Geography Week

Friday: To finish our week we went on an exciting trip to Highfield park in St Albans. We used our knowledge of maps to help us complete an exciting orienteering course. 

Monday: To kickstart our week we took a walk around our local area. We observed human and physical features and mapped out our route by using specific language.

Queen's Platinum Jubilee

As part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, we played God Save the Queen on our tenor horns to the audience. We sounded so good they asked us to place it twice!

Treasure island!

As part of our Performing Arts Week, we received a visit from Hobgoblin Theatre Company who gave us an amazing performance of Treasure Island. There was plenty of audience participation and we were very enthusiastic. It showed us how your voice, facial expressions and body movements could captivate an audience, even without special effects and a complicated set.

Rocksteady!

On our first day back after the May bank holiday, we got to enjoy an assembly and a workshop from Rocksteady. Rocksteady are running rock and pop band lessons and gave us a small taste of what this would look like and we absolutely loved it. We heard some of our favourite songs come alive and saw how the different instruments of the band played a key part. Some of us even got a chance to play the electric instruments too. We definitely have some future rockstars amongst us!

Intra House competition

At the end of Spring Term, the Year 6 sports crew organised the intra house competition. Different houses got to play bench ball competing against each other in a tournament. Year 5 showed real determination, team work and perseverance as they took part.

Pizza day

Throughout this term Year 5 have been researching and designing their own pizzas and this week we got to make them! We followed our recipes that we had written, making dough from scratch before carefully preparing and arranging our sauce, cheese and toppings. We used our maths to help us measure and learnt many lessons about teamwork and perseverance. In the end our pizzas were delicious!

Science Week 

Last week we took part in science week and our focus was sustainablity. Throughout the week we got to take part in many exciting activities that helped us to develop our scientific skills like observation, pattern spotting and evidence collecting. 

Melting Ice: We used our observation skills to see how ice would melt over the day and recorded this information in a line graph. It really got us thinking about the current topic of global warming and the disastrous effects that melting ice can have on the environment.

Bees: We had a day all about bees which reminded us how important they are for the environment. We were provided with our very own bee cocoons which we monitored and we were lucky enough to see 2 that had hatched.

We also got to meet a bee-keeper who told us all about the process of keeping bees. We found out alot about bees that we didn't know before and afterwards we designed bee gardens filled with bee-friendly flowers and structures to encourage bees to visit.

Recycling: On the last day of science week we had a workshop all about recycling. It helped us to see the many uses that recycled materials could have and encouraged us to think more carefully about what we throw away. We got the opportunity to make some amazing recycled notebooks using old maps and recycled paper. They looked great!

Trip to the Natural History Museum

In March we took the coach into London to visit the Natural History Museum as part of our Geography topic. We were looking out for everything Earthquakes and Volcanoes and we were not disappointed. 

We refreshed our knowledge of why these natural disasters happen, experienced the force of an earthquake in a simulation and took part in an exciting interactive workshop that earnt us the title of Seismologists.

We were also lucky enough to have time to explore the many other wonders the museum has to offer - we could've stayed for hours!

Sports for Champions: a visit from Team GB athlete Montell Douglas

In March we had a visit from Montell Douglas, a former Olympic sprinter and a current member of Team GB's bobsleigh team. Her visit was brought to us by Sports for Champions, providing inspiration and opportunity for children across the UK within sport. We got the chance to learn about Montell's childhood and her journey into her career as an athlete and all the challenges faced. It certainly made us realise that determination and perseverance is key. At the end Montell put the children through their paces as they took part in an Olympic style training circuit. It was amazing to see everyone taking part and pushing themselves; I never knew Year 5 could do so many press ups!

World Book Day

On Thursday the 3rd of March we, along with the rest of George Street, celebrated World Book Day! The theme was fantasy, myths and legends and many of us dressed up in exciting costumes as part of this. We had such an exciting day where we shared stories with Year 1, paraded our costumes, listened to a storyteller, explored a range of myths and spent time listening to staff read their own favourite childhood tales. 

Year 5 Maths Competition

In late February we entered 2 teams into the Herts for Learning maths competition for Year 5's. They pulled together to answer a range of mathematical puzzles and questions whilst competing against other schools. It was so good to see the team work and focus from both the teams. We are hoping to get through to compete in the final in April so fingers crossed!

Feeling Good week

In February, we took part in 'Feeling Good week' where we focused on our well-being and what we can do to make sure we feel good about ourselves. We discussed why this is important and had a think about what we already do to make ourselves happy. On Tuesday afternoon we got to take part in a workshop all about body image; it taught us alot about how to embrace who we are mentally and physically and reminded us that everyone is different and this is a great thing.

Mini Police

This week, Year 5 graduated from Mini Police. Over the Autumn term they have met with local police to discuss community and the importance of respect and safety. To celebrate this, as a reward Year 5 got a chance to see and learn all about a fire engine, see a demonstration from police of how riot gear is used and try on real handcuffs. To finish it all off, Year 5 met with the Neighbourhood Team Inspector who provided them with their certificates during their graduation ceremony.

Trip to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

On Monday the 11th of October, Year 5 visited the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Our topic for Science has been Space and this trip was perfect for securing and enriching our learning. We got to enjoy a planetarium show called 'The Universe on your doorstep'. We laid back and stared up at the ceiling and were met with exciting images of planets, stars and constellations. In the afternoon, we went to a workshop where Year 5 shared some of their knowledge about the moon and had some misconceptions debunked (the moon is in fact NOT made of Cheese). At the end of the day we enjoyed a stroll around the Observatory and soaked up the view across London. It was a great day!

Poet visit!

On Thursday we were lucky enough to have had a visit from Paul Lyalls, the poet, to celebrate National Poetry Day. Paul did an assembly with the whole school where pupils had a great time listening and collaborating with him on some poems. Later in the afternoon, Year 5 were lucky enough to have a workshop with Paul where they were shown how to form their own poems; the results were moving, hilarious and very creative. 

Cross Country

In October, Year 5 went to a local secondary school to partake in Cross-Country races. It was great to see everyone get involved and push themselves even if they were finding it challenging. Above all else, I was so proud of how supportive we were of one another, there was a real team spirit among us.

Multiples and factors

In Maths, we have been securing our understanding of multiples and factors. The class have been using objects and grouping them to visualise the concept. Alongside this, we are practicing our mathematical vocabulary and encouraging one another to explain answers and thought processes

Earth and Space

In Science, we have been learning about how day and night works. Pupils have debunked some misconceptions and used their own words to explain how we experience day and night according to the Earth's rotations. To bring our understanding to life, we used torches and mini globes. 

Mini Police

We have been lucky enough in Year 5 to have some special visitors every other week. The local PCSO's in Dacorum have visited us regularly to discuss with the children the role of police in their local area. Year 5 have had many questions to ask and their have been some great discussions taking place about the importance of community, respect and teamwork. We are all excited to continue the programme and take an active role in becoming Mini Police!

Welcome Back!

It has been a great start to the school year so far! I am so enjoying getting to know the children in Year 5 and it is great to see them all enjoying some normality at George Street. Please continue to follow this page for updates on our learning.