Welcome back to what is always a fun-filled and exciting term - Christmas is coming!

Our lessons are taught discretely, in order that the children learn the subject specific skills in each area of the curriculum, however, we are always making connections across our learning. In Science, we look forward to learning about the solar system and all the planets within it, as well as finding out - how do scientists know all of this? There will of course, be many links with our learning last term about Forces and the Space Race.  

Our English work includes biographies, and links through the renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, whose life story has much to teach us about resilience and determination. Exploring narrative through the dramatic novel War of the Worlds follows this.

In amongst all this, we have Bonfire Night, Children In Need, and of course, all the Christmas preparation - put the date of St Thomas Christmas Fair in your diary! Year 5 will also be performing a Christingle and Carol Service at St Thomas Church on 9th December, everyone is very welcome. 

Maths

Monday 1st November

In order to read timetables we need to revise how to tell the time! Children practised setting the time, using the clocks and were then able to solve problems which required moving forwards and backwards in hours and minutes.

Thursday 11th November 
Geography

We were able to use our understanding of degrees of latitude and longitude to locate capital cities. We then practised by calculating the degrees of a location and giving them to a partner to locate and check.

Science

Wednesday 17th November

We all agreed that it looks as though the sun travels across the sky, however knew this couldn’t be the case, based on our knowledge of the solar system. Using globes, torches and small Lego people, in small groups we gave scientific explanations which included the correct vocabulary. Everyone was able to clearly demonstrate how the earth’s rotation on its axis causes day and night.

Children in Need

Thursday 18th November

There was great excitement when our furry visitor arrived! It was wonderful to see Pudsey, and he joined us for a photo. We were reminded of the importance of raising money for the charity, and are looking forward to doing this on Friday.

Art

Friday 19th November

We were able to recall the information about Edgar Degas that we learned last week. We then discussed form and how to create it when using clay. The challenge was to recreate the “Little Dancer”, Degas’ famous sculpture. We improved our techniques as we worked out how to create the shape of legs, arms, head and torso.

Week commencing 22nd November

Christmas Art

Now that we know our challenge involves paper mache, in order to create beautiful baubles to go on the Year 5 hoop, we can’t wait to get started! It was harder than it looks was the feedback! We want a smooth surface (to paint on) and that was tricky when layering pieces of paper over each other. However, we persevered and now just have to wait for the masterpieces-in-the-making to dry.

Week commencing 22nd November

Christmas Art

We are so excited to be preparing our paper mache baubles ready to go on the hoops in the hall next week. After paper maching, here we are painting the base layer before adding details and patterns next week.

Tuesday 30th November 

RE
 

We continue to learn about how their holy text teaches Muslims to live their lives. The belief in charity, and the duty people have to share what they have with others who have less, stems from the understanding that Allah sees all people as equal. 

Tuesday 30th November 

PE

We are enjoying developing strength, agility and balance in our yoga lessons. It requires concentration and focus, which also builds on our understanding of mindfulness.

Thursday 2nd December

Art

Here we are practising our blending skills. We discovered that the size and type of paintbrush, the amount of paint on the brush and the pressure applied affect the way the paint blends. By the end of our session we were able to blend four shades of colour together effectively.

Thursday 2nd December

Science

We were all able to name the planets in order of distance from the sun, some use the mnemonic 

‘My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles’, which of course leaves out Pluto, as it is classed as a dwarf planet.

We loved planetary speed dating, in which we compared facts from each planet’s card with a partner, then swapped partners to learn as many facts as possible in ten minutes. We then designed posters, which included our newly learned facts about all of the planets.

Tuesday 7th December

Christingles

Every year we look forward to welcoming Trevor from the church to inspire us making Christingles. We were all able to articulate the symbolism of each part of the Christingle as we put them together. We are excited to light them all in the church when we perform tomorrow!

Wednesday 8th December

Church service

Year 5 did themselves proud with their telling of the story of both the Christingle and the Christmas story. They memorised their lines as well as several new songs. Many compliments from the congregation were received, regarding the children's beautiful singing (including acapella when the music technology let us down!). Many thanks to Miss Webster for all the voice training!

Wednesday 8th December

Christmas Art

The art work continues, we are moving on from blending colours to creating silhouettes. Parents, you do not have long to wait until you receive these masterpieces!

Friday 10th December

Pantomime 

With great excitement, everyone welcomed the pantomime characters in Puss in Boots. Children and adults joined in the fun, booing and cheering through the performance, which was highly entertaining!  

Thursday 9th December

Christmas Fair

Preparations are well underway! Fudge carefully handmade by every child in Year 5, bagged up and ready to sell at the Christmas Fair, complete with hand decorated stickers. Let's hope the effort pays off and we sell lots tonight.