Design and Technology: Design Criteria
This half term, we are designers. Year 5 learnt about design criteria. Design criteria is ‘the precise features a product must have in order to be successful’. In the lesson, we looked at different items and created what we thought the design criteria would be.
Help at home: Discuss the key vocabulary for this half term.
Reading: Performing Poetry
This week, we’ve been reading a poem called ‘Photograph’ by Roger Stevens.
Roger Stevens is a well-known British poet, author, and musician who has written extensively for children. He has published dozens of poetry collections, both as a solo writer and as an editor of anthologies that bring together poems from a range of voices.
Today, we performed the poem in groups! Here are the R2s:
– tone / emphasis
– vary the pace
– vary the volume
Here’s the photo I took
Last year on the beach
Dad, wearing the tie
I bought him for his birthday
Billy drinking lemonade
The straw up his nose
And Mum, huddled up in her coat
Against the seaside windNow Dad’s in France
And our beach is covered in concrete
And tangled barbed wire
And land mines
In case the Germans invadeBut on that day
We’d just made
The world’s grandest sandcastle
And watched the tide
Rush in
Filling the moat
Gradually washing
The sandcastle away
Living and Learning: Physical Health and Fitness
This week, our L&L statement is ‘I know that being physically active is mentally and physically healthy’.
We also watched a video which explained why movement was so vital to our lives – it prevents disease, helps memory and builds muscle.
We discussed lots of other ways that being active improves mental wellbeing and came up with our own. We listed some top tips for getting moving.
Help at home: What advice would you offer to this person?
A suprise!
Year 5 had a surprise visit from Miss Needham! The children were thrilled to see her. Whilst she’s back for a flying visit, she popped in to see us before she jets back off to Australia.
Brownlee Triathlon
This week, a group of our Key Stage 2 pupils took part in the Brownlee Foundation Mini Triathlon event at John Smeaton. This is always a popular and oversubscribed event and it introduces the children to the elements of triathlon – a swim, a bike ride and a run.
Well done to all the children for taking part, showing great determination and supporting each other.
If your child is interested in triathlons, please see more details in our physical activity guide or have a look at the bike and run opportunities at the Brownlee Centre.
Some children are also competing in the upcoming junior aquathlon taking place at Leeds University on 1st June. More details can be found here.
Science: A smelly experiment!
For this unit of science, we are chemists. We are currently learning about reversible and irreversible changes; this lesson was focused on irreversible changes. Irreversible means ‘when a change cannot be undone to get the same substances back again’.
In groups, the children measured the starting components – vinegar and baking powder. Next, they added them together into a bottle, with a balloon on top, to collect the gas that was created (carbon dioxide). This was an irreversible reaction. The scientific enquiry type was comparative and fair tests.
Help at home: Discuss other irreversible changes. For example, burning toast.
Reading: Refugees by Brian Bilston
This week, in Reading, we are focussing on the poem ‘Refugees’ by Brian Bilston. This poem is a palindrome. A palindrome is when a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backwards as forwards e.g. madam or nurses run.
We discussed our thoughts about the poem after reading it forwards and backwards. This poem was incredibly clever as the meaning changed depending on which way you read it.
Hadi said, “When we read it first we disliked the poem but when we read it from bottom to top I liked it.”
Nimrah said, “The poem is unfair because people had to evacuate from their countries and it wasn’t their fault. The poem read the opposite way made it seem like the poet really cared for people.”
Danny said, “When we first read the text, I found the poet unkind because he didn’t want to share things with refugees but when read the opposite way he was kind as he did actually want to share.”
Layla said, “I think the poet is clever because it doesn’t just talk about it in a bad way, it also talks about it in a good way.”
Help at home: Have a read of the poem – backwards and forwards – and discuss your thoughts.
Living and Learning: Healthy Eating
We have been looking at healthy eating in our Living and Learning lessons. This week, we have focussed on what a poor diet looks like and the consequences of this lifestyle.
The children first of all had to think about what might a unhealthy diet look like.
We then discussed what consequences there might be due to these poor diets. Help at home: Can you match the health risks to the meal plans?
The children finished off the lesson by creating a healthy meal plan, using their knowledge of the Eatwell Guide.
Maths: Line Graphs
This week in Maths, we have moved on from perimeter and area and are now looking at statistics. Last lesson, we drew line graphs. Lots of children find this very hard but we broke it down into 4 easy steps to remember.
- Draw and label the horizontal axis. (Remember the horizon is a horizontal line!)
- Draw and label the vertical axis. (Think about the intervals!)
- Plot the points.
- Draw a line to join the points USING A RULER!
Help at home: Draw a line graph and plot these points.
Reading: Class Novel
This term our class novel is ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll.
This book is about Olive and her brother, Cliff, and her sister, Sukie, who goes missing in an air raid bombing. Olive and Cliff are sent away as evacuees to live on the Devonshire coast to keep them safe. Olive must try to solve the mystery of her missing sister using a coded note she found.
We have really enjoyed this book so far and have loved being sat outside whilst we read!
Help at home: Have a discussion about with your child about what they like/dislike about the book so far. Can they summarise the text? What impression do they get of Olive/Cliff/Sukie?