2024-2025

Welcome back everyone. We have had a wonderful few days and a great start to the new year. We have been learning about our Class Saint Mother Teressa of Calcutta as Thursday 5th September was the Feast Day. We also used the skill of 'quilling' to create some beautiful pieces of art to celebrate the birthday of Our Lady on September 8th.

2023-2024

Today, in science, year 5 investigated separation using chromatography!

Chromatography is a technique used to separate mixtures. The mixture is passed through another substance, in this case filter paper. The different colour ink particles travel at different speeds through the filter paper allowing us to see the constituent colours of the pen ink. We had so much fun learning and made some pretty incredibly observations too!

This afternoon we made our very own lava lamps to investigate: WHY DO OIL AND WATER SEPARATE?

After a lot of fun, mess and incredibly scientific discussions we came to some conclusions!

 The oil floats on top of the water because it is less dense or lighter than water. The food coloring has the same density as the water so it sink through the oil and mixes with the water. When you add the dissolvable tablet, it sinks to the bottom then starts to dissolve. The tablet reacts with the water to make bubbles of carbon dioxide. We also discussed that the bubbles attach themselves to the blobs of coloured water and bring them to the top of the glass. When the bubbles pop the blobs of colored water fall back to the bottom of the glass!

Alison Graham's debut novel, was imagined while riding round the beautiful Lake District on the back of her husband's motorbike. It was inspired by a boy who didn't like reading but loved being read to. She lives on the Solway coast and prefers being outside to inside, despite the Cumbrian weather.

Today in DT, year 5 experimented with different tools and methods to help them select appropriate tools and techniques to create their Canopic jars, later in the term!

Year 5 spent their science lesson today dissecting a range of flowers! We were looking specifically at the pollen supply and used sellotape to collect samples! We then used the microscope to look at the pollen close up! It was pretty amazing to see - even the teachers were fascinated!

We found out that the rocket car is propelled along the floor according to the principle stated in Isaac Newton's third law of motion: "For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction". The balloon pushes on the air, and the air pushes back on the balloon. Because the balloon is attached to the car, the car is pulled along by the balloon.

💙 Year 5 had lots of fun today (21.6.23), as they continued their transition project with St. Joseph's Catholic High School

💙 They visited St Joseph’s and enjoyed using their excellent facilities to take part in cookery and ceramics activities. 

💙 The children baked some delicious banana bread to take home as well as creating some beautiful pottery flowers. 

💙 Thank you so much to St Joseph’s for inviting us to take part in these activities!

🌿 This week (12.06.23), Mrs Eldon and Mrs Dove from St. Joseph's Catholic High School continued their transition project on ‘The Selfish Giant’ with our Year 5 children. 

💛 Today, the children learned about love, life and selflessness, and took part in a gardening and art workshop. 

🌈 They planted some beautiful window boxes for our school garden and painted some pebbles - their illustrations depicted the four seasons. 

🌸 Students from St Joseph’s Year 7 cohort joined us to help, and to share their ideas and secondary school experiences with the class.

Year 5 Windrush Day: the children loved their class book ‘Granny Came Here on the Empire  Windrush’. They went on to write their own emotional poems, based on John Agard’s poem ‘Windrush Child’, and decorated them with a watercolour Caribbean sunset. The children drew on what they had learned about the people who left their homes in the Caribbean behind and the daunting prospect of starting a new - and very different - life in England, to inspire their poetry ❤️

💜 In year 5, the RE topic over the last few weeks has been ‘freedom and responsibility’. 

💜 Today the children have been looking at a range of scripture, 

making links between how our beliefs in God’s Holy Law affects our behaviour - and the behaviour of others. 

💜 The children thought about different symbols of freedom, and incorporated them into their beautiful artwork. 

💜 Some of their ideas include: the whale, who freed Jonah from it’s mouth; the gates of Heaven; the freedom the sun provides for us; keys that unlock opportunities in life, and much more…

Castlerigg Manor

Year 5 had three lovely days together at Castlerigg Manor, on a retreat.

The theme was 'Shine your Light'.

They learnt how they can shine their light brightly and how Jesus is always with them to help guide them on the right path.

Not only did they develop their faith and spirituality, they grew in confidence and were extremely supportive towards each other.

For World Oceans Day last week, we each created a plastic packaging character and invented a story which depicted their journey from a human’s hand to our polluted ocean! Here are some of the characters that we then created, as stick puppets!

Chromatography

What is Chromatography? Chromatography is a technique used to separate mixtures. The mixture is passed through another substance, in this case filter paper. The different colour ink particles travel at different speeds through the filter paper allowing us to see the constituent colours of the pen ink.

Skittles are coated in food colouring and sugar. When you pour water over the skittles, the coloured coating dissolves, spreading through the water. The colour and sugar dissolve into the water and then diffuse through it, making the water the colour of the sweet.

WHAT’S INSIDE BLOOD?

One way to learn about the different components of blood is to make a mini blood bath.

red blood cells – carry oxygen around the body

white blood cells – destroy pathogens and make antibodies

platelets – help blood to clot

plasma – a straw coloured liquid that carries everything in the blood, not just red and white blood cells, but also nutrients, waste products, hormones and antibodies.

What is Remembrance Day Bitesize?

Remembrance Day – also known as Armistice Day – takes place every year, to remember all people who have died in wars. Ceremonies take place on 11 November, the day that World War One ended, with the country falling silent at 11am for a period of reflection.

A Service of Remembrance provides an opportunity to come together with family and friends to honor a life well-lived. It's time to share your memories of the wonderful times you had with your loved one. Everybody grieves the loss of someone they love.