Class 5

This term our theme is ANCIENT EGYPT

For this fabulous theme Year 5 have already started researching aspects of Egyptian life and will use i-movie, animation techniques and green-screening to make a short film. They are writing newspaper reports about discovering Egyptian tombs and letters and diaries imagining daily life in Ancient Egypt. They will report on their investigations into artefacts and mummification at Birmingham Museum and re-tell the stories of the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. They also plan to write poetry inspired by Egyptian scenery and stories and have an exiting visit to Hay planned where they will learn some top tips from authors.

For maths Y5 will investigate and make pyramids and other 3D shapes, using nets and mathematical formulae. They will calculate, using Egyptian methods of multiplication and our own knowledge of times tables. The children will measure and learn about ratio and proportion to make models of Egyptian structures and collect and present data about the growth of their herb plants.

They have already started making a close study of the history of Ancient Egypt, including its impact on our lives today and have studied the lives of the Ancient Egyptians, including royalty, citizens, food, agriculture, work, communication, warfare, customs and settlements. They have also compare dour geography to that of Egypt, focusing on the River Nile, features of deserts and climate and they plan to expand their geographical knowledge of the hemispheres, tropics, continents and poles so that they can piece together how our world is made up.

Y5 will consolidate vocabulary and structures in Japanese so that we can ask questions, express ourselves and understand more complex sentences and learn to write some basic words in Japanese hiragana and kanji;. They will also further their understanding of Japanese culture by creating, learning and performing a play based on a traditional tale.

Y5 children will further their understanding of Christian values and other world religions, focusing on Islam. y will debate and discuss world news topics and ethical questions that have no universally agreed answers, using First News (a weekly newspaper designed for children) to help us keep up-to-date. Of course, the children will continue their focus on politics from the Autumn term, using their knowledge to follow the general election on June 8th.

Y5 art work is really impressive! The children have created amazing self-portraits using photographs and Egyptian embellishments in mixed media and have used clay to make Egyptian artefacts. The class aim to make a shadow clock inspired by original Egyptian versions. They will also make cartouches using hieroglyphics and link design with science in their work on pulleys and levers.

Great theme Year 5, well done for all your hard work.

Year 5 visited Barton Hill Farm in Kentchurch on Wednesday 15th March for Lambing Live, following in Reception Class's footprints. A big thank you to the farmer, Bill Quan, who makes this amazing opportunity available to schools every year!

We started out in the barn, learning about how the farm works and getting an idea of what life is like for a farmer. Class 5 had a lot of questions for Farmer Bill, especially about the profits and costs of running a busy farm. We were interested to learn about all of the crops that the farm produces, including potatoes, wheat and peas (as well as lambs!). We then moved to the lambing shed, where we found out a lot more about this special time of year - the impact on the farm and the ways that farmers ensure the ewes have healthy births. Class 5 loved the hands-on part of the visit, which included holding and feeding the lambs!

Next, we went for a walk in the spring sunshine, down to the stream and the woods to learn how to identify the trees that grow on the farm. We ended up back in the lambing shed. We weren't lucky enough to witness a live birth on this visit, but it was wonderful to see the lambs that had been born earlier in the morning. Our improved understanding of life-cycles of animals will form the starting point for our science next term, when we will be focusing on this topic, and including the life-cycle of humans.

Class 5 enjoyed a wonderful curriculum visit to London in January, taking in the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Houses of Parliament. At the Science Museum, we met Sir Isaac Newton for a demonstration of his discoveries about gravity, then spent a full afternoon in the Wonderlab, which is an area filled with hands-on scientific activities. We managed to get ourselves into two workshops where we witnessed fire, explosions and close-up demonstrations of the effects of forces!

At the Victoria and Albert Museum the next day, we enjoyed a guided visit around the Middle East section of the gallery, exploring  pattern and tessellation in Islamic Art, then finishing with a look at the work of William Morris who was so inspired by these artworks.

Our visit to London continued with a tour around the Houses of Parliament, where we were able to see a debate in the House of Commons (to do with train company performances) and participate fully in a workshop about how democracy works in the UK. Well done to Charlie and Bethan for leading their parties during the discussions!

To bring our visit to a suitably celebratory conclusion, we then dined at Pizza Express on the riverbank, before heading home to Madley.

Class 5 were complimented throughout the visit on their excellent learning behaviour and manners. We are very proud of all of the children for making the visit such a resounding success!

Year 5 spent the day at the Hay Festival on 26th May, meeting authors, illustrators, an animator and actors. We started our day with Curtis Jobling, who created Bob the Builder and worked in the animation industry for many years before writing fiction for children. He showed us some of his latest animation work for Nickelodeon as well as drawing the Bob the Builder characters for us. He then introduced us to his fiction, reading from 'Max Helsing - Monster Hunter' and describing some of the vampires, ghouls and gargoyles in Max's world.

Next, we found out about 'The Boy in the Globe' with the author, Tony Bradman - a book about a boy who meets William Shakespeare. This was accompanied by live drawing from the illustrator, Tom Morgan-Jones, and we all drew William Shakespeare along with him!

After a picnic lunch on the grass, we then were lucky enough to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company on A Midsummer Night's Dream, a workshop which really brought the play to life for us. Taking a small starring role were our own James and Rory, who got up on stage to throw Shakespearean curses at each other in character as Oberon and Titania.

An absolutely fantastic and inspirational day!