In music in Year 5, we are looking at South and West African music. We learned a South African song called ‘Shosholoza’ and then we learned to play 4 chords on the glockenspiel to accompany the song. We played these as a chord progression and sang along with a few drums to keep our rhythm on track. We thoroughly enjoyed it and Mrs Rennie thought we were marvellous!
On Tuesday 27th November, 28 children from Year 5 went to Temple Park Leisure Centre to take part in a sports hall athletics competition. There were 6 track events including running and obstacle relays and 6 field events including javelin and standing long jump. We all had a great day and enjoyed pushing ourselves in events that were new to us.
On Tuesday 12th November, Year 5 visited Durham Cathedral. We have been studying the Northern Saints in RE and this is the place in which several of them are buried. We acted out some of the stories linked to Saint Oswald and the lessons that we could learn from them. We are also studying architecture in Art and Durham Cathedral has some of the finest examples of architecture in England. We had an interesting tour around the cathedral and learned that it took 40 years to build and that it was all done by hand. The huge pillars were made and carved in pieces that were put together like a big jigsaw. One of our favourite things were the stained glass windows which were stunning. Some were very old, some were religious and told stories and some were more abstract and made you think. We thought it was a wonderful place and we are looking forward to making a leaflet on Durham Cathedral with what we learned.
Father Mervyn joined us to celebrate our Harvest Festival at Biddick Hall Junior school. Thanks you to all our parents and carers who donated food items. They were distributed to two local foodbanks. They were very grateful that you shared your harvest gifts with them.
This week in Science Council we all met together and created chemical reactions between bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to create some spooky potions. We also had a special visitor, Mrs Hayward, who came in to meet us and help.
Year 5 participated in a Year5/6 dodgeball festival at Temple Park. There were 25 teams and 300 children taking part. Our teams should resilience, passion and determination. All the children had fun and their teachers were very proud of how they conducted themselves.
Year 5 were visited by ‘That History Bloke’ and we explored the Tudor times. We answered some true or false questions about the time period and looked at a Tudor instrument called the lute. We handled some Tudor objects and explored them, even looking at a real leech that would’ve been used by healers! We wrote a death warrant using a quill and ink which was trickier than we thought it would be, and we played a strategy game called Merelle which actually linked with battle tactics.
The children in Year 5 and 6 had an exciting afternoon with players from the Newcastle Eagles basketball team taking part in their ‘Hoops4Health’ Roadshow. We did some physical exercise, learned about hydration, eating from different food groups and the importance of a healthy mind. We all had a great afternoon and learned lots about keeping healthy as well as having lots of fun!
On 26th September, we celebrated European Day of Languages. We talked about the importance of learning other languages and how we make others feel welcome, even if they speak languages other than English. We then held a poster competition linked to theme of ‘Languages for peace’. Our entries were amazing and it was really hard to select the winners.
Here are the winners from each of our classes . . .
