Christmas Fun!

To end the term, we had a day of Christmas fun making Christmas cards, creating Christmas crafts, watching Christmas films and decorating our cupcakes (which we got to eat during the film!). The children have been truly amazing this term, they deserved the treat! 

Cadbury World!

Today, we finalised our 'Amazing Americas' topic at Cadbury world for our fantastic finale! The children got to ride the Cadbury roller coaster, temper chocolate, create chocolate writing and taste their own creations. They also added to their knowledge of the ancient Maya in the educational talk, where the speaker was very impressed with their knowledge and engagement. Lots of Cadbury staff were very complimentary of their fantastic manners too!

Building Bridges

For this term's DT project, we have been building bridges! We learnt all about the different types of bridges and their uses, alongside some famous bridges in the Americas to tie it into our theme. The children have tested maximum load on different arches and beams and recorded results, created suspension bridges to test tension and have developed ideas for a final prototype bridge. Once they built their final bridge, we looked at analysis and evaluation skills and what they might improve or keep the same next time. They did very well in this project and used their teamworking skills exceptionally!

Keeping Safe Online

The children have been looking at the topic Online Safety in Computing last term, so in their final lesson they created an information poster detailing everything they know about keeping safe online. They certainly have lots of ideas about SMART online behaviour and are using great key vocabulary to explain this! 

Pok-a-tok

We introduced our sub-topic within 'Amazing Americas' with a sparkly start. For this, we played Pok-a-tok, an Ancient Mayan game used to settle disputes and avoid wars. The losing team's captain would be sacrificed to the Mayan gods, but luckily no children were sacrificed today! The children had to score points and pass the ball without using their hands, feet or head, and they soon realised how hard it was to get it through the hoop.

Year 5's Budding Artists!

We finalised our Frida Kahlo style self-portraits today. The children used similar techniques to Kahlo through oil pastels, outlines and stand out features.

Livin' on a Prayer

This half term, the we have been learning the song Livin' on a Prayer. This week, the children have used glockenspiels to perform it too! After a few tries, they managed to play the right notes with the correct timings, in order to stay in sync as a class.

The Tallest Tower

In PSHE, we looked at teamwork skills. To do this, we split into 6 teams and were challenged to build the tallest tower. The first time around there were no rules, but the second time we designated builders, creators and time keepers. We soon realised how much more effective it was to have rules and instructions! The children then came up with their 6 golden rules for teamwork, based on this activity.

Human or Physical?

We have been creating information posters about the human and physical features seen in North and South America. The children used their research skills and took to the iPads to discover more about their chosen features. They came back together to share their findings with the class, so that everybody had a rounded knowledge of the different features.

Forest Fun!

The children had a fantastic time playing in the dens, the mud kitchen and stretching their imaginations at forest school today. They certainly thrive outdoors - their teamwork skills and class bond really shone!

Negative Numbers

In maths, we are looking at number and place value. This week we have been exploring negative numbers, and decided to take our learning outdoors! We completed three activities to help us better our understanding of negative numbers by drawing big number lines in chalk. 

Plant Dissection

In science, we are looking at plants and their functions. To relate our learning so far to real life, we dissected a real plant and organised it into parts on sugar paper. The children worked as a team of mini scientists to discover the parts of the lily, and created some super work. 

American Facts

We went on a scavenger hunt around our classroom and corridor to discover facts about the USA. Some pairs found all 30! These facts helped us discover more about the physical and human geography in the United States.

Sparkly Start!

To introduce our topic this term, we went on a scavenger hunt for facts! There were 12 fact files to find, and the children had to use these to fill in their passports to gain a stamp. Information included capital cities, population, location and interesting facts. We worked out the link between the countries to introduce our new topic…

AMAZING  AMERICAS

A letter to our future selves...

We took some time in week 1 to think about our goals for this year, ranging from AR scores, cricket skills and horse jumping! The children have written a letter to their future selves, stating their goals and how they are going to reach them this year. Additionally, they have included what they are up to now, their feelings, thoughts, and a photo for comparison next year! The letters have been sealed ready to read in 2022. Hopefully those goals will be hit!