Year 5 Blog
Summer 1
Aside from the fantastic residential trip to York, we have been involved in lots of great learning in school. Please take a look at the pictures below.
Our topic of the Great Plague of 1665 has led us to investigate lots of primary and secondary sources and we enjoyed handling and predicting what certain artefacts were. We headed to the playground during outdoor learning week to compare plague symptoms in Venn diagrams and we also enjoyed reciting our own plague inspired poetry in the outdoor shelter.
In DT we analysed a "doodler" to understand how it works and investigate what would happen if we changed some of the components. Using this to design our own, we then made some very successful "doodlers" that managed to create really interesting patterns.
Summer 1 - Residential
The Year 5 children had an incredible time on their residential in York this week. They showed impeccable manners and behaviour during picnics outside York Minster and in the museum gardens, and confidently navigated the busy streets of York, learning how to keep themselves safe amid the many cycle paths of the city.
They had fun exploring the wide range of displays within York Castle museum – especially learning about the previous inhabitants of the prison cells, including the infamous highwayman Richard Turpin! They explored the Mayan origins of Chocolate and showed off their creative abilities making chocolate lollies at the Chocolate Story museum.
At the Youth Hostel, they confidently adapted to the new routines and environment and showed excellent independence making their beds, getting washed and dressed and at meal times. They showed perseverance and determination in abundance during the team building activities after dinner, where they participated in the drainpipe challenge, the ski challenge and the “zip zap” game!
The staff were so proud of the children’s sensible behaviour and everyone had lots of fun! Thank you to everyone involved!
Spring 2
At the start of the half term we had a visit from Sharmen Frith (also known as Mama Shar) who brought the children some amazing Caribbean food to try including fried plantain, chicken, rice and peas. She told the children all about the Caribbean island she grew up on – Montserrat. As well as talking about life on the island, she told the children all about the history of the island, the reason they celebrate St Patrick’s day on 17th March and what happened when the volcano erupted on the island in 1997.
In Art, the children studied art by the Caribbean artist Anna Greenidge and developed their use of pastel techniques, layering and perspective to create their own version of one of her pictures.
In English, the children read Kensuke’s Kingdom and used it to create some excellent pieces of imaginative writing. Well done everyone!
Spring 1
It has been yet another busy half term in Year 5! In Science, the children have been investigating the properties of materials, using scientific vocabulary to describe the materials and testing them for permeability, solubility and magnetism - among other things. They investigated mixtures, solutions and suspensions and planned an investigation to separate mixtures, which they will carry out after the half term holidays.
In DT, the children explored mechanisms by creating fantastic interactive story books suitable for Year 1 children. All pages had to have moving parts (sliders or pivots) and the children enjoyed showing their excellent books to the children in our Year 1 classes. The children have also been investigating structures by constructing bridges. They have explored stiffening and reinforcing materials to make their bridges more sturdy and investigated which shapes made their bridges hold the most weight.
Autumn 1
Earlier this half term, we had an earthquake at Guiseley Primary school! We returned from lunch to find our classroom had been damaged by the violent shaking of the earth. The children became reporters and investigated the damage all around school, collecting information from witnesses along the way. They then wrote fantastic newspaper reports about the event.
In science, the children have been investigating forces. They explored gravity, friction, air resistance and water resistance by creating fair tests and testing whether their predictions were correct.
Autumn 1 2022
The children have had a busy half term learning about the Ancient Maya. They learned about their daily life, their cities, their religion and their food and compared it to those of the Vikings who lived concurrently in Britain. They learned about Maya inventions and innovations such as astronomy, calendars and their counting system which was the first to use "0".
During Art Week, the children compared the art styles of Dan Fenelon and Sam Cox (aka Mr Doodle). They learned about using water to make paler shades of paint and how to us contrasting colours to layer paint and create different effects. They also explored Maya-inspired patterns before creating their own versions of Dan Fenelon's artwork.
In Science, the children have learned about Earth and space including why we have night and day, why the sun appears to move in the sky and the different phases of the moon. They carried out an experiment in the playground to track the sun during the school day.
In maths, they have learned about place value up to 1 million and practised adding and subtracting using more than 4 digits. They have also been competing with the opposite class to be crowned TTRockstars of the week!
To view previous year's information and pictures, please click here.