Welcome Back Lime Class
It has been great to welcome the children back to school and to see how well they have settled in to Year 5 already. I have really enjoyed seeing how enthusiastic they are and they have shown great growth mindset and working with others skills during the first week of school.
I am looking forward to seeing even more Team Bartons spirit as we get stuck into our Year 5 curriculum this term. You can find out more about what we have coming up this year on the Curriculum overview below.
Lime Class - Year 5 Key information
PE
Our PE days are Tuesdays and Thursdays and children are expected to take part in all PE lessons. They should come to school in the correct PE kit on these days.
Water Bottles
The water fountains are out of use at the moment so please make sure that your child comes to school with a named water bottle.
Homework
Homework will be set via Seesaw on a Friday and unless specified, will be due in the following Wednesday. Your child should upload their homework to Seesaw by this day.
Additionally, Children are expected to read either to an adult at home or to themselves for at least 15 minutes a day. Their reading record should be signed every time they read so that we can keep track at school. If your child reads competently to themselves, ask them some questions about the book so that you can see if they have understood what they have read. Discussing different texts with your children will help them to develop their own love of reading.
Maths homework is often set via MyMaths (https://www.mymaths.co.uk/) which the children have a login for stuck inside their homework book.
Sports Day
It was such a great experience being able to have a proper Sports Day again this year, with parents in attendance.
Lime Class had a fantastic time taking part in the track and field events and it was lovely to see the enthusiasm and team spirit from everyone.
Well done to Team Unicorns who won the Sports Day cup.
Enrichment Week - Henry VIII and Tudor England
Lime Class had a fun filled week learning all about Henry VIII and his impact on life in Tudor England. We learnt about his wives and had our own version of Blind Date, we made some gingered bread and discussed the types of foods that both the rich and poor would have eaten. We also learnt a Tudor dance and took part in a game of boules. The children enjoyed discussing some of the crimes and punishments that happened during this time and how Henry made changes to the church.
Our week ended with a Jubilee party to celebrate the 70 year reign of our current monarch, which the children absolutely loved.
Forces At Paultons Park
Year 5 spent the day studying forces in action at Paultons Park.
We took part in a coding workshop where we learnt how to programme rides and the teacher was very impressed with our coding skills. She said that most children don't get as far as we did.
We then got a chance to explore all the rides at the park, testing out our theories on air resistance and the best position to put our arms to make the ride feel faster.
Outdoor Learning Day 2022
This week we had outdoor learning day. The aim of this day is to make the most of our natural environment and learn outside in nature. In true British summer style, the weather was against us for some of the day so we had to adapt and finish our last activity in the classroom.
The children took part in some active maths outside, where they had to estimate how long it would take them to run around the playground. They then timed themselves completing the task and calculated the difference between the two times. The children who were closest to their estimate were the winners. They then thought about how they could adapt this for other movements (such as star jumps or press ups).
Next we used the outside space to role play the character from our story (Barnaby Brocket) floating into our school. We took pictures trying to show him floating and the children were really creative with their methods for capturing these.
Finally we used our science learning and understanding or air resistance to create some new stomp rockets. Unfortunately the rain came in before we were able to go outside and test them so we had to do this in the classroom. The results were fantastic.
Active Maths Day
Lime Class had a great day for Active Maths Day.
We spent time moving and been active, whilst also taking part in maths learning outside. Our day involved answering some problem solving questions based on multiples and factors and the children were able to give some fantastic explanations for their understanding. We also took part in some games to secure our multiplication knowledge. The children were really engaged throughout the day.
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Creative Arts Day
We had so much fun for creative arts day this year. Our theme was based around our new outdoor learning area and we spent the day creating all sorts of outdoor crafts. Year 5 and 6 worked together to build a wooden table top gaming board for a variety of games such as Chess, Tic Tac Toe, Insect Snap and Snakes and Ladders. We also painted stones to line the pathway of the new outdoor area. It was great to see so much creativity and enthusiasm from all the children.
Book Week 2022
For Book Week this year our theme was book to film and each class was given a book to focus on. Year 5 and 6 were given Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief as our text and the children really enjoyed getting to know this story. It linked really well to our work on Ancient Greece and the class were able to explain which character in the book are also mentioned within Ancient Greek history.
We discussed the characters and the way the author brings them to life. The children then had the opportunity to create their own mythical God for the story. We created top trump cards for them and then made clay sculptures - focusing carefully on how to add detail.
Additionally this week, we tried to figure out who was behind the mask in the Masked Reader and the children had the chance to talk to a real author.
Internet Safety Day
On Tuesday 8th February it was the annual Internet Safety Day. Throughout this day we took part in activities celebrating the different ways that we know how to be safe online. This year's theme was focused on 'Respectful Relationships Online' and we spent some time thinking about how we should be kind online in the same way that we would offline. The children thought about how this applies to their online gaming and they created Game Guides - official characters whose job is to help players navigate online interactions in a kind and respectful manner.
We also used this day to encourage the children to think about their own wellbeing in relation to screen time. I was very impressed at the discussion I had with Lime Class about the impacts of having too much screen time. The children worked out roughly how much time they spend on a screen during the day and some were quite shocked at how big the number was. They then set themselves their own target of how they can reduce this number in order to find more balance between on and off screen time. We ended our session by finding the value of spending some time off screens, playing games and chatting with each other in the classroom.
70 Years Of The Queen
On Monday 7th February we spent the day celebrating 70 years since the Queen's accession to the throne. The children came to school with a crown and together we took part in some activities to learn a bit more about the history of the royal family through the ages.
This day was very much led by the children and they were really keen to know who was on the throne before Queen Elizabeth II and who is next in line to the throne. We went back to the 1800s to look at the different monarchs that have ruled Britain and the Commonwealth since then.
The children were very quick to point out that the longest reigning monarchs in that time were both Queens rather than Kings but that we have had more Kings than Queens.
We also took part in a BBC Teach Live session to learn about life during Queen Victoria's reign and compared that to life now - the children were very glad that we don't have to write on chalkboards anymore.
Pitta Pizzas
This half term Year 5 have been learning how food impacts our body and what we need for a well balanced diet. This week, they used their understanding to plan and make pizzas that were healthy and nutrious. They used a wholemeal pitta bread as the base and then got to work adding their chosen toppings. There was a massive range in variation of toppings within the class and it was lovely to see the children so keen to get cooking. Some of the children even said they were surprised how much they enjoyed the veggies on their pizza.
Science Week
The first week back was Science Week at Bartons!
This is one of our favourite weeks of the year and this year Lime Class focused on changes of materials.
We started the week discussing the terms soluble and insoluble, next we investigated solubility and then applied our understanding of solubility to separate salt and sand.
We continued building on our investigations by discussing reversible and irreversible changes. The children then planned and carried out an investigation into how we would get our salt back from a salt water solution. We were very impressed with the results.
Finally we finished the week of with some mini investigations into irreversible changes - we turned cream into butter, milk and vinegar into a plastic like substance and used bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to blow up a balloon.
The children showed lots of curiosity during this week and I think there are definitely some future scientists in Lime Class.
Class Trip To Outer Space (sort of)
On Thursday 11th November and Friday 12th November Lime Class went on two school trips. Our first was to Winchester Science Centre where the children got stuck in with all the hands on exhibts. We especially loved the Space exhibit which was full of lots of information about life in space. The children tried to drive a rover across sand, looked at how black holes work and tested the weight of a can of beans on different planets.
In addition, the children were excited to take part in a hands-on workshop where they tried to block some of the sun's heat and tried to re-direct sunlight.
Finally we headed into the planetarium for an amazing show where we looked for different star constellations and learnt a lot about our night sky.
The follow day, Lime Class headed to Cineworld with Year 6 to watch A Beautiful Planet. The film, which focuses on life aboard the ISS, was filled with amazing information about the research that takes place on the ISS and how this is helping to solve some of our environmental problems on Earth.
The views from the ISS were stunning and it is safe to say that both the classes as well as Mr Hayne and myself were awestruck looking at our planet from such a unique view.
Maths Week
The first week back after half term was Maths Week for the whole school.
During this week, the children were able to get really stuck into learning maths which was linked to their topic of Space.
They read and tried to picture really, really big numbers when we looked at sizes, distances and temperatures of different planets. They also fine tuned their calculating skills by planning a menu and working out the cost and calories of a meal fit for an astronaut.
We had lots of fun discovering and using maths in real life contexts.
Lime Class definitely have maths skills that are out of this world!
Ancient Egyptian Museum
On Monday 18th October Lime Class put on a beautiful Egyptian Museum for the other classes to showcase their learning from this half term, as well as showing off the fantastic pyramids they created as homework earlier in the half term.
It was great to see the children talk so enthusiastically about their topic and I know the other classes were really impressed too. Mrs Powell also came along to have a look at what the children have been doing and she commented on the effort and pride they have taken in their learning and their homework.
Well done Lime Class.
Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Lime Class Egyptian Museum
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Becoming Archaeologists
As part of our second writing journey linked to Ancient Egypt the children had the chance to become archaeologists and make their very own important artefact discovery - just like Howard Carter.
Their first job was to use clues to figure out a secret code that they would need to enter the ancient tunnel.
Next they had ten seconds to enter the tunnel and discover some artefacts. They then had to come back out and describe these to their partner who would try to draw their discovery.
They used this experience to inspire some amazing diary writing.
Making A Mummy
As part of our writing journey, linked to Ancient Egypt, Lime Class took part in some role play which involved 'mummifying' one of the children. Alex was our lucky volunteer and he made a fantastic mummy. Luckily,this was only temporary and we managed to 'un-mummify' him in time for lunch.
The children all engaged with this activity really well and were excited to then write explanation texts,so that other people could learn how to mummify someone as well.
This was a really positive start to our Year 5 writing journey and it is great to see the children so keen to use all their Year 5 GPS skills already.