Elm Class - Term 1

Our most recent science session focused on the movement of the moon and its apparent change of shape throughout the month. We began by considering how the moon and Earth move, before looking at why we only see one face of the moon. After discussing synchronous rotation (the moon orbits Earth at the same speed that it spins on its own axis), we explored the different phases of the moon. To demonstrate their understanding of these different phases, the children created this cycle using Oreos.

Over the past few lessons, we have been looking at coding in our Computing lessons. The children have been exploring simulated systems such as traffic lights. They wrote an algorithm (a set of instructions) to instruct the traffic lights to change as they would in a real-life situation before creating the code in 2Code to simulate this. Considerations had to be made for the length of time each light remained on and the correct sequence of lights as per the rules of the road.

Elm Class Traffic Light Coding

We started our week with some model making in Science today. Our lesson focus was 'Why do we have night and day?' and Elm Class focused on making a model that represented the sun and the earth. The children used their new understanding of the earth spinning on its axis as a basis for their explanation whilst also making links to the moon and its apparent glow as a result of the sun reflecting off it. To finish, the children performed their explanation to the rest of the class, using their models and a torch to help.

Elm Class Night and Day

Last week, Elm Class had the opportunity to join an online workshop with the author Katherine Rundell. She shared information about her life before she was an author and then spoke about her own writing process (explaining how she draws upon her own life experiences when planning and researching her novels). A few copies of Katherine Rundell's books have been seen on desks this week so she must have inspired a few readers! The class also worked on their watercolour skills last week and made great progress with mixing colours to make shades of purple and experimenting with the different watercolour techniques.

Elm Class - Week 3

Elm Class have had a fantastic first few weeks in Year 5. They have made a great start extending their new knowledge in both Topic (looking at the USA states) and R.E (exploring different views on God). The children have developed their map skills by locating different topographical features of The United States of America before mapping them out. In R.E, the children worked in pairs to create a list of the various beliefs about God.

Elm Weeks 1-3