Red Squirrels – Y5
Welcome back!
Hope you all had a fantastic summer and are back full of energy and enthusiasm!
We are the Red Squirrels class taught by Mrs Martin. There are 20 lively squirrels in our class this year!
My door is always open and I am more than happy to meet with you to discuss any concerns you may have. Please feel free to pop in and introduce yourselves or come for a chat at the end of the day.
Swimming
Year 5 will start swimming on Monday 9th September until February half term. Please ensure that the children come to school with an appropriate swimming kit ( boys need tight fitting trunks, no ‘surfer style’ swimming trunks and girls need one piece swimming costumes) If your child needs goggles, please pop in and pick up a goggle permission form. Jewellery, including earrings, is not allowed. Swimming hats should be worn if earrings cannot be taken out.
AUTUMN 1
Fallen Fields
The sun sets on the battlefield in France and a solitary bugle sounds the Last Post.
Known as 'the war to end all wars', the First World War was a conflict that had a devastating effect on millions of people across the world
What started this global tragedy? What was life like for families on the home front as they waited for news of loved ones 'missing in action'? How did the soldiers endure the terrible conditions in the trenches? How was a fragile peace finally achieved?
We will always remember the fallen.
Art skills
We have been learning how to mix and create different colours. We learnt that primary colours cannot be made from any other colours. Secondary colours can be made from mixing two primary colours and tertiary colours can be made from mixing primary and secondary colours. We had fun experimenting with colour and created a colour wheel.
Science - Materials and their Properties
In Science, we have been learning about materials and the different properties that they have. We carried out different tests on a variety of materials. We tested to see if they were: permeable, flexible, magnetic, transparent or hard. It was an interesting lesson.
Fantastic attendance in Year 5
Well done Year 5! Keep it up!
1st Red Squirrels 99%
2nd Dragonflies 98.95%
3rd Bumblebees 98.68%
London Trip
Wow! What an exciting way to start our World War One topic - a trip to London to visit the Imperial War Museum and a visit to explore the inside of Buckingham Palace! Amazing!
We had a bright and early start - 7 am to be precise! It was a long journey on the coach but once in London, we had some great views of some of the famous landmarks.
We visited the WW1 gallery in the Imperial War Museum which was really interesting. We learnt about how the war started, life in the trenches, how to pass the test to become a soldier, weapons that were used, the role of women in the war, the use of propaganda posters and so much more.
We then went to Buckingham Palace. We all had head phones on and listened to the audio guide which showed us around the various rooms inside the palace. It was amazing - we couldn't believe how beautiful it was inside. We even found a secret door that led to the Queen's private apartments ( we are now writing a story about the secret passage in Literacy!) Some of us were even lucky enough to see Prince Harry walk across the quadrangle.
As usual, the behaviour was excellent. Well done John Hunt.
I think this will be a day we will remember for the rest of our lives!
Year 5 Expectation Meeting
Thank you to all who attended the meeting on Friday. I hope you found it useful.
For those of you that were unable to make it - please find the powerpoint attached below that details the information that was shared at the meeting. Thank you.
School Council elections
Congratulations
Last week, the children that wanted to stand for school council presented their manifestos to us.
I have to say, I was impressed with each and everyone of you, it takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of the class and speak on your own.
We then went to the 'polling station' to cast our votes on secret ballot papers.
After the votes have been counted and verified , I am pleased to announce our school councillor for the Red Squirrels is Alex and the deputy is Hanna. Congratulations to you both.
We've got lots of important decisions to discuss in School Council this year.
Subordinating Conjunctions!
In our grammar lesson this week, we have been learning about subordinating conjunctions. A conjunction is a word or words that join two clauses together. A subordinating conjunction joins a subordinate clause to another clause or sentence. Sounds complicated?! We enjoyed playing a board game to practice using subordinating conjunctions and we loved the crazy song!
See the link below - if you'd like to give it a listen too!!
Scarf bus visit
Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience, Friendship
We enjoyed our time on the bus with Harriet this week. We thought about the importance of our friends. We learnt about how problems could be solved aggressively or assertively and watched examples of children solving tricky situations using different strategies.
We also learnt about how to deal with peer pressure. It was really interesting.
Solubility in Science!
We had lots of fun investigating whether materials were soluble or insoluble in warm water. We made sure it was a fair test and then made predictions.
We tested a variety of materials, including salt, oil, syrup, Epsom salts and flour. We thought the Epsom salts were interesting when they were added to water, as they effervesced and then dissolved into a solution. The oil did not mix with the water - it floated on the top. It reminded us of a lava lamp.
#KICKITOUTGENERATION
by Pharrell Shennan –Thomas
On Saturday 12th October I was the mascot for Newark Town. I got to walk out with the players and train with them at half time.
The most important part about the afternoon, was that it was for ‘Kick it out’, which is about stopping people picking on other people for being a different race or having a disability.
It was sad to see the England game, where they nearly had to stop the match for horrible chants against certain players and calling people racist words. This should never happen.
I am glad they have introduced ‘Kick it out’ to stop this from happening again. This will hopefully make people think twice before they hurt people's feelings.
For more information on this campaign - go to this address https://www.kickitout.org/
War Horse Adverts
We have been reading War Horse by Michael Morpurgo.
Joey, the horse in the story, has just been sold to the army to help in World War 1.
We designed adverts advertising Joey.
Remembrance Assembly
In preparation for Remembrance Day, we all designed our own red and purple poppies and then displayed them on a horse, soldier and cross. It looked amazing and was a really powerful image of war.
Today Year 5 presented a moving assembly to the whole school.
We began by singing Peace perfect peace.We presented our poems about the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers and their families in WW1 and also wrote some prayers. We also had a two minute silence
We were really proud of the children today and the rest of the school listened so quietly.
'Take Care' homework
This term's project homework was to make a scrapbook or fact file about someone in World War 1.
The children did an amazing job. Yesterday they presented their work to the class and told us all about their chosen person. It was really interesting. Well done Red Squirrels.
Children in Need
We came to school in Pudsey bear outfits or dressed in something spotty. We all looked great!
At play time we had a cake sale. This afternoon we watched 'I'm a celebrity - get me out of here!' contest - Mrs Mole v Mr Betts. They had a sight, sound, smell and touch challenge! Hopefully we will have raised a lot of money for this worthy cause.
Perimeter Maths
We had fun in Maths today. Miss Travers had a great idea to draw shapes on the table with special pens. We all enjoyed measuring the sides and calculating the perimeters.
Christmas Craft Afternoon.
A lovely time was had by all at the annual Christmas Craft Afternoon. It was packed in Year 5! Thank you to everyone that joined us - we all had a great time.
Happy New Year
Thank you for the lovely gifts at the end of term - they were greatly appreciated.
Welcome back! We have lots to look forward to this year, including our residential visit to Ironbridge in June.
We begin our 'brand new' Ancient Egyptian topic and will be reading an exciting new story called 'Secrets of the Sun King'in English. Partake Theatre will visit Year 5 to introduce the topic in an exiting and memorable way.
Partake visit Year 5!
Wow! What an action packed day we had!
We began by learning about all the exotic spices that the Egyptians used for various reasons.We then carried out a gruesome role play of removing the organs in preparation for mummification! ( we laughed and squirmed a lot!)We handled lots of different artefacts and learnt about their uses in ancient times. To conclude the morning session , we had a make up demonstration ( Leia was a fantastic model!) It was fascinating.
The afternoon drama session was great fun. We dressed up as priests and priestesses and prepared for an Ancient Egyptian burial by dancing and offering gifts to the Pharoah. The egyptian music created an amazing atmosphere!
Forces in Science
In Science we have been learning about different forces . This week we were looking at gravity. We learnt about Issac Newton's discovery of the law of gravity (and found out he was born in Lincolnshire!) We learnt about the difference between weight and mass.
We measured the weight of different objects using a Newton meter.
Kinetic Theatre Company
This theatre company entertained us. They teach science through song and drama. This year it was called 'Light Fantastic' We learnt about the solar system, light and dark and reflection.
Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs
We enjoyed our Egyptian art work. We used a black and white side profile photo of ourselves and then added Egyptian crowns and headdresses. We also added black eyeliner and beards! We hardly recognised ourselves once we had finished!
World Book Day
We had lots of fun on World Book Day and all came dressed as a character from a book.
Time Travelling
We had a lovely time at Southwell Minster this week to follow up our RE work on pilgrimmages. We were met by our guides and took part in range of activities. We learnt about prayer, baptism, fair trade and we even had a go at singing as choristers! It was a lovely day.
The children were exceptionally well behaved and had many comments about their behaviour, enthusiasm and knowledge. Well done John Hunt - we were all really proud of you.
Road Safety
We had the road safety team visit this week. It was really interesting. We learnt about seat belt safety and how important it is to wear a seat belt, even on journeys just round the corner. It could be a life saver and it's the law.
After we had listened to the facts, we all had individual clickers to give our answers to multiple choice questions. It was interesting.
Congratulations Millie!
Our school entered the Newark in Bloom competition this year.
We were so proud when we found out that Millie Sansom in our class had won!
Her design is now being made 'logo sized' by Newark art students.
Millie's winning design will be displayed at an exhibition in the Buttermarket.
The Mayor will present her with her certificate in April. Well done Millie!
Fair trade
We have been learning about Fair trade . We learnt that Fair trade is a way of buying and selling products, that allows farmers to be paid a fair price for their produce and have better working conditions.
We also learnt about the logo that is a symbol awarded to products that are sold under fair trading conditions.
There was a whole school competition to collect as many logos as we could.
Year 5 won! Our treat was to watch a DVD and have hot chocolate and biscuits!
Well done Year 5!
Goodbyes for now
Year 5 had a lovely day together yesterday and although we were all feeling sad, we still managed to look after each other,smile and have fun.
I have been so proud of the way you have all come together as a team and supported each other through this tricky time.
I really hope we will all stay in touch and you will send me regular updates and photos of what you've been up to. Stay safe and look after yourselves and your family.
I think you're all absolutely brilliant and I will miss you lots.
Love Mrs Martin xx
PS I'll keep working on my new hobbies!!!