It has been a very busy week in Year 5. We have been learning two songs with students from the University of Hertfordshire. Sycamore have learnt a song based on the Amazon rainforest and Juniper learnt one about the Grand Canyon. We are looking forward to performing these to the rest of Key Stage 2 on Friday.

In Science, we have continued to learning about space. This week we found out how the planets move in our solar system. We went outside to map out the orbits of each planet. This helped us to see how each planets orbit time would differ. 

We were lucky enough to get a visit from the ducklings that have been in the Nursery for the last two weeks. 

World Book Day was packed with different activities. We enjoyed trying to find out who was behind each book in the 'Masked Reader' quiz. Also, we had some great conversations about our favourite books and used this to create our own reading river. 

Over the last 2 weeks, Year 5 have been investigating materials and their properties in science. We looked at the question 'are all liquids runny?' 

We got a number of different liquids and ran them down pieces of cardboard and used our observational skills to decide which were the most and least viscous of them. 

We got a bit messy but managed to do a great job and come up with a class ranking. In literacy, we have been doing some performance poetry. Looking at reading a poem fluently and to a beat, adding in some actions and adding some flair to the performance. We finished the week by putting the performance together to make our own video. 

Last week, we enjoyed a fantastic assembly by the author and illustrator MP Robertson. We then had a workshop with him and were taught how to draw a dragon. The results were amazing!

As part of our Mini Police session this week, Year 5 have impressed everyone with their phonetic alphabet knowledge. Most children could say their name using the language that  the police use and some could recall the whole alphabet. We also investigated different types of bullying. 

As part of Remembrance Day, we learnt about famous soldiers from World War I and II and found out facts about them. We then used these facts to create a memorial fact file poppy. 

In science, we have planned and carried out an experiment to find out how the shape of a plasticine ball affected how quickly it fell through water.  We found out that if it had a bigger surface area there was more water resistance acting on it and therefore it fell slower although some of our results were inconsistent.  

Year 5 are enjoying their unit based on the book Cosmic. We started the unit with an experience day. During this lesson, we went out into the car park and used superlatives to try and sell the cars! We had great fun trying to convince other members of the class that our car was the best. 

In Science, we have been busy finding out more about forces. We have been looking at the difference between mass and weight. We then carried out our own experiment where we used scales and newton meters to gather evidence and compare the measurements, to see if there was a link. We also had a fun lesson with bubbles. We were looking at what makes something move and the forces that act upon the object.

In art, we are focusing on portraits. We used a printed image of ourselves and used it to draw a continuous line drawing portrait. After we did this, we used tracing paper and created a poem that followed the outline of our portraits. 

Year 5 dived straight into their history topic this half-term with a trip to the British School Museum in Hitchin. We began our day learning about the great hall and how many children would have been taught by just one teacher, 800 children to only 1 teacher in the early days. We then explored the old headmaster's house and spent time in each room discussing how life would have been different in those times for the people living there – including the lack of electricity, heating and running water! We looked at the creative ways they kept the bed warm, washed and dried their laundry and discussed what the pots were used for under the bed! We discussed the difference in the lives of the poor and rich and how life would have differed for boys and girls. Later we were transported back in time and took part in a Victorian style lesson learning the 3 R’s (reading, writing & arithmetic). The children completed their work using slate and pencil and then tried out the ink - dipping their pens in the pot on the table.  Some of our left-handed children even tried writing with their right hand as they were told, 'The right hand is the right hand to write with!'. To make the experience as authentic as possible, a child was selected to wear the dunces caps and we even had one caning (well, a very good actress that made it seem believable anyway!). We finished our day with a PE lesson – drills in the yard – and then played with Victorian toys. All in all a fantastic day filled with memorable experiences and crammed full of learning.