Autumn

Welcome to Year 5

Nativity at the church

We had a lovely time at St Michael and All Angels church over the last few days recording our carol service for everyone to enjoy.  We hope you enjoy hearing the carols and listening to the nativity story.  You can view this in the Video Library section of the website.

Have a lovely Christmas break!

Christmas Party

We had a great afternoon today for our Christmas party.  The class had a wonderful time playing games, dancing and enjoying some festive food.  They all looked fantastic in their party clothes and had a fantastic time together. 

Band in a box - The Performance from the Rainforest Rockstars

Today was the day...we finally performed our song to some of the classes in school.  It was amazing and Mrs Gill was very proud of us all.  Here is a link to the video library where you can watch the performance.  We hope you enjoy it!  Below are some photographs of the performance too.

Team games in P.E.

This week we had a great P.E. session with Caroline from Newcastle PE school service. We played team games where we had to work well together and think about our team mates. Caroline was very impressed with how well we had worked together and said it was our best session so far!

Into the rainforest...

Today, year 5 visited Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens to learn about their new topic: the rainforest.  The class took part in a workshop to begin with where they found out about the layers of the rainforest.  The class worked in groups to add the animals and plants to the correct layer.  They also got the chance to handle some rainforest items and worked in their groups to identify what they were and what they were used for.  The class had some great ideas and were keen to share them with the rest of the class.  Once the workshop had finished, we went exploring in the winter gardens to find out facts about the rainforest.   After lunch, we had some time to look around the rest of the museum.  We finished the day with some quiet sketching of the rainforest plants from the viewing platform.  Mr Gill was on hand to give us some top tips to help us with our drawings.  What a busy day!  

Bringing the band together...

This week we introduced keyboards to the band with Franco and Steve.  As a class, we came together to play drums, guitars, bass and keyboards.  It sounded fantastic and Franco and Steve were both impressed by how quickly they picked up the tricky steps.  Next week we will be adding singers to the band and Mrs Gill can’t wait to see how the class get on. Watch this space...

More Music with Franco and Steve

The class had another session with Franco and Steve this week.  They looked at a new instrument this week: the electric guitar.  The whole class got the chance to try out this exciting instrument and used a plectrum to pluck the strings.  Next week we move on to look at the keyboards.   Watch this space...    

Remembrance Day 2021

This week in class, we thought about those who had died in wars and conflict throughout the world on Remembrance Day.  We had a two minute silence in class and then discussed how Remembrance day started.  We looked at the symbol of the poppy and what it represents.  The class then created a poppy display.

Band in a Box with Steve and Franco

Today we had our first meeting with Franco and Steve who introduced us to our Band in the Box sessions.  This week we focused on drumming.  We practised as a class before everyone had the opportunity to practise on a drum kit.  It was not easy but everyone gave it their best.  Coordination is very important in drumming and it was tricky to get hands and a foot doing different things!  We will keep practising.  Steve and Franco were pleased with the session and Mrs Gill can't wait to see how we progress over the coming weeks.

Adverts for the new Nimbus 5000

Today we planned and created adverts for the new Nimbus 5000.  We thought about the features of persuasive writing and discussed why we have adverts.  It was scary how many jingles and slogans we could remember as a class.

Take a look at the following examples and see if you would be persuaded to buy it.

Balancing Skills in P.E.

This week we worked with Caroline from Newcastle PE school service.  She worked with us on techniques we could use in a game.  We played 'Inside Out' at first which started easily but then became progressively tricky as the game moved on.  We needed to work well as a team to move quickly and work together.  Afterwards we played some team games which involved using the skills we had been taught.  We needed to communicate well as a team and look for the space to move into so that our the rest of our team could pass to us.  We look forward to working with Caroline over the coming weeks.    

Art Week

We have had a fantastic week full of art this week.  Our art topic for this time was to focus on drawing and the theme was architecture.  We were introduced to the artist Stephen Wiltshire at the start of the week where we looked at some of his pieces of artwork and gave our personal opinions about his work.  We then used a part of his drawing and completed it in the same style.  We concentrated on the shape and the use of lines.  We also focused on small parts of a piece of architecture and added details.  Later in the week we looked at another artist: Marz Jr.  After reflecting on his style, we planned and created our own designs for skyscrapers in the style of his work.  The finished pieces looked great!

Harvest Samba

Year 5 have performed a Harvest Samba song this week.  You will find the video in the Video Library section of the website.  Please click here to be taken to the page.  We hope you enjoy it!  You will also find the Harvest videos for the other classes in the Video Library too.

Inside the Telescope of Frederick Catherwood.

Frederick Catherwood was an explorer who drew many fine pictures of Mayan buildings. He helped to further the study of ancient Mayan culture. We imagined what it must have been like to have been going through the jungles of the Yucatan peninsular. We made the telescope that he might have used to find the ruins.

Visit to the church

Today we visited St Michael’s and All Angels and met Rev. Allison Harding.  She talked to us about the features of a church.  We found out about the different parts of the church and their purpose.  Allison also told us about the history of the church. Some pupils even got to try on the robes of Allison.  The class enjoyed exploring the church and asked Allison lots of questions about her job. 

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

The class are enjoying getting books out of the library.  We are turning into bookworms in Year 5 which is fantastic.  There is a huge selection to choose from so there's something for everyone.

Descriptive writing: The Wizard

We are enjoying reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone.  After reading the description of Albus Dumbledore, it inspired us to write a description of a wizard arriving at Newburn Manor. 

Here is Isla's description:

"Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Newburn Manor.  He was tall and slender and clutched a hard oak staff with a shimmering ruby red jewel sitting on the top.  His silver hair spilled out from his tall, crooked hat.  His magenta cloak was dragging across the gravel behind him.  His emerald eyes peered over his half moon glasses which sat on the end of his pointy nose.  Carefully, he held a bright sapphire orb which lit up the playground as he slowly made his way towards me."  

Friday 24th September

This week we started reading our class novel: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling.  The class have enjoyed reading the book together as everyone has their own copy to follow the story in class. 

The children took inspiration from the description of Dumbledore in the novel and have written character descriptions of a wizard appearing in the yard of Newburn Manor.  We are working hard to add detail in our writing making sure we use adjectives, adverbs and a range of interesting vocabulary.  I was impressed with the lovely ideas the children came up with and I can't wait to read some more of their "magical" pieces of writing in the coming weeks.  Watch this space...

Shadow Science 17/09/21

Year 5 are learning about space this term. Today we had the tricky problem of proving the earth moves and not the sun - despite what we can see. One of the ways that we saw this was the way our shadows moved through the day. In fact in just 15 minutes you could measure a difference. I was pleased it was not too cloudy today.

Welcome to Year 5

It is lovely to teach the class for a second time at Newburn Manor.  They have all grown and matured since Year 2 and it is lovely to see how far they have come.  The class have settled in really well, starting the year positively and doing their best.  They have all been eager to take part in their learning and show enthusiasm throughout the week.  This week we have already started our work on place value in Maths.  Our history topic this half term in Ancient Maya and in Science the class will be learning all about Space with Mr Vyle.  The class are looking forward to reading our novel for this half term which is Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone.  

I will update this page regularly so please keep checking to see what the class have been doing.  Watch this space...

Mrs Gill