Year 5
All Aboard!
All aboard for this term's topic: the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution!
Hop on a train and explore the great British seaside!
Marvel at all the new technology invented during this time of great pioneering industry!
Welcome to the Summer Term: Check out the Curriculum Poster (above) to find what is instore for Year 5 this term. Read our new Summer Term letter (below) for further details about daily routines and enrichment activities available for our class.
Widening Horizons Ceremony: All our children were recently presented with a certificate and beautiful book from the Millfields Inspired. This was to recognise all their efforts and the completion of the Widening Horizons project which has involved so many enriching trips and visit throughout this past year.
DT: To tie in with our ALL ABOARD industrial revolution theme, Year 5 have researched, designed and then collaboratively built bridges, inspired by the likes of Brunel and Telford. Our class were set a design brief to construct a scaled 30cm bridge, made out of limited resources that was strong enough to carry 3 toy cars. Aside from a methodical assembly detail, we were also looking at design aesthetics - something our guest judge, a local architect Sarah took into consideration.
ART: Following our sketching outside session, Year 5 begun to use their studies to inspire a repeated tile/border pattern in the style of William Morris.
ART: Taking advantage of the wonderful weather and making use of our natural resources within the school grounds, Year 5 have been out sketching plants and flowers, inspired by the work of Arts and Crafts designer William Morris. Soon our class will use these sketches to create an organic repeated design for a tile or border.
WIDENING HORIZONS: Our final enrichment trip in the world of work was to City College to experience in a workshop with Babcock. Various graduate apprentices and engineers gave our class an insight to their career path and their current and challenging job roles within Babcock. This was followed by a team based Lego crane building exercise, where each member was assigned a specific role and had to work within a deadline, ensuring quality control was maintained.
High Voltage! In Science, Year 5 recently carried out a series voltage investigations of the effects on different devices within a circuit when the number of batteries is increased.
HEALTHY WEEK: As part of Healthy Week, we carried out a Science investigation to see what affects our pulse rate. Year 5 recorded their pulse at rest then after a variety of 2 minute continuous exercises activities to then analyse which made the greatest impact.
'Winds of Change'
A new year, a new term, a new theme: Year 5 are ready to explore our next big question 'What are ancestors?'
Our class will be delving into ancient Chinese cultural customs and the legacy left behind by the SHANG DYNASTY. Furthermore, there will be an abundance of creativity through the art of traditional storytelling inspired by 'Willow Pattern' plate designs, producing bamboo art and calligraphy together with composing our own Chinese themed compositions using pentatonic scales. Also, to help answer our big question, Year 5 will take a scientific approach to explain, prove or disprove the notion of Evolution and Inheritance.
KIER 360 at the Immersive Done Theatre, Market Hall, Devonport: Another one of our trip within Widening Horizons saw Year 5 experience a virtual building site and gain an insight to the many job roles and opportunities within Kier Construction (with a big focus on safety working in such an industry). After the Q & A, the immersive experience continued as our class were treated to some exclusive Space, Nature and Evolution footage.
Bamboo Art: Continuing our traditional Chinese themed artwork, Year 5 have recent produced some stunning monochrome bamboo illustrations using tones of either blue or black ink, creating a sense of depth and light source. These were also accompanied by Chinese calligraphy to convey traditional proverbs.
Music: Recently Year 5 have explored BandLab digital music technology to compose authentic Chinese relaxation anthems to accompany their Tai-Chi sequences - listen to a selection below:
NK Trad Chinese composition.mp3
WW Trad Chinese composition.mp3
AB Trad Chinese composition.mp3
CI Trad Chinese composition.mp3
OS Trad Chinese composition.mp3
FC Trad Chinese composition.mp3
PG Trad Chinese composition.mp3
TR Trad Chinese composition.mp3
SDS Builders - As part of our Widening Horizons programme, Year 5 had a visit from a local building firm to give our class an insight to various design concepts and manufacturing processes used in everyday life. Afterwards, the children collaboratively created and presented some designs of their own of an invention to help mankind efficiently in the future. A follow up task was to work in groups to design and construct the strongest and tallest structure possible using only 14 strands of dried spaghetti and 10 marshmallows. Reflecting on geometric mathematical knowledge of pyramids and triangles, the winning structure stood a whopping 70cm tall.
Science: As Year 5 delve further into our current study of Inheritance and Evolution, they recently have learnt about adaptation traits. After which, they had a go themselves in sorting and matching a variety of living things to their habitat and adaptation for survival.
ART: Linked to our Literacy study of 'The Willow Pattern Story', our children have been perfecting their sketching and watercolour skills to recreate authentic blue and white Chinese plate patterns to recreate key aspects of of the storyline. See the finished results below!
Here is our gallery selection of Year 5's finished authentic looking Willow Pattern plates
In English lessons, inspired by this term's scheme of work centred around The Willow Pattern Story, Year 5 have have recently produced a variety of acrostic and rhyming poems to retell the tale or describe events set out on the plate itself. See below for some of their wonderful examples which really celebrate their rich vocabulary and creativity.
Weeping willow blows around
Immortal doves fly around
Lanterns glowing in the night
Lovebirds dancing in the sky
Orchards of blossom trees
Wooden bridge o’er the flowing river
Two doves flying high
A zig-zag fence near by
The great pagoda standing tall
Near where the willow blossom falls
A little boat on the run
Keeping away from everyone
A humpback bridge across the sea
With four people on if not three
In the pagoda garden some dying trees
The mandarin dies with wheezy sneeze
And the lovers are together
As eternal doves forever.
Willow trees calmly swaying by the beautiful, bluer than a diamond river.
Immortal turtle doves, flying around in the nice vibe starry moon sky, high up.
Lanterns glowing bright, in the calm night sky above the Pagoda, beautifully as a sea.
Little boat with Koong Shee and Chang, happily rowing away from the frustrated Mandarin.
Over the weeping willow tree, are the calm Chinese birds flying over it while it's passing by.
Weeping willow trees, where Koong Shee and Chang calmly, secretly meet without the Mandarin knowing.
Every day I’m stuck in prison.
The mandarin still grows bitter and old.
Eternal life living as a dove,
Running away from her home and never coming back.
Never ending life that only Chang and Koong-Shee have.
All the time the doves fly high up,
Lanterns glowing orange up in the sky.
As part of our daily morning starters this term, Year 5 have been using their observation, inference and creative writing skills to describe, create questions or compose some imaginative pieces of writing. Below is a selection of work inspired by a National Geographic photo of a lone cyclist upon the Great Wall of China.
PSHE: As part of our Jigsaw lessons, this term Year 5 have been exploring Dreams and Goals, reflecting upon their own aspirations for the future as well as the consideration of others. Recently, in groups, our class discussed a variety of different jobs roles and the what they thought was the average salary. This also evoked a discussion surrounding fairness and worth of particular role given the risks, hours or true contribution to society.
PE: This term, our outdoor PE has focused on our hockey skills, particularly on ball control either passing to a partners or dribbling around cones as part of a team relay. Year 5 have also begun to work on their shooting and targeting skills with great accuracy and safety.
Welcome to Year 5!
Welcome back...our new Year 5 class is set for lift off, embarking on a new learning journey under the theme of Earth, Space and Beyond.
Our big question is: What does it mean to be civilised?
Soon we shall be exploring the lives of well-known scientists, pioneers and astronauts through our biography focus. Year 5 will create artwork inspired by fantasy space artist David A. Hardy, compose their own musical composition and dance sequences based on Holst's Planets and delve deeper into space in science lessons to grasp a further understanding of our Solar System's composition.
Our final Widening Horizons outing this term was to Plymouth University to engage with trainee doctors from the Pennisula Medical School. year 5 explored hand washing routines, discussed our circulation system, found out about reflexes and how our eyes react alongside our anatomy, including the names of the bones. This was a truly enlightening experience.
National Marine Aquarium visit - As part of our Widening Horizons enrichment, Year 5 had an exclusive interactive behind the scenes tour of the NMA, exploring the many different careers involved at the aquarium; curators, school officers, divers, social media operatives, accountants and receptionists to name but a few. Aside from exploring the various ocean habitats, food chains and the characteristics of a wide range of marine wildlife (even viewing through VR headsets), a major focus was on marine conservation - Year 5 even performed a mock autopsy to explore the harmful effects of plastic pollution.
Fire Safety Visit: This November saw a class visit from Rachel, a representative of the Devon and Somerset Fire Service, who gave our class an insight to Fire safety, focusing on hazards and causes, how make an escape plan, prevention strategies and how to raise the alarm. Our children asked and answered so many questions and are quite the experts now!
This Autumn, as part of our Widening Horizons enrichment programme, saw Year 5 gain some hands on experience with student dentists from the Pennisula Dental School.
Widening Horizons - The first of our exclusive trips and visits was to the Cattewater Harbour Commissioners located on Plymouth's Barbican. Our pupils gained an insight of the day to day running of a busy harbour, found out which goods are imported and exported to and from Plymouth and had a guided tour of the Pilot boats. Year 5 were also fortunate to have a boat trip around Plymouth Sound. Take a look at our pictures that recapture this experience.
ART, inspired by David A. Hardy: Year 5 have recently perfected the skill of drawing and painting spheres. Using a range of collage materials including scrap vinyl records, the children have designed, composed, painted and assemble a porthole view of the planets in deep space. Our class needed to consider the light source, scale, depth and perspective in order to create an authentic viewpoint. Take a look at the gallery of our completed portholes below:
Bikeability 2022 - During the last week of September, Year 5 participated in the very successful Bikeability scheme; building resilience, good balance and co-ordination and a general awareness of road safety.
