Category Archives: Class Work

Chemical Reactions

Kestrels’ latest topic is ‘Changes in Materials’ and this week, they have been finding out what happens when certain chemicals are mixed together in a solution. They were asked to mix water with bicarbonate of soda, vinegar with water and bicarbonate of soda with vinegar.

They learnt that there is a chemical reaction with bicarbonate of soda and vinegar) Hollie certainly did when the balloon exploded from off the top of the test tube!

D & T Bridges

This term, year 5 have started a new D&T project – Bridges. They started off by trying to make a strong tower from 1 sheet of paper and scissors only! It was great fun and certainly tested their skills.
Then the children were given a template of a bridge and were asked to see how many maths cubes the bridge would hold before collapsing… the results were amazing! Some groups managed some 40 cubes. The next task was to attempt to strengthen the bridge. The children came up with various ideas and one group, managed to hold 94 cubes on their newly designed bridge.
Next, we moved onto the design stage… it’s early days but I’m sure you’ll agree, these bridges are going to be incredible!
Next week, we’ll be making them so keep checking our blog.

World Book – Live Lesson

 

This week is all about Books and Reading and today, Year 5 participated in the live lesson from the BBC. They received advise from Michael Rosen (one of our favourites!) And had a chance to take part in activities such as drawing a character and writing an ending to a story with a new twist! It was great fun and the children got to see lots of children dressed up in costume to celebrate World Book Day! The children are now so excited to be dressing up for our special celebration of books, tomorrow.

Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle is a castle in the town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England managed by English Heritage; much of it is still in ruins. The castle was founded during the Norman conquest of England; with development through to the Tudor period. It has been described by the architectural historian Anthony Emery as “the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant for its scale, form and quality of workmanship”.

The castle was built over several centuries. Founded in the 1120s around a powerful Norman great tower, the castle was significantly enlarged by King John at the beginning of the 13th century. Huge water defences were created by damming the local streams, and the resulting fortifications proved able to withstand assaults by land and water in 1266. John of Gaunt spent lavishly in the late 14th century, turning the medieval castle into a palace fortress designed in the latest perpendicular style. The Earl of Leicester then expanded the castle during his tenure in the 16th century, constructing new Tudor buildings and exploiting the medieval heritage of Kenilworth to produce a fashionable Renaissance palace.

We learnt a lot and of course, enjoyed ourselves as well!

Chemical changes in materials

 Our new topic of Science this week is ‘Materials and Chemical Changes’. The children started off by having a go at separating a bowl of substances such as: paper clips, sand, sugar and marbles. it was a testing challenge for them but they eventually solved it. They removed the paperclips with a magnet, tipped the remaining substances into a sieve to remove the marbles and then poured the sand and sugar solution through filter paper. The remaining sugar & water solution is sitting by our radiator waiting for the water to evaporate. It was a fabulous lesson and the children have written some very comprehensive instructions to prove their understanding. Well done Kestrels!

 

Creative Composing

Upon reaching the end of our music topic, Kestrels had the opportunity to produce some wonderful songs that they composed on their glockenspiels. They have been studying ballads and I’m sure you’ll agree, we have a few budding musicians in our school! Enjoy!