Our new topic this term is Flaming hot. 

We have asked the children for their ideas about what they would like to learn about so therefore will be incorporating these into the curriculum. 

I am particularly excited with the suggestions of making flaming hot food with the use of ghost chilli's so watch out for that. 

We are also privileged to have Mr Desira with us too, who will be teaching Squirrels throughout the term. 

In Squirrel Class this week...

Week beginning 8^th may 2017

Maths

In maths, we have been looking at word problems and division. We were looking at the bus stop method and for the word problems we were looking at some different techniques to try and figure out the answer. The word problem we had this week was trying to find out how many legs aliens had.

English

In English, we have been looking at street child the class book and we have been trying to express our feelings for Jim in writing.

Computing!

In computing, we have been looking at tessellations they are a series of shapes in a repeating pattern almost like a jigsaw. We had to work in partners and we created this on an app called Inkscape. This was shown in sharing assembly.

Week beginning 17th April 2017

Maths

In maths, we have been looking at multiplying numbers like 10, 100 and 1000 with 1-2 decimal places. When we were multiplying we moved the numbers to the left and the amount of zeros told us how many places to move and then for division it is the opposite so we have to move the digits to the right.

English

In English we have been looking at the book ‘Street Child’, it is about a family of 4 called the Jarvis’s and they are a really poor Victorian family who used their last shilling on a pie. They haven’t paid their rent and now the owner of the house (Mr Spink)is kicking them out and we are yet to carry on reading. We have been noting down different phrases that will start discussion and we have been predicting what will happen next.

Science

In science we have been looking the life cycle of bugs and comparing incomplete and complete. We were asked to write down the differences and similarities of the two life cycles. We have also write the lifecycles of two different bugs in our books and draw them. 

Week beginning  23^rd April 2017

Maths

In maths, we have been looking at measurements of everyday objects like a chair, Where we had to write down the results in a chart.  Once we measured our own tables we had to work out the measurement of several tables if we put them together. Also in maths we have been looking at switch calculations to get the same answers for example: 63x12=756 36x21=756.

English

In English,   we have been looking at the very sad story the street child. In the new chapter we are reading, (The workhouse) Jim and his mother have left the two girls at the lordship’s house and now we have been given it as homeworkL.

Science

In science, we have been looking at the life cycle of an amphibian (frog).  It has 5 main stages

1. Start of as an egg

2. It hatches into a tadpole

3. Grows legs

 4. Tail disappears and grows back legs and

5. It’s a frog!!!

Written by squirrel class web developers Ruby and Salvador!

Week beginning 13^th March

This week has been jam packed with fun and a bit of getting wet in PE.

PE

In PE we have been doing relay races and we got a little bit wet! We were split into teams and we had to run through a hoop and then get a bucket and scoop some water into it and then run back up and pour the water into your teams bucket and the team with the most water in there bucket won the game.

Maths

In maths we have been looking at how to draw angle using a protractor. First we had to draw a straight line as the base of our angle and then we had to line up the protractor with the line and twist the knob so it would line up with a line on the outside then mark it and join it to the base line.

Science

In science we have been looking life cycles and the life cycle we have been looking at is a chicken.   First, we were given a sheet with three pictures on which was a magnified image (SEM image) of a bird. We had to think of different questions we needed to find out in order to give us the details of what life cycle it was and therefore what stages were involved too.  We also used Ipads to research some of the questions and find out the structure of an egg. Who knew that the structure of an egg was so complicated?

By Salvador

Week beginning 5^th March

Maths     

This week in maths, we have been measuring angles using a protractor. Before that, we had to estimate what degree the angle was. Today, we went on the iPad to play a game (maths playground), while the others were drawing pictures which involved angles.

English

In English we have been learning about clauses like main, subordinate and relative. We had to write out relative clauses and identify the things that had to be included in a relative clause (object, subject, and relative pronoun). It was pretty tricky but we got there in the end.

Planting

We had the opportunity this afternoon to plant trees on the new field, which will stop the wind. Everyone in the whole school planted one so that they can watch it grow.

By Millie and Polly

27^th February 2017

Maths

Following on from our trip last we, in maths this week we have been doing Problem solving (based on Abrey Farm) which was really hard. We had to estimate how much seed was in two different jars, work out equivalent amounts of diesel used by the potato harvester compared to a car and finally work out how many crates were in the refrigerator.

West stow

On Wednesday, we went to west stow to find out information about the Anglo-Saxons. There was a man called Joe who showed us a short DVD about the Anglo-Saxons and where they came from. We then got to explore the Anglo-Saxon village, where they have reconstructed the houses so that we could walk in the footsteps of an Anglo-Saxon. After that, we looked at all the artefacts in the museum.

World book day

On Thursday (World Book Day) everyone was dressed up in their favourite book character. We also had a author (Poeony Lewis) who visited the school, where she shared one of her books with us in assembly, called ‘Hurry up Birthday’. Which is actually based on her daughter.

Bedtime reading

At bedtime reading, the teachers read different stories to the children who all came back in their PJs. Some of my favourite stories that were read were: ‘Don’t  let the pigeon drive the bus’ (read by Mrs Arnold) and ‘Smiley shark’ (read by Mrs Shepperson).

By Poppy Cummings!!!!JJJJ

20^th February 2016

Trips

On Wednesday, we went on a trip to Abrey’s farm to learn about the next stage of the life cycle of a vegetable (this time it was an onion). We got to see how the onions are stored in a refrigerator to keep them fresh, before they go through a grader (sorting them into different sizes) and finally being packaged up.  Mrs Dowds even got to have a go at packing the red onions (she was so excited). Lastly, we had to pretend we were onions as we took the bus on the weighing bridge, so that the onions could be priced according to weight.

Maths

In maths, we have been comparing and identifying Equivalent fractions.

We have been using symbols like the crocodile mouth (< >) to show whether they are greater or smaller than each other.

Poplet

On Poplet (a game on an iPad) we were looking at an Anglo-Saxon virtual village to find out more information about Anglo-Saxons ready for the trip to West Stow. This will help us to ask higher level questions to be answered by the experts.

By Polly Stannard

6^th February 2017

E – Safety day

On E-safety day we were leaning about how we can be safe on the internet. We were recapping hector the protector and seeing the ages on apps.

We then had a look at some of the statistics in Maths, to convert between fractions and percentages (it was really hard).

Magical maths assembly

In assembly, (magical maths assembly) professor poopnstinken came in and she is a mathematician. She told us lots of tricks using her magical maths skills. Now there is a club after school every Thursday to learn and practice the tricks.

Euston farm visit

On Wednesday we went to Euston Estate with Matthew and Ian to go and see how they plant under polythene. They do this to trick the plants into thinking that the weather is warming. Therefore, the plants start to grow out of season too.

When we got back to school, we created a life cycle of a carrot- from the preparation of the ground to when it begins to grow. We shared our presentations to Year 3.

By Molly Vooght

Week beginning 29^th January-3^rd February

This week has been jam packed with long days and tests (assessment week). Through out the week we have done 2 SPaG assessments,  1 maths assessment and 1 spelling test we did a fabulous job! J

In PE we did dance, where we got into groups and created our own routine and then took ideas off of each other and added it to our own. In the end we had a fantastic array of dance moves.

Maths! In maths we have been looking at subtraction and addition with a touch of BODMAS. Some was reasonably difficult but we all got it in the end. That is what they say practise makes perfect!

Science! In science we have been looking at the fantastic solar system and the planets within it has been fantastic with adventure and excitement! First we were given the sheets with missing information and we had to walk around and gather information to fill up our chart. Once we were done, Mrs Dowds announced if we got it correct or not all together it was jamtastic!!! J

Wb 16^th January

We have had a busy couple of weeks and although the children were only in school for 4 days this week due to having a power cut, they definitely made up for it through hard work and dedication.

In literacy,  we have been learning how to write a biography. The children have enjoyed research Bob Dylan in order to create a Powerpoint presentation to share with the class, ready to create their own biographies next week.

In Maths, we were developing our mastery techniques of area and perimeter to work out a problem for Mr Hepplethewaites. Even though, it was really challenging the children persevered to get the costings of fences and find out how much corn he could plant in a 5m radius.

In science, we have started our topic on Earth and Beyond and are beginning to learn mnemonics for the order of the planets as well as develop our understanding of the Earth further.

History has really captivated the children’s interests learning about the fall of the Roman Empire to show how it linked to the Stone Age.

In RE, we are beginning to learn about Hinduism so we played a game of snakes and ladders to learn about storing good and bad karma.

Here is a yearly overview to show what is going to be covered throughout the year- although this is subject to change depending on any events going on throughout the school.

I have also attached a weekly timetable to show the subjects we will be covering- which is adapted each term to suit the needs of the children. 

PE is Monday and Tuesdays so please ensure that you have the correct school PE kit and that hair is tied up and earrings are taken out. Thank You. 

Some children are also carrying on with the Violin lessons- so please can they ensure that they have Violins in on a Friday ready for their lesson. 

Many Thanks 

Mrs Dowds

Please see the new timetable for this half term.

Although, it does sometimes change in order to take into account exciting learning opportunities.

PE will now be on a Monday and Wednesday so don’t forget PE kits tie hair up and make sure that earrings are not worn on these days.

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

Mrs Dowds.

What an amazing start to the year Year 5 have had. I am so sad not to have been apart of it but it has been so lovely to see how the children are thriving at the start of this term. Their Ideas and enthusiasm have shone through where they have created some lovely pieces of work already, alongside sending thoughtful well wishes to me too. I am already a very proud teacher.  

Mrs Dowds

Our topic this half term is seeds of change and I can’t wait to hear what the children would like to learn about.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and are excited to start back at school for another jam packed term.

Week beginning 5^th December

This week has been jam packed with play rehearsals and singing assemblies, in preparation for the KS2 performance ‘superstar’ next week. We can’t wait to show you.

In literacy, we have been trying to persuade Mrs Arnold to let us go on a school trip to West Stow. We have written formal letters to her, using persuasive language, complex sentences, modal verbs and even rhetorical questions to help enhance our work.

In maths, we have been planning a school trip (linking to our literacy work) where we were given several pieces of information to sort into relevant and redundant information. We worked out the timings of when we would leave and arrive at West Stow. We then had to find information to work out the costings: including the coach cost, entry prices and discounts involved.  This was very tricky.

In RE, we have been looking at our work on Islam and sharing what we have learnt with Mrs Dowds. We created playdough symbols which were key to the unit before explaining what they meant. For example, we made a Qu’ran to represent the guidance to given to Muslims, where children learn the Arabic chants off by heart before translating it into their own language for them to understand the words.

Overall we have enjoyed our week.

By Salvador (web developer) and his helpers (Millie, Ava and Harley)

Week beginning 20^th November.

To start of this fabulous week we done maths. In maths, we were looking at polygons, which are a type shape with straight sides that connect.  We were given a sheet of shapes to cut up and sort out into different columns to show our understanding!J We also had to identify whether they were regular (where they have the same length sides and same size angles) or irregular (where they are all different).

In art this week, we have been doing pop art, using dots to create lighter and darker effects.  We  were able to organise to show our art in the sharing  assembly  on Friday too.

In English, we have been looking at persuasive letters. Where we have looked at examples of persuasive language that we have up levelled and put into sentences.

By  Ruby and Salvador

Week beginning  13^th November!

This week has been jam packed with fun activities and great learning! To start of this week in maths, we have been looking at shapes and their properties, we were put into groups and then we had to sort shapes it was quite challenging but we all got it in the end!

In art, we been making pop art inspired by Roy Lichtenstein. Using dots and primary colours we created an affect to get lighter and darker colours. We were given different paintings to copy.

In English, we have been looking at prepositions and how they describe where an object has been placed. First we were given sentences to copy down and then we added prepositions it was great fun!!!

week beginning 6th November

To start off this week in maths we done roman numerals I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XX XXX XL L LX LXX LXXX XC C D M these are some roman numerals but not all! At the end of the week in maths we have started to learn years and comparing them! 

In English we are learning about adjectives, and past and present tense. we have been looking on the online thesaurus to up level the boring adjectives! In English we also have been looking at Guy Fawkes and the gun powder plot the rhyme is: Remember remember the 5th of November, gun powder treason and plot i see no reason why gun powder and treason should ever be forgot!

This week in art we decorated the value wall (Thankfulness) with an acrostic poem everyone worked together to do them and they look fabulous!Also, we drew a poppy field because we had a 2 minute silence with a title of "We will remember them!"

Week Beginning 31st October

At the start of this fantastic week in maths we were looking at division using the bus stop method it can be a bit tricky sometimes but at the end we were all very confident and someone got star of the week for it! Can you figure out this number sentence? 558 divided by 7 is?

In English we have been looking at adjectives and how we describe nouns. We were given 3 sheets which had activities to do with spag!  We have been learning about the gun powder plot we did research with pieces of paper with more information on!

In our world, we have been looking at the presidential election. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the main candidates. If you want to know when the results are coming on Tuesday the 8th November 2016! Hilary Clinton is the first lady of having a chance of becoming president. Donald Trump’s supporters think that he is rich so they vote for him! Both candidates are famous for different reasons! The numbers are constantly going up!

Written by Salvador Modke and Ruby Saleh (web developers)

WB 17th October 2016

This week has been an absolutely jam packed with some fun activities and a lot of focused learning!

To start off this amazing week we had are PE teacher (Mr Green) and we went on the apparatus in the hall. To do this activity we had to split into groups so we could have a go on each piece of equipment. Overall we think that everyone enjoyed it! 

After that we had French with Mrs Nicholas. We were looking at doing activities at certain times. We were all given a piece of lined paper and we had to write sentences in French and then in English. 

This week in Science, we have been looking at reversible and irreversible changes.We all did an experiment to test if it caused a reversible and irreversible change.We did a very basic experiment of adding bicarbonate of soda and vinegar together to self inflate a balloon. The vinegar and bicarbonate of soda started to fizz up and splattered all over the class. This was a very enjoyable activity and we all hope for it to happen again!

In the afternoons, we have been making our very own Stone Age pottery. To do this we make a coil pot and decorated it by painting the outside and using a cocktail stick to engrave patterns into the clay. In English, we used what we have been learning about instructional texts to write our own instructional text to teach others how to make one too!

                                               hope you have a happy half term from squirrels!

Written by Salvador and Ruby (Squirrel Class Web Developers)

WB 26th September. 

To start off the week we completed some place value work in maths. This included reading and writing numbers through to millions as well as doing a really fun maths game. For this you had to make either the largest or smallest number using digits from a 9 sided dice. If it was the largest number you were trying to get the biggest digits in the millions column, for the smallest number you wanted to largest digits in the units column. 

In literacy this week we have been looking at personal and impersonal recounts. These lessons have been quite challenging because we had to try and sort out sentences into personal and impersonal columns before identifying where or if we had used them in our cold task. 

In Science we have been looking at materials and their properties. This topic in particular has been really fun and we have even done experiments. We have made a Year 5 Properties Glossary which helps us if we get stuck (like a dictionary) and we were given specific materials to name the properties of them. We had to group them into a range of properties to show our understanding- which is hard to distinguish between the material and the property.

Our topic lessons have focused on History where we have split the class into two to do two different activities in relation to the stone age. In the first activity we were looking at specific pieces of text about Skara Brae and we had to look for evidence in the text to answer specific questions. The last question made us draw what we thought it would look like. The second activity was looking at a timeline- where we had to sort it out according to age. 

Our most amazing part of the week (although it made us feel a little sick at times) definitely has to be our visitor. They were very interesting but sometimes a bit disgusting too. They made stone tools by flint knapping- by hitting two stones together and we also learnt about valuable stones called obsidian- which at the time of the Stone Age the pirates wanted. If the pirates would have got it then we would all be stuck in the Stone Age. Which we are glad we are not. Tia also helped them to gut some fish which for most people was absolutely horrific.

Written by Ruby and Salvador- The Web developers. 

WB 19th September 2016

To start off the week we had some PE lessons, it was great. In PE we did gymnastics in the hall and it was flexibly fun! In PE we also did some EPIC rely races, most of them were very close! We think that everyone in our class enjoyed it! 

In RE we were very lucky to have Mrs Burton come into the class to tell us a story. It was all about the fruits of the spirit which include 'goodness', 'self control' and 'patience'.  

In our computing lessons we have been finishing our times  tables games. We then went over to Mole class and let the Year 2's test them out. The feedback was great.

In Maths, we have been practicing our place value and showing Mrs Dowds what we already know. 

In English we have been looking at the features of a recount and looking at the difference between personal and impersonal recounts.

Overall, it was a great week!

Written but Ruby and Salvador ( Squirrel Class Web Developers)

WB 12th September 2016

To start of this epic week we looked in the bin (recycling bin). At first we thought that Mrs Shepperson had gone mad because she emptied our classroom bin all over the table! But then we understood why, and it was fun! We had to be historians and anaylse the rubbish to find out more about the past. We found evidence for what we had done the previous day. We learnt that there were lots of things we did the previous day that we did not have evidence for which taught us that we do know lots about the past but definitely not everything! There are also some very ,misleading evidence which was very misleading.

Next ,in Maths, we looked at the Fibonacci sequence we really enjoyed! The sequence went... 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34 etc. The pattern was to add the two previous numbers together to get the next number. We then made our own Fibonacci spiral and went on a hunt to find them in our environment.

Today we were looking for answers to our questions we had about the Stone Age. We used the internet and fact files to help us find the answers.

In Science we have been learning about materials and their properties. We also made a year 5 properties glossary so if we get stuck we can look at the wall to help us! 

We had some super news! We hear Mrs Dowds is starting to feel much better and will hopefully but back for the mornings next week!

Overall, we think that everyone in year 5 have had a fantastic week and we are all excited for the weeks ahead!

Written by Ruby and Salvador (Squirrel Class Web Developers)

In Squirrel Class this week...

We have found out that our topic is Sticks Stones & Bones!

This was very exciting for the school because we are not 100% sure what it actually is which means we will be learning lots of new  things!

In our Art lessons we have been learning about the artist Stephen Wiltshire. He is an autistic artist who can memorise  an aerial view of a city and draw it perfectly, with all the correct detail! We explore his technique of line drawing and had ago ourselves by drawing our own sketches of St Gregory's Church in Barnham. We also learnt about all the different pencils e.g HB, 2B & 4B etc. We then tested them out to make our own line drawing patterns.

Mrs Jameson taught us how to play an ancient game called Mancala. It was extremely fun to learn and we even managed to learn some tactics along the way!

In Science, we recapped on what we have already learnt about Materials and their properties by naming different properties and matching them to their definitions. We could us a dictionary to help us when it got really tricky!

Overall it has been a super first week back at school but I think we will sleep well this weekend!

Here are some pictures of us hard at work.

Written by Salvador and Ruby (Squirrel Class Web Developers)

Hi Squirrels

I hope you all had the most amazing summer holidays and are keen to start another year back at school.

We have an exciting year ahead starting with the new classroom, which was delivered over the summer holidays, its a great asset to the school and I can't wait for you all to see it.

We have an interesting topic of 'sticks, stones and bones' to kick start the year too as well as looking at the value of 'Belonging'

But for now I will leave you with a poem, which will help you begin Year 5: 

Mrs Dowds

School

School is something, 
we must all embrace. 
Knowledge we need, 
to seek out and chase.

Subjects and teaching styles, 
are plentiful and vary. 
Just like the backpacks, 
we all need to carry.

Sports, clubs, and activities, 
at every single turn. 
So much to do, 
study and learn.

To get the most from school, 
we should consistently attend. 
Around each corner, 
there's always a friend.

Our favorite teachers, 
are friendly and kind. 
Their passion and job, 
to expand every mind.

School is something, 
we must all embrace. 
Just remember to learn, 
at your own pace.