Year 5

CRC Article 28 – All children have the right to the best education. 

What a super start to the new academic year for 5T! All of the adults have been extremely impressed with how the pupils have settled into their new class. We have completed lots of activities linked to rights and we have created a Class Charter to ensure we are all the best we can be! Below are just some of the activities that we have completed: 

• Created a new class charter 

• Recapped the important policies in school 

• Shared some of our likes and dislikes to help our new adults get to know us 

• Elected new school council members 

• Created personalised bookmarks for our reading books 

We have been extremely busy already and we have a fantastic year ahead! 

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information. 

During this week in English, we focused on Cinquain poetry. We made a link to our French learning and discovered that we are familiar with the word ‘cinq’ meaning five in French and soon learned that this type of poem has five lines. We looked at a range of examples and familiarised ourselves with the structure of a Cinquain poem. We looked at ways we could improve existing poems by improving vocabulary choices using a Thesaurus. Finally, we had a go at writing our own Cinquain poems based on an animal of our choice. We enjoyed reading each other’s poems in a poetry show case and tried to guess each other’s chosen animal. A fantastic first week of English in 5T! 

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to the best possible health. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.  

CRC Article 31: All children have the right to rest and play.  

Year 5 are thoroughly enjoying PE lessons led by football coach – Joe. After some fun warm-ups, we have been learning how to dribble, receive and pass the ball. Activities are planned so that all children have the opportunity to learn and have fun. Towards the end of the lesson, we were given the opportunity to put our skills into practice by playing friendly – but competitive – games! Even the weather has been kind to us. A great start to our PE this term Year 5 – well done everyone! 

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best they can be. 

This week our fantastic Year 5 children spent time in our amazing school library. Children were given the opportunity to choose a book of their choice to read alongside their school reading book. We are passionate about continuing to foster our love of reading for pleasure. Whilst visiting the library, the children showed fantastic rights respecting behaviour. All children modelled library etiquette and enjoyed reading their books quietly and returned books to their correct places when they had finished looking at them.

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information and to share what they think with others by talking, drawing and writing or in any other way unless it harms or affects others. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.  

In Art and Design lessons this term, Year 5 have been focusing on improving their drawing skills. As part of our learning, we have considered the importance of drawing to support other media and reflected on why art is important to us and the people of the community and wider world. We have increased our cultural capital by looking at a diverse range of paintings from Van Gogh’s Starry Night, to Dali’s Christ of St. John on the Cross (which was exhibited at The Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland recently) to local graffiti artwork.  

This week we discussed the use of objects to convey meanings in still life paintings and arranged our own still life for the class to draw. We used our observational drawing skills to reproduce what we could see from our perspective and had some great results. Super work, Year 5! 

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be. 

During our Music lessons this half-term, we have been learning to sing the song ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi. This genre of this music is a classic rock and each week we have discussed and identified the features of rock music. Some of the features include: fast tempo, heavy amplified guitar, energetic delivery of vocals and more. This week our wonderful Year 5 children also enjoyed using musical notation to learn to play the song using glockenspiels and xylophones. During this session, we mainly used the notes A, G and B. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.  

Year 5 enjoy have been enjoying working in pairs in their Maths lessons this week. The children volunteered to come to the board to help self-assess our Flashback questions, before leading their own learning on negative numbers. Each pair were given a selection of questions to investigate before feeding their learning back to the teacher and the rest of the class. The children were extremely enthusiastic, engaged and conscientious – great job Year 5! 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.  

We have thoroughly enjoyed starting our new text in Year 5 English this week. We investigated some key vocabulary and made predictions about the new text, before sequencing and annotating a number of key events from the story in preparation for our imminent writing activity. We worked brilliantly in our groups and are looking forward to using the text as inspiration for our own work. Super teamwork Year 5! 

As part of our learning this half term, we explored Planetary Science which is the study of the planets and their features. As part of this, we explored the Moon and its phases. The Moon has eight phases, and we discovered that the shape of the Moon isn’t changing throughout the month, but our view of the Moon does change. Did you know? It takes 29.5 days to go from one new moon to the next new moon. To explore this practically, the children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in an experiment using Oreos to create the moon phases.

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to the best possible health.  

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

CRC Article 31: All children have the right to rest and play.   

Over the next half term, Year 5 will be working on their gymnastics skills in PE lessons. Our brief is to prepare a routine to include counter balances and counter tensions. This week we reminded ourselves of the importance of warming up, working safely and practised some counter balances and counter tensions with our partners. We worked really well together! Super teamwork Year 5!

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be. 
 
Yesterday, we started our new topic in PE which is Gymnastics. Miss Curbeson was so impressed with all of the children; they showed great resilience when working in pairs to complete a range of activities. We focused on ‘counter balance’ and ‘counter tension’. Counter balance is when you push against your partner’s weight to aid balance and counter tension focuses on pulling against a partner’s weight to aid balance. Next week, we will begin to use the apparatus to extend our learning further. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.  

On the 12^th November, Year 5 were given the exciting opportunity to attend the Locomotion STEM Day. The acronym STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Throughout the day, children were expected to use their ‘engineering brains’ to complete a carousel of activities. We took part in a range of different activities – we created wind turbines, built and tested bridges using weights and created hydrogen using water, a battery and crocodile clips. All the children showed great resilience and were great ambassadors for Timothy Hackworth. Several members of the public commented on how polite and well-behaved the children were. Well done, Year 5. We are so proud of you. 

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to find out things and share what they think with others by talking, drawing, writing or in any other way unless it harms or offends other people.  

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

This half term, Year 5 are putting their academic, creative and practical skills to the test in their Design and Technology project. 

Working with textiles, we are to design make and evaluate a simple bag or pouch to encourage further use of ‘bags for life’, in place of plastic alternatives.  

We investigated what makes a good logo, how to produce something original and then used this knowledge to create our own design.  

We are using running stitch to join two pieces of fabric together to produce a seam and are using fabric pens to add colour into the cloth. 

We are working really hard and concentrating – especially on the trickier activities. Great creativity, focus and resilience Year 5! 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to develop their talents and be the best that they can be.   

This half term, Year 5 are having French lessons hosted by native French speaker – Nathalie Paris. 

We have been learning the French names of places that can be found in local towns or communities, using a different action to help us to remember each one. We then faced each other for some games of ‘Fastest First’ before completing a written quiz to consolidate our new knowledge. 

Madame Paris also explained to us how the city of Paris is made up of twenty districts that are geographically arranged in a spiral like a snail shell; these districts are called arrondissements. 

Super learning, Year 5! 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be. All children have the right to develop their talents and be the best that they can be.   

This half term, Year 5 are focusing on dance in PE. The children were given the topic ‘House of Fun’, in groups of three children were asked to create a sequence around this topic. As always, we began by warming up to help prepare our body for physical activity by increasing our heart rate and blood flow.  

The sequence must include different actions, phases, styles and levels. This week, we focused on how to include levels, directions, pathways and body shapes. Children explored how best to utilise the space given. All children were engaged and worked well in their groups. 

 
Well done Year 5- a brilliant PE lesson. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to develop their talents and be the best that they can be.   

In our Computing lessons, we have been practising our coding skills using a program called Lightbot. 

Previously, we learned how to input individual, step-by step commands for Lightbot to follow so that it could follow a set path and complete set tasks.  

This week, we learned how to select and group a string of commands together to form a single procedure. Once we had grasped the concept, inputting a single procedure (instead of several individual steps) made our work quicker and easier.  

Fantastic work, Year 5! 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be. 

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. 

This week in Science, Year 5 have investigated thermal conductivity. We know that a thermal conductor is a material that allows heat to pass through it easily, for example, metals. We also learned that a thermal insulator is a material that does not allow heat to pass through easily, for example, wood. We carried out an exciting experiment to find out which material will keep boiling water warmest for longest. We made a prediction, carried out our experiment and recorded the results in a table and on a graph.

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to the best possible health.  

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

CRC Article 31: All children have the right to rest and play.   

Year 5 were treated to a Space-themed Pulse Workshop with the TINARTS Dance Company. 

Our workshop started with a dance class that utilised our Science learning of Space and the planets to build dance moves and sequences such as spinning, orbiting and rotating with a partner. 

We were then treated to an up-close, live dance performance by three professional dancers, followed by a question and answer session about the whole experience. 

We worked well at all the activities and had a great time together. Well done Year 5! 

CRC Article 6: All children have the right to be healthy.  

CRC Article 31: All children have the right to rest and play.  

On Tuesday, year 5 had the exciting opportunity to take part in a Dance workshop called PULSE. In the Pulse workshop, which linked to our Science learning, there were three different sections. The first was creating movements for all of the planets (and the Sun) and adding these movements to music. We performed the sequence three times and each time it got progressively harder. In the second part, three professional dancers – Ella, Elizabeth and Aaron – performed for us. They used multiple different songs with multiple different tempos, which affected how they danced and moved. We recognised the moves we were taught at the beginning of the workshop within their performance. The shadows incorporated light and shadows which was amazing! Finally, we took part in a discussion where we were able to ask the dancers a range of questions and they took turns to answer.  

By Isobel and Evie.

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information. 

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to learn and go to school. 

On Monday morning, Year 5 were given the opportunity to take part in a useful and relevant online safety workshop. The children worked with a visitor from a company called One Day Creative, their focus is to explore key themes (such as online safety) in a creative way. The children learned the acronym SIFT. SIFT stands for ‘Stop, Investigate, Find and Talk’. The workshop focused on how to use the internet critically and the children explore the five different ways of being critical; important, serious, finding mistakes, thinking carefully and decision making. They took part in a range of activities and one of them focused on creating still images in a small group highlighting a scenario which took place online. In another activity, the children sorted a range of AI and human images. Well done Year 5, you showed your understanding of the right to be safe, online! 

WORLD BOOK DAY! 
 
CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. 

Year 5 have had an amazing day celebrating World Book Day. The children have taken part in a range of activities including creating a book token, designing front covers to match book titles and designing a mask for their favourite book character. Children have enjoyed taking part in a school competition to read in a creative way. For ours, we used our bodies to create the phrase ‘5T love to read’. At the end of the day, we enjoyed a hot chocolate whilst reading ‘Sheep School’. 
 
We have also had a range of fantastic entries for our Potato Competition.  
What a fantastic day! 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

 Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Science Day. 

Our brief was to design a marble run with the aim to extend the marble’s journey time – from start to finish – for as long as we could. 

We worked scientifically in our pairs, ensured that our tests were fair and utilised our Design & Technology knowledge and skills to test and adapt our designs throughout the process. Well done, Year 5! 

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information. 

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. 

Year 5 have been given a design brief to create a fairground ride for a busy UK holiday resort. The ride is aimed at younger children and the purpose is to encourage UK holidays. This week in D&T, we explored different mechanisms which will be used to create the fairground ride and the focus was gears and pulleys. All children showed great teamwork and resilience as they followed a set of instructions to create a model such as a sailboat. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

Year 5 have been honing their computing skills using a program called ‘audacity’ to make their own jingles. 

It has been quite tricky to record when every other pair around us are doing the same activity, but we are working together cooperatively and having lots of fun as we learn. Great resourcefulness, Year 5! 

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information. 

CRC Article 19: All children have the right to be safe. 

In PSHE this half term, the children in Year 5 have been learning about basic first aid and what to do in an emergency. The children have been super sensible and have explored their right to be safe! We began by exploring the term ‘risk’ and sorted a variety of situations into positive and negative risk. Year 5 learned basic first aid for cuts, burns, choking and dehydration. The children then explored what to do in an emergency situation. We learned the acronym ‘Lionel’ to help us remember. 

L – Location 

I – Incident  

O – Other services 

N – Number of people involved 

E – Extent of injuries 

L – Location, repeat 

CRC Article 6: All children have the right to be fit and healthy. 

CRC Article 31: All children have the right to rest and play. 

This morning, Year 5 attended Hardwick Park for an orienteering event. We took part in a range of activities which required teamwork and communication skills. First, we took part in an Orienteering event where the children were required to use a map and follow a sequence of clues to crack a code. The children explored the field and monument where the codes were hidden. After that, we took part in a teamwork activity and, in pairs, one person was blindfolded, and the other person was required to use their teamwork and communication skills to guide their blindfolded partner around an obstacle course. This was the highlight of our day! Subsequently, the children took part in an obstacle course called ‘The Floor is Lava’ and in this activity, children had to cross the course without touching the floor, or the ‘lava’. We ended the day by exercising our right to rest and play by spending time in the park playing with our friends. A fantastic morning was had by all and, as always, 5T were super ambassadors for Timothy Hackworth Primary School. Well done Year 5- we are so proud of you all. 

CRC Article 6: All children have the right to life and to be healthy.   

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

In PE lessons this half term, Year 5 are receiving tennis coaching from Emily who is from Go Well. The children have been extremely focused and are working hard on their hand-eye co-ordination to hone the skills needed to become great tennis players.  

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information. 

CRC Article 19: All children have the right to be safe. 

In PSHE, we have been learning about our environment and how we can take care of it. We know that everyone has a responsibility to protect our environment, and we have been learning about the positive changes we can make. Did you know at least 8,000,000 tonnes of plastic enter our oceans, each year? We created pledges to take action against climate change. Some of our pledges included: 

I pledge to use a reusable carrier bag and avoid single-use carriers. Evie 

Use a reusable water bottle rather than a single-use one. Roman 

Avoid single-use plastic cutlery, bowls and plates. Ellie 

Well done, Year 5! We are proud of your pupil voice to make positive changes

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

  Year 5 have been developing their 3D modelling skills during Art & Design this half term. We looked at the work of a current architect and practising artist, Arthur Timothy. 

We assembled a paper model of the Eiffel Tower – which was trickier than it sounds! 

We used construction straws to create frame structures in the shape of houses. 

We then used air-drying clay to model a 3D house from clay – including carving in details and painting our models once dried. 

All three 3D techniques were different but challenging and fun. Well done Year 5! 

During this lesson, we used carving and modeling skills. We began by reminding ourselves about our chosen architect, Arthur Timothy. We discussed key vocabulary from our knowledge organisers. This includes the following; assemble, carve, manipulate, modelling and visual. We researched buildings and drew a first draft of what our clay model would look like. We used clay and a variety of tools such as knives and rollers to make and carve our 3D models. Finally, we finished our sculptures by adding colour using paint.

Well done, Year 5. You have been amazing architects. 

CRC Article 17: All children have the right to information.   

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.   

Year 5 embarked on the first of our secondary school transition visits this week – spending the day at Greenfield Academy in Newton Aycliffe.  

Our morning started with a Science lesson where we used the Bunsen burners to carry out experiments to investigate and identify changes in chemical reactions. This included burning magnesium in the flame of the Bunsen burner; we had to glance away as it glowed so brightly when reacting with oxygen in the air to form magnesium oxide! We then burned a further range of chemicals, watching carefully to observe the colours produced to identify each substance in turn. Our final experiment involved mixing chemicals and testing the gas released; it burned with a ‘pop’ which indicates that it was hydrogen. 

Let’s Get Cooking with Year 5!

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to healthy food and water.

Year 5 have enjoyed making a Vegetarian On-The-Go lunch as part of their Design and Technology learning. The children have been challenged to design, make and evaluate a delicious savoury vegetarian product for busy working people that can be purchased and eaten quickly as lunch. The children made a savoury tart using pastry, a choice of vegetables and feta cheese to create our delicious lunch option. Our children have had the opportunity to develop lifelong skills and have respected their right to be safe whilst doing so.

Invasion coaching

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.

Year 5 children have enjoyed taking part in Invasion Coaching as part of our PE curriculum. The children explored ways of moving with the ball; they learned how to successfully pass, control, dribble and shoot with a ball. The children learned how to make quick decisions in a game situation.  This means they had to think fast, stay focused and pay attention to the game. We worked on teamwork skills as each game required us to work together and discuss tactics with team mates to find out how to win!

World Book Day!