Maths - The problem solving was shifted to Tuesday afternoon, which allowed the children to create their own problem solving questions to be used as starters in our lessons this week and next. Everyone gave it their all and we have had some excellent questions so far.
English - Friday was our last day on the Animalium unit, with the new unit, Weslandia, starting on Monday. The children have really enjoyed this unit and their work is fantastic, with each producing a piece of work fit for the original book! These will look amazing on display. Thank you for all your hard work! Wednesday afternoon saw a special event. All of the classes took turns in placing 2p coins (plus some others) in the shape of a giant 2 on the playground. As I am sure you know, it was 2.2.22. and the classes started placing coins at twenty two minutes past two... that is a lot of 2s! Thank you to the PTA who organised this event and to the children who were respectful and careful. Have a great weekend, from Mr Pester, Mrs Bonnett, Mrs West and Ms Williams Tuesday saw a change of lessons, as Mrs Dunn took the morning slot for RE, music and French. She was so impressed with Year 5 that they earned a class certificate!
Wednesday seemed like a perfectly normal day - assembly, maths, English, history and PSHE - but there was a surprise ahead. A visit from 2 extremely fluffy rabbits. They were a little shy so Year 5 came to the front in pairs to peek at the bunnies and help make them feel comfortable. The class loved the rabbits and I am thankful to the child and parent who brought them in! And Friday. The cross country run was the main event of the afternoon and the pupils approached it with grit and gusto! Whether they walked, jogged or ran, every child did an excellent job and should be proud - I know I am! The "race" was a relay that had 6 groups of 4 Year 5's running in succession to the backdrop of cheers and shouts of support from their friends. The encouragement and willingness for the children to build each other up and help those who were struggling was a beautiful thing to see. Below are some action shots. For some reason the IPad won't let me upload the rest but I'll see what I can do. Have a great week, from Mr Pester, Mrs Bonnett, Mrs West and Ms Williams You'll be pleased to know that I am not even going to attempt poetry this week... last time seemed to be more than enough!
In English this week we have been exploring the world of sentences and phrasing, through looking at the book, Animalium - a compendium of specific animals and their near relatives. The class have been fantastic at picking out and writing their own examples of some very tricky literary techniques, such as passive and active voice, complex sentences and parenthesis. For examples of Year 5's parenthesis know-how, see the photos below. Maths has been a story of grit and determination, with the class tackling multiplication head-on, and gaining confidence with different multiplication techniques as the week progressed - culminating in Friday's multiplication and division word problem session. Each pupil did an excellent job and I could not be happier with their attitude and progress! Topic saw the continuation of the Benin Kingdom topic - and yet more acting - as we delved deeper into the bygone civilisation. Homework this week includes poster making to allow the children to develop their interest and research what they think is most important about the topic. In extra-curricular news, Lego Club continued with the children making remote and sensor-controlled vehicles - I snuck in to see the two year 5s at work. What a great week! Have a good weekend, Mr Pester And so we reach the end of the term - Christmas around the corner; ready to say hello to 2022... but there was work still left to do!
Maths Area and perimeter - our last of the year. A test nearly caused panic, but the class did not fear, Their drive and hard work came to the fore, And each was rewarded, with a very good score. English Reaching Monday with the write-up not done We need to get it finished before all the fun! Beautiful stories. They'd make Kipling proud, If you have a chance to read them I'm sure you'll be wowed. Friday Finish off the sewing - some wonderful trees! Out for a game of dodgeball - a few scuffed knees. Christingle service - how nice to be together, Singing and smiling - hooray for the weather! Now maybe my poem is a little contrived, But that's all I can muster, sat here in Year 5. It's been a lovely week, and an excellent term, We'll see you in January - there's much more to learn! Merry Christmas everyone! Mr Pester Photos below: finishing of 'Just So' stories; Christmas sewing with Mrs Bonnett and Mrs West; Christingle service with year 5's '12 Days of Christmas' posters. Well, it has been a long and hard week for the children of Year 5 but here we are at the end of it, with Christmas on the horizon. This week has been jam-packed with assessments, starting with spelling on Monday, then maths assessments on Tuesday and Wednesday, ending with a reading paper yesterday. The class were not deterred, and faced the challenges with optimism and a positive attitude - they have all done themselves proud, and myself and all of the Year 5 staff are proud of them too - well done everyone!
Friday was left free of assessment to give the class a nice end to the week - with problem solving Friday being a big hit as always! They worked through some tricky questions in teams and had fun along the way (photos are below). The Christmas hamper is continuing to grow, and is looking splendid - who knew that so many tasty and exciting things were purple? We have done a fantastic job of selling raffle tickets and I am looking forward to finding out which lucky person will win our hamper. The deadline for hamper money and ticket return is Monday, so there is still some time to frantically sell over the weekend if you have any tickets left! Next week we will finish the 'Just So Stories' unit of English, and I am very much looking forward to reading the children's finished pieces. Afternoons will be increasingly reserved for Christmas activities as the excitement builds for the festive period! Thank you for your hard work this week and have a good weekend, Mr Pester I will begin with an apology for the lack of a blog post last week. As such, this will be a bumper edition. Last week was bookended with science! On Monday afternoon, the children began their 'slippy shoe' experiment report, laying the groundwork for the next lesson by thinking of their own hypotheses to explain what they think will happen when a shoe is dragged across a variety of surfaces at a variety of different angles. What they were all waiting for happened on that Friday though - the experiment! Working in groups, the class excelled at measuring the force taken to move the shoes and showed fantastic teamwork to complete the task - well done everyone! Art this week led to some very sticky situations - glue, glue and more glue, as the class were tasked with testing their pottery designs by making models using PVA and newspaper. Some designs looked more like pots or vases than others, but all had a great time experimenting and creating (it is much harder than it sounds). The last two weeks have seen the start of a new English unit based upon Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So Stories'. The class now know the stories inside out. On Thursday and Friday, we began planning for our own animal-based story, and the ideas so far have been imaginative, funny and creative. I am really looking forward to seeing the finished pieces. So here we are at the end of another week - and what a week it has been!
English this week has been full of rhyme and rhythm, simile and metaphor, personification and contemplation - poems were been created. The class have all made their own poems about our walk to Cosdon Beacon, some as a team with Mrs Bonnett, some writing independently (with a sprinkle of help), and some, who sadly couldn't make it to the walk, have written their own poems about their family walks. Each pupil has done an excellent job and I can't wait to see them decorated and on display. Well done Year 5! Maths has been a challenge, with multiplication and division being a tough nut to crack. The resilience and attitude the pupils have shown has been fantastic and I could not be happier with how they have approached this new unit. Then we reach the elephant in the room, Friday's pyjama extravaganza to raise money for Children In Need! The children had a great, slightly more relaxed day, beginning with a Joe Wicks led workout plus stickers to be awarded (everyone got themselves a sticker). We had another problem solving Friday in maths before we ventured into the world of Magdelene Odundo for art, ending with golden time and the first whole-school assembly in the hall in a long while. What a fantastic week, I think year 5 have earned themselves a good rest over the weekend! Mr Pester On Monday, the school had some special visitors. A wandering team of scientists and social workers from Exeter University came to each class to teach us more about COP26 and climate change.
Last week, we began a new English topic based on, 'Where My Wellies Take Me...' by Clare and Michael Morpurgo. The story book began as a collection of poems about the countryside, loosely based on Clare's childhood walks in and around the village of Iddesleigh. The story of a walk, taken by the character Pippa and written by Michael Morpurgo, links the poems together. Illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill help bring the story to life. We went for our own local walk on Friday, up to the top of Cosdon Beacon, with a Dartmoor Ranger. On the way we looked at the countryside around us, learning about trees, animals and the formation of the beacon itself. Here are some photographs from our day: |
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