In maths, we are extending our learning of measurement by looking at area.   We are experts at finding the area of a rectangle but what if we have one that looks similar to a rectangle but has more sides?  We need to break the shape down into rectangles.  So, to become experts at finding rectangles in a rectilinear shape, we practised at splitting our classroom into rectangles!

In DT, Year 5 are going to be testing our culinary skills!  We are going to design and make a menu based on cuisine from North America (which is where we are learning about in geography).  Before we can make the food, it's only fair we get a little taste of some new dishes!  Some were definitely more popular than others, though there wasn't much left after we had finished! 

Starting our new maths learning (measurement), we realised that we needed to get a little bit more accurate at using a ruler.  So (and don't tell Miss Smith), we started drawing lines of specific length on the....table!!  We then went round and checked that all the lines were the correct length.  We are now experts on measuring...even to the nearest mm!

It can be hard to come back to school after a lovely Christmas break, however, Year 5 returned to an amazing surprise!  To kick off our Earth and Space topic, we were visited by the Wonderdome (a portable planetarium)!  We spent hours being able to discover our Solar System and were amazed by some of the facts.  Did you know that there are over 200 moons in the Solar System?  We are going to use this new learning to find out even more about our universe and beyond!

In maths we have been learning about cubed numbers.  To investigate patterns and why they are called cubes, we used multilink to make cubes based on the calculations.  It really helped us visualise what was happening when we cube numbers.  

We decided to use our ICT skills to make calendars.  We used Word and found images to represent each month of the year.   We had to look at resizing and positioning images.  Our calendars are going to look really effective!

Anti-Bullying week has been really busy for Year 5.  We have really thought and reflected on what bullying is and the different forms of bullying.  We also looked at the effect of bullying on the victim and how serious it can get.  This fitted in really well with our work on World War 2 and the Holocaust.  It made us think about how a little word and belief can become extreme.  

On Thursday, Year 5 took over the hall to begin our new World War 2 focus.  We are going to look at the events of Dunkirk and in particular Operation Dynamo, which is when hundreds of civilians sailed, rowed and tugged boats from England to France to rescue the British and allied forces, who had been trapped by the German forces.  Dunkirk will be used to inspire our writing, history and even our science for the next couple of weeks.  

Our opening began with listening to Churchill's speech.  We pretended to be the civilians, waiting to depart for Dunkirk.  We used our measuring and ratio skills in maths to map out the distance that it would have been to Dunkirk and worked out - using the distance and average mile per hour - how long it would have taken the men, women and children to get there.  It has really excited us for our next bit of learning on Dunkirk.  Pop back soon and see how we are getting on! 

As part of our informal letter writing task, we decided to have a little look at the sorts of 'slang' expressions they might have used in the 1940s.  We found quite a few that made us giggle (like chrome dome).  Some, were easier to match then others.  Do you what it means when everything is 'tickety-boo'?

Our new EPIC writing activity is going to be to send a letter as an evacuee being sent to the country during the war.  We decided to begin our learning with some drama and mind mapping of all the emotions we would have gone through on our journey to our new homes.  We used our class text 'Letters From The Lighthouse' as inspiration, and also looked at Michael Morpurgo's 'Friend Or Foe' and the evacuation scene at the beginning of 'The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe'.  It meant we could really get into character for when we were given the information about our new homes.  Even though we knew it wasn't real, we still got extremely nervous waiting for our envelopes!