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Class 5 Spring 2

Africa topic

Geography

For our hook into learning we went used our imaginations to go on a journey to Africa. We boarded the plane and discussed what we thought we would see out of the windows whilst be travelled from the green pastures of England to the hot savannahs of Africa.

During our topic we have learnt about the four countries that make up the United Kingdom including their capital cities and key landmarks. We then researched the works seven continents and five oceans atlases. We then used this information to help plan routes for a cruise liner to follow to the west coast of Africa. We found which continent to set off from if you wanted the shortest journey and also which continent to start in if you want to cross all five oceans.

We then looked at the similarities and differences between Barnsley and a town in Africa, focusing upon human and physical features of both regions. The children then used all the information they have gathered during this topic to write postcard home Africa.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Class 5 were extremely excited that we were finally able to go on a school trip. We were able to see lots of animals that are not native to this country including giraffes, leopard, polar bears, tigers, okapi, rhino plus many more. Mrs Short’s favourite animal was the giraffe and one even came out to say hello to us!

As part of our trip we had a classroom experience where we learnt about the different animals at the wildlife park. We found out lots of interesting facts such … The children also displayed their excellent subject knowledge of animals and asked in-depth questions to further their own learning during this session.

Some members of Class 5 were extremely brave and either touched or held the snails, cockroaches and millipede. Did the cockroach hiss when you held it?

We were very lucky that managed to hear lots of talks by the rangers at the wildlife park. We were especially lucky to listen to a talk all about African animals. The information we learnt during this session helped us to include some really interesting facts in our non-chronological reports. Can you believe a Giraffe uses its long tongue to clean its nose and ears. YUK!

No trip is complete without a trip to the park.

Mrs Gough even joined in!

Every member of Class 5 who went on the trip behaved impeccably and they were a pleasure to take. Let’s see if we can squeeze another trip in before summer class 5!

Literacy

Twisted tale

At the start of term we looked at features of traditional tales and sequenced stories that we already knew.

We then gathered lots of new vocabulary to describe the big, bad wolf and used this to write a character description. Following on from this we looked at present and past tense words changing sentences written in the past tense into the present tense and vice verse. We also challenged ourselves to write some of our own sentences about fairytale characters using new vocabulary we had gathered during the session such meandered, sauntered and plodded. The children then wrote their own twisted tale. Their main character was the big, bad wolf but he was in the Golidilocks story and instead of meeting the three bears they met three new characters.

Non chronological report

We then moved onto writing a non-chronological report. The children started by looking at features of a report including a title, subheadings, captions and a glossary. After this we focused on using adjectives to describe a giraffes appearance, habitat and behaviour. The children then used this new vocabulary within their work to write sentences such as ‘The tall, gentle giraffe lives in the hot, vast plains of the savannah.’ The children also learnt about technical vocabulary, words such as environment, camouflage and herbivores, that they used to create a glossary in their final piece of writing.

Maths

Measures

At the start of the half term the children learnt how to use a measure correctly to accurately measure and draw different lengths. The children then consolidated their learning of reading scales in 2s, 5s and 10s from the previous term to accurately read the scales on measuring jugs when trying to find the capacity.

Money

In our money topic the children have identified coins, added up coins to make certain amounts and found multiple ways to make a specific amount. They have also built upon their column addition and subtraction skills to answer problems that involve finding totals and giving change.

Multiplication and Division

The children have become really confident at drawing arrays or sharing circles to solve multiplication and division problems. However, this half term we focused on using their knowledge of the 2, 5 and 10 times tables to answer problems, specifically questions from old SATS papers, to prepare them for how they will look in the summer term.

Partitioning numbers

The children found different ways to partition numbers in different ways. For example 34 partitioned in different ways could be 30+4, 20+14 or 10+24.

Statistics

In our statistics lessons the children read scales in 2s, 5s and 10s to answer questions about graphs and to create their own block graphs and pictograms.

Science

Science week

The focus for science week this year was growth. During this week we planted our own bean plants and have taken responsibility of watering them to help them to grow. Did your plant grow?

We then learnt about the life cycle of a bean, a flowering plant, and used the words seeds, germination, roots, stem and flower to discuss it.

Plants

Following on from science week we began our plants topic. In this topic we have found out the five basic needs of a plant to survive, how to identify evergreen and deciduous trees by looking closely at their leaves and then we found out how plants that don’t have flowers produce seeds. We found out that conifers produce cones that have seeds inside them. When the seeds are fully grown the woods scales of the cones open up and the seeds float through the air. However, the seeds can’t float through the air when it is raining so what to you think pine cones do to stop seeds releasing from the cube during bad weather? The children then learnt about the lifecycle of a non-flowering plant, a pine tree, and described it using the key vocabulary germination, seed, sprout, seedling, young tree and adult tree.

Religious Education

Who are the significant people of faith?

In RE this half term we have found out about the saint that our local church is named after ‘Saint John the evangelist’ and generated questions that we would like to find out about him. Father Tim then came in to school to answer all our questions about Saint John and to find out why he was so special.

We then looked at other faiths and found out about the special Kosher menu that Jewish people eat and designed our own menus. We also looked at the 10 Sikh gurus and created a diamond nine to rank them based on the impact they made win the Sikh community. We will continuing with this topic after half term and will look at the special sayings of Muhammad and Buddha and how followers use these today within the daily life. We will also look at the Hindu colour festival of holi and how it is celebrated.

Physical Education

Gymnastics

The children have been really busy learning all about balances and holding positions at different levels.

PSHE

In PSHE we have been busy learning all about the looking after ourselves. This has involved us learning about our own bodies and how to keep safe. The children then moved onto learning all about keeping safe in the wider community.

SATS

The children will be taking their SATS in May. They will be sitting the SATS papers during the w/c 16th May. The children will be sitting a Maths, Reading and Grammar paper.

What will be learning about next half term?

Credits:

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