What forces are in action here?
We’ve been learning all about forces for our mini topic and, once we understood pushes, pulls, levers and pulleys, we created our own Rube Goldberg machines. The children worked in groups and planned and made their creations all from their own ideas once we’d explored and researched examples of them through the internet.
Here are a couple of our machines. Our first one had a little hiccup but we really liked their pulley at the end to raise the flag. The second was our most successful; they even managed to sound the buzzer! You’ll see just how excited we were that it worked.
https://youtu.be/S0KjxWH24_Y
https://youtu.be/HUijnyElfWI
PE – Dance
Yesterday, in PE, Y5 became urban freestyle dancers.
We had a great time choreographing and performing an urban-style dance -off. We started by performing a section of the routine that we were given before creating our own short dance sequences in groups.
I was particularly impressed with the fantastic attitude shown by all of Y5 throughout the lesson. Despite dance not being everyone’s favourite PE subject, they all got involved, gave it a go and, most importantly, had fun. It’s important that we challenge ourselves to do things we might not always do on a regular basis – taking a ‘safe risk’, you could say.
Here’s a collage of pictures from the lesson. You might not recognise some of us as our urban dancer alter-egos!
Mathletics
Well done to children who, in recent weeks, have been awarded a Mathletics certificate.
We’ve not had any for a couple of weeks so why not log on and attempt some of the multiplication and division (our recent Maths learning) tasks that have been assigned.
While Mathletics is an optional activity to do at home, it’s a good way to reinforce learning which we’ve been doing in class.
Do let us know if you have any access or log in problems.
02 December 2016
This week, as usual, we have two homeworks. Both pieces are due on Thursday 08 December 2016.
The first is Talk Time:
I can reflect on my start to the year.
This links to our current SEAL theme: The 8 Rs for learning. It is an opportunity for children to think about their own learning and their attitude towards it. In class, we reflect a lot on our learning and Y5 are very good at this. They are honest and are not afraid to admit to making mistakes: this will undoubtedly make them better learners in the future. I’d like them to be as honest in this reflection as possible. Is their attitude consistent across the day/week? Is it consistent across subjects? And most importantly, I’d like them to make suggestions for how they could improve. No matter what is said, this conversation should be positive as it should lead to improvements.
The second is Practice Makes Perfect.
I can show I understand word classes.
We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about word classes so far this year (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, articles) and this is a chance for children to show that they have remembered this learning.
Children have been given a sheet to help them show their understanding.
Forces – levers and pulleys
This week, we started our new mini-topic: Forces. We’re focusing on levers and pulleys.
To begin with, we used some paper and a toy car to figure out what we we already know about forces. Help at home by asking your child what forces act on a toy car or a falling piece of paper.
After that, we investigated levers and pulleys. Levers and pulleys are essentially a mechanism to exert a larger amount of force with less effort. To demonstrate this we did a little experiment:
That’s right. Despite weighing less than half what I do, Noah was able to lift me up. Ask your child how this works?
We also thought about more common examples of levers and pulleys – ones we might use in everyday life like scissors (ask your child about how were going to remember the silent ‘c’ in the word scissors) and lifts.
Tomorrow, we’ll begin working on a little project, in which we’ll apply our knowledge of forces, levers and pulleys: (attempting) making a rube goldberg machine.
Homework review
Thanks to those parents who joined us for our weekly homework review. As I expected, there were a number of brilliant homeworks, celebrating the great learning we did throughout STEM week.
Here are a few of our favourites.
Great job, Year 6!
Sports stars
As part of our involvement with the Leeds North East School Sport Partnership and Active Schools, we have recently entered two sporting competitions. A huge well done to all children who took part. For a few, this was their first opportunity to represent our school.
Leeds North East Primary Schools Sportshall Athletics
Fifteen pupils from Year 4, 5 and 6, took part in this action-packed competition, at Allerton Grange, comprising of many field and track events. It’s always a well-contested event and the children competed well against other local schools.
- ‘I enjoyed everything I did. Our team was very positive.’
- ‘It was a great experience that wasn’t too competitive. I loved it!’
- ‘I enjoyed the competition because there were lots of events to choose and do.’
Thank you to Mrs Bald and Mrs Russell for taking the children to this event.
Leeds North East Primary Schools Cross Country Festival
Eighteen pupils participated in the Leeds North East Primary Schools Cross Country Festival at Cardinal Heenan. There were over 650 young people taking part in the races and over 100 pupils in each race.
A particular well done to Grace and Megan who came 7th and 10th in their Year 5 girls race. Also, children commented on the resilience of Ripley who took a fall in the mud but got himself up and then continued to overtake many other runners!
- ”I thought it was good because it was different and my mum used to do cross country too.’
- ‘It was really good because even if you don’t like running too much, like me, you still had a fun time.’
As always, we thank staff and parents who helped with these events.
School Saving Club paying in session
Our next paying in date for School Saving Club account holders is Thursday 08 December 3.15-3.45pm. If you can’t make this date, the next one will be on Thursday 02 February at 3.15-3.45pm.
Children must be accompanied to the sessions.
Alternatively, you can bring money to the office in a sealed envelope marked School Saving Club for the attention of Miss Hale.
School Saving Club accounts can still be opened. Please ask at the office for an application form.
Children who are in currently in Year 3 will have their account credited by Leeds City Council with £10 once opened.
Physical activity – the facts
In August 2016, the Government released its Childhood Obesity Strategy. This document outlines actions which will address the rising rates of childhood obesity.
Yorkshire Sport Foundation have produced the following poster with statistics and key information from the strategy.
We continue to monitor and improve our physical activity provision (see our current PE Provision Plan (pe-and-sport-premium-2016-2017) and our previous PE Provision Plan (pe-and-sport-premium-2015-2016).
STEM week
The children enjoyed taking part in different STEM activities throughout the week.
