Class Blog

3. 4.2020

The past two weeks have been extremely difficult for everyone, but I am so pleased to see how well the children respond to the tasks I set them on Seesaw and their dedication to their learning is commendable. 

Here are some of the examples of work we have been doing:

10 days of Gratitude

In times like these, it is extremely important to realise all the blessings and positivity in our lives so I set the pupils a challenge. Each day, they were given a template of something to be grateful for - one day, it could have been someone important in their lives, another day a book that has had a positive impact on their life. Here are some of their fantastic answers:

Reading challenge

Reading is something that is so so important; not only for the improved focus and concentration but also because of the vocabulary expansion, memory improvement, stress reduction and stronger analytical thinking skills! Plus it is fun! (and it gives the parents a bit of quiet time in these social distancing times!)

The challenge was simple - take a funny/interesting/most original picture of yourself reading and share it with me. Here are some of the best ones: 

Friday 20th March 
We decided to spend the last day in school before the closure by celebrating nature, art and creativity, therefore the printing inks got taken out of the cupboard, the aprons went on, hair tied back and here we go, William Morris!

The children experimented with different colors and produced 4 prints each, evaluating the effectiveness of each print and their tile  and identifying possible improvements. 

What a fantastic day we had!

Friday 13th March 

We continued our research of William Morris and his prints during our art lessons, when the pupils brought their own plants to get inspired by in order to design and create their own printing block.

We discussed what can we learn from William Morris and his to observe certain lines and shapes in order to create a simplified printing block out of polystyrene. In Year 3, the pupils make printing blocks by making impressions in the tile with a pencil or a pen, so as a clear progression, in Year 5, the pupils deconstruct the shapes to assemble their own tile.
 

Once the tiles are dry, we will be experimenting with backgrounds of different colors and different printing inks.

This week, we have started to look at inclusive games and one of those is curling. How lucky are we in Cronton to own a set!
 

The children wanted to compete boys against girls, so  obviously, I joined them! Look at the team effort and encouragement!

6.3.2020

What a busy time we've had since our return to school after the half term! The children worked very hard the previous week when I was away in Tanzania for our Connecting Classrooms project. 

This week, we started our new computing topic : Augmented reality games. On Monday, the pupils' coloring pages have been brought to life through Quiver, a free app. Check out the photos! 

We also celebrated World Book Day on Thursday and the children's enthusiasm and efforts to promote reading by showing off costumes and the colors of Tanzanian flag were commendable. We read Water Princess, a book based in West Africa, tried to guess a mystery book and played Heads Up with  literary characters!

7.2.2020

This week has been extremely busy for Year 5 -  a lot of designing, creating and modelling taking place across the curriculum!

We started off the week with a bang! on Monday during our catapult testing session. For videos, scroll down! The winning team were The Golden Girls, whose team work, detailed design and successful creation scored them the most points. Despite this being a competition, it was great to see how the children immersed themselves into the process and how they had fun while learning.

Our team working week continued on Tuesday during Science lesson. This half term, we have been exploring the Space and our planet Earth and the children were presented with a task of creating a functioning model, which would be a true representation of how day and night occur while using the idea of Earth's rotation. I was surprised with how many different ways the children came up with and it was great to hear them use the correct scientific vocabulary (rotation, orbiting, axis) when describing their models. As a class, we then discussed together how could we have made the models more accurate and what kind of limitations we faced.

What a fabulous lesson! 

Finally, cardboard mayhem continued on Friday afternoon. In DT, we have been investigating cams and how cam toys work. Today,  after weeks of research, investigation and exploring, the children designed their cam toys with a link to the Greek myths and legends. Once designed, the main characters of the toys started taking shape and there was Zeus, Pegasus, Hephaestus and Aphrodite on a swan in every corner. I cannot wait to share with you the final creations! 

So overall, very busy week indeed. One more week to go and then it is half term and Tanzania trip! 

27.1.2020

Today, the children tackled their first Battle of the Genders challenge - the Catapult in our Computing STEM lessons! Using their ipads to record the whole process and team work and solving obstacles along the way, they have all produced more or less working catapults and in the next lesson, we  will be testing their aim at a target in trials. I will be assessing the team work, design, versatility and creative problem solving and each group will receive certain points, which will contribute to the  Girls vs Boys score board. 
Interestingly, we also discussed if it is OK to have boys vs girls challenges (it's good to see our Connecting Classrooms lessons about gender equality are embedding into the children's thinking) and we all agreed it is actually nice to have a healthy level of competitiveness! 

We  wait to see how well will the catapults do in the trials!

20.12.2019

Look at our Christian Values Champions as voted for in the class! They lived the value of Justice every day and it has been recognized by their peers. Well done! 

What a blast we had! The children all came in dressed in their best party clothes and with beautiful hairstyles! 

We danced the afternoon away, played Four corners, Pass the parcel and Chocolate. In class, the children had crackers, finger food and there was even time for some Christmas karaoke. 🎁🎄🤩

6.12.2019

On Friday, children had a chance to put in use all of their learning about the Geology of the Earth by exploring what happens when vinegar mixes with bicarbonate of soda and which variables will stay the same and which ones will be changing. They also discussed which factors could impact the test results, and they recorded their findings in a chart. What a fantastic way to try and see if they can record the data accurately and repeat their readings! So good to see our Keys Curriculum in action!

27.11.2019

On Wednesday, we have been working with Miss Galluzzo, using the scientific enquiry of modelling. Using plastic bottles, gravel and water, we simulated tsunamis and measured the impact the tremors could have. 

The children then had to put conclusion in their books; drawing on their experience and results of the tests conducted.

26.11.2019

On Tuesday, we had a very informative visit from Brian Souter from Debtaware (http://www.debtaware.org/about-debtaware/). Mr Souter came in to talk to the children about the difference between 'wants' and 'needs', how that can be different for everyone and if it is ok to be in debt. The children's participation was fantastic and I got a lovely email from Mr Souter thanking us and saying how much he enjoyed his time in Year 5. 

Well done, children! 

Gymnastics 22.11.2019

The children practised a variety of ways to travel and jump and prepared performances in groups. The other children then had to identify as many ways of travelling and jumping as possible and suggest areas for further development. I cannot wait for the next lesson to see how they will improve the existing routines! 

What a fabulous class worship about justice we had! The children all remembered their parts, they sang beautifully and inspired everyone to try and make the world a more just and fair place. 

I couldn't be prouder and I know many parents felt touched and moved by the children's efforts. 

Well done Year 5!

15.11.2019

Today, we have been continuing our map skills by looking closely at North America. The children investigated the countries of North America, the island countries and some of the most famous landmarks and where those are. 

Their levels of engagement and hunger for knowledge was commended by one of our school governors, who came in to see how is our new KEYS curriculum embedded in our foundation subjects lessons. 

Do you know which city is directly on border between Mexico and the USA? Which European country has a territory in North America? Which countries are island countries? 

6.11.2019

In science, we have started a new topic Geology of the Earth. To help the children with their learning about the different layers of the Earth, Miss Galluzzo has prepared a LOT of play dough and the pupils used the scientific enquiry of modeling to simulate the Earth's layers. 

It was really good seeing the cross curriculum links with geography and the children had a chance to recap their knowledge of the continents and oceans before we start our geography topic! 

5. 11. 2019

What a fabulous trip we had today to the World Museum in Liverpool! 

Not only could the children consolidate their learning of the Ancient Egypt, but we also got a chance to peek into our future learning by visiting the planetarium and even seeing the dinosaurs, bug houses and aquarium. 

The children were so well behaved, that they all got to go up on the stage during 'Meet the Mummy' workshop and have a go at embalming the 'body', which does not usually happen! 

Their excellent representation of Cronton CE continued so the adults decided we would use the time we had before the coach to see whichever floor the children would like to (turns out it was all of them:)).

Unsurprisingly, the children were able to recall many key knowledge and facts from our learning of the way of life in the Ancient Egypt. Their faces lit up every time they spotted something they saw during our lessons and it was fantastic being 'dragged' by them to the different display windows so that they could tell me all about it - I could not be prouder as a teacher. 

I am sure you will hear all about it from them - just ask them to describe the photos! 

Well done Year 5, what a brilliant day we had consolidating our learning! 

Many thanks to Mrs Allison who booked all the sessions and coach and Miss Galluzzo who accompanied us. 

Miss Rogers

24. 10. 2019

This week, we have started a new topic in English: poetic poetry. So far, we have looked at the poems of Walt Whitman, Jaroslav Seifert and Pie Corbett and analyzed the language they use, style of the poems and subject. Three children were able to discuss how the poets used repetition and figures of speech for effect and what kind of response it caused in them as the readers. 

To further enhance our learning about the Ancient Egyptians and their civilisation, we have been researching containers and their uses in Design and Technology. After having created a model out of paper and taking measurements, designing our own canopic jar and thinking about the tools used to decorate them, we have finally made them today.

What can I say. Clay. 30 children. Coils. Mud. Water. Bin bags. 😂 To be perfectly honest, the children in Year 5 were fantastic and the way the persevered even when their whole creation crumbled was commendable. I have been very pleased with the way the adjusted their technique and amended their planned design in accordance with the medium and tools used. This level of flexibility and thinking on their feet is something that is extremely valuable. Well done Year  5! 

This half term, we have been looking at physical and chemical changes in Science. The children carried out a series of fair test, discussing how they could improve their tests and accuracy and determined best way of separating materials. 

We will now be sending home the children's KEYS books for them to revise their knowledge. See if you can test them (or they can test you!:)).

11.10.2019

First item on the Blog!

Wow! So, finally, we have our new website. As the time goes, I will be able to add photos and more information on here so that you can chat to your children about their week and ask them what they have been up to. 

At the same time, it will serve as a little exhibition of the children's work and photos from the lessons, which would otherwise not make it on Twitter etc. 

If you have not done so, make sure you follow us on Twitter. Usually, that is the place for little updates, praising of the children's work and examples of their work from their books. 

In school, we check out Twitter page together. We do this to model to the children how to safely use social media. With your supervision, they can upload photos of themselves continuing their learning at home, photos of places they visited or maybe a funny moment from the weekend. They love showing their friends in the school when we look at it as a class!