Year 5 (CLASSes 14 & 15) - 2020/21

Chapter 7…

Linked to our topic ‘The Mysterious Maya’ we have been reading ‘The Curse of the Maya in English. We paused at the end of chapter 6 to continue the story ourselves. Here are some examples, telling of what happened to the adventure-seeking trio in chapter 7…

Mayan Masks

We are reading The Curse of the Maya in English, the beginning of the story tells of a Mayan mask being discovered by a team of archaeologists.

We carried out research around Mayan masks and magpied ideas, which we then used to design our own. Watch this space to see our ideas brought to life, but for now here are  some of our super designs.

Surviving Everest

After writing application letters to join Al Sylvester on his next expedition to Mount Everest, we have written survival guides for those brave enough to take on the challenge. We researched the risks and dangers of such an ambitious climb and included these in our guides.

Expedition Everest

During an exciting ‘Zoom’ with mountain rescue royalty, Al Sylvester, he told us he is planning an exciting expedition to climb Everest. We were so inspired by his stories that we have written application letters to persuade him to recruit us as crew members.

Here are some fantastic examples.

You Must be Joking!

Comic Relief  is all about doing something funny to raise money! As this year's theme is 'Share A Smile'  we enjoyed sharing jokes to make each other smile and laugh.

 Layla’s joke was voted as favourite in class 14, and Romeo’s in class 15. These were displayed on posters so that others could have a little giggle too.

We also created ‘fortune tellers’ loaded with some great jokes to share with our families.

Friendship

Friendship is something we often think and talk about in year 5. We have been discussing what makes a great friend and how important friendship can be. Supporting each other through challenging times and being there to celebrate the good times together, has a real positive impact on our wellbeing.

We used looms to make beautiful friendship bracelets, we have them to a friend to show that we care for them and to let them know we appreciate the care they show for us.

Mythical Beasts and where to find them

Reading ‘How to train your Dragon’ left us intrigued about these impressive creatures. While we are not able to catch our own dragon to train, we did create our very own mythical beasts, and have written information texts telling all about them. Here are some fantastic examples.

Northern Saints

In RE, we are learning about the Northern Saints and their influence on Christians today. We created  ‘Saint Book’ pages for  St Bede, who we discovered was born right here in Sunderland!

We created fact sheets about St Cuthbert after watching a video, that told the story of his life and how his remains came to be in County Durham.

Rugby stars

We are lucky enough to have a talented rugby coach working with us in PE. So far, we have developed skills around throwing and catching a ruby ball, and moving around a space while dodging others to avoid having our tags taken. We are looking forward to developing our skills further in the coming weeks.

This is me!

We are loving being back in our classrooms for a new school year and are adapting well to our new routines. We have been working hard on our ‘This is Me’ mini topic, which has helped us get to know more about one another and recognise the qualities we each have. We have also worked on understanding our feelings which has been particularly useful in these unusual times.

Raiders and Invaders

As an exciting introduction to our  ‘Raiders and Invaders’ topic we welcomed Richard Stevenson, who is also known as ‘That History Bloke’, into our classrooms. We took part in an brilliant Viking workshop where we learnt new things and had lots of fun. We had then opportunity to handle some very interesting and unusual Viking artefacts and learn what they were used for. We children enjoyed writing our names in Viking Runes, using tablets of beeswax and a wooden stylus. Our session was rounded off with traditional game of Viking Tafl.

Year 5 - 2019/20

Mountain Rescue Royalty.

We were lucky to be visited by Al Sylvester who is  well known for his role as an RAF Mountain rescue  Service Team Leader. During his career, which spanned two decades, Al was involved in over 400 mountain rescues! He assisted casualties including a three year old boy who had gone hunting for dinosaurs up a mountain and an 81 year old gentleman who found himself in a sticky situation.

We carried out our very own search and rescue operation (Operation Chocolate Eclair.) Team work was key to our success in searching for the sweets and discovering, and rescuing our casualty. First aid was given and a rope stretcher was used to carry the injured party to a safe location.

The wind in the mountains can be harsh and bitterly cold, we had the opportunity to build shelters that would protect us from the elements, and hopefully save us from hypothermia or even frost bite!

This was a unique and exciting learning opportunity which we all enjoyed greatly.

Sporting Stars!

This week some of  us took part in a dodgeball tournament at Silksworth Sports  Complex along with other local primary schools.

We had lots of fun taking part  and although we didn’t win on this occasion we demonstrated  great resilience and true sportsmanship.

Do you know your Dragons?!

In English we have been reading ‘How to Train your Dragon’, which fits in nicely with our Vikings topic. We have read about and researched various species (who knew there were so many!) We then used the information to write non-chronological reports and some of us even used a combination of characteristics from several dragons to create our very own species. Here are some fiercely fabulous examples.

Out of this World!

Our Science topic this half-term is Space and we have been learning about the planets that make up our Solar System. In class, we have created cosmic posters that show the order of the planets from the sun. We discovered that there actually used to be nine planets, however, poor Pluto was deemed to be too small to be counted and is now classed as a dwarf planet. We have also had some spectacular homework this half term that is now on display in our classrooms! Here are some shining examples.

Viking Feast! 

The Vikings are coming and they’re hungry! Luckily we have chefs in our classroom each week who are teaching us about some Viking favourites and how to prepare them. Fish and seafood was on the menu this week. They demonstrated how to fillet a mackerel, and some of us helped to prepare mussels and langoustines. A few of us were a little apprehensive about trying new things but we found that we actually really enjoyed them. We can’t wait to see what will be served up for us next!

Fantastic Gymnastics!

We are lucky enough to have a gymnastics coach working with us this half-term. We have been learning some tricky balances, including symmetrical, asymmetrical and counter balances with a partner. We then introduced rolls into our sequences and performed them for the class. We look forward to developing our skills further and learning new ones along the way. These photos show how far we have come already.