Cadbury World

On Monday, to finalise our topic 'Amazing Americas' we went on a trip to Cadbury World. The children had the opportunity to ride the Cadbury rollercoaster, tour the factory, write with chocolate and most importantly eat lots of chocolate. They also were given a talk all about the Mayans and their importance in the creation of chocolate. They really impressed the speaker with their knowledge of the subject! Of course, behaviour was exceptional (as always). 

Calaveras

The children created their own Calaveras this week after studying the history and symbolism of the sugar skulls. They carefully selected their colours based on what they symbolise and used collage techniques to add extra detail through texture. They have really taken their time on these and created fantastic replications of the sugar skulls.

Autumn Home Learning Gallery

Take a look at Year 5's Autumn term home learning on our Amazing Americas topic below. They have been so creative with their home learning and I am really impressed with the time and consideration they have shown in the work produced. We had all sorts submitted - from research pieces to Mayan masks and a model Chichen Itza! Well done Year 5, super work! 

Fractions Investigations

Today, the children had their first lesson in our new fractions block. The children investigated the concept of what a fraction is using different carousel activities such as folding, cutting, cubes, numicon, water and weight. They looked at parts of whole numbers and how sometimes a whole can be more than one.

Dramatic Amphibians!

The children became frogs today in our science lesson on life cycles. When learning about the amphibian life cycle, the children acted out the different stages a frog takes to adulthood. Below, you can find the children acting out the tadpole stage, eggs or frog spawn, the adult frog, growing front legs, growing hind legs and growing fins.

Pok-a-Tok

The children fully immersed themselves into their Maya topic by playing the ancient Mayan game 'Pok-a-Tok'. They learnt the significance of the game in ancient times, the rules of the game and how we could adapt the game to be played now. This was not an easy task as the children had to send the ball to the other side of the court without using their hands, feet or heads. If they scored through the hoop, an immediate win was granted. This was proven very tricky as no team managed it!

Autumn Art

This term, we have been studying the artist Frida Kahlo. The children created research pages about her and a mood board of her famous work. They then practiced drawing self portraits through proportional sketches and then created their final pieces! The children used oil just like Kahlo and created a background of their favourite things and colours - as Frida Kahlo did with nature and animals. Here is a selection of some fab creations.

Helicopter experiment

In science, we have been looking at plants and seed dispersal. We have linked this learning to an investigation this week by looking at the distance 'helicopters' can spread their seeds by timing the drops based on the size of the wings. The children found that the larger the wings meant the longer the seed could travel for.

Making Bridges

After testing different types of bridges, the children have now created a model suspension bridge using string, card, chairs and lots of sticky tape! The bridges were evaluated in order to better their design next lesson. 

Human Sentences

In grammar, we have been looking at expanded noun phrases and recapping how we put these together. We created human sentences using our whiteboards where the children took the roles of the determiner, noun, adjectives, prepositional phrases and all important commas!

Bridges

We have started our DT project on bridges over the last 2 weeks. The children started by researching some famous bridges in North and South America looking at their locations, bridge types, materials and structure. They then went on to study the different types of bridges in more detail and yesterday we tested arch and beam bridges for their maximum loads.

Plant Dissection

We have been busy dissecting lily plants in science today! The children first learned all about the parts of a flowering plant and their functions and they then looked at dissecting a real plant and separating it into the different parts we have learned about. 

Sparkly Start

We have completed our first Sparkly Start of the year to reveal our topic Amazing Americas. The children worked so well in their chosen teams to complete a scavenger hunt for facts, capital cities, populations, and flags of the chosen American countries. They used their teamwork and collaborative skills to find as many as possible to add to their passport. Some children chose to help others when they finished too! Good work year 5.