Monthly Archives: February 2018

Investigating nappies experiment

Class Work, Science

This afternoon Year 5 Kestrels investigated nappies!

They looked at what happened when liquid was added to the grains in a nappy.

Some of the predictions…

The children then cut open a nappy, took out the tiny grains and collected them in a bowl. Once the grains were sieved to remove any cotton wool the children noted how much they had left.

They then added water to the grains, 10ml at a time, and recorded their findings.

They could see that each time they added water the grains got bigger and bigger, but remained dry.

Finally, they added salt and observed the grains. The grains became wet!

Peer Mediator training

Uncategorized

This afternoon Year 5 began training for Peer Mediators. The whole class will be trained and then they will choose 12 to become our school’s Peer Mediators (PMs).

Miss McClelland started the training with some rules.

  • Key skills needed in our training circle and as a PM:
  • Listen
  • Look at people
  • No bossiness
  • Respect what people say
  • Think about the problem
  • Don’t laugh about serious things

A very important rule was that whatever is said in the circle must stay in the circle.

We played a quick game to get everyone moving and being used to being in the circle.

We noted that we have lots of things in common with others and lots of things that are different.

We learnt a lot of new facts about each other, even though we see each other everyday. It showed that listening was a very important skill.

“It is important to listen so that the person feels valued.”

We will have to think about the key skills needed as a PM and choose the best in the class to become PMs.

This was a great introduction to the training, lots of fun and interesting.

We had amazing fun find out the answers to some questions…

“All of have been to Cannon Hill Park.”
“All of us like potato.”
“Only one of us has been to Africa.”
“Only one of us has never been to the girls toilets!”

Working in the groups helped us understand the need to help each other focus on the task and persevere to achieve the goal.

We are looking forward to next week’s session.

Year 5 have had a very busy day!

Video: Chemical reaction

Class Work, Science

This afternoon Year 5 investigated fire!

We watched a clip from Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. We saw a green fire.

We wondered if it was possible….

Then Miss Edwards demonstrated a chemical reaction of methanol with Boric acid being lit.

It was amazing to see the flames in a beautiful green colour.

We thought about why it happened and what we learnt.

“I used to think that you needed to use food colouring and now I think it was an acid that made green fire because of the chemical reaction between methanol and Boric acid when it is lit with a flame.”

Cricket coaching

Class Work, PE

Kestrels have begun having cricket coaching this morning.

After some great warm ups, the class were taught some basic techniques for bowling.
They had great fun trying to deliver a ball, using the windmill motion for the arms.

As they practiced it got easier and the coach kept reminding us how our arms should always be straight, head straight and standing side-on to the opponent/wicket.

We can not wait for next weeks session, so we can add to our skills, in preparation for the cricket tournament.

KS2 SATs revision resources

Class Work, Maths

Below is a link to some useful information on how your child can prepare for their KS2 mathematics SATs whether they are in Year 5 or 6.

There are topic boosters and past papers with video tutorials to help target specific weaknesses. For Year 5, there is a mini-maths (less than 5 minute) video for every day of the year to help establish a daily routine and encourage thinking-outside-the-box puzzles. The resources can be used on PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones via the website. Students who have used the resources in the last couple of years have said how it has helped them understand and be more successful in their maths.

Understanding opinions

Class Work, PSHE

Year 5 Kestrels have been discussing how to respect and understand others’ opinions. We started off with a problem to solve. This was ‘There is not enough space in the playground for football and other activities to be happening at the same time’. What can we do?

First of all the children discussed whether they agreed or disagreed with this statement and spent time listening to each other’s opinions.

We then came up with a list of ideas to fix this issue.

Finally, we spoke about how during our discussing we listened to others’ opinions, and we discussed how we should do this with respect and understanding.

These were a few of our ideas:

  • Listen
  • Don’t argue with opinions
  • Let people have their say
  • Ask for reasons to understand why that is their opinion

The main message the children received from the PSHE lesson was that everybody is entitled to their own opinions and we don’t always have to agree with each other, but we do always have to show respect.