Year 5 News 08.03.24

Our week got off to an exciting start as we began our John Muir Award! The sunshine kept us company the whole time, and it was lovely to be out in the open air. As part of our session, we walked around the moss and even went onto the moss itself! We learnt about the different types of plants and animals that can be found there too. As we walked, we heard chiffchaffs, robins and many other wonderful birds. One of our favourite parts was jumping on the moss because we could feel it bounce! It was so much fun. We also carried out an experiment to test the acidity of the water on the moss. The results showed it was very acidic! We can't wait for our next session.

It has also been a magical week. I have taught Luna Lovegood, Pippy Longstocking, Spiderman, Harry Potter and many more this week! Isn't that amazing! It's because it was World Book Day on Thursday. I want to say a huge thank you to you all (and of course the parents at home) for taking the time and effort to create your amazing costumes. You looked amazing. I would also like to say thank you for the wonderful story stones that were painted too (take a look at the picture to see them). As part of our celebrations for World Book Day, we also watched a live performance by the famous poet Michael Rosen. We laughed, we giggled and enjoyed the stories and poems. Thank you to the PTA for funding this for us.

In Maths this week, we have been learning about decimals. We have recapped our knowledge of tenths and hundredths, and we have learnt about thousandths. In English, we have been investigating our example text to identify the writers knowledge. We have also had a go at writing in a report style too. 

In our music lesson this week, we listened to a piece of 20th Century Orchestral music. The title of 'Tropical Noon' is the second of three compositions that make up Dances of the Canebrakes by Florence Price. Florence is remembered as the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra in America. She composed for orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo piano, and voice. At a time when racism and sexism were common, success meant finding inner strength and standing up to an institution that didn't want Black women to succeed. Tropical Noon has a relaxed tempo and uplifting melodies. Finding the beat proved tricky. We think it might be because the dynamic changes were quite smooth.

Carrying on with our unit 'On The Move,' we have looked at directions in our French lesson this week. We directed each other around our classroom using the commands: Allez tout droit,Tournez a gauche, tournez a droit. Finally we created a maze and wrote our directions through the maze.

In PHSE, we have discussed the legacy of Nelson Mandela. We talked about what we already knew and then looked in to the important impact he had in the fight against apartheid. We considered some quotes (below) from Mandela and asked ourselves what the quotes teach us about forgiveness and what might have happened if Nelson Mandela had left prison and started a war instead of offering forgiveness. This links to the bible reference: Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

During this week's RE lesson, we began a new unit. Our Christian concept this time is 'Salvation'. As part our our lesson, we considered what the word victory meant, and we answered the question: 'How was Jesus's death and resurrection a victory'.

On Friday, our focus was History and Art. In History, we continued to think about how the Ancient Greeks have influence our lives today. In this lesson, we focused on the Greek alphabet. Did you know that the name of our own alphabet comes from the Greek letters alpha and beta? We had a go at writing our names in Greek and translating Greek words into English. In Art, we completed our second typography lesson. This time, we have used items like lego, buttons and leaves to create lettering. 

I hope you're having a fantastic weekend, 

Miss Pennance