Geckos
'Feel It' Word of the Week
Current Word: Empathetic
Previous Words: Inspired, Hopeless
Autumn Term 2
We are super proud of all the reading the children have completed this term- we had a target of 300 books read collectively and are pleased to say we surpassed that this week!
As a reward for their dedication, we have some new graphic novels and will enjoy hot chocolate and reading on the final day of term. Well done Geckos!
Check back in January to see our new target!
Monday 12th December
We ended the term with our Year 1 buddies with a Christmas Orienteering run by the Year 6 Sports Leaders. We had to hunt for as many different reindeers and presents hidden around the school! Congratulations to everyone for finding so many and for supporting their buddies so well.
DT & Computing
This half term we have been learning how to program micro:bits via Purple Mash coding. We've experimented with different images, countdowns, alphabet and adding music too. We've linked this to our DT unit, culminating in designing a Christmas decoration that incorporates the micro:bit! Take a look at our construction and final products:
Egyptian Day, 12th December
We ended our History topic on the Ancient Egyptians with a themed day, full of learning, craft activities and fancy dress! We learned about Cleopatra and the end of the Egyptian dynasty, wrote in hieroglyphics, made 3D sarcophagus and a canopic jar out of clay. Everyone had lots of fun and those that dressed up looked wonderful!
Gymnastics
This half term, we have worked hard to develop Paired Compositions, using mirroring, unison and canon. We were impressed by the range of brilliant gymnastics moves, including rolls, cartwheels, jumps and balances.
As a way to finish our unit, on Thursday 11th December, we had a great afternoon using the wall bars and other gymnastics equipment, like the vault and beams.
Computing & DT
This half term, we have been learning coding for our microbits. Today, we designed a Christmas themed sequence which we will use next lesson as part of our DT festive creation.
Our Y1 Buddies
Each child in Y5 has a buddy, who we are also in a Circle Time group with. This week, we got the opportunity to visit them in their classroom for some buddy reading. It was great to see the engagement from both buddies and the Y5s being good role models for the younger pupils.
Autumn Term 1
Our Class Reading Log:
In Geckos class, we have a reading log that will come home Friday-Monday or Monday-Friday, accompanied by our class dragon, Star! Children are encouraged to read with/to Star and record their reading habits into the book.
Thursday 23rd October
The final outcomes from our Art unit on drawing & painting, focusing on colour and Fauvism, were a great array of contrasting colours in bold landscapes and portraits!
Take a look at our art display!
13th-17th October: International Week
Today we delved into South Africa, by learning about its location and geography, its flag and some of the languages spoken there. In imitation of the Springboks, we played some Rugby, practising our throwing & catching and scoring tries!
This afternoon, we learned about some of the wildlife in South Africa, looked at Miss Honour's Safari photos and created our own sunset silhouette images. Take a look at the photos for examples of our creations.
To finish International Week, today we watched traditional South African dancing and practiced some dance moves to imitate. We stepped in rhythm to African drumming and extended ourselves by using a variety of arm movements too.
Friday 10th October: Our Class Assembly!
We were very impressed and proud of all Geckos today in our class assembly, as everyone remembered their lines and delivered them confidently to the audience. We hope you learned lots of facts about our Solar System and paid attention to the detail in our song (what is the geocentric model of the Solar System, and is it the one we hold today?), as well as admiring our pastel drawings of the planets!
*Photos to come*
Thursday 9th October: Chiltern Chalk Streams Visit
This afternoon, Year 5 had a visit from Laura from Chiltern Chalk Streams, who told us all about our local river, the Ver, and the rare chalk streams nearby 🏞️ We leaned about the
We also investigated how much water there is in the world and how to save water in our everyday lives 💧
Check out the last photo for our reconstruction of a chalk stream - what features can you see?
6th October: Our assembly artwork!
To get ready for our assembly on Friday, we made space-themed pastel artwork of the planets and the other objects in our Solar System!
30th September: Maths
During Maths this week, we have been investigating decimal numbers, looking at 2 & 3 decimal places (so using tenths and hundredths!). We played a game against different partners, using a dice to create the smallest decimal numbers we could!
