We have been reading Anglo-Saxon Boy by Tony Bradman. This book was chosen to support and engage the children's understanding of the historical period. Tony Bradman met the class through Teams. The children had the opportunity to talk to and ask questions about the book and being an author. 

       

We are scientists ..

The children explored and learnt about the properties of materials.  They investigated the materials and their  properties and planned experiments to test materials eg which material would be best for a coat. 

 Term 2 we explored forces. We learnt how to identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between the moving surfaces.  We explored force meters and measured force in newtons. We looked for patterns in our experiments.

Term 5 - Year 5 are learning about ‘Changing materials’. The children carried out two experiments. The first experiment was set up for them and involved observing how quickly or slowly sugar dissolved into water, leaving a solution. They then had the task of carrying out the experiment again but changing a variable to make sure it was a fair test. Here is a list of changes the children decided on: amount of sugar, type of sugar, amount of water and temperature of water. The children recorded their observations on a table and analysed the results. Finally, they compared their predictions from the start of the experiment.

        

 

We are Geographers 

Term 2 focusses on geography and mountains. The text chosen to enhance the learning is King of The Clouds Forests by Michael Morpurgo.   

King of the Cloud Forests is a gripping and heartfelt war story. 

'Escaping from China as the Japanese invade, Ashley and Uncle Sung embark on a perilous journey across the Himalayas. Then Ashley finds himself alone in the hostile mountains, battling for his life. He is just about to give up all hope, when he has a mysterious and terrifying encounter.'  

We are authors. 

The children plan to write non-chronological reports based on mountains, poetry, persuasive argument based on caring for the planet and much more. We have had our writing published in a book. 

We are designers. 

We have been learning about structures and bridges. We learnt about arch and beam bridges and how to reinforce a beam to improve its strength. We then explored Truss bridges, building our own and refining the design and evaluating the products. 

Term 3 we are reading Curiosity Mars Rover to enhance our Science learning regarding Space. 

'Discover the incredible story of the search for life on Mars, told from the unique perspective of Curiosity, the Mars Rover sent to explore the red planet. Markus Motum's stylish illustrations and diagrams reveal how a robot travelled 350,000,000 miles to explore a planet where no human has ever been' 

Curiosity Mars Rover   read along. 

We are mathematicians. We have been learning how to find equivalent fractions/ add and subtract fractions with different denominators. We also enjoyed fun maths activities on Number Day in February! 

        

We are reading Journey to the River Sea. An Amazon adventure set in the lush nature of Brazil, Journey to the River Sea is filled with mystery and extraordinary characters.

Maia, an orphan, can't wait to reach her distant relatives a thousand miles up the Amazon. She imagines a loving family with whom she will share great adventures. Instead she finds two spiteful cousins who see the jungle as the enemy and refuse to go outdoors. But the wonders of the rainforest more than make up for the hideous twins and their parents.

And when Maia meets a mysterious boy who lives alone on the wild river shores, she begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary and beautiful new world.

Term 5 we are quickly reading The Chocolate Tree, The Chocolate Tree Read aloud. 

This book is A Mayan Folktale and we will use this to enhance our learning in Geography and write our own folktales. 

Term 6 the children are focussing on their Geography topic London Vs Lydney: How does Lydney compare to London? They have been reading the London Eye Mystery for pleasure last term and will continue this book to enrich their learning. An exciting trip to London is in the planning. 

        

We are designers.  We created bridges, thinking about structure, joining pieces of material and testing the weight limit.

      

We have also been to Dean Academy to work on design and technology projects. 

           

 

We are computer experts! 

Year 5 are learning all about searching the internet effectively. They were introduced to George Boole who created the idea of Boolean logic. Boolean Operators are simple words (AND, OR, NOT) used as conjunctions to combine or exclude keywords in a search. Using Boolean operators can help to narrow or broaden the search in a search engine.

            

The children have been creating character descriptions of the main characters in the class text, ‘The Chocolate tree’. They have been using thesauruses to improve and broaden their vocabulary, whilst checking their spellings and understanding of vocabulary using a dictionary. 

       

We are athletes. We visited the Dean Academy and participated in a variety of sports.