Friday 4th November

Welcome back to Year 5F’s blog for this week. We hope you all had a fabulous half term break.

Maths – This week in Maths, the children have been applying the inverse with addition and subtraction problems. They have looked at Arithmagons. The children worked out the following…

Circle number + circle number = square number

Square number – circle number = circle number

The children really enjoyed the challenge. Why not have a go yourself?

They moved on to look at word problems and were introduced to a new method, called the Bar Method, to help them think about how to solve the problem. Take a look at this website to help explain how it works…

English – The children have been introduced to our new class novel, How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. They are enjoying finding out about Hiccup and his dragon Toothless.

Following on, the children were given some non-chronological reports to look at and annotate. They looked for the features they expected to find, main title, sub-headings, boxes to separate information, bullet points, pictures and diagrams with captions, written in the present tense, technical language, glossary, did you know sections etc… After that, they went on to research dragons from the Island of Berk (where Hiccup comes from) and have taken notes. They have used these notes to firstly draft a non-chronological report about dragons. Next, they edited it, looking for spelling errors, any missing punctuation and if they could improve any of the vocabulary. Finally, today, they have written up their full reports.

Topic – The children have been introduced to their new topic for the half term which is all about the Vikings! They are all super excited to be learning about these interesting invaders who came to our country in 793AD. They have begun by placing their invasion on a time-line beginning with The Roman Invasion and ending with World War I.

Science – The children had special visitor come in to school on Wednesday from the Tim Peake Project. Mr Allcock came to teach the children a lesson all about space. The children were mesmerised! They discovered that the Space Station is only 400 km above Earth. That’s about as far away as France is from us! It takes just one and a half hours for it to orbit Earth. That means it manages to travel around our planet sixteen times a day! They learned about gravity and how it is a pulling force, that pulls everything down to Earth. Here are some photographs from the afternoon… 

As well as this, the children have been learning about how seeds are dispersed. They have discovered this can happen in many different ways. They can be carried by the wind, like dandelion and sycamore seeds. They can be carried by water, like coconut and water lily seeds. They can explode (which means they burst open by themselves) like pea and lupin seeds. Finally, they can be carried by animals and humans. Sometimes seeds have little hooks which help them to attach on to animal fur, bird feathers or human clothing, like burdock and goose grass seeds. Alternatively, they can have tempting fruits such as raspberries, blackberries and apples which small animals and birds will eat. Their bodies cannot digest the seeds, so they excrete them out and then the seed will grow to make a new plant. Take a look at this short film clip which helps to explain...

On Tuesday, the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service came into school and talked to the children. They took part in a special assembly all about the importance fire alarms in the home, what to do if you find yourself trapped in a fire, fire evacuation plans in the home, bonfire and firework safety, what to do if you are on fire (STOP, DROP AND ROLL) and the importance of not walking on ice on water like the canal this winter. The children listened carefully and joined in well with all the activities the Fire Brigade had prepared for them. If you have any questions, then follow this link to find out more…

Also, you can phone 0800 555815 a FREE Home Safety Check from the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

Here is this week's  CERTIFICATE WINNER who won for his tenacity when tackling tricky problems and for being an all-round great guy who cares about his peers. He was also chosen as the winner of the UPPER PHASE TROPHY, which he gets to keep at home for the week. A big well done from everyone in 5F!

All that remains to say is have a great weekend. Stay safe and enjoy Bonfire Night on Saturday. We look forward to seeing you again on Monday.