Year 5

Summer Term 2

Circle of Life

Our topic in Summer Term 2 is the ‘Circle of life’. This will be a science focus where we will learn about life cycles. Our exciting trip to Tropical World will include workshops linked to this science focus. We will also have SRE lessons learning about the life cycle of humans. In  Computing we will be using the program Sketchup to pretend we are architects and design our own outdoor virtual space

'I loved the meerkats, I couldn't believe how cute they were!' - Jack

'Learning about the animals was so interesting' - Lily

'The moment i heard we were going to Tropical World I thought to myself, this is going to be epic, I as so right!' - Eleanor

'Tropical World was awesome and it was like being in the Rainforest' -Bethany

' My favourite trip has been to Tropical World because we got to see different animals and find animals outside ourselves, even in the rain!' - Hollie M

'I have enjoyed the Tropical World trip because we got to see snakes, spiders and fish' - Kyle

Summer Term 1

Brazil, Go Nuts!

After an exciting topic launch, we are thoroughly enjoying our new topic on Brazil. Within our geography work we will continue to use our mapping skills to locate South American countries (focusing on Brazil), the equator and discuss climate zones, as well as the biomes in Brazil. We will be looking at the Amazon Rainforest - finding out about the different habitats – and discussing the impact of deforestation. We will also compare the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Leeds. In Our Samba workshop we will get into the spirit of the Brazilian Carnival, learning how to play and dance in a Brazilian style. In DT, we will be using our sewing skills to make carnival masks… it’s going to be lots of fun.

'The samba workshop was really enjoyable' - Bethany

'I enjoyed making the Brazilian masks because we got to do some sewing' - MG

Spring Term 2

Anglo-Saxons

During the second half term, our work was based around a history theme - Britain’s settlements of the Anglo-Saxons and Scots. We have focused on Sutton Hoo and have used what we have learnt to write newspaper reports based on this discovery.

The topic also included an exciting trip to Dunston’s Hall, where we learnt about life and much more about the Anglo-Saxons (see our fantastic photographs below). We made Anglo- Saxon bread and also dressed up for the day to really get a feel for life in this era.

Within our science work we have continued to learn about properties and changes of materials. During the whole term, we have really been trying to develop our group working skills during our PSHE and RE work.

DUNSTAN'S HALL TRIP

We had a fantastic trip to Dunstan's Hall at Temple Newsham. We spent the day becoming newly arrived Anglo-Saxons to Dunstan's Hall. We dressed up and really embraced the day of re-enactment. The day included learning about Anglo-Saxon society, bread making and learning about the Battle of Winwaed, fought just two miles away from Dunstan's Hall. We even used swords (wooden!) and shields to practice for battle. At the end of the day, we learnt about the tale of Beowulf and Grendel. It was a fabulous day... and we were very glad that the sun was shining.

 'I enjoyed the trip because thankfully we didn't meet the real Anglo-Saxons!' - Spencer was very relieved.

'I enjoyed the trip because we learnt some Anglo-Saxons numbers too'  - Nikita.

'I loved making the bread on our Anglo-Saxon trip because it made me imagine how life would be as an Anglo-Saxon '' - Eleanor.

'I enjoyed making the bread because we learnt how to grind the wheat, add certain ingredients and how to bake the bread' - Hollie

'We learnt how to fight our enemies, I really enjoyed this' - Jack

'I enjoyed the trip because it gave me an experience of how Anglo-Saxons lived, it was a blast from the past!' - Alfie

'I loved the trip because we got dressed up to be an Anglo-Saxon' Lily.

Science

Year 5 were given the challenge of separating a range of dry materials including sugar, rice, paper clips, dried peas and sand. The only equipment they were given were drawing pins, paper plates, gauze, magnets and spoons. They did incredibly well and didn't make too much mess!

'I enjoyed our science because we had to work as a team and it was really hard to separate the ingredients' - Charlotte

'The science has been great fun...'  - Lucy

'In science I like taking part in the experiments...' - David.

'I have now learnt how to fix my bike all by myself after doing the Bike Fix workshop' - Lucas.

'I enjoyed the Bikeability training because we got to learn about being safe whilst riding on the road' - Dominic

'I enjoyed the Bikeability training because I loved riding on the roads and signalling with my hands' - FInlay

Spring Term 1

Our Powerful Planet – Earthquakes

After an exciting start to the new term, where we have looked at volcanoes, flooding, mountains and earthquakes during Our Powerful Planet project, Year 5 will be continuing to learn about earthquakes in more detail across the curriculum areas and largely focusing on geography.

To Infinity and Beyond! - Autumn 2

During the second half of the Autumn term, we will focus on finding out about the Earth, the Sun and the Moon in our science based topic ‘To infinity and beyond!’ Here, we will learn about our solar system and the conditions on other planets. We will rise to the challenge of designing and making our very own battery powered lunar buggies in D.T. In Computing, we will be developing our own games; again, linking this to our space theme. In music, we will be studying the orchestral suite The Planets by Holst.

Here's what the pupils thought of the activity:

"I enjoyed the feel of sticking gooey paper onto the balloon to make the planets."   

"It was messy and great fun to work with my friends. We made Jupiter which is one of the biggest planets."    

The Groovy Greeks - Autumn 1

Our first topic in the Autumn term was ‘Groovy Greeks’ where we found out about life in

Ancient Greece. This topic began with a very exciting Ancient Greek murder mystery to solve

– there were a lot of tricky clues to solve!

In History children looked at everyday life; they researched who the gods were that the Greeks used to worship, Greek architecture, the theatre and the Arts, and the Olympics. We closely linked this topic to our lessons in English, DT and Music. In Computing we learnt how to use Inkscape to explore geometric art, taking inspiration from Escher and Riley. In Science we learnt all about forces. DT involved celebrating Greek Food. We researched, taste tested and then made our very own Greek food. It was all a lot of fun!

It was fun when we got to go in the hall to drop our parachutes off the big benches - Lewis

I enjoyed performing the plays. It was fun to perform it with people that we wouldn't normally work in a group with - Edie

I really enjoyed doing the Greek plays because I got to be the part of the Minotaur - David

I enjoyed the Greek plays because we could use our imaginations and be creative - Millie

...when I was practicing my play whenever Maddie did her line I had to pull a sad face! - Yasmine

I enjoyed our science topic this half term because we learnt about forces - Spencer P

We all investigated friction on different surfaces such as carpet, laminate flooring and gravel, using a toy car - Madison M

I enjoyed it when the firemen came in to talk to us about being safe near fire because I learnt something new - Lucy

My favourite thing I did this term in year 5 was the fire safety talk because I would like to be a fireman one day - Matthew