Out of this world!

To kick start our new science topic on space, Year 5 visited the National Space Centre in Leicester. The children had an absolute blast! They fully immersed themselves in all of the weird and wonderful things that can be found in space. They enjoyed watching the live and explosive “It Is Rocket Science ” show, where we investigated the fiery power of rocket fuel and the explosive nature of forces and much, much more!

The children thoroughly enjoyed travelling up the rocket tower and engaging with all the exciting exhibits. Perhaps the most exciting part of our trip was the Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium show. The children sat beautifully in the comfortable reclining seats, as they were transported through time and space. They were taken on a journey through the solar system, where they learnt fascinating facts about the planets, and then took part in an interactive quiz from their seats- what a treat!

Our new geography unit this term is called ‘Passport to the World’. Within this unit, we will ‘visit’ continents, countries and oceans and learn lots of interesting facts about them.  So far, the children have enjoyed increasing their knowledge about continents, oceans and have learnt a wide range of new vocabulary and their definitions. Take a look at the mini glossaries the children produced below:

The children have also been looking at a range of maps to develop their maps reading skills. We focused on ordnance survey maps and created stories using the various symbols to help us to embed our learning. Take a look:

Year 5 have absolutely loved playing Globle everyday to compliment their learning about the countries in the world! Why not have a go at guessing the mystery country with your child at home? https://globle-game.com/

English

In English, children are studying a meeting tale called ‘This Morning I Met a Whale.’ It is about a young boy named Michael who meets a whale by the River Thames.  This is a great tale as it provides children with the opportunity to learn about current issues around the world including ocean pollution, deforestation, extreme weather patterns, poaching etc. We began by looking at some of the animals that are at threat of extinction and the different causes. The children produced some fantastic art work to show the before and after scenes and have written messages from the animal’s perspective. Within this unit, children have also learned a number of skills needed to produce a meeting tale and recapped grammar tools to make their writing more sophisticated. Over the next few weeks, children will begin the process of planning and writing their own meeting tales to share an important message. Have a look at some of the fantastic work below.

It has been yet another jam-packed half term so far in Year 5. The children have continued to work hard and their behaviour and attitude for learning has never been better. We are so proud! Let’s have a look at some of the exciting things we have been getting up too.

Art – The Monarchy

As part of our topic on The Monarchy, we have really been immersing ourselves in Tudor art. To say the children have been enjoying this unit, is an understatement. Nothing makes us more fulfilled then receiving the positive and excited feedback from children as well as parents, so thank you! What has truly astounded us, as a team, is the sheer number of budding artists we have in our year group. As well as technical art skills this unit has taught children the values of determination, perseverance and patience.

We kick started our learning journey by researching, exploring and discussing Tudor art. We then learnt about colour theory including how to make secondary and tertiary colours from primary colours. We explored patterns and texture in Tudor clothing and then practised our sketching skills, using a range of techniques. We used a range of paints to create accurate and realistic skin tones. This was then followed by sketching in proportion- this was challenging but we got there in the end! Finally, we put all of these new skills together to create a self-portrait in the style of a Tudor monarch.

It has been so rewarding to watch the children flourish in this subject, but even more rewarding for the children to see their progression.

World Book Day

This year’s World Book Day was absolutely amazing! The team were blown away by the sheer amount of effort the children had put in their costumes. From Gangsta Grannies, to Thing 1 and 2; From Rapunzels to Beowulfs; From Wednesday Adams to Mary Poppins; Not to mention the Gryffindor House! The list was endless!

The children took part in a range of activities including: origami bookmarks, Draw with Rob and orienteering. We also split our classes and buddied up with the Year 1s. We made comic strips, re-enacted scenes from our favourite picture books and even had a delicious Booknic! What a treat it was! We ended the week with an off the scale fashion show where the children showcased their costumes and their OUT OF THIS WORLD dance moves. It truly was so much fun. Thank you to all the parents who attended, you made it all the more enjoyable! A HUGE well done to the winners of the costume contest: Taylor (Beech) as Gangsta Granny, Sam (Linden) as George from George’s Marvellous Medicine and Sienna (Hawthorn) as Willa from Zombies 2. Well done to everyone who got involved!

Maths- Fractions

The children have been working exceptionally hard in maths this term. We have been learning about fractions- a concept that is not typically the easiest to grasp at first. We started by revising equivalent fractions and fractions greater than 1. We moved onto improper and mixed fractions, as well as comparing and ordering fractions. The children have been working on adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions too. There is a great deal of coverage, but they are showing an equally great deal of resilience to work through the challenges.

English

We finished our unit on action and have now been learning about Characterisation. This was where the writer develops and builds a character through the clues in their behaviour, appearance and traits (to list a few.) The children have been looking at a range of different texts to help build their knowledge and vocabulary bank. They have completed some excellent short bursts of writing where they have described and developed a character and practised some of the skills from our lessons.

A huge well done to everyone and their efforts. There is so much to look forward to this term and into summer 1- including our very exciting and much anticipated trip to the National Space Centre! We hope you are as excited as we are 😊

Hello and welcome to our first blog of the school year!

Linden, Hawthorn and Beech class have all made an absolutely brilliant start to the year! All of the teachers are very proud of the children and the great learning which has taken place already. Please do enjoy reading about a few of our highlights below.

PSHE- Building Resilience

For the first two weeks of the Autumn term, we focused our afternoon lessons on the theme of resilience. The aim of these lessons is to develop the children’s growth mindset towards their learning. The children discussed strategies to help them cope with difficult situations and using their favourite ideas, they created a resilience wheel. We also learnt about how to build resilience when faced with challenges. The Learning Pit teaches us that we have to fail in order to eventually succeed. The children had fun creating their own learning pits. We also looked at diversity and its importance in our community. The children created some beautiful posters to celebrate diversity.

English- Poetry and Spook-tacular Stories!

In English, we have been writing our own poems based on The River by Pie Corbett. The children included various poetic features including alliteration and similes and their amazing work was even commented on by Pie Corbett on Twitter!

@WigmorePrimary tremendous word play – like a sarcastic clown…. https://t.co/WE9FukKD01

— Pie Corbett (@PieCorbett) September 22, 2022

We then went onto writing the opening and build up of own suspense stories. It’s been great fun learning about ways to engage the reader and how to build tension and suspense into our writing. We learnt that writers can weave in rhetorical questions, short sentences, clues to tantalise the reader, onomatopoeia, similes, metaphors and personification. The children have worked incredibly hard to include these in their independent writing, why not ask your child about which features they have included in their work this week.

Topic- Tomb Raiders!

The children have enjoyed learning about Ancient Egypt through a variety of cross-curricular activities. They first went on an exciting scavenger hunt around the school to find the definitions of key words such as archeologist, tomb and sphinx. We have also explored key physical features and locations in Ancient Egypt by studying several maps and artefacts. The children thoroughly enjoyed drawing their own cartouches to demonstrate their understanding of hieroglyphics too. Take a look at some of the fantastic work below!

Science- May the Force Be With You!

This half term we have been developing our understanding about forces. We have revisited, as well as learnt some new, key vocabulary and tried to remember the different types of forces around us. We discussed the terms “balanced” and “unbalanced” forces and used everyday objects to demonstrate this new concept. We learnt about Sir Isaac Newton and how he developed his theory of gravity. Following this, we explored the effect of gravity with objects in the classroom. We identified the difference between Mass and Weight and used Newton meters to find a correlation between the two. We then moved onto learning about Galileo and his discovery that gravity causes objects of the SAME size and SHAPE, regardless of their MASS to fall at the same rate.

This week we will be investigating the effects of air resistance by making parachutes of varied sizes, shapes and materials and testing how quickly (or slowly!) they fall to the ground.

Finally, we are very much looking forward to seeing you all at Parents’ Evening next Tuesday and Wednesday. As ever, thank you for all your support and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask your child’s class teacher.

The Year 5 Team 🙂

Welcome back to our final half term in Year 3! There has been so much exciting learning going on, and, as always, the children have impressed us with their enthusiasm and willingness to embrace new challenges.

In our English lessons, we have enjoyed twisting the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the classes have loved retelling the story from the point of view of the cunning wolf. We have had a big push on how to engage the reader by using a range of figurative language including similes, metaphors and personification. Year 3 have also begun to develop their understanding of how to use a technique called ‘show not tell’ which forces the reader to delve deeper and explore how a character is feeling by reading their body language. Have a read of some of the fantastic sentences the children came up with in Maple Class:

Brodie’s storyCarina’s storyJannah’s story

Computing

Year 3 have really been enjoying their lessons all about emailing. We have been using Purple Mash to teach them how to send and reply to emails. They now know how to stay safe when sending emails. They should remember:

• Never open emails from people you don’t know
• Always screenshot and report any emails that make you worried
• Not to share passwords

Here is an example of an email that they have recieved. Could you ask your child how they would respond to this?

Science

This half term we are continuing to find out all about plants. The children have found out about the process of pollination and how seeds are formed. They have dissected the flowers looking for different parts of the plant that are involved in the pollination process and we have learnt a song about how bees pollinate flowers.

We have also discussed how plants grow and the conditions that they need to grow in. We are conducting an experiment to help prove that with soil, sunlight and water the plants will thrive. However, the teachers plants in year three, are not receiving the same care as the children’s plants. They are being fed coffee, living in the cupboard and one has even made it to the fridge! Ask your children which plants they think will grow and why.