Year 5 – Museum visit! 25.05.22
Year 5 had a great trip to Torquay Museum yesterday celebrating all the learning they have done about the Ancient Egyptians. There were plenty of activities for everyone to get stuck into including: making clay Scarab Beetles, playing Ancient Egyptian games, writing Hieroglyphics, building pyramids and making masks. We were also lucky enough to see an actual mummy embalmed and wrapped in the precious stone Turquoise, this is one of only 4 mummies in the UK! A great day was had by all and we’d like to say a massive thank you to Torquay Museum for a fun, knowledge filled day.
Year 5 were surprised to find posters up around the classroom advertising for explorers. The children were able to infer from the advertisement that the expedition would take place in the artic and had to work together to brainstorm the skills the would need for the journey. In groups the children had to explain why their skills and experience would make them the best team to conquer the arctic. Today the pupils built on this immersion by finding out more about Shackleton and his preparations.
Monkey Puzzle had a great day today creating lots of Egyptian artwork for our Hook!
We sketched and designed Tomb Artefacts, wrote our own Hieroglyphics in charcoal or ink in Egyptian symbols, created our own Nemes (Egyptian headwear), made our own Amulets and wrote Transformation Spells.
A great day was had by everyone, the creativity that Monkey shoed today was excellent and I’m sure you’ll agree from the photographs that they have done really well.
To begin our learning journey, Sow, Grow and Farm, year 5 have planned and created their own allotments. They had to think about what would be in an allotment, as well as suitable layouts. Some decided to include sheds for storage, ponds for habitats to thrive as well as dividing up their space for vegetables including carrots, cabbages and apple trees. I think some chickens even appeared on one! We have had a great time and there are some really fantastic ones to see!
As one of our world book week activities year 5 have been learning about the importance of illustrations within books and how illustrators work alongside authors. The children had to follow drawing tutorials and apply our resilience learning value when things weren’t going their way. I think you’ll agree there are some fantastic artists among us.
In year 5 we have been watching a short film called Paraphernalia. The film is animated with no dialogue, only music. At first, we just listened and made predictions about what the film was about before seeing the animation. Now we have watched the film quite a few times and focussed on grammar elements such as relative pronouns, relative clauses and present tense, we have begun planning our narrative to go with the film. We will then send them to the film director Sabrina Cotugno.
Today we have been looking at our opening, build up, climax and ending focussing on introducing the characters, dialogue to show feeling, reactions and thinking about how the setting would sound, look and smell.
Tomorrow we will be up-levelling our plans with our purple pens as the monitoring and evaluating part of our metacognition cycle ensuing we have included all the necessary grammar elements from our success criteria.
Today year 5 started a science investigation to explore if reaction times change as we age. By making card rulers children were able to measure their own reaction distance and understand how to test others reactions. We did this by holding the ruler while another person aimed to catch it, we then measured the distance they were able to catch it at. Due to Covid restrictions we could not test adults of different ages around school so the children have been asked to perform the experiment on a carer or family member at home.
The children were able to write a hypothesis, predicting whether age would affect reaction times. Many of the children thought that as you get older your reaction time might be slower. However we also had a discussion about whether a child might be faster to catch the ruler than a toddler. Some children thought that ‘older people will be quicker because they have done it before’ and some thought that ‘good hand eye coordination’ might mean that younger people will be faster.
Later in the week pupils will present their findings on a line graph so we can find out how our reactions change as we age.
Today Year 5 have been looking at different types of clocks and clock faces in our Time Traveller Learning Journey. We looked at how Salvador Dali used clock imagery in his art work and then designed original artwork pieces of our own . Some children needed a lot of resilience to complete this task but I think you’ll agree the final pieces are great and so imaginative.
Today in Spanish year 5 were using online dictionaries to look up the meanings of adjectives that described someone’s personality.
The were also able to answer the register in Spanish and tell Miss Collier how they were feeling.
Spanish lessons use a lot of resilience as some of us find it really challenging but everyone is working hard and improving on what we’re learning.
Today Year 5 took part in a Greek style ‘Olympic Games’. They enjoyed competing in activities such as:
- running races
- shot put
- javalin
- discus
- hammer throw
- long jump
- horse and chariot races
Great fun was had by everyone – even when it poured with rain! It was the perfect way to end our learning journey. Everyone had to demonstrate collaboration in their team spirits, resilience when they came across activities they hadn’t done before and empathy when some of their team became injured participants.
We would like to say a huge thank you to MR Baxter for running todays events.
Year 5 were able to determine what healthy and unhealthy friendship cakes were today in PSHE. One the recipes we came up with was:
First, mix together helping, caring and respect,
Next, sprinkle on some kindness and trust,
Lastly, cover you cake in laughter as icing.
As part of our PE sessions in Year 5 we have been studying yoga and looking at how it helps us. Yoga is excellent for getting us back into the green zone, filling our muscles with oxygen so we’re ready and energised for learning and providing a sense of zen.
We start with a warm up, then move onto the relaxation pose where we do deep breathing and imagine ourselves in our happy places. This is a great opportunity for reflection. We then work through a series of poses, stretching our muscles and allowing our bodies to feel free.
This week Year 5 took a chapter of our class book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time, and had to take on the role of a character. They had to delve deep into their characters thoughts and feelings noticing their personality and their state of mind.
After their role play the children then had to create a freeze frame. Every child had to be tracking their characters thoughts because if they were tapped on the shoulder they had to speak as their character and hold improvisation dialogues with their characters.
All of year 5 were highly collaborative during this lesson, really showing support for one another, it also showed how they deeply understand the text we are currently reading.
Monkey Puzzle got the chance to enjoy the sunshine with a PE session focussing on collaboration and resilience by Mr Baxter. They had to work together to avoid shark infested waters, go around the world and dodge the flying balls. A lot of fun was had by all and they all looked pretty exhausted when they came in. It was a lovely way to kick off PE in Year 5!
Palm Class enjoyed an afternoon creating paintings of waves and coastlines in line with our current learning journey. They thought about colours that would blend together, brush strokes, texture and abstract art. The children were reminded about Austin’s Butterfly and had to think about how they could improve each attempt. The children used watercolours and they had to work out how to deepen and lighten each colour.
Today as the hook to our new learning journey Palm Class were composers of their own sea shanties. They listened to really old fashioned, original sea shanties and then we thought of TV theme tunes that were based around sea shanties – we came up with Sponge Bob Square Pants. We then listened to the Sea Shanty that has made it into the charts recently and put clapping, drumming and bells to create different rhythms. As a final activity we played the remix version and we tried to clap along quickly which was difficult because it was so fast! Safe to say it was a loud but enjoyable afternoon.
Today Palm celebrated finishing their learning journey, The Scented Garden. We used our knowledge of metacognition to plan how we should approach making a garden on a paper plate, by drawing out our design. We then monitored our design as we went through making changes as and when we needed to. We used materials such as tissue paper, lolly sticks, tin foil, felt, cotton wool, buttons and much more. Finally, we were able to evaluate our designs and explain the strategies we’d used and whether we would do anything differently next time.
Palm Class created some fantastic gardens and were really proud of themselves. This has been a brilliant learning journey and loved by all.
Have a lovely half term everyone!
This afternoon Palm learnt how to create collages out of a variety of paper. They had to think about how they drew their flower, as to start with many drew it too small and then realised that it would be difficult to fill with pieces of paper. They then had to think again and improve their drawing. All of Palm Class had to apply metacognition to their way of thinking to design their floral collage. We haven’t quite finished yet but we hope to complete them on Monday.
We used tissue paper, newspaper, card, magazines craft paper and more. Here is some of our work.
Palm Class were learning all about the parts of a plant yesterday. What better way to learn than taking apart the plants themselves and investigating what they can see under a microscope. Palm Class were amazed at what plants and flowers looked like under the microscope and how different types of flowers varied. The children were fantastic investigators and showcased some excellent scientific discoveries.
Our new learning journey is called ‘The Scented Garden’ and today we went on a walk around the school to discover what flowers we ready have growing in school. We found daffodils, daisies and buttercups but we couldn’t find geraniums or hydrangeas. We had a conversation about why this would be. It was so lovely to be in the sunshine and we now can’t wait to create our very own garden centre later this week.
Palm Class have been working hard this term learning all about different types of music from opera to body percussion. They have been thinking about different instruments and how alternative pieces types of music make them feel.
Today they finished journaling all their work and worked hard to create their own journey through their SOLE book to showcase their learning.
Palm Class took part in a ‘guess the sound quiz’ where they had to write down what they thought each sound they heard was.
They then had to decide whether the sounds were easy or hard to identify. It was a fun SOLE activity and got them to listen very carefully to the things around them.
We found the easiest sounds to identify were the dog barking and the bird tweeting. The hardest sound so to identify was toast popping out of the toaster.
Palm Class have spent all week learning about 3D shapes. They have learnt about cubes, cuboids, cylinders and spheres.
Today we had some fun creating cubes, cuboids and pyramids out of spaghetti and marshmellows. Palm Class made some excellent creations and we were really proud of themselves.
For one of our activities in science week Year 2 have been having discussions about the odd ones out!
They had to look at the 3 images and discuss as many similarities and differences as they could. They thought about:
- appearance
- what they do
- where they might be found
Then, as a class we decided which one is the odd one out and why. The class thought about justifying all of their answers … there was no wrong answer! Palm class then had a go at creating their own.
For their final home-schooling SOLE project Year 2 had to make a rubber band guitar from recycled packaging and elastic bands. Old cereal boxes, yoghurt pots, plastic ice cream tubs and tin cans all made interesting instruments.
The children had to choose recycled materials independently, considering which they think would make an effective sound when the rubber bands were plucked.
This was their task:
- Choose materials
- Think about how the sounds were made
- Write their predication
- Draw a design of the guitar
- Make the guitar
- Play it and experiment with different sound
- Think about whether their prediction was correct?
- Decorate their guitar (paint, stickers, glitter etc)
- Have some fun with their new instrument.
Here are a few examples of what they came up with:
Year 2 have been having some fun on zoom today as it is World book Day. They listened to Miss Franks’ favourite story and they all shared their thoughts about their favourite story. Some dressed up and others re-designed book covers of their favourite books or even created their own.
They also had fun completing word-searches about Harry Potter and Roald Dahl as well as writing book reviews.
Well Done Year 2!!!
Year 2 have been investigating how the level of water in a glass bottle or jar affects the sound made when either tapping the glass with a pencil, blowing across the top of the bottle or running a wet finger around the rim.
They have been making predictions about how they think the water will effect the sound and finding out how full the bottle or jar must be to make a high-pitched sound or a low-pitched sound.
Here are some photographs of some of their experiments as well as their findings.
Here comes the Year 2 and the marching band. Left, right, left, right. Step in time to the beat: 1, 2, 3, 4; let’s make sounds, high and low. That sound is loud. That one’s quiet. What can you hear? There are sounds all around. What’s making each one? These are all questions that Year 2 have been finding out this week as part of their beat, band, boogie learning journey.
Here are a collection of photos showing the kitchen bands they have created and different sounds they have been able to create whilst out and about!
Year 2 have spent the week planning, designing and creating their own Castles, Palaces and Games to complete our Magnificent Monarchs learning journey. They were given free reign and I have to say their imagination and creativity has been inspiring.
Please have a look below at some of their creations.
Games:
Castles and Palaces:
Well done year 2 for everything you have achieved this half term, we are all really proud of you!!!
Have a lovely half term and we’ll see you in a week.
This week as part of their SOLE activities Year 2 had to pick their favourite Monarch that they have been learning about this half term and create a model of them. Their brief was to have a look and see what they had around the house and be creative. Here are some of the Magnificent Monarchs that have been made:
As part of their Literacy leanring this week Year 2 have been learning how to write a set of instructions. They are only 3 lessons in but they have already mastered how to write, memorise, recall and act a set of instructions. They have stared off with making magic hats. Here are some of their creations.
Jude has also been really busy nurturing his seeds. I have been informed his cress is doing really well.
Palm class had fun with glitter today. We did an experiment using glitter as germs to see how easily and quickly germs spread.
One person in the group had glitter on their hands. Everyone then did activities such as colouring and clapping and then we had a look to see how the glitter had spread.
We found that germs spread quickly spread between all the children, over the floor and onto what we were using. Glitter even ended up on our soap dispenser!
Great fun was had by everyone and the classroom is looking very sparkly!
Palm Class were very lucky today to have an Orienteering session this afternoon on the field. They have to work as a pair to find animals at the points located on their map. They did really well with this and all the adults were really impressed, even if their feet got a bit soggy!
As part of out PSHE learning Palm class have been thinking about who the special people in their lives are. We have spoken about why they think these people are special to them and how they influence their lives.
They have created posters about their special people, this was an activity that they really enjoyed!
Palm class have been looking at how to write Biographies. Yesterday they looked at the Biography of the famous author Roald Dahl and today they had a go at writing their own biographies on Walt Disney. Over the next few weeks we will be working hard on learning about all the features found in biographies and about Rosa Parks, the significant person that we will be studying in order to write a biography about her in a few weeks.
Today Palm class had a lovely afternoon painting woodland animals in SOLE for their Enchanted Woodland Learning Journey.
They had to use primary colours, plus black and white, and mix them to create all the colours they needed for their pictures.
We most definitely have some future artists among us!
Palm Class became woodland animals today by participating in Role Play. They paired up and labelled themselves A and B. One asked a series of questions beginning who, when, what, when, why and how and the other person answered as their chosen animal. Things became very active and it was a great show of collaboration between everyone.
Palm class have worked super hard to day writing reflections about their leanring journey ‘Wriggle and Crawl’. With the leanring journey coming to an end it was important for them to reflect upon what they have learnt and what learning values they have used during this half term. When they finished they carefully created ‘journeys of mini-beasts’ through their SOLE book.
Palm class have been working hard to edit and up-level their Big Writes – All about bees. The have been checking through their work with their purple pen to make sure that they have remembered capital letters, full stops and question marks. Then, they chose a section of their big write that they felt they could make better. They re-drafted it up-leveling their work as they went. To do this they looked at adding adjectives, conjunctions and working on their presentation.
Palm Class have been working hard learning the meaning of lots of new words in their current Mini beasts Learning Journey. In Literacy they have been challenged to use words such as nectar, pollinate, hive and Mason Bee to up-level their writing.
TO test their knowledge we all enjoyed a game of BINGO! The definition of the work was read to them and if they thought they had the word on their Bingo sheet they covered it up until they had a full house.
Great fun was had by all.
Today Palm Class started their new learning journey, Wriggle and Crawl. Our first job was to research what a mini beast was and then go on a hunt around the school to see what we could find. Palm Class were excellent detectives and found a variety of mini beasts from wasps to dragonflys and beetles to lady birds.
Today Maples had a very exciting morning! They had a chance to visit our school pond. The pond didn’t have much water in today so we had to dig deep to see what we could find. To stop us from falling in we lay on our tummies and learnt the ‘safe stance’
We found: tadpoles, froglets, worms, water snails and newts.
When it wasn’t their turn to go pond dipping we used equipment to find mini beasts! They also identified each mini beast using a leaflet.
Some even found time to have a little skip around in the sunshine!
Maples have been working really hard this week. There is a lot of excitement with the up and coming Summer Holidays so we have been listening to calming music whilst we have been working as it help us keep on track.
In maths we have been working really hard on finding the difference. All the children have been using their number lines and hundred squares to help them. They have also become really good at drawing images to help them as well.
In Literacy we have continued to work hard on our sentence structure. This week we have been looking at nouns and verbs and how we can identify them. We have also been including adjectives in our writing to make it more exciting.
We still have lots of smiling faces though!
Maples have been very in school this week.
In Literacy they have been working hard on adding conjunctions to sentences to up-level them. They have also been looking at sentences that have no spaces in them, the children have had to identify where the words start and end to make the sentence make sense – this has made them realise how important finger spaces are! We have also started looking at verbs and nouns and how to identify them in a sentence.
We have been working hard on reading this week as well, we have looked at reading comprehensions about The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, The Gingerbread Man and The Rainforest.
Every morning the children have been practising their handwriting, they have been really concentrating on their letter formation.
In maths they have been focussing on bar models and learning our number bonds to 20. They have also been identifying the variety of number sentences that go with each bar model! Some have been rather challenging! They have been using number lines and 100 squares to help them.
Then of course we also leave time for a little bit of fun! Collecting Crickets is still a favourite pass time but this week paper aeroplanes have also been a firm favourite.
Maples have been really busy in school this week working really hard and having fun.
In maths they have been learning all about place value and drawing pictorial representations of number to help them They have also been practising counting in 2s, 5s and 10s through songs and dances.
They have also been busy making sure that in Literacy all their sentences are punctuated correctly, finger spaces are being used and they are using their neatest handwriting. Some have even been using conjunctions to joining two clauses.
We have also made sure that we have enjoyed using the field in the sunshine. They have collected lots of crickets – some of which seemed to make it back into the classroom!!!!!
Maples have been very busy in class this week.
They have been busy in SOLE leanring about the Victorians. They have been completing cutting and sticking tasks, true and false tasks as well as researching their own facts to find out the difference between schools then and now.
The children have also been working hard at learning to count in 2s, 5s and 10s using songs (and silly dances) as well as focussing on partitioning numbers into tens and ones. Today they also challenged themselves to write number sentences to match.
In Literacy we have been concentrating on Victorians as well. Today the children discussed everything they’ve learnt and created ‘Did you know’ statements. They spoke about strict teachers, the cane, and the Dunces hat!
Maple have been working really hard this week and having lots of fun.
In phonics they have been working hard on their tricky words and various different sounds. The children really enjoyed finding words in a word search with the a_e split digraph in.
Aria up-levelled her sentence using the word before and also adding in an apostrophe for it’s without any help!
In maths we have been leanring about position and direction. Today we have been focussing on learning about our left and right, we listened to some songs and did some silly dancing.
We are missing the sunshine but are making the most of the fresh air and still making sure we are having fun!
Maple class have been very busy in school this week leanring about their school day and how it differs from Victorian times.
In Literacy they wrote about their school day.
In SOLE they have been seeing what it would be like to be a child in a Victorian school. They have been practising the ‘3 R’s” – wRiting, Reading and aRithmetic. Writing on blackboards and chanting their times tables were firm favourites. Some of them even got sent to the corner when they made mistakes!
In maths they have been leanring about halves and quarters. Today we experimented out on the playground turning by a half and then by a quarter. We draw circles in chalk to help us!
We have also had fun in the classroom dancing to our favourite songs.
We have had a great first week back in school in Maple class and we are leaving today with big smiles on our faces. We are all in GREEN ZONE because it is the weekend!!
We made posters to show the different emotions of each zone, a fabulous hay den was built at break time and lunch time on the field and then we ended the day with a bit of rainbow colouring.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Our little Maples have settled back into school really well and have been working really hard as well as having fun.
They have been trying really hard with learning how to cut shapes into halves and quarters as well as how to share in quarters as well. Sometimes they have had to find the whole and other times they have to find a quarter.
They have also been leanring to use vocabulary such as less than, more than and exactly. Here is one of the questions we had a go at.
My little Maples have also been working really hard at recognising their feelings, learning about the Zones of Regulation. We have been identifying our feelings in each zone and thinking about examples of when we have been in those zones. Then we have talked about how to get ourselves back into the green zone. They have come up with some excellent examples.
