Welcome to Year 5 Maple Class!

Email: maple@bentfield.essex.sch.uk

VE Day Commemorations

To mark the 80th anniversary of VE day, we had a day full of activities. We all came to school in non-uniform, lots of red, white and blue across the classroom. In the morning, we completed our sponsored bounce to raise money for the school. Well done to Jess who got the most bounces for our class - a whopping 249 in 2 minutes! In the afternoon, we had a wonderful visit from John, who grew up during the Blitz in World War II. He told us all about is experiences during the Blitz and also as an evacuee. He had lots of very interesting and entertaining stories, some which made us laugh and some which were quite sad. We all really appreciate the time he took to put the presentation together and to come and speak to us all with his first-hand experience. It helped to bring our learning about World War II from autumn term to life! Finally, we had the fair on the playground. It was lovely to hear Imogen from our class sing beautifully with the choir just after the new outdoor classroom was opened. Then many of the class took great pleasure in taking - and mostly scoring - penalties against Mr Winstanley in goal. Ruby also had a very popular stall selling excellent soft toys and other knick-knacks she crocheted herself. A wonderful day was had y all and most importantly, it allowed us time to appreciate what other did during World War II to help us live the lives that we do now. 

Catapults

Following on from our work on forces in science last term, our design and technology project this term has been to make models of catapults, a weapon which would have been used in any battles involving the Anglo-Saxons. We first made designs following instructions, then tested them to see how effective they were. We then used the knowledge we had gained to make our own designs and then made and tested these. Take a look at the photos below to see what we came up with!

Welcome to the Summer Term!

This term our topic is 'The Battle for England 410 - 1066AD' focusing on the Anglo Saxons in particular. Our main class text for the term will the Michael Morpurgo version of the epic poem, 'Beowulf'. We will be focusing on reasoning and problem solving in maths, revisiting key areas of the curriculum that we have learnt this year. Take a look at the planning overview below for more details across the curriculum. 

Ancient Greek Day

On 25th March, we had our Ancient Greek day. Nineus visited us from Ancient Greece to teach of lots of information about the time period. To begin with, he told us stories all about key Ancient Greek battles before we had a quiz, finding out information from boards all around the hall. Our next activity was to complete a puzzle that Archimedes worked on when he was alive. We were then told the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, but given a lot more detail about Theseus’s early life and the monsters and criminals that he defeated before taking on the Minotaur. Our last activity for the morning was a game called Petteia, an Ancient Greek strategy game. In the afternoon, we were introduced to all of the armour that Greek warriors would have worn before taking part in a mini Olympics. 

Forces

During this term, we have been learning all about forces. We have been learning about the impact of gravity, how levers and pulleys help to lift heavy objects, the impact of air resistance, water resistance and friction. We have been carrying out a series of experiments to help us to learn all about these forces. Take a look at some of our experiments below.

Ancient Greek Cooking

Our Design and Technology work this term has been all about ancient Greek food. First, we tasted some ancient Greek recipes of spanokopita, fasolatha and melmakarona, thinking about how they tasted and their nutritional value. Then we made and tasted some pelanos bread. This built up to us getting into groups and designing our own main course inspired by ancient Greek cuisine. We made them and tasted our own, as well as the other groups' dishes. Take a look at what we created and what people thought of them below!

Ancient Greek Pots

In our art work this term, we have been looking at Ancient Greek pots. We looked at the different shapes and uses of pots that they had and also the types of designs they would have used. We then learnt clay techniques, designed our own pots in the Ancient Greek style and then made them, painted them and finished them. Take a look at the pots we made below.

Outdoor Learning - Tracking

This week in our outdoor learning, we learnt different tracking symbols and then laid trails in groups, which other groups then followed. We worked on our teamwork skills and being observant as well as knowing what the different tracking symbols mean. 

Ancient Greek Masks

As part of our topic work on how the Ancient Greeks lived, we learned about their theatre and the use of masks within this to portray different characters and different emotions. We then thought about a mask for an emotion and made our own versions. Take a look at what we came up with.

Evening Outdoor Learning

On Wednesday 22nd January, we had our evening session on the field and in the forest area. We arrived at 4pm and started off with some games around the forest. After that, we gathered around the campfire for hot dogs, where we warmed our own sausages up over the fire and had a home-made cookie. We told a few ghost stories, before having free time. By now it was very dark and most people played hide and seek in the forest in the dark. We gathered round the fire one last time for hot chocolate, roasting marshmallows to make smores and before we knew it, it was time to be heading home again. An evening of excellent fun was had by all! I'd like to say a massive thank you to Nicola, Mel and Miss Hobday for their help and making the evening possible. Check out the photos below to see just some of the fun.

Santa Dash

As part of the Save the Children Christmas jumper day, Carron from the local sports partnership came in to do a Santa Dash with us. We played games and had fun running to Christmas songs while wearing our Christmas jumpers and any festive hats that we had. Take a look at all the fun we had in the pictures!

Bikeability

We have had 4 days of bikeability training this week. The children have been learning how to ride their bikes safely on the roads - such an important skill for when riding their bikes around the local area. The key learning points, were looking before moving and turning, assessing the traffic and roads ahead and acting accordingly and making sure that they always wear a helmet! We hope that they put these skills into practise and enjoy riding their bikes for many years to come. Take a look at the photos below to see what they got up to.

Properties and Changes of Materials

In science this term, we have been learning about properties and changes of materials. We have carried out a number of investigations to learn about: dissolving, reversible and irreversible reactions, separating mixtures of materials and then applying our understanding to discover the mystery materials. Take a look at the pictures below of the various experiments we have done.

Harvest Assembly

On Monday 7th October we held our harvest assembly to be thankful for the food we have to eat and to think about sharing food with those in the local area and around the world who struggle to have enough food to eat. The children brought in lots of lovely donations for Touchpoint. For our input to the assembly, we worked in groups to research how harvest is celebrated in different countries around the world and made posters and read out facts to the rest of the school - some people even learnt words from different languages as part of our presentations. The countries we chose were: Australia, USA and Canada, Thailand, France and China.

Gilwell Day 1

We had a bit of a soggy time loading onto the coach with a heavy shower, but got on ok and had a smooth trip down to Gilwell. We then went to our accommodation, had our packed lunch and it was straight into our first activities. Groups 1 and 2 did aeroball and the sensory trail and group 3 did archery and the 3G swing. After that, a little time to settle into room before dinner of cajun chicken, roast potatoes and veg, not to forget the chocolate moose for desert! After some more time in our rooms, we had a series of wide games in the dark - sorry no pictures came out from this. We look forward to an 8am breakfast and an action-packed day of activities tomorrow!

Gilwell Day 2

We were up for breakfast of sausage, hash brown, scrambled egg and beans with the option of cereals and toast as well this morning. After that our activities started. Today, group 1 have had archery, gauntlet, backwoods cooking and fire lighting; group 2 have had fire lighting, backwoods cooking, grass sledging and gauntlet; group 3 have had fire lighting, backwoods cooking, aeroball and archery. In the middle, we had lunch of meatball marinara sandwiches and salad. Our much-needed dinner today was vegetable curry with rice and naan bread with apple crumble and custard for pudding. Our evening activity was the campfire and even though it feels as though we've only just arrived, we have started packing as we'll not have much time with our activities tomorrow.

Gilwell Day 3

Day 3 began with packing up our belongings before a busy morning on our final day. Breakfast this morning was chocolate croissants with a choice of cereals and toast. After this we went to our last 2 activities: group 1 had 3G swing and grass sledging; group 2 had sensory trail and 3G swing; and group 3 had grass sledging and fire lighting. Lunch before we left was fish finger wraps with salad and we managed to squeeze in a trip to the gift shop before getting back on the coach and heading back to school. I know that the children (and staff) are very tired this evening, but what a brilliant trip it has been. The children have shown excellent independence, resilience and teamwork through all of the activities and beyond. I hope that it has highlighted to them the joy in being physically active outdoors and that they can easily manage without their devices! I want to say a huge thank you to all the staff who gave up their time to make this possible.

World War II Rationing

As part of learning what life was like for people living during The Blitz, we learnt about rationing. We had a go at cooking some rationing recipes of 'crunchies' and a pudding made from mashed potatoes. We then had a go at designing a day's menu from the rations that would have been available. We found that lots of us would have used our rations for the week within the first day! 

World War II Games

As part of our work on 'The Blitz', we used our first outdoor learning session of the year to have a go at playing some games that children would have played during World War II. After having a go at hopscotch, canon, jacks and skipping, in groups, we came up with our own games that could have been played and had a go at playing another group's game. 

Homework

Homework should be completed from the homework grid. Children should choose one task a week to complete and hand it in on a Tuesday. Homework books will be handed out again on a Thursday ready for the children to complete their next piece of homework. The homework grid is available below as well as being stuck in your child's homework book.

Regular reading at home should still be happening. A combination of reading alone and reading to an adult or sibling is a good idea for year 5 pupils. Times tables and division facts underpin so many areas of mathematics that it is crucial that children know them well. The aim is that they can respond within a few seconds to any calculation given rather than having to count through times tables to get there. It is important to practise regularly to maintain this important knowledge. The links below can support with this. 

Spelling a crucial area to work on in year 5 to consolidate spellings learned in previous years and also to learn new spelling patterns. In your child's homework book is a grid of activities that they can do to practise their spellings at home as well as which spelling patterns we will be learning about during the term. Below is a link to Spelling Frame, which is an excellent programme to practise spellings. Their login is stuck in their homework book.

Spelling and Times Tables Links