Year 5 Class News

Reading the Classics

This term, Year 5 have been enjoying reading and studying the classic book Charlotte’s Web written by E.B. White. In guided reading groups we have analysed the characters, inferring information about them and the development of their relationships. The children have explored vocabulary, analysed the writer’s purposes and intentions in different parts of the book.

This week, the children looked at how to summarise the events surrounding The Miracle and, using the knowledge gained, created and had fun performing role plays.

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class gallery

Inverse Equation Fun!

This week in maths, Year 5 have been learning how inverse equations work.

Using the four main operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, the children have been able to complete problems which show the opposite effect of another operation, for example, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division.

To support their learning, working in pairs, the children used a variety of numbers to calculate the answer to inverse operations.

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class gallery

Make Some Noise!

This week, Year 5 attended a whole school assembly led by Ben Smith to launch the schools anti-bullying campaign.

Ben Smith, a marathon runner explained to the children how being bullied as a child for being different has led to him becoming a marathon runner and how it resulted in him changing his life in a positive way. The children learnt how Ben set up the 401 foundation to provide grants to organisations and individuals to enable them to focus on self esteem and mental health. To raise the funds for this cause, Ben set himself a target of running 401 marathons in as many days - hence the foundations name.

The talk was funny and informative with some super questions from the children and was a great opportunity to launch Avalon's own 'Make a Noise' anti- bullying week of learning and activities.

It started with 'Odd Sock Day' were both children and adults came to school in wacky odd socks and the children were also able to design their own odd socks, this helped develop an understanding of accepting each individual's differences and accepting people for who they are. Donations raised for the day have been sent to the Anti- Bullying Alliance.

In their PHSCEE lessons, year 5 have discussed the areas of verbal, physical, social, prejudice-based and online bullying, its impact, and how to deal with it.

A whole school assembly gave parents and guardians the opportunity to see what nursery and each school year have learnt including; how emotions can be affected by unwanted behaviour towards an individual, how negative actions can impact on others, how speaking to a teacher or other trusted adult can help resolve issues and the importance of not suffering in silence and how famous people, past and present, have stood up to prejudice and being bullied, turned their lives around  and through talking about their own personal  experiences have made a difference.

Remember, don't keep it inside, Make A Noise!!

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class gallery

The Ancient Greeks

Year 5's Humanities topic this term is the Ancient Greeks and they are covering a wide range of content to support their learning.

To begin, the children examined a map which detailed the area the Ancient Greeks had inhabited which allowed them to use the information to gain an understanding of the land features as well as the surrounding countries and seas. From this, they were able to determine lifestyles, transport, infrastructure and how it would have been constructed.

Learning about Spartan Warriors and the educated Athenians opened up a debate regarding stereotypical gender types as the roles from each were defined - the women carrying out household chores, sewing, washing etc whilst the men forged weapons and went into battles, which group were educated within a democratic society and which were dictated to by the Kings. The pros and cons of each were discussed and year 5 each decided which part of the Greek culture they would prefer to join.

Over the next few weeks the children will be taught about the 12 Olympian gods, symbols associated with them and their area of responsibility, with Greek myths concluding the topic.

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class gallery

Alternative Beach School

Weather conditions led to Year 5 having an alternative Beach School today, however this did not dampen their enthusiasm for learning!

Using a mix of water, oil and food colouring, the children had fun creating their own 'illusion Wave' Bottle' which gives them the opportunity to analyse the movement of waves and how oil and water react in different situations.

As the lesson progressed, the children continued to develop their maths learning objective of weights and measure. The children had to predict if either a cup of water or a cup of sand would weigh more, then in small groups they used scales to accurately weigh each to calculate if their estimate was correct. They then moved on to exploring various rocks, again estimating their weights before weighing each of them on their scales. There were several surprises as the children realised that the largest rock was not always the heaviest or the smallest the lightest.

As the lesson concluded, ice pops and pirate jokes were shared and enjoyed by all.

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class gallery

 

Maths on The Beach!

Today's maths lesson on the beach was an extension of the work we've been doing in class. We have been looking at shape this week and, in particular, the words "parallel" and "perpendicular". The children were challenged with the question:

"if you put bisecting diagonals within a quadrilateral, will the lines always, sometimes or never cross at right angles?"

We built two models using stones to help us answer this question. The children explored the angles that the bisecting diagonals created and realised that, in fact, it was sometimes true (It was true for the regular shape - the square). We discussed the fact that in the rectangle, although it did not create perpendicular lines, children were able to see that opposite corresponding equal angles were created!

Beach School

On arrival at the beach today, Year 5 reviewed their previous learning at Beach School and discussed the importance of the beach environment, weather conditions and how to stay safe on the beach.

As the outdoor learning developed, the children watched a demonstration on how to use a compass to help them identify where North, South, East and West are located, using angles from 45 degrees to 360 degrees. Then, using shells, pebbles and other beach materials, the children arranged compass points on the sand to correctly plot the points for North, South, East and West.

The lesson concluded with time to paddle and scour the beach for treasure.

Lots of outdoor learning fun!

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class gallery

European Day of Languages

To celebrate European Day of Languages, year 5 enjoyed visiting each class in school to learn about and experience different countries throughout Europe.

A highlight - with many thanks to Mrs. Probert for providing - was having the opportunity to sample the traditional food from each country they visited.

Delicious!

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class gallery

Maths Challenge using the Bar Model

In their maths lessons this week, Year 5 have been learning the concept of using a bar model (pictorial rectangle). The children have incorporated the bar model to solve number problems such as finding the unknown quantity using addition and subtraction to complete the missing chunks and will continue to further enhance their skills over the coming weeks.

Settling Back Into School

Cross curriculum learning continues to be an important aspect of learning throughout year 5.

Today in their Art lesson, the children have experimented with various materials including watercolours, chalk and soft pastels incorporating blending techniques to create different images of The Planets. The art activity is supporting the Science topic of 'Earth and Space' that year 5 are currently learning about.

For more photos click here for the Year 5 class Gallery.

Welcome back to school Year 5