Year 5

Academic Year 2023/2024

Year 5 Learn About Viking History and Culture

Throughout the day, the children took part in a series of activities that enabled them to begin their understanding of Viking History and Culture. During the morning, with Mr. Jones, the children became a scribe, using the Old Futhark Alphabet to translate key messages and questions from Old Nordic to Modern English.

They also became Viking Children, playing an old Nordic Game: The Fox and Geese. This game, a like that of tic-tac-toe, was used to teach Viking children that art of battle, learning to outwit and deceive the opponent to achieve victory.

With Mrs. Bradbury, the children explored some Viking Artefacts, discussed what each object was, what it may have been used for and why the Vikings needed it. The children were encouraged to think about each object and how it may have fit into the Viking lifestyle.

During the afternoon session, the children began by investigating the History of the Vikings through Textual Analysis – using a summary pyramid to help them collate the key information the needed. This helped them to begin to answer the key topic question: Were the Vikings always vicious and victorious? (We have glued this into our workbooks.)

To conclude the day, the children focused on a Key Year 5 skill – to recite poetry which has been learned by heart. To support this, the children were given the poem: The Viking Tale and were given the challenge to Be the bard. The classroom tables were removed, and the children sat in the round, listening to each other retell the story of the Vikings through the narrative poem.

 

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Our Geography WOW

The children discussed the many reasons people chose to build cities next a river. A key reason that was discussed was: ‘It gave people water to drink.’

Mr Jones, showed the children a collection of water, taken from the River Trent, which runs through Stoke.

After looking at the samples, the children identified and discussed what they believe would be in the water. This included: duck poo, dog poo, ‘the souls of dead fish’, twigs, soil, and rocks. Following this, they then considered the key question: ‘Would you drink the water from the River Trent?’

The children then created a ‘Filtration in a bottle’.

 

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Anti-Discrimination Workshop

To kick-start Black History Month, on Tuesday 3rd October 2023, Year 5 worked with the Stoke City Community Trust as they explored the topic of anti-discrimination. This work built upon the children’s PSHE learning into ‘What does it mean to be a community?’.

Within the workshop, the children shared their understand of what discrimination is, and why people might discriminate against each other. Through reading about the story of Hamza Choudhury, they shared their thoughts about how being discriminated against may affect a person, their thoughts, their emotions and the mental health. With Stoke City’s eye on football, they shared how all 96 clubs of the English football league chose to make a stance against racism and discrimination through silencing the voices of hate and prejudice as they took the knee before each game. This simple act had a powerful impact on those who thought discrimination was OK.

 

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Year 5 Design and Build a Prototype Hydraulic Bridge

During our DT week, the children worked in groups of four to design and build a prototype hydraulic bridge.

For the first task, each group were given only twelve paper straws, and a roll of sellotape. Using what they had learned from their exploration on ‘Construct-a-Bridge’, the children were challenged to use triangulation to increase the strength of the bridge. These bridges were then used for group testing

Later in the week, the children were given the opportunity to develop a series of woodworking skills to build their hydraulic bridge. These included: measuring, using a junior hacksaw to cut, using a set square to create a 90 degree angle and using hot glue to create their design. The children continued to work in groups of four, sharing the skillset and equipment to develop their design, following their step-by-step instructions they had created from their prototypes.

 

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Academic Year 2022/2023

Year 5 Design and Prepare a Norman Feast!

During our DT Week, Year 5 designed and prepared a Norman Feast! After completing some market research on the types of food that would have been eaten by the Normans, we worked within a budget and chose seasonal vegetables before cooking and enjoying our own roast dinner. Well done!

 

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Year 5 Visit Stafford Castle

During our recent trip to Stafford Castle, Year 5 enjoyed exploring what life would have been like for soldiers during the Norman invasion. We also found out more about the motte and bailey castle before making our own Norman coins to take home as a souvenir. We really enjoyed this trip and it really furthered our understanding of our history topic.

 

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Year 5’s Art Week

During art week, during the 1^st half of the spring term, Year 5 focused on the work of abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky. We used acrylic paints and explored the different types of painting techniques that were used by the artist himself. Our research about Kandinsky told us he had a condition called ‘synaesthesia,’ which meant he could hear the colours and shapes he used. We had a great week and produced some excellent work.

 

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