Shelter Building

We have been learning about different tribes in South America; how they live, cook, educate and travel. We have learnt what their homes are made of and decided to create our own small scale shelters. Have a look at our creations.

Deforestation Debate

As a class we have learnt all about deforestation. We split into two groups to put together an argument. We debated on whether deforestation should continue or be made illegal.

The Living Rainforest Trip

For Summer Term we are learning all about South America and the rainforests. We have started our topic off well by visiting ‘The Living Rainforest’ near Newbury to discover more about the plants and animals that live in the rainforest. We saw monkeys, birds and reptiles to name a few. We had a great time!  

Fire Safety Talk

We were lucky enough to have the Bletchley Fire Service visit our school and explain how to be safe at home, near water and on the road.

Viking Quest

For our Viking history topic this half term we looked at a BBC Viking quest simulation. It involved us making a choice at each stage of a Viking raid, for example which longboat to build, which location to build the boat, which crew to employ and where to land the boat. 

World Book Day 

On World Book Day, we dressed up as our favourite characters. We showed off our outfits and discussed our favourite books. We were very lucky to have An Vrombaut visit school and provide a workshop. We listened to her stories and watched her animations. We also learnt about the process of animations. We had lots of fun on World Book Day!

Science Week

We had a great time during Science Week! Our topic was Outer Space and we learnt lots about the relative size and distance of planets. We also learnt about Buzz Aldrin and star constellations. It was a fun-filled week.

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 and the similarites and differences to the Catholic faith.

Musical Theatre

We have been lucky enough to have musical theatre lessons. We learnt songs such as ‘When we grow up’ from Matilda, ‘Do you hear the people sing’ from Les Miserables and ‘Food Glorious Food’ from Oliver. We loved performing to our parents!

Bread Making

Our last DT topic was bread making; we worked alongside Mrs Walter to make bread. We tested a variety of breads from the supermarket, evaluated and designed our own bread. We added savoury ingredients to our bread, such as onions, peppers, cheese, herbs, spices and even chilli! The breads turned out delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed our baking experience.

Theotokos Prize Competition

Matthew 22: 36-40

“Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and the most important commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

We took part in the Theotokos prize competition which was titled ‘The greatest Commandment’. We really enjoyed creating our masterpieces. Selina was awarded the class prize. Harley was awarded with the ‘highly commended’ prize and Natalie came 1^st place in the competition. Well done!

Ancient Egyptian Day

We had a fantastic day, making Egyptian bread, creating Pharaoh inspired masks and having a Royal Egyptian feast! Everyone made such a great effort with the costumes, we all looked brilliant – thank you and well done Year 5!

Ancient Egyptian Assembly

We performed our class assembly this week, which was all about the Ancient Egyptians. We have learnt so much that we wanted to share with the rest of the school all the interesting facts about the Ancient Egyptians. The speaking, singing and acting were top quality and everyone should be proud of themselves. Well done 5P! 

Judaism Week – Passover

This week is Judaism week. On Wednesday 16^th November, Mrs Elijah came to tell us all about Passover (Pesach in Hebrew), one of the most important festivals in the Jewish year. She taught us about the Seder plate and the significance of the bitter and sweet food. At the end of the talk she let us try the food – it was lovely!  

The Month of Holy Souls

November is the month of Holy Souls, where we remember the people that have gone before us. During November, poppies are worn to remember all the people who fought and died in World War I, World War II and wars fought since then. For our Meditation we thought about the people that are no longer with us.

P4C

We took part in a P4C session with Mrs Page. Everyone enjoyed being able to discuss “Big Questions” and we worked well as a class to listen and value each other’s contributions. 

Ancient Egyptian Masks

In our art lessons, we have been looking closely at Ancient Egyptian masks. We drew our own masks in pencil, charcoal and pen before creating our masks out of clay. 

Ancient Egyptian Papyrus

The Ancient Egyptians made their own paper by flattening and crushing stalks of the papyrus plant. They then placed the stalks running left to right, then placed another layer on top running from top to bottom. The more layers, the thicker the paper. We made our own Ancient Egyptian papyrus and have written our names on in hieroglyphs. It was a lot of fun! 

Iconography

We were very lucky to have Constantina come into school and show us how to make Icons. We learnt lots of different methods including gilding to create our Icons. It was a very thoughtful and prayerful time. We were also very lucky when Fr Benedetto blessed our icons. The final creations are great and we all have something really special. 

Music (Keyboards)

We have been learning how to play the keyboard. We have been looking at the high and low sounds and comparing them. We have been learning all about musical notation, including the treble and bass clefs. 

Ashmolean Museum

We have been learning about the Ancient Egyptians and visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford to discover more about life and beliefs in Ancient Egypt. We held real artefacts (such as a mirror) and looked at lots of artefacts in detail, including mummies and tombs. We had a great time! 

Art Portraits

In art we have been drawing self-portraits and have used different mediums such as pencil and charcoal. We learnt how to draw a face and realised there is a lot of maths behind it, for example splitting the face up to using fractions. We have also looked at different artists, such as David Hockney and Man Ray. We will be linking this to our Ancient Egyptians topic to create an Egyptian Death Mask out of clay.