World Week – India

Year 5 were lucky to have a visitor called Kalpana come in and tell us all about India. She taught us how to say ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’, ‘good evening’ and ‘how are you?’ in Gujarati. She showed us different posters of fruit and vegetables and spoke about which ones are available in England. Kalpana showed us how to put a sari on and explained why women wear a bindi.

Deforestation Debate
For our topic lesson we used a computer programme called Purple Mash. This helped the children to use their research and plan a debate for and against deforestation. In a P4C session we debated the question ‘Is deforestation right?’ The children had a great debate and respected everyone’s opinions. The children had a go at debating both sides of the argument.

RE - Child Led Meditation

We began our child led meditation by getting the class to sit in a circle with their hands together and eyes closed. We began by taking a few deep breaths, breathing in peace and stillness, and exhaling any tensions or worries. The child asked us to imagine that we were carrying a torch or a light, while standing in front of a vast cave, which looks very intriguing and inviting. We imagined entering the cave, and following the passage that led us ever downward, deep into the womb of the earth. The child got us to notice how warm and nurturing it felt, telling us to go deeper still, until we found ourselves in the very core, the heart of the earth. We became aware that we were all expected, that a powerful beginning awaited us in the centre of the earth. We were entering into the veiled and mysterious presence of the Divine Mother.

A sense of awe filled us as we noticed her appearing to us, as we allowed ourselves to be embraced by the beautiful, loving energy radiating from her heart. We felt our hearts open and expanded our consciousness blending with hers, releasing any barriers or blockages. We were reminded that what we were feeling, was the sacred heart energy healing and renewing us, filling every part of us. We felt the Divine Mother supporting us, the energy of matter and the earth itself supporting us as well. Before us, there was the radiant face of the Queen of Heaven illuminating through. We were asked to carry the radiant love of the Divine Mother in our hearts always.  To end the meditation each child could choose to either write a prayer to our Divine Mother Mary or write how Mary would have felt when she saw the tomb was empty.

Making Biospheres (Terrarium)

In relation to Earth Day (April 22^nd) and our topic on ‘The Rainforest’, the children have learnt how to make a biosphere (terrarium) using a plastic bottle, gravel, soil and tropical plants. The children can learn from their biospheres for months to come, as they watch the plants grow. The children know that there is no need to consistently water their rainforest, as moisture will form on the inside of the plastic bottle and on the plants. The moisture will drip down and water the soil. It is like a real rainforest!

Class Assembly

Our class assembly was an emotional and solemn time, where the children acted and sang the last important moments of Jesus. Jesus knew he was going to be betrayed and crucified. However, Jesus still acted as a servant to all of his friends and to all of mankind. The assembly allowed us to reflect and to think how Jesus would have felt.

Science Week

During Science week, the children thought about the different scientific journeys that happen every day and how they can discover science through their own lives and experiences. In Year 5 we made magnetic slime from PVA glue, iron filings and borax.

Viking Leather Purses and Viking Coins

In DT we have been making leather purses. The children cut the shape of their leather, stitched the pieces together and threaded the cord through the holes to make a drawstring purse. They also made a Viking coin by hammering the device to create a coin. On one side it has a Viking long ship and on the other it has Thor’s hammer with 2019 written in Viking font.

MK Art Centre

The children were invited to Milton Keynes Arts Centre in Great Linford to have a look around and explore the grounds and see a live exhibition with Emma Cousins. The children were also lucky to have Lily come into school and create some fantastic art work with the children.

RE - Lenten Promises

Lent is all about praying, fasting, giving and repenting. It is the start of a 40 day journey where we look at our relationships with others and with God and the changes we can make to be the best that we can be. We have written Lenten Promises, making us think about what we are giving up and what we are giving and to think about praying.

Design Technology

The children were asked to investigate how different sized /shaped boats affect the amount of cargo they can carry. The children were given the challenge, working with their learning partners, to make two boats; one using plasticine and one using tin foil. Once they had built them, they were to test them out in a tray of water to see if they were buoyant and how much cargo (marbles) they could hold.

Maths – 3D Shapes

The children have been learning about three-dimensional shapes and their properties, including their nets this week. The children were given a creative task to build 3D shapes using mini marshmallows and cocktail sticks.

Vikings

In our topic this term we are learning all about Vikings. In our lesson today we were discussing: what we know about the Vikings already and what we would like to find out. We them discussed artefacts and one of the images we saw was a shield. In our classroom we are very lucky to have a replica shield and sword. The children came up one at a time to have a feel of how heavy and big they are; this brought out further questions about battles, clothing, helmets and so on.

Fire Safety

We were lucky to have visitors in from Bucks Fire Service, who spoke to us about how to be safe in our homes - from closing our bedroom doors to not leaving our phones, tablets and laptops on charge while we sleep. We also discussed escape routes and the children contributed really well.

DT - Bread Making

Our DT topic this half term has been bread making; we worked alongside Mrs Walter to make bread. We used a basic bread recipe and then added savoury ingredients to our bread, such as bacon, cheese, sausage, pepperoni and sesame seeds. The breads looked amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed our baking experience.

St Andrew’s Church

In our RE lessons we have been learning about the similarities and differences between different denominations. We visited the local Baptist church, St Andrew’s, to learn more about their beliefs.

Researching Other Denominations

In our RE lessons we have been learning about the similarities and differences between different denominations. We researched four different Christian denominations Anglican, Pentecostal, Baptist and Quakers, using books and the internet. We found out lots of interesting similarities and differences.

DT - Bread Tasting

This half term in DT we are making our own bread. We researched lots of different types of breads: pitta, rye, a white cobbler, a wholemeal tin loaf and bagels. We looked at the weight of each bread, estimating whether they were heavier or lighter than the bread before. We then tried the breads and evaluated them on taste, texture, appearance and its origin. This has given us a good idea of the bread that we want to make!

St Paul’s – Fun Maths

Year 5 were very lucky to have St Paul’s maths ambassadors teaching them fun maths. The children needed to work collaboratively and independently using different methods and skills to solve maths problems.

Judaism Week – Passover

We were very lucky to have Mrs Elijah come and talk to us about Passover. We learnt about the story, the traditions of the festival and tasted food from the Seder Plate.

Mummification

It was very important to Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that the human body was preserved. A method called mummification was developed by the ancient Egyptians. Mummification was a complicated and lengthy process which lasted up to 70 days. We worked on our collaboration skills to dress one member of our group as a mummy using only newspaper and masking tape. We had a great time!

Holy Souls

November is the month of Holy Souls and we remember people that have gone before us. We remembered and prayed for family members that are no longer with us.

Ancient Egyptian Day

We had a fantastic day making Pharaoh inspired death masks, an Egyptian themed musical theatre session and having a Royal Egyptian feast!

The Rosary

Mrs Simmons visited the class to explain the parts of the Rosary and the Mysteries. We prayed one decade of the Rosary.

No Pens' Day

Year 5L had a fantastic day on No Pens' Day. We used our speaking and listening skills to play maths games and in a Philosophy for Children lesson - where we discussed the differences of being rich or poor. These are some of the questions we discussed:

Would you have more friends if you were rich or poor?

Who is more likely to say, “Money isn’t everything” – rich people or poor people?

Who are more likely to be greedy? Rich people or poor people?

Who are more likely to be rich? Greedy people or people who aren’t greedy?

Can you be rich and poor at the same time?

Our class debated the topic - ‘Should school operate a four day week?’ During the week we prepared arguments for both the opposition and proposition. In a very close debate the proposition won. Both teams worked really hard and were fantastic. Another fun filled day!

Diocese of Northampton Schools Mass

Year 5 were honoured to participate and spend the morning with other Catholic schools in the Diocese of Northampton for the ‘Year of Prayer and Vocation 2017-2018’ Mass.

Hieroglyphs

We spent time learning about hieroglyphics. Using blocks, cubes, paper clips and other materials we found around the classroom, we created our names, words and simple sentences. We had to guess what our partner’s sentences were. It was great fun and taught us a lot about Ancient Egyptian writing.

Egyptian Pyramids

Year 5 had an amazing time working with Bob to build Egyptian pyramids using only sticks and rubber bands. The children had to problem solve how to build a much larger pyramid from their smaller models. Then using their collaboration skills the children built a massive pyramid with longer sticks.

European Day of Languages

Year 5 learnt all about India and we looked at the different foods they eat and tried poppadoms with mango chutney. Delicious!  We also learnt the sign of the cross and some phrases - good morning- subh savar in Gujarti. Year 5 performed this in front of Year 6 and did really well. We had a great day!

Ancient Egyptian Tomb Discovery

Year 5 had an exciting morning pretending they were excavators and archaeologists. A great stimulus for writing a diary entry of Howard Carter. All the children crawled through the tunnel to find artefacts, they needed to remember as much as they could, go back to their team and draw what they had seen.

Musical Theatre

Year 5 are blessed to have musical theatre every Wednesday with a specialist teacher. The children will be challenged to improve their singing and drama skills.

PE – Tag Rugby

The children are enjoying having a rugby coach from St Paul’s working with them to perfect their tag rugby skills this term.

Ancient Egyptian Timeline

We started our topic with understanding the Ancient Egyptian timeline. We went outside and made a human timeline. We used Maths to make sure that we made the timeline comparable - 1 step = 100 years. This showed us how long the Egyptians ruled for.