Stanway Fiveways Primary School

This week was filled with fun and activity! We had plenty to look forward to, including our thriving Forest School, the continuation of our amazing art project, and ending the week with our annual sports day. All the children had a wonderful time competing and working together in their houses. It was truly a brilliant week!

This week in Year 5 was special as we celebrated Art Week, focusing on illustration and Mandala patterns. We had a Zoom call with Emma Block, a local illustrator from Colchester, who taught us about drawing, watercolour painting, and becoming an illustrator. The children were excited to ask her questions and create watercolour paintings inspired by her style.

We also made outdoor Mandala patterns using natural resources from our forest area and painted pebbles with symmetrical designs using acrylic paint and cotton buds. As part of our Agent of Change initiative, the children placed their decorated pebbles outside—please take a moment to admire their creations.

In addition to art, we moved on to decimals in Maths, started a new explanation text in English, added a step to our Jive routine, and made quesadillas to explore Mexican cuisine.

Thank you, Emma Block, for inspiring us, and thanks to everyone for making this week unforgettable!

This week in Year 5 has been filled with exciting progress. In PE, students continued refining their Jive dance skills, integrating new steps like chasse and ball change into their routine with collaborative effort and resilience on display. In Maths, the focus shifted to reflecting and translating shapes, where students utilised mirrors to identify lines of symmetry and applied their understanding of coordinates.

In English, students reached the independent stage of their suspense tale journey, utilizing the classroom's washing line and their innovative ideas to propel their storytelling forward. Meanwhile, in Art, students completed the painting phase of their clay sculptures depicting the Day of the Dead mask, showcasing their creativity and attention to detail.

Lastly, in outdoor PE sessions, students further honed their cricket skills, contributing to their overall physical development and teamwork abilities. It's been a productive week of learning and growth for Year 5.

This week has been yet another dynamic week in year 5. Our journey in English has seen us delve deeper into the art of storytelling, with students innovating the suspense tale. They've diligently revised and polished their work, skillfully crafting tension to captivate readers. Moreover, our commitment to safety extended beyond the classroom as children received valuable insights on road safety. Through interactive sessions, videos, and practical exercises, they learned crucial road-crossing skills. Each student received a 'Hi vis' bag, reinforcing the importance of vigilance and precaution. As the week drew to a close, our creative endeavors took a tactile turn as children meticulously sculpted their 'Day of the Dead' masks from clay. Armed with pottery tools, stencils, and rolling pins, they brought their design visions to life, eagerly anticipating the painting and decoration process once the clay dries. Congratulations to all on a productive week, and here's to a delightful bank holiday weekend ahead!

This week has been a whirlwind of activity in Year 5, with everyone putting in their best efforts. We kicked off the week with an exciting Mexican feast, where students had the opportunity to cook famous Mexican dishes like guacamole and vegetarian fajitas. It was a fantastic hands-on experience for the children to practice their cooking skills, from peeling and grating to dicing, slicing, and frying. The highlight was undoubtedly getting to taste their creations, which they thoroughly enjoyed. We also celebrated the Agents of Change initiative, recognising the efforts and progress made by our students. Congratulations to those who received their first badge, and well done to those advancing onto their second and third badges. Keep up the great work! Inspired by the recent London Marathon and our school-wide commitment to being agents of change, the entire school participated in a mini-marathon. Working together with their buddy classes, the children completed a total of 6 laps around the school field, showcasing teamwork and camaraderie. Lastly, in Science, students conducted experiments and engaged in planting seeds in different environments. Collaboratively, they observed and recorded data on independent and dependent variables. It's been an enriching and eventful week, with students actively engaged in a variety of learning experiences.

Welcome back, Year 5, to our exciting Summer term! We hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. It's been an incredible start to the week with lots of fantastic work already underway. In Mathematics, we've delved into a new unit focusing on Shapes and Angles. Our emphasis has been on identifying and drawing angles using protractors. While using the protractor presented a challenge for some, the students demonstrated remarkable resilience. Our PE days are now scheduled for Tuesday and Friday, and we kicked off with a lively dance session, learning the Jive with Miss Barnes. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and collaborated effectively in groups. In our 'Talk for Writing' sessions, we've begun exploring suspenseful narratives, diving into captivating texts and enriching our vocabulary. In Art, drawing inspiration from our Mexican theme, we've researched and designed 'Day of the Dead' masks in preparation for our upcoming clay sculpture project. It's been a busy and productive week in Year 5—let's keep up the fantastic work!

The children have had an excellent week, they have successfully completed their innovation of a persuasive advert in English and have now shifted their focus towards generating ideas and planning for their independent writing tasks.

Mrs. Woolnough led another enriching yoga session for the children, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Their increasing maturity during these sessions is evident, and they are gaining valuable insights from them. We extend our gratitude to Mrs. Woolnough for dedicating her time to organising these sessions for the children.

In Art, the children are currently sketching jumping frogs, applying the various skills they've acquired throughout the term. These skills include drawing in perspective and employing different shading techniques to portray shadows and movement convincingly.

Meanwhile, in Maths, the children are delving into the realms of drawing, reading and interpreting line graphs and tables. Today's lesson was particularly enjoyable, as the children collaborated to plot data on their line graphs and devised questions for their peers to answer, fostering an interactive learning environment.

Throughout this week, the students have been diligently tackling their assessments, showcasing remarkable resilience and determination. We're exceedingly proud of the progress they've made.

On Wednesday, we observed Young Carers Day by encouraging the children to don funky socks, sparking discussions about the admirable skills and qualities exhibited by young carers in supporting their families.

In English class, we've commenced crafting the innovation phase of our persuasive advert. The students have been dedicated to honing their persuasive writing skills and have generated some brilliant ideas. We're eagerly anticipating reading their independent writing.

Welcome back, Year 5! We're off to a bustling start this Spring term, and I must commend the exceptional hard work put in by our Year 5 students this week. In our English sessions, we delved into an exciting new non-fiction topic. The children not only learned the text but also fully embraced their roles as 'Giant Whisperers,' immersing themselves in the subject matter. Meanwhile, in Computing, our students were introduced to an innovative concept—venturing into the realm of 3D digital modeling. They enthusiastically engaged in both the creation and exploration of these models, demonstrating their prowess in designing and constructing imaginative 3D creations.

Throughout this week, the Year 5 classes were immersed in a whirlwind of creativity, diligently crafting their own Victorian-inspired light sources. The entire process was a delightful adventure, with students thoroughly enjoying the creation of their lanterns and enthusiastically showcasing their handiwork to their peers. Engaging in a range of skills, from precision sawing to adeptly using a hot glue gun, the students explored concepts such as various angles, different joints, circuitry, and overall design aesthetics.

The collaborative spirit was palpable as they seamlessly worked together, each member of the team assuming distinct roles and acting as facilitators for one another. Kudos to Year 5 for their commendable teamwork! The final results were nothing short of spectacular, showcasing the collective effort and artistic prowess of the entire class. 

It has been another busy week in year 5, with plenty of learning going on. English has been a new unit of writing based on diary writing. The children are using their prior knowledge of Victorian children to enable them to add more interesting details into their writing.  Maths has moved onto decimals and percentages but still linking the children's fraction knowledge too.  In science the children have learnt about levers, gears and pulleys and which one is appropriate to for a particular job.  The children have designed their lantern ready to make next week.

It has been another busy week in year 5. The children have been mulitpling fractions and finding fractions of quantities and amounts. In English they have planned and written their independent 'defeat the monster' tale. In science the children used the magnets to investigate magnetism. History was all about trade and the British Empire and how the British Empire impacted on the rest of the world. The children put the skills they had learnt in dodgeball and were playing matches against each other; in hockey they were tackling and defending which lead into playing matches next week. In computing the children had great fun changing text and images on websites.

This has been another busy week in year 5. Lessons have carried on with progression in dogdeball and hockey. In science Ash class used the ramps and the cars to investigate friction. They have finished their power points on a key figure of the Victorian era and presented them to the class. In English the children have been innovating the model text along side the teacher in preparation for independent writing next week. Maths has been short division and working in groups to solve problems.

Another busy week of learning in year 5. The children have been mastering long multiplication, they worked in groups to solve word problems, this led to some peer to peer coaching and support during the working out.  In English the children have been learning and practicing the tools that they will be using in their innovation writing to add characterisation to their writing.     PE has been adding to the skills learning in the first week of both hocky and dodgeball and next week they will apply them to some short games.  The children have learnt about key people of the Victorian era and researched and created power points which they then delivered to the class. Ash class were lucky enought to have Mrs Davies from Stanway school come and deliver a french lesson foccusing on roman numerals.

The children have had a busy first full week back, starting their new units of work for the half term. Writing has seen them create a story map for their new text Smaug, which is a defeat the monster story with a focus on characterisation. In PE they had SCS in to teach them dodgeball and outdoor PE is hockey where they learnt the skills of dribbling and controlling the ball. Science has a focus on forces and this week was gravity. They had to learn the difference between weight and mass and then used the Newton meters to find the weigjht and mass of different objects in the classroom. History is continuing with the Victorians and this week was all about the Industrial revolution. They had to compare what it was like before the industrial revolution and during it. Design and Technology is a construction unit and they were researching victorian light sources and given the design brief that they would be making a lantern.