Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School

Year 5

Come and see our highlights from 2016-2017.

Please click here to view Year 5's Newsletters from 2016-2017

 

Quotes from the Year 5 children about their learning from the Autumn Term:

This term I have really enjoyed learning about Mary Poppin’s and making the swish poem.

I enjoyed doing the water bucket challenge with a water cup hanging from straw. It was so much fun.

This term I have really enjoyed learning about space and planets. I found it very in-teresting to find out what all the moons were called.

I have learnt how to touch type and sew.

My favourite experience this term was the David Bowie space oddity dance.

We used dance words in our routines and we recorded our dance on an IPad.

I learnt about more complex sentences using semi colons, colons and personifica-tions.

 

 

In the second half of the Summer term the topic in Year 5 was called ‘Extreme Explorers’. The class has particularly been looking at how animals adapt to their environment in the desert, mountains, polar and deep sea.  The children have researched using children’s search engines and reference books to find information. 

In the first half of the Summer Term Year 5 recovered from the shock of the crime which occurred in their classroom; a beautiful and historic Megillah was taken!

The children worked hard to piece together the evidence and a crime board was created in the classroom. This included a suspect list, finger prints, handwriting analysis and footprints analysis.

They started the term linking in with Yom Hashoah, reading a story called Hannelah’s Rescue and introducing their class reader, The Mozart Question, by Michael Morpurgo. The children considered what it would be like to suddenly be forced out of their homes, packing just a few important items and arriving to live in cramped conditions with other families.

In the second half of the Spring Term for the first time our school took part in the Barnet Dance Festival at the Arts Depot. It was such a learning experience for the class, dancing in a real theatre and the children learnt about the work behind the scenes when putting on a performance such as stage direction, lighting and sound.

The children enjoyed their Victorian Day this term. The children found the formal and strict sessions of the day an exciting novelty and were dressed for the part.

The children looked at prints by William Morris and linked this learning with their maths. The children produced mono and relief prints using symmetry, rotation, tessellation and translation. They also linked this to the Chinese New Year.

In the second part of the Autumn term the children have been reading ‘Cosmic’ by Frank Cottrel Boyce. The main characters have challenges set in the Gobi Desert. Linked to this, the children worked in groups to plan an explanation text on Survival in the Gobi Desert.

The children have enjoyed learning about the Earth, Sun and Moon. They made a pinhole viewer to watch the perigee. They read about the phases of the moon and used different resources to demonstrate them, including biscuits!  They have continued to use discussion cards…For example, ‘Could you design a planet where a certain species of animals from earth may survive?’ 

 

Last half term Year 5 enjoyed their trip to London.

They sketched some buildings they saw from the rooftop of the New Change Shopping Centre. The view was awesome and they were able to compare old buildings with the very modern ones.

In class, Year 5 celebrated their differences, thinking about each member of the class and their skills and attributes. They discussed how as a team, they all have something valuable to offer and how everyone of them are important.

The overall messages were  that ‘It is ok to be different’ and ‘They are all unique’.

To enhance their learning on writing newspaper articles as part of the topic, ‘In the News’, Year 5 went to the Jewish News office to find out  about putting together a newspaper.

Science Week was a highlight where they studied the heart and circulation. They were lucky enough to have a visit from Dr Kaye, a GP, who explained the roles and functions of the main organs and demonstrated the way they work. She also brought in some real organs for us to look at!

The children have been working on different balls skills and team games, including attacking and defending. They have been rehearsing a dance ready to perform as part of the Barnet Dance Festival.

The children have started learning the material for the ETGAR competition and have been having fun learning the Jewish calendar.

 

 

The children looked at balanced and unbalanced forces in PE.

They were accompanied by a Blue Badge Guide and learnt about the architecture of the outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral and talked about famous people and important occasions which took place there.

The children enjoyed their visits to Yavneh College where they had to solve a crime using Geography, Chemistry and Computing. They particularly enjoyed their experience in the Science Laboratory using Bunsen burners! At JFS, the children participated in rowing competitions in the Fitness Gym, choreography in the Dance Studio and Geography in the Humanities block.

Children in Year 5 practised riding their bikes having been taught how to ride them safely on and off the road. It was amazing to see how the children progressed throughout the week and became so much more confident!

Year 5 took part in the Primary Schools’ ‘Design a Seder Plate’ section of the JN.  They had a real surprise when the JN presented Mrs Levy and her class with a beautiful ‘Etz Chaim’ glass Seder plate, made to their design. 

The children learnt how to make tasty challot. A really fun time was had and this hands-on activity learning about the role of yeast and  ‘changing states’. They went to ‘Slice’ in Golders Green to see how pizza dough is made and compared the making with that of challah dough.

The had such a fantastic time on the school’s first Shabbaton with a fun filled packed schedule. They stayed overnight at the Lincolnsfield Centre.  On motzei Shabbat they were tasked with convincing Mrs Baron to come on our holiday destination and they had to convince her with their posters, raps, poems and homemade outfits which they had to showcase on the catwalk. On both nights they were lucky enough to have a pyjama party and bed time story read by Mrs Baron.

The children made mini books of the 10 plagues for Book Week which were designed for Nursery and Reception.

The children were lucky enough to have Tzivos Hashem visiting for a Havdallah Workshop in which the children made their own Havdallah sets, including besamim balls, Havdallah candels and Havdallah mats.

On the way to the Bank of England museum Year 5 stopped at Guildhall and were lucky enough to witness the new Mayor of the City, together with trumpeters. They passed so many interesting buildings and enjoyed picking up a real gold bar and looking at the new polymer £5 notes!

Year 5 have been learning about Forces. The children understand that gravity is a force that pulls things towards the centre of the Earth and that air resistance is a form of friction that slows objects down that are moving through the air.