As part of art week, Year 5 have been looking at The Water Lillies painting by Monet. As we are finding out about the Amazon rainforest, the children decided to find out more about giant water lilies which grow there. We were amazed by the size they grow to and their life cycle. The flowers are white and bloom at night. They give off a butterscotch and pineapple scent to attract the beetles which pollinate the flower. Once a beetle has crawled into the flower, it closes until the next day when it opens up to release the beetle covered in pollen. Once a flower is pollinated, it then turns to a pinky purple colour and no longer smells.

We then started to find out more about the artist Oenone Hammersley who painted a number of Amazon rainforest creatures including the white lipped tree frog. Year five, had fun writing their own poetry and recreating the tree frog painting.

Year 5 have had a fantastic day at Airbus Foundation Discovery Space. As soon as they arrived at the centre, they were eager to explore. After hearing about the different stations they could visit, the children were keen to give each other (and their adults!) electric shocks!  

Later in the day, they were treated to the night sky. They heard stories which explained why constellations are known by their name and the story behind them.

The day was concluded by visiting the Mars Yard where they were lucky enough to see the Mars rover Bruno being tested.

Everyone had a brilliant day and lots of the class are now considering a career in space exploration!

On Tuesday, Year 5 had a fantastic day at West Stow walking in the footsteps of Anglo Saxons. The children got to see artefacts that had been excavated on the site as well as houses that had been reconstructed where the village would have been.  They had a morning exploring the museum followed by an afternoon investigating the houses in the village and finding out more about Anglo Saxon life.

This term Year 5 have enjoyed learning about the Amazon rainforest.

Year 5 had a great start to their half term after seeing Anthony Glenn do a one man performance of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He was a fantastic actor and got the whole school involved in the play.

After play, we then had a workshop with Anthony. He taught us how to act and stage fight. As it came to an end, the whole class hope to see him again.

In the afternoon, after watching Macbeth, Year 5 found out about William Shakespeare using the IPads. We have found out lots of facts and cannot wait to learn more about this talented person.

As part of our Viking topic, we were lucky enough to take part in a drama workshop. Thorgil, who is a Viking, visited school and taught us more about the Vikings through drama and stories. We are really enjoying our topic and are looking forward to sharing our learning in our Fantastic Finish.