Summer Term Highlights from Year 5

Year 5 has had a busy yet exciting term. We tried cloning plants, had our sports festival, and are eagerly looking forward to our beach trip! I was impressed by Year 5’s determination to excel at the sports festival, and I know they all thoroughly enjoyed it.

At the beginning of the term, we had a talk from some firefighters about fire safety and even got to see a fire engine! We were able to explore all the hoses and equipment hidden away in the back of the truck.

In Reading, we've been captivated by "The Boy at the Back of the Class". Everyone is eager to uncover what happens to the boy who joins a new class, and Year 5 has engaged deeply in discussing the characters' emotions and motivations.

In Mathematics, we've been learning about different types of units and how to convert them. Converting between units can be challenging, and we've focused on when to multiply or divide. Despite the difficulty, Year 5 has worked extremely hard and should be very proud of their progress. We've also explored volume and how to estimate the amount of space various objects take up in our classroom.

In Writing, we've explored poetry in all its forms and delved into its purpose and features. Year 5 has crafted some truly amazing poems of their own, experimenting with various styles and techniques. We've also ventured into narrative storytelling, incorporating vivid adjectives, descriptions, and even cliffhangers into our stories.

In Geography, we've been immersing ourselves in the study of rivers! Using our atlas skills, we've identified and located rivers on maps. We've also learned about the various features of rivers. One of the most intriguing features we've explored is the oxbow lake, and Year 5 has produced wonderful explanations on how they form. To understand why rivers don't flow in straight lines, we even created our own model river in Year 5!

In Science, Year 5 has been studying plants and attempting to clone them. We discovered that plants like strawberries, garlic, and onions can clone themselves. While our attempts to clone plants weren't entirely successful, we had a lot of fun experimenting. We've also explored reversible and irreversible changes. For example, we learned that when water evaporates into a gas, it can be condensed back into a liquid! Everyone has impressed me with their fantastic and inquisitive questions in science this term.

Year 5 has thoroughly enjoyed art this term. We've explored illustration: what it entails and how to create our own. Our journey began with studying Quentin Blake and his illustrations from "Fantastic Mr Fox" and "James and The Giant Peach". We recreated parts of his work, discussing his distinctive style. As we gained confidence, we progressed to creating our own images, gradually introducing color using different mediums. We also studied Beatrix Potter and Axel Scheffler, contrasting their styles with Quentin Blake's before crafting our own illustrations inspired by what we learned.

In History, we delved into the Industrial Revolution. This topic was entirely new to us, and it was fascinating to learn about the challenges faced by children working in factories and the dangerous tasks they undertook. We also explored the numerous inventions from that era, such as the railways, which have had a lasting impact on our lives today.

It has been a fantastic year, and I am incredibly proud of everyone's hard work and determination. I wish everyone the best for Year 6; I know they will continue to excel!