Welcome to Sharks Class Year 5 & Year 6
Mrs A Bowles (teacher)
Miss V Thompson (TA)
12th March 2024, Design & Technology
This half term in our design and technology lessons we are taking on the challenge of designing our own playgrounds and playground equipment. We have so far researched different playgrounds and equipment, set our own design criteria and are currently planning the equipment we’d like to include and considering the layout, landscaping, etc. Onto construction of prototypes next.
This half term in our design and technology lessons we are taking on the challenge of designing our own playgrounds and playground equipment. We have so far researched different playgrounds and equipment, set our own design criteria and are currently planning the equipment we’d like to include and considering the layout, landscaping, etc. Onto construction of prototypes next.
7th March 2024, World Book Day
What a fabulous day, lots of awesome costumes this year of our favourite book characters, we had a visit from an author, lunchtime reading den, book story telling with our grown ups and we have book fair coming next week!
What a fabulous day, lots of awesome costumes this year of our favourite book characters, we had a visit from an author, lunchtime reading den, book story telling with our grown ups and we have book fair coming next week!
5th March 2024, Historical artefacts
To finish off our learning about the Ancient Maya in history we had a visitor come and share some of her artefacts from Mexico, the area where the Ancient Maya used to live.
To finish off our learning about the Ancient Maya in history we had a visitor come and share some of her artefacts from Mexico, the area where the Ancient Maya used to live.
4th March 2024, Year 6 Civic Award
The year 6s have been working towards their Civic Award this year and as part of that have taken on a pledge to our planet. This has included giving up their lunchtimes once a week to go litterpick around the school and in future we’ll also litterpick in the roads around school too #agentsofchange #civicaward #responsiblecitizens
The year 6s have been working towards their Civic Award this year and as part of that have taken on a pledge to our planet. This has included giving up their lunchtimes once a week to go litterpick around the school and in future we’ll also litterpick in the roads around school too #agentsofchange #civicaward #responsiblecitizens
1st March 2024, Vocabulary Day
To celebrate all things to do with vocabulary we came dressed up as different words and had great fun with various vocabulary games.
To celebrate all things to do with vocabulary we came dressed up as different words and had great fun with various vocabulary games.
22nd February 2024, Science recycling workshops
We had a visit from Alex from Recycle Devon who told us all about the problems of marine litter and plastic pollution. We learnt about what happens to the waste we put into our landfill and recycling bins, why plastic pollution in the marin environment is such a problem and what we can do about it. We then went on a litter pick around the school – we found so much in the hedgerows that had been blown in! Great job Sharks #caringforourcommonhome #agentsofchange.
We had a visit from Alex from Recycle Devon who told us all about the problems of marine litter and plastic pollution. We learnt about what happens to the waste we put into our landfill and recycling bins, why plastic pollution in the marin environment is such a problem and what we can do about it. We then went on a litter pick around the school – we found so much in the hedgerows that had been blown in! Great job Sharks #caringforourcommonhome #agentsofchange.
16th February 2024, English – The Rainplayer
In our English lessons we have been sharing and analysing the book, The Rainplayer. It is set in Ancient Maya times and links with our history learning too. Here we are completing our research ready to hold our debate on ‘What have the Mayans ever done for us?’ and ‘Which historical time period had more of an impact on our society today, the Ancient Maya or Vikings?’. Fabulous research and oracy skills Sharks, well done.
In our English lessons we have been sharing and analysing the book, The Rainplayer. It is set in Ancient Maya times and links with our history learning too. Here we are completing our research ready to hold our debate on ‘What have the Mayans ever done for us?’ and ‘Which historical time period had more of an impact on our society today, the Ancient Maya or Vikings?’. Fabulous research and oracy skills Sharks, well done.
19th January 2023, Golden Table Award
Congratulations to the whole of Sharks Class that won the Golden Table Award this week for their exceptional manners, excellent behaviour and kindness to others every day. Well done Sharks, so proud of you all!
Congratulations to the whole of Sharks Class that won the Golden Table Award this week for their exceptional manners, excellent behaviour and kindness to others every day. Well done Sharks, so proud of you all!
10th January 2023, PE – dance
Within our PE lessons we have started a new block of learning – dance. The class have enjoyed learning different ways of travelling, rolls and balances, creating routines with their partners.
Within our PE lessons we have started a new block of learning – dance. The class have enjoyed learning different ways of travelling, rolls and balances, creating routines with their partners.
6th January 2023, Epiphany
We celebrated Epiphany in Sharks Class with an Epiphany cake! After learning the significance of Epiphany and the visit of the kings/wise men, we shared the cake to find out who would be our king/queen for the day!
We celebrated Epiphany in Sharks Class with an Epiphany cake! After learning the significance of Epiphany and the visit of the kings/wise men, we shared the cake to find out who would be our king/queen for the day!
Happy New Year!
December 2023
December 2023
As always the lead up to Christmas is an exciting and busy time of the year and this year was no different! From the Christmas Carol Concert to the Nativity with Starfish and Dolphin Class to the Winter Wonderland and Rudolph Run the children rose to the challenge beautifully!
1 November 2023, All Saints Day
The Sharks were surprised when they came into class today to find the room covered in fairy lights with a tea light (battery operated obviously!) on each of their desks – all to celebrate All Saints Day. We spent some time learning about who the saints are and how they became saints – we like to think of them as Catholic superheroes, who started off as ordinary people just like us but through their faith and actions showed themselves to be extra-ordinary! Through our research about saints we all selected one to be our saint and created a fact file about them, finishing with thinking about what great things we may achieve in the future!
The Sharks were surprised when they came into class today to find the room covered in fairy lights with a tea light (battery operated obviously!) on each of their desks – all to celebrate All Saints Day. We spent some time learning about who the saints are and how they became saints – we like to think of them as Catholic superheroes, who started off as ordinary people just like us but through their faith and actions showed themselves to be extra-ordinary! Through our research about saints we all selected one to be our saint and created a fact file about them, finishing with thinking about what great things we may achieve in the future!
20 October 2023, CAFOD Brighten Up Day & Harvest Celebration
This year we combined raising money for CAFOD in their fight against poverty through their Brighten Up Campaign and collecting food for our local community in need for our harvest celebration. Everyone wore their brightest clothes to school for the day and we held a celebration harvest assembly. Alongside, harvest hymns, readings and prayers each class took it in turns to represent 2 colours of the harvest, Sharks class were assigned green and yellow. As a class we rewrote the words to What a Wonderful World celebrating the harvest through the colours green and yellow, we then performed the song with harvest props we had made which built up line by line to create a montage. It really is a wonderful world…
I see leaves of green, on the apple tree.
I see them change, gold falls over me.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
I see sunflowers stand tall, in the meadows so bright.
Their petals like the sun, such a beautiful sight.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
This year we combined raising money for CAFOD in their fight against poverty through their Brighten Up Campaign and collecting food for our local community in need for our harvest celebration. Everyone wore their brightest clothes to school for the day and we held a celebration harvest assembly. Alongside, harvest hymns, readings and prayers each class took it in turns to represent 2 colours of the harvest, Sharks class were assigned green and yellow. As a class we rewrote the words to What a Wonderful World celebrating the harvest through the colours green and yellow, we then performed the song with harvest props we had made which built up line by line to create a montage. It really is a wonderful world…
I see leaves of green, on the apple tree.
I see them change, gold falls over me.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
I see sunflowers stand tall, in the meadows so bright.
Their petals like the sun, such a beautiful sight.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
The colours of the harvest, reflected, in the sky.
The scarecrows in the fields, watching birds flying by.
I see corn sway gently, as the breeze flows through,
it’s a harvest full of wonder, for me and you.
I see bees dance, pollinating flowers.
Emeralds and golds, natures superpowers.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
Yes … I think to myself, what a wonderful world
12 October 2023, Maths
Within maths we have completed our learning on place value and have progressed onto recapping our addition and subtractions skills – both mentally and using written methods. Within our mental maths strategies we have been focusing on how to use various shortcuts to help us quickly and accurately add large numbers, using number bonds, borrowing to get to nearest 10, 100, 1000 or 10,000s and using our place value and power of 10 to help us. For example: if I know 3 + 8 = 11, than I can easily calculate 3000 + 8000 and also 1100 – 800. Everyone has impressed me with their resilience and mental maths skills – well done Sharks!
9 October 2023, RE – Judaism
Last week we completed our first RE learning topic about ourselves, our God given qualities and talents. We now have moved onto learning about Judaism. On Friday 6th October we had a virtual meeting with a Jewish Rabbi who told us all about the Jewish faith and traditions and we have continued our learning about Judaism by learning about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, Yom Kippur and Mitzvah Day. As part of this we tried apples dipped in honey, a dish traditionally eaten at the start of Rosh Hashanah to symbolise their hope for a sweet new year.
Within maths we have completed our learning on place value and have progressed onto recapping our addition and subtractions skills – both mentally and using written methods. Within our mental maths strategies we have been focusing on how to use various shortcuts to help us quickly and accurately add large numbers, using number bonds, borrowing to get to nearest 10, 100, 1000 or 10,000s and using our place value and power of 10 to help us. For example: if I know 3 + 8 = 11, than I can easily calculate 3000 + 8000 and also 1100 – 800. Everyone has impressed me with their resilience and mental maths skills – well done Sharks!
9 October 2023, RE – Judaism
Last week we completed our first RE learning topic about ourselves, our God given qualities and talents. We now have moved onto learning about Judaism. On Friday 6th October we had a virtual meeting with a Jewish Rabbi who told us all about the Jewish faith and traditions and we have continued our learning about Judaism by learning about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, Yom Kippur and Mitzvah Day. As part of this we tried apples dipped in honey, a dish traditionally eaten at the start of Rosh Hashanah to symbolise their hope for a sweet new year.
5 October 2023, Computing
In our computing lessons this half term we have been learning about the Mars Rover and in particular how it sends data back to the scientists on Earth – we discovered that it uses binary code sent through space in signals reflected off satellites and then received on Earth and decoded by computers. We have learnt what makes up binary code, how to use it, how to complete calculations with it and finally how to use it to write coded messages.
Did you know that in binary code 00001101 = 13. Ask your children to explain it to you!
2 October 2023, Science – electricity
This half term we are learning all about electricity in science. We have started by recapping the scientific vocabulary and symbols used in electrical circuits and all succeed in independently building a circuit, with a switch, to light a bulb and recording our circuit in a diagram with the correct symbols. Since then we discovered when common electric household appliances were invented, placing them into chronological order, there were many surprises – did you now the first electric dishwasher was invented in 1917!
In our next lesson we started to investigate some of the questions we had about our circuits, these included what would happen to the brightness of the bulb if we added more bulbs to our circuits. We followed the scientific process first refining our question, making a prediction, carrying out our investigation and finally recording and reporting on our results.
In our computing lessons this half term we have been learning about the Mars Rover and in particular how it sends data back to the scientists on Earth – we discovered that it uses binary code sent through space in signals reflected off satellites and then received on Earth and decoded by computers. We have learnt what makes up binary code, how to use it, how to complete calculations with it and finally how to use it to write coded messages.
Did you know that in binary code 00001101 = 13. Ask your children to explain it to you!
2 October 2023, Science – electricity
This half term we are learning all about electricity in science. We have started by recapping the scientific vocabulary and symbols used in electrical circuits and all succeed in independently building a circuit, with a switch, to light a bulb and recording our circuit in a diagram with the correct symbols. Since then we discovered when common electric household appliances were invented, placing them into chronological order, there were many surprises – did you now the first electric dishwasher was invented in 1917!
In our next lesson we started to investigate some of the questions we had about our circuits, these included what would happen to the brightness of the bulb if we added more bulbs to our circuits. We followed the scientific process first refining our question, making a prediction, carrying out our investigation and finally recording and reporting on our results.
28 September 2023, Art
This week we have been exploring the work of artist of Georgia O’Keeffe. We have been collecting facts about her as a person and the style of art work that she produced, her influences and what inspired her, compiling fact files using Google slides. We were amazed to find out that despite painting lots of pictures of flowers, she actually did not like flowers at all, she only painted them because they stayed still and were easy to find! Following our learning about the elements of art last week, we now applied this knowledge in our evaluation of Georgia O’Keeffe’s art work, making annotations alongside a range of her art work in our sketch books.
This week we have been exploring the work of artist of Georgia O’Keeffe. We have been collecting facts about her as a person and the style of art work that she produced, her influences and what inspired her, compiling fact files using Google slides. We were amazed to find out that despite painting lots of pictures of flowers, she actually did not like flowers at all, she only painted them because they stayed still and were easy to find! Following our learning about the elements of art last week, we now applied this knowledge in our evaluation of Georgia O’Keeffe’s art work, making annotations alongside a range of her art work in our sketch books.
22 September 2023, PE
In PE this week have been working on our footwork and passing skills in netball, once we’d mastered the catch, pivot and pass technique we played in mini games to put our skills into practice and start developing our team work too. Great fun!
In PE this week have been working on our footwork and passing skills in netball, once we’d mastered the catch, pivot and pass technique we played in mini games to put our skills into practice and start developing our team work too. Great fun!
11 September 2023, English
We have started our English learning by recalling all the differnet word classes, their purpose and how we can use them in our writing. We began the lesson collaborating with each other to sort the words and then justifying our choices to our partners, using them in sentences. Fabulous team work Sharks!
We have started our English learning by recalling all the differnet word classes, their purpose and how we can use them in our writing. We began the lesson collaborating with each other to sort the words and then justifying our choices to our partners, using them in sentences. Fabulous team work Sharks!
7 September 2023, RE
Today we were thinking about ourselves and all our unique talents and qualities, which we have also been considering in our guided reading book Wonder. We each shared the talents and qualities that we’d noticed in our classmates and those we thought we had ourselves. Can you guess everyone’s talents and qualities from the photos below?
Today we were thinking about ourselves and all our unique talents and qualities, which we have also been considering in our guided reading book Wonder. We each shared the talents and qualities that we’d noticed in our classmates and those we thought we had ourselves. Can you guess everyone’s talents and qualities from the photos below?
Welcome Back Everyone!
We have had a fabulous first week back in Sharks Class, with everyone settling straight back into learning which is fantastic. This half term we are going to be writing our own fiction myth and legend stories, working on place value initially in maths progressing onto addition and subtraction with numbers up to 1million. In science we are going to be exploring electricity, making electrical circuits in parallel and series with switches. In RE we are starting by thinking about our families and ourselves, exploring our different qualities and talents and how we use them. We will also have lessons covering history changing moments linked to railways, exploring the elements of art through different artists and so much more! A welcome back letter detailing PE days, homework, class routines, etc has been sent home this week but please do ask if you have any futher queries.
We have had a fabulous first week back in Sharks Class, with everyone settling straight back into learning which is fantastic. This half term we are going to be writing our own fiction myth and legend stories, working on place value initially in maths progressing onto addition and subtraction with numbers up to 1million. In science we are going to be exploring electricity, making electrical circuits in parallel and series with switches. In RE we are starting by thinking about our families and ourselves, exploring our different qualities and talents and how we use them. We will also have lessons covering history changing moments linked to railways, exploring the elements of art through different artists and so much more! A welcome back letter detailing PE days, homework, class routines, etc has been sent home this week but please do ask if you have any futher queries.