Our first day back happened to be the 80th anniversary of the start of World War 2.  Early on in the war (and even shortly before it began), many children were evacuated from major cities to live with relatives or strangers in the countryside.  We thought about what we would pack in our suitcases if this were to happen now.  We then looked at the packing lists from 1939 and compared them.  Finally we made and "packed" suitcases according to the packing lists!  The children worked in pairs initially to help each other draw around the template.  They showed superb team work and supported each other brilliantly.

Year 5 had lots of fun recently, taking part in World Book Day. We dressed up as our favourite book characters, read with the little ones further down school and took part in a scavenger hunt in the school library!

Having watched a video about sundials, Y5 decided they wanted to investigate how and why shadows move and change during the day.  We had a wonderful day drawing around our shadows at different times, measuring them and comparing them.  We found out that they move depending on where the sun is in the sky.  When the sun is low (in the morning and the afternoon), the shadows are longer.  When the sun is higher in the sky (around midday) the shadows are shorter.

This half term, our Design and Technology project has been all about sewing!  We started by learning about how to create different stitches, then thought about what we could use them for.  We also learnt how to sew a button on.  We designed Christmas decorations, thinking about which stitches to use for different parts of them.  Our stunning, completed Christmas decorations were attached to the Christmas cards that we made for our families; they loved them!

On Monday 12th November, Year 5 joined Year 2 to visit Wombwell cemetry to take part in a remembrance service.  We took wreaths, which we had made in class.  Some of us also took the rocks we made during the family fun session.  The service marks the end of our World War two topic.  It has been a brilliant topic and we have learnt so much.  We can't wait for the next one!

On Monday 5th November, Year 5 invited parents in for our first family fun session of the academic year.  We decided to look at Armistice Day (as it is the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War 1 this year).  We took inspiration from the hidden rock phenomena and make our own with poppies on them.  Our plan is to hide these rocks round school for the other children to find.     

On Wednesday, Year 5 and 6 went to Cannon Hall to take part in Team Activ's cross country competition.  The children represented our school fantastically and we had some good successes (coming in second in the girl's race and first in the boy's).  Because of their success, some have progressed to the next part in the competition.  

As part of our Harvest Festival, Year 5 decided we wanted to give back to our local community.  We asked for donations of tinned food to take to the local food bank.  We were overwhelmed at how generous everybody at High View was and managed to take the food bank 9 boxes worth of goods.  

In Computing this term , Y5 are learning how to create stop motion animations.  So far, they have watched a selection of animations using different media and evaluated their success.    Next they explored the "I Can Animate" app, testing how the number of photographs and the size of the object's movement affects the speed of the film.  They are getting very excited about designing their own later in the term!

As part of our literacy topic, we were inspired to write about Eden Camp.  We chose to write reports about our trip, to help inform and entice people others to want to visit.  We focussed on using formal language in our writing, so that anybody could read our writing.  Below are some examples, please feel free to comment on them!