Welcome to this week’s blog from Year 5F.

On Tuesday, the company H. H. Kids came in to work with the children on different ways of keeping safe, happy and healthy. They talked about good and bad secrets, having privacy and giving each other personal space. The children took part in different activities and worked together to offer solutions to a series of problems. Here are some photos from their visit…

Maths – The children have continued to look at fractions this week. They have been comparing fractions. They began by comparing fractions with the same denominator (bottom number) to see which was biggest. Next, they moved on to looking at fractions with the same numerator (top number) but the same denominator. They used a fraction wall to help them compare the fractions. Next week, they will be investigating finding the common denominator of 2 or more fractions.

Take a look at this website which allows you to make your own fractions and then compare them…

English – The children have been investigating adding the suffixes ate, ise, ify and en to words. Take a look at this crossword and word search to see if you can add the correct suffix and then complete the puzzles.

Later in the week, the children began looking at biographies. They discovered that a biography is written about someone by somebody else. They looked at a range of biographies about famous people, including David Beckham, Roald Dahl and Jacqueline Wilson. They read some facts about Hogarth Hughes, the main character in The Iron Giant film and took notes. They will be using this next week to write a biography about him.

Science – The children have been finding out about how the moon appears to change shape in the night sky. They watched a speeded up piece of film showing the moons various phases. They discovered the moon has eight phases which begin with a new moon, followed by a waxing crescent, first quarter (a half-moon), waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter (another half-moon), waning crescent and then the cycle begins again with a new moon.

The children listened to a ‘Moon Phase’ rap to help them remember the order. Take a listen for yourself…

Later on, the children went on to find out about Galileo Galilei. He was a famous astronomer, inventor and mathematician from the 12^th century. They produced a timeline of his life noting all the key dates and events in his life.

After that, they went on to learn about Galileo’s heliocentric theory. He proved that the sun was at the centre of the universe whereas the church believed that Earth was at the centre. As his theory contradicted religious beliefs, he was placed under house arrest and accused of heresy.

R.E. – This week the children visited St Francis Church on City Road as part of their topic about churches. They met Reverend Denise Heyes there, as well as a member of the church congregation called Margaret, who was there to help. They had a really good time and discovered many of the features they have been learning about in class. Take a look at some pictures from their time there…

Our certificate winner this week was David for simply having a fabulous week. He really has been a silent superstar and made all the teachers very happy. Keep up this ‘No Fuss’ David please.

All that remains to say is have a great weekend and we will see you again on Monday. Also, don't forget it's Valentine's Day on Tuesday so don't forget to treat your loved ones!