Class Gallery
World Book Day Dioramas
As part of our World Book Day celebrations, which focused on ourselves as readers and what each of us loves about books, we made a diorama based on a specific book, series or genre. Each of us had a cardboard box and we were able to use any art resource we wanted to show the book. It was really fun to be creative and to show our love of a book or genre by creating the setting, characters or recreating a scene.
Considering a Text's Atmosphere
To introduce our stimulus for writing this term, The Watertower by Gary Crew, and help us begin to build an understanding of the book's atmosphere, we took part in a carousel of activities in English. To start, we closed our eyes and listened to a video where we could hear water dripping slowly and echoing before discussing what we thought the setting could be and how it made us feel and why. We then looked at images of murky water with tendrils of weed and added this to the mind map we started after the video. Before Mrs L-R revealed the cover and we explored that, we also had the chance to be brave and put our hands in a box to feel an object inside which was linked to the book. We weren't allowed to see the object so we had to use our imagination and describe it effectively- most people used adjectives like slimy, cold, wet and slippery. Although it was only sheets of cold lasagne, it felt like weeds!
Making Electrical Circuits
In Science this term, we're learning about electricity and expanding on what we learnt in Year 4. To start, Mrs L-R challenged us to build circuits so we could light up a bulb, make a buzzer sound or power a motor. We had to consider what we'd need in the circuit and make sure that the circuit was a complete loop.
Oxford Castle Trip
To end our History learning on crime and punishment through the ages, we had a trip to Oxford Castle and Prison which was once one of the most infamous prisons in the country. We travelled on the public bus, which was a new experience for some of us, to Oxford where we walked to the castle. Our trip started with us considering crimes and their punishments at four different times in history before we had a workshop. During the workshop, we were able to pick up real objects from the past such as police batons and handcuffs, pick oakum and learn about criminals who had spent time in Oxford Prison. After lunch, we had a chance to tour the Castle: we climbed the 101 Norman steps of St George's tower, explored some of the cells and learnt about the people who were imprisoned in them, and even went down into the crypt! Don't worry- no one was left locked in the stocks or pillory!
Maths Manipulatives
We've been learning about ratio and algebra in maths which can be quite tricky to understand. We used double-sided counters to make different ratios and help us understand how ratio compares amounts and used multilink cubes to represent unknown amounts in algebra. Using manipulatives helped us to understand our learning better.
Using Drama
To help us with our writing, we used drama to put ourselves in the shoes of different characters from Alfred Noyes' poem, The Highwayman. We wrote questions we could ask the three main characters then took it in turns to hotseat each other and imagine how the character would answer. It was really fun and helped us think carefully about the characters, their thoughts and motivations.
Roman Curse Tablets
We explored crime and punishment in Roman Britain including learning that people could be sentenced to death by crucifixion, drowning or being thrown off a cliff! We learnt that there was no police force in Roman Britain and so criminals were often not caught and got away with their crimes which lead to people seeking justice by creating curse tablets. On these, citizens asked the gods to seek justice for them instead. We had a great time creating our own tablets out of clay to seek help for fictional crimes like stealing our sheep!
Heart Dissection
At the end of our science unit, Mrs L-R dissected two lamb hearts for us. We were able to see the aorta, different veins and arteries, inside the ventricles and valves. Once we'd put on an apron and gloves, we were also able to hold the hearts, feel how thick the walls were and even put our finger through the aorta!
Becoming The Circulatory System
To help us visualise the circulatory system, we went outside and became it! Some of us were organs such as the heart and the lungs while some were veins and arteries. The rest of us pretended to be red blood cells and transported "oxygen" (tennis balls) around the body.
Fractions Museum
To start our fractions unit, we created a Fractions Museum! We used different maths manipulatives to represent fractions including equivalent and improper ones.
Make Do and Mend
As part of our World War 2 learning this term, we had a D&T day where we completed a Make Do and Mend project in which we reused an old piece of clothing or fabric. We received the design brief to create a soft toy for a child with a button repurposed, looked at examples and practised both running and blanket stitch. We then designed our own soft toy, choosing which fabric to reuse, stitches and how we'd repurpose at least one button. Then, it was time to sew! It took us quite a long time to complete our soft toys and a lot of resilience but everyone worked really hard and made something they should feel proud of.
Making Ration Cookies
We learnt about rationing in World War 2 and how it impacted the lives of people in Britain. As part of our lesson, we followed a ration recipe to make carrot cookies. You can tell from the photos that some of us thought they tasted better than others!
Shadow Puppet Theatres
In Science, we've been learning about light and how shadows are formed. We discussed how shadows are created by an opaque object blocking a light source so there is no light to reflect off an object. Using white paper, which is translucent, and black card, which is opaque, we made shadow puppets and created shadow puppet theatres for others to watch.
PGL
Making Anderson Shelter Models
As part of our learning on how World War 2 impacted the lives of people in Britain, we learnt about the Blitz. We discussed how towns and cities were targeted, and why, and how it affected people's everyday life including how some people had to use Anderson shelters. We then built model Anderson shelters using different materials.