing in preparation for our stories.

Maths:

Our current theme is ‘Ratatouille’ and we have been looking at a range of data including line graphs and timetables. We have been exploring Chef Gusteau’s timetable for the week and working out how many hours he has worked, how long he has spent writing recipes etc. Soon we will be moving on to fractions!

Art:

This week in art we have been exploring Paint 3D and other apps to delve into the use of black-and-white photos. We will be creating some more pieces using the computer to show you soon so watch this space!

Geography:

We are continuing with our ‘Sow, Grow and Farm’ topic this half term and have explored farming in the UK this week. We have also recapped our mapping skills work and will be looking at modern farming in the future.

Science:

Having studied a range of life cycles, we will be focusing on mammalian life cycles this half term and delving deeper into how it works and the purpose behind each part of the cycle.

Update- Thursday 9th February 2023

DT

This week, the children used their group plans from the previous week to make their own soup! The children loved slicing, dicing and chopping their ingredients. The best part was the tasting part and our classrooms smelt very strongly of vegetables!

Art

In art this week we have explored black and white, inclduing drawing white pictures on black paper, and black and white photographs. We have focused on light and sahe and how this can be shown effectively. 

English

In English on Wednesday, we recieved an Alien Zorg update. He said he was impressed with our writing of character and setting so far and wanted us to now focus on action! He even picked out some good pieces of writing for our teachers to share. 

Update - Thursday 2nd February 2023

DT:
This week we have been designing our own soup recipes using seasonal produce. Next week, we will be creating our own soups having explored its nutritional value and planned out the process in groups.

English:

Over the week we have completed our Apprentice pieces of writing. We designed our own alien and wrote a character description for a police report to explain its appearance and characteristics. Within this piece, we had to include formal language, relative clauses, and even hyphenated words. Emporer Zorg should be impressed!

PSHE:
In PSHE, we have been exploring our dream jobs. We have looked at the importance of different jobs along with the salaries. We are currently in the process of researching our dream job to see what is required, what the job entails, and what it may look like to be ready for our future careers,

Update - Thursday 26th January 2023

Science:  

In science this week, we used our research to present the information on a Google Slides presentation to the class.  

Geography: 

In Geography this week, we took a science focus and looked at the reproduction of plants. We looked more carefully at the male and female parts of a plant and used a lily to see this in real life.

Maths

In maths we have been exploring 2D and 3D shape. We were given the challenge of testing whether different nets of cubes would work on not. We used square paper to make each net and decide whether it made a cube or not. 

Update  - Thursday 19th January 2023

DT:

This week we had a great time grating, peeling and dicing vegetables to make our own soup! We had to use different kitchen equipment, such as knives, peelers and measuring jugs and bowls to create our soup. We were so excited all day waiting for our soup to cook so we could try it! In the afternoon, we could finally taste our soup and it was delicious! Most of us were so happy with our soup that we wanted to have another serving! Next week, we are going to design our own version of the vegetable soup, using seasonal vegetables.

Science:

In science this week, we began to research one of the planets in pairs and create a Google Slides presentation, in preparation for a presentation to the class next week.

English:

Last week in English, we each created our own planets and wrote our own setting descriptions so Zorg can decide which one best fits his story. This week, we have looked at character descriptions and began to think about the features of a good character description.

Update - Thursday 12th January 2023

Art:

We have started our new topic in art Line, Light and Shadow. In our first lesson, we looked at completing continuous line drawing. This meant that we couldn’t take our pencil off the page throughout our drawing. This was really tricky but we created some lovely work:

In our next lesson this week, we are looking at Pablo Picasso:

In science this week, we were exploring times of day around the world. To begin with, we independently researched on our laptops the time zones of different countries. After this, we recorded our findings and then observed a live video camera of different cities around the world to determine:  whether it was morning, afternoon or evening; what the environment was like and what activities could be done. We found this very intriguing as it meant we got to observe lots of different landscapes and environments!

English:

Last week in English, we received a letter from Alien Zorg asking us to help him finish his story for the Earthlings. This week, to help us with this, we began exploring figurative language and setting descriptions. To help Zorg out, we have each created our own planets and written our own setting descriptions so he can decide which one best fits his story. Miss Spencer’s planet is below:

Geography:

This half term in geography lessons we are exploring the topic: Sow, Grow and Farm. We will be looking closely at plant life cycles and the farming techniques used by farmers across the world.

This week we spent some time looking into allotments and what they need to function well. We were then given a task which involved us becoming members of the council having to determine which site in the area should be turned into an allotment. We were given three proposals and examined them to determine which site would suit an allotment best:

Once we understood the conditions for a successful allotment, we were presented with the hypothesis ‘The school field is the best location for an allotment’. Our job was to read each proposal and study their key features and limitations.

Once we had considered all three proposals and scored them against the successful allotment criteria, we presented our findings to each other pitching which location would be most suitable for an allotment and why.

Update - Friday 6th January 2023

English:

Our Investigation:

On Tuesday morning we came back to school after Christmas only to find something had happened!

We were tasked with investigating the issue and using our inference skills to try and deduce what had happened and why:

We found out that Emperor Zorg had left us a message:

We have now started to read Crater Lake and focus on features of narratives in preparation for our final piece.

DT:
Our DT unit this term is ‘Eat the seasons’. We have explored ‘seasonality’ and had a go at tasting some fruit and vegetables that are currently in season here in the UK: