23 June 2023
- stable
- structure
- design
- evaluate
- process
- base
- cycle
- healthy
The children will be tested on these words next Friday 30th June.
Please encourage your child to try practise the words by putting their words in a sentence using our handwriting guide. Also, look at the spelling activities guide for some ideas to practise these words.
Junior aquathon finisher
There has been another great sporting achievement from one of our Y5 friends.
Last week, they took part in the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon club’s junior aquathlon at Leeds University campus. This involved a 150m swim and a 1200m run.
We are biologists
This half-term, we’re biologists, learning specifically about plants.
Here’s a list of key words that we’ve been learning as part of our topic.
seed: the part of a plant which can grow into a new plant
bulbs: the round underground part of a plant that contains food for the plant (eg onion bulb, daffodil bulb, tulip bulb)
basic needs: the things that a plant needs to live
temperature: a measurement of how hot or cold something is
growth: an increase in size
healthy: feeling well and happy
germinate: when a seed begins to grow into a plant
seedling: a young plant grown from a seed
Throughout this learning, we have been carrying two investigations.
How do bulbs grow? What do plants need to help them grow?
We put some onion bulbs in different conditions and observed the changes over time.
Ask your child to explain what had happened.
What do seeds need to germinate?
After observing and comparing different seeds, we planted seeds in different locations (and therefore different conditions). All the plants were given water.
Week 1
After one week, this is what had happened. The seeds had germinated in two out of the three locations. Even though the seedlings had started to grow in the cupboard and the classroom, they looked different and we observed these differences.
After two weeks, we were surprised to see that the seeds in the fridge had started to germinate. There were only small seedlings and they looked pale and not very healthy. The seedlings in the classroom on the window sill were definitely looking the healthiest with lots of dark green leaves.
We’ve also noticed a change in the tree in the front playground. How has it changed?
Help at home this week, the children have taken home their own planted sunflower seed to look after. Read the instructions to help the plant to grow as best as it can. We’d love to see how the plants are getting on!
History – Heroes!
We are really enjoying our History topic this half term all about real life heroes! We have been studying Nelson Mandela and Leonora Cohen and how they changed the world by fighting for what they believed in.
We have learnt lots of facts about both people. Try asking your child about Nelson Mandela or Leonora Cohen so they can show off what they know! I have been very impressed at how well the children have understood the ideas we have been talking about.
In this week’s lesson, we learnt about how Leonora Cohen protested for women to have the right to vote. We learnt she went to the Tower of London and threw an iron bar at a glass cabinet containing the Crown Jewels. We discussed whether this was the right thing to do or not. After we had discussed this, we got into small groups and acted out the incident, thinking carefully about how Leonora would have been feeling before, during and after the event.
Help at home by talking to your children about what they have learnt, including the vocabulary which has been sent home on today’s homework sheet.
Coronation Celebration
On Friday, we celebrated the coronation by coming to school in red, white and blue. At lunchtime, we had an indoor picnic and afterwards we had an assembly all about our new King. In class, we then created a college of King Charles III using images that represented London.
Living and Learning: Health and Prevention
Over the past two weeks, in Living and Learning lessons, the children have been looking at the importance of hygiene (especially handwashing) and the importance of sleep.
We defined hygiene and talked about several different ways we could make sure our hygiene was good. A few responses were: showering, brushing teeth and washing hands. Afterwards, we focussed on why we need to keep our hands clean (to prevent the spread of germs) and how to keep them clean. We also found out some very interesting facts about germs: did you know that if one million micro-organisms were packed right next to each other they would only cover a pin head in size? Did you know there are more microbes (good and bad) on one person’s hand than people on the planet!
Furthermore, we discussed how sleep has a variety of benefits. These being an improvement in memory; decision making; concentration and mood; immune system; and growth and repair. We learnt that a child aged 10 should be getting about 10 hours of sleep every night!
Help at home: Learn the handwashing soap and sanitiser song and put those actions into practice!
Or try some of our top tips to get a better night’s sleep:
- breathing exercises to slow down your heart rate;
- writing down worries in a diary;
- thinking of good things that have happened that day;
- talking to someone you can trust.
Latin: Acting and Adverbs
In Latin, we read, translated and acted out a comic strip (see below) about life before the Romans conquered Britain. We also discussed adverbs in both English and Latin. Take a look at our great work:
Help at home: Identify the adverbs in the story, what three letters do they end in?
Science: We are biologists.
This half term, we are biologists. Biology is the study of living things.
In this week’s lesson, we dissected a flower called Alstroemeria. We labelled the different parts and discussed which of them make up the male and female reproductive systems. Have a look at our work:
Help at home: Label the different parts of the flower. Describe the process of pollination or plant fertilisation.
Science: A sticky experiment!
In Science this week, the children planned and created their own glue. The children decided on their variables and then completed the experiment.
This type of scientific enquiry was comparative and fair testing.
We then put our glues to the test! The children added pegs to their pieces of paper which were stuck together using their glue. The glue that held the most pegs was the stickiest. In conclusion, we found out that flour and sugar were the stickiest substances.
Afterwards, the children went on to reflect on their experiment and decided what they would do differently next time. Some responses were: adding more glue between the pieces of paper; changing the amount of substance so it made the glue thicker and trying to add the pegs when the glue was still drying.
Smart Money Award 2023
Today, we welcomed Nicola and Linda from HSBC to our whole school assembly to present us with our Smart Money Award 2023.
This is awarded for financial education lessons which took place in school for all classes last summer as part of our Living and Learning curriculum.
Nicola combined this visit with some more financial education for the children.
