Class 5

Welcome to Class 5

World Book Day Fun (15.03.24)

We finally got our opportunity to celebrate World Book Day! We enjoyed talking to each other about our costumes and the books that inspire us to read.  We also loved sharing our enthusiasm for books with our Class 1 Reading Buddies today.

Online Learning 08.03.24

Unfortunately, today the school is closed due to there being no water because of a burst water main at East Court.  We were going to be celebrating World Book Day, however this has now been rescheduled for next Friday (15.03.24).  Below is a selection of online learning to be completed.  Enjoy.

English

In English this week, we have been looking at a variety of poems and their features.  Today, we are going to be studying Personification in poetry.  Personification means that non-human objects, ideas or animals are given human characteristics, actions or emotions.  For example: The candle danced in the wind or The tulips bowed their heads in the wind.

Read the poem 'The Majesty of Spring' and then select the Mild, Spicy or Hot activity to complete.  There is also an extension activity to write your own personification poem.

Maths

Watch the video below about how to 'Calculate the area of compound shapes' and then complete the activity sheet provided.  If you are not too confident you can complete the Mild activity on the 'Area of a Rectangle'.  Enjoy. 

Music

Last week, we were studying how music can create soundscapes.  The video below is the retelling of Peter and the Wolf, using different instruments in the orchestra to create characters from the story.

Opera Day

A first for St Mary's today...Opera Day!  We had lots of fun in our workshop learning about the history of opera and how to sing and perform with emotion and passion.

Energetic Elves

St Mary's Sports Crew arranged and ran an Energetic Elves carousel for each class in the school to raise money for St Catherine's Hospice.  We had lots of fun and got plenty of exercise in the process. 

East Grinstead Memorial and Museum

As part of our Conflict topic, we spent a morning in our town finding out about how East Grinstead was affected in World War II.  We visited the site where a bomb dropped on Whitehall Cinema, killing and injuring many people and we paid our respects at our town's War Memorial, looking at the recent poppy wreaths that had been laid on Armistice Day.  We also enjoyed a workshop at East Grinstead Museum, where we found out about the amazing work done by Queen Victoria Hospital with burns victims of the war called The Guinea Pig Club, we are able to examine war artefacts and discover their uses and discussed what life was like for children evacuated to the town.  We even got a change to wear uniforms of army officers and nurses from wartime.  

Funky Food Ambassador Assembly

Well done to Class 5's Funky Food Ambassadors for leading a whole school assembly about healthy eating and how to make the right choices when eating snacks.  What interesting facts can you remember from their presentation?  

World War II Trucks and Army Equipment

We were very privileged to have an amazing selection of authentic World War II Army equipment to explore at school including two trucks, rifles, helmets, clothes and medical supplies.  An experience that really brought what it meant to be a solider to life.

Evacuees

The class looked very authentic as child evacuees when they dressed up this week.  After studying the experiences of evacuees they took time to discuss how difficult it would have been to leave home and family during wartime.  

World War II Workshop

We had an informative morning with Mr Dilly finding out fascinating facts about how people lived, worked and survived in World War II.  We experienced the fear of the air raid sirens and how even in the most challenging days people stuck together and never gave up.

Cricket

This term, we are having a West Sussex Cricket coach come into school to teach us the fundamental skills of fielding, batting and bowling.  Our first lesson had to be inside because of the unpredictable weather.

Visiting Author

We had Stuart Simmonds visit St Mary's this week.  From cricketer to children's author, Stuart has led a very interesting life and travelled all over the world.  He talked to us about how he was inspired to start writing exciting stories for his children.  Stuart has raised £50,000 for charity through his work.  He very kindly gave each child a signed copy of one of his books to enjoy.

Taekwondo

We were very fortunate to experience a Taekwondo taster session at school.  We learnt about the principles of Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control and Indomitable Spirit.  We were able to practice a number of self defense moves in a safe and respectful environment. 

Harvest Celebration

We have been studying the importance of Harvest and all of the people that work so hard to provide our food.  In our whole school Harvest Celebration, Class 5 and 6 worked together to create lettering covered with a variety of fruit and vegetables which spelt HARVEST,  We then took out letters to create other words linked to this time of year, including STARVE (thinking about those that do not have enough food to eat), SHARE (the importance of giving to those less fortunate) and SAVE (how to preserve our food).  

What can we learn from Conflict?

This term, Class 5 will be exploring past and present conflicts, the experiences of those that have lived through war and what we can learn for a more united world future.

In English, we are reading 'The Lost Post' by Keith Campion, which documents the lives of a soldier in World War I fighting in Belgium and his son at home in England, as they write letters to each other.

Meeting our Reading Buddies

Today, we met our Class 1 Reading Buddies for the first time.  We spent time getting to know each other and reading together.  Class 5 see this job as incredibly important as it is our responsibility to encourage young immerging readers and inspire them to love reading for life.

Exploring History with Virtual Reality

As part of our topic exploring the conflicts of World War I and II, we were fortunate to use virtual reality headsets to explore scenes from The Blitz and experience what life was like living on the underground to escape the bombings.  

Meet the Teacher

It was lovely to share the overview for Year 5 with parents this morning.  I look forward to working with you throughout the academic year.  For any parents / carers that were unable to make the meeting, the presentation slides are available below for your information.

Mr Johnson