Vicious Vikings and Magnificent Materials

Birch class kicked off this half term with our Viking WOW day. The children learnt how to write their name in Viking runes. Then they enjoyed making their own Viking helmets and Viking necklaces with tin foil.

In Computing, children in Birch have been learning all about Blogs. They researched existing blogposts and planned their own on a topic of their choice. They used a blog writing platform to write and publish their blogpost, and then read and comment on others’ posts. Check out their work here! https://birchclassbloggers.edublogs.org/

In Science the children learnt all about the properties of materials. Check out these photos of them mixing and separating different substances.

Which ones are soluble? What’s the best method of separation?

Anglo Saxon Adventures

Our first half term in Birch class is over and what a great half term it has been!

We began this year learning about the Anglo Saxons and their arrival in Britain. We became archaeologists and historians, hunting for artefacts around the classroom, and used them to make conclusions about Anglo Saxon society.

Here we are during our Anglo Saxon WOW Day, searching for clues in the classroom to solve the mystery of the Sutton Hoo discovery.


Later in the term we used our historical knowledge of the Anglo Saxons to help us to create our own Anglo Saxon shields! We made sure that our shields were round and designed using appropriate colours - just like the real thing.


Finally, we learnt about the Anglo Saxon conversion to Christianity. This knowledge inspired us to design and create crosses decorated with Anglo Saxon designs.



London, swimming and the wild.

This half term has been a busy one! With so much going on, our topic of London will be continued into next half term. Here are some highlights from our trips to the swimming pool and our amazing forest school residential.

Space, glorious space.

What a wonderful universe we live in! It was a joy to explore the vast and empty space that we live in. To begin our journey into the unknown, we mapped out our very own solar system which took us from one edge of our playground to the other. We then helped real scientists classify distant galaxies and celestial objects (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zookeeper/galaxy-zoo/ ) before writing our very own space adventure stories. In science, we learned all about why days are days, years are years and even why the Earths tilt causes the seasons… Finally, we presented all of the information using our computer skills to the class.

Freedom, human rights and Nelson Mandela

What an amazing half term we had! We had really important and mature conversations about human rights and some of the awful things that have happened through history. The most important thing we learned is that we can make a difference and it is important to stand up for what you believe in. This tied in really nicely with the teacher strikes as we were able to bring our topic into the real world and discuss ways we can make a change.

Vikings

This half term we looked at the impact of the Vikings on Britain - learning about their arrival and the conflict arising from their invasion. We learned about their way of life, religion, clothing and housing, as well as their weapons and warfare. Among many highlights, the children particularly enjoyed researching, designing and making Viking shields, and then using them in a Viking invasion of the Berger playground!

Anglo-Saxons

This half term we learned all about the Anglo Saxons. As part of this topic, we explored a famous burial ground called Sutton Hoo where lots of artefacts were found. We also created some amazing pieces of art!

Here are some water colour paintings we did of an Anglo-Saxon longboat sailing out to sea.

Here are some Anglo-Saxon bowls we created using traditional techniques.

Here is a timeline we created showing the key events in the Anglo-Saxon age.

Year 5 swimming at the Aquatics

Year 5 have been lucky enough to have an intensive two week course of swimming at the London Aquatics Centre.

All children made great progress. We ended it off with lunch in the Olympic Park.

Summer 1 - London

The children really enjoyed learning about London this half-term. They had an engaging and informative boat ride on the River Thames; they made clay structures of famous London landmarks and were able to answer the enquiry question: “What makes London a desirable place to visit?”

Autumn 2 - The Vikings

We learnt so much about the Vikings in the Autumn term; we dressed up as Vikings and wrote adventure stories about them.

Anglo-Saxon Shields

The children in Birch class studied the Anglo-Saxons in their first half-term. They designed, made and evaluated their shields.

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Materials and their properties

Birch class have been finding out about mixtures and solutions in science. We also looked at how to separate these substances once they had been mixed together. Some of the changes were reversible and we could get them back to their original states and some were irreversible and we couldn’t change them back.

Maths

Birch class have been using lots of concrete resources to learn about rounding in a practical and creative way.

Sutton Hoo exhibition (British Museum)

Birch class enjoyed their trip to the British Museum where they began to find out all about the Anglo-Saxons.

The centuries AD 300–1100 witnessed great change in Europe. The Roman Empire broke down in the west, but continued as the Byzantine Empire in the east. People, objects and ideas travelled across the continent, while Christianity and Islam emerged as major religions. By 1100, Europe as we know it today was taking shape.

The children saw an overview of the period and its peoples. The collections ranged from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, and from North Africa to Scandinavia. The gallery’s centrepiece was the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk – one of the most spectacular and important discoveries in British archaeology.

Why not ask the children if they can tell you about the artefacts in the gallery?