Year 5/6 - Redwood 2022 - 2023
Mr Brereton
Mrs Martin
Welcome to Redwood Class' learning page. Here you can find relevant information about our learning in school, including: timetables, weekly English and maths homework.
Year 5 Assembly- Hola Mexico
Year 5s from Redwood and Cherry class performed their ‘Hola Mexico’ assembly this week. The performance included a variety of things that have been covered in the current topic. There were interesting facts about Mexico that the children had learned in Geography, information about Mexican culture, such as Aguas Frescas fruit drinks and the Mexican hat dance. The children also read out instructions for how to play the Ancient Mayan ball game and showed off their Frida Kahlo inspired portraits and Day of the Dead festival masks. They also performed a selection of songs including ‘La Cucaracha’ and ‘La Bamba’.
“The year 5s were extremely enthusiastic and soaked up lots of interesting information about Mexico. They all showed great confidence to perform the assembly in front of the school and to parents. They all had smiles on their faces and sang the songs brilliantly. The songs were extremely catchy and will stay in your heads for a long time. Thank you for your support with the costumes.”
-Mr Brereton
This Summer term, we will be learning about Mexican culture and celebrations....
Welcome to Mexico. Get ready to explore this unique country, from its towering temples and stunning geography to its pulsing rhythms and fun festivals. Is your tummy rumbling? Concoct a traditional fruit cocktail or a delicious Mexican meal. What’s on your shopping list? Go steady with the spices. Discover the mysterious world of the ancient Mayan civilisation. Make their chocolate, learn their poetry, play their ball game and follow all of their curious rituals. Just try to keep your head. Feel like celebrating? Design a flute, grab a drum, join a tribe and make some noise. Have you got what it takes to be chief? Let’s find out.
Aguas Frescas Mexican drinks
We designed and created a range of refeshing Aguas Frescas drinks. Aguas Frescas translates as "fresh water" and the recipes differ in different Mexican regions. The drinks contain lots of fresh fruit, sugar, water and are served with ice. We enjoyed creating the delicious fruity concoctions as well as tasting them.
Redwood Class Spotlight- March 2023
In English, we have been writing a diary based on Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. We used thoughts and feelings to express the expedition and what a wonderful discovery it was! We have also researched the various stages of mummification and used the information to write a detailed set of instructions for an inexperienced embalmer to mummify the much heralded Pharaoh Breretonkhamun.
In History, we have found out about the roles and responsibilities of the Pharaoh and other members of Ancient Egyptian society. We chose our 3 favourite and 3 worst Pharaohs giving reasons. We also researched the many Egyptian gods and looked at ways the Egyptian people lived and worshipped.
In Computing, we have designed and created our own games based on the Mummy’s Revenge. We designed the game environment so it would include Egyptian settings and features. The characters were inspired by our knowledge of Ancient Egypt and we also wrote rules for how to play the game so others could have a go. There was a lot of frantic escaping from oncoming zombie Pharaohs!
In Art, we have developed our shading, pen and ink skills to draw detailed sketches of Egyptian art and still life. The pictures were amazing and the children enjoyed showing off their talents!
In Science, we have been mesmerised by how light travels and how light enters the eye. We enjoyed investigating colour perception and explaining the reasons behind it.
Redwood Class Spotlight - February 2023
It has been a very exciting time in Redwood class. As part of the ‘Blood Heart’ topic, the children have been very curious to learn interesting facts about the heart. They have applied their retrieval skills to research the topic using non-fiction books and confidently presented their findings to the class. This then aided their writing when they produced explanation text to explain exactly how the heart works.
In English, the children are currently writing a dialogue narrative based on the class novel ‘Pig Heart Boy’. They have used dialogue using inverted commas, synonyms for said and parenthesis to communicate the arguments between Cameron’s mum and dad in the novel.
In Science, the children have looked at the components of blood. They practically explored the components, using food colouring to show the blood and the plasma, marshmallows to act as the red and white blood cells and pom poms to act as the platelets. This helped the class explain in detail how blood travels around the body and how the body protects itself from infection.
In Design and Technology, the children have focused on ‘Heart Healthy’ soups. They have collaborated in groups to create a design criteria and then they have thought of healthy ingredients from the different food groups that they can use to create different healthy textures and tastes. Each group has designed the packaging including a logo, name and descriptive paragraph to describe their delightful recipes.
In Computing, the class have created spreadsheets to display the results of a probability activity. The dice were rolled 450 times and then the spreadsheet showed the most popular number. The children added a formula to their spreadsheets to present the totals of each numbers and then used the data to create bar graphs using the 2Calculate program on Purple Mash.
Reminders:
PE days will be Wednesday and Thursday. Please have your PE kit in school.
Home learning and spellings are set on Wednesday and are due back on Monday. Please complete your English and maths work at home and find time to practise your weekly spellings.
Ensure you have a water bottle and a coat in school every day.
Other ways to help at home:
Here are a selection of websites which can help you and your children.
(Some games are subscription only, but there are plenty of free games and activities to help you practise maths skills)
This is a great website as it has lots of short videos which explain key maths concepts and have lots of practice questions to try.
Again, some subscription access only games, but there are some free games/word lists which allow you to practise your spellings in lots of different ways.
This has lots of information for parents which explains useful terminology.
Reading
Children should be encourged to have an enjoyment of reading. They can use their imagination and lose themselves in a book. Therefore, there should be time at home each day for children to be read to and to read independently. They should be encouraged to read a variety of genres including fiction, non-fiction and poetry and asked questions about what they are reading. This will develop their predicton, inference, summarising skills as well as improving their knowledge of vocabulary.