Biographies
Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents
and abilities to the full.
We initially explored and named the features of Biographies by looking at a number of examples. Next we sorted information about Sir David Attenborough into chronological order. We sorted the information into the categories; Introduction, Childhood and Education, Career and Achievements as well as a suitable conclusion.
Poetry
Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.
We dedicated the first week back after half term to poetry! Initially we read the two poems ‘Ears Hear’ and ‘Louder Than A Clap Of Thunder’. We had a lot of fun finding different ways to perform the poetry to the class. Some of us took turns to read different stanzas whilst other groups read in tandem.
We then used the poem ‘Ears Hear’ to design and create our own poems to perform to the class!
Non-Chronological Reports
Article 29 – Education should help you to protect the environment.
As part of our Learning Challenge work on Brazil, we linked our English to writing non-chronological reports on animals native to Brazil. We chose an animal from capybaras, crab eating foxes, pink dolphins or capuchin monkeys to name just a few. We then worked in groups to collect information on their diet, habitat and habits.
English—Beowulf Comprehension tasks.
Article 28—Every child has the right to an education.
We explored finding the answers to a variety of different questions based on a text about Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon hero from Sweden who defeated several monsters! Some questions were retrieval based but others were based on clues that had to be found by reading between the lines.
We then completed an ordering task based on Beowulf’s life. We didn’t know the whole story before so we had to use the clues in the text to help order the parts. We could refer to the comprehension text also to help confirm some of our ideas. It was a great task to help us use our reasoning and debating skills.
Explorer Handbooks
Article 17— You have the right to get information from different sources including books, computers and other sources.
To create our Explorer Handbooks we researched what we would need to take in terms of clothing and specialist equipment. We also found out about the possible dangers and about the local people. We worked in groups to collect as much information as possible before writing up and creating our handbooks.
We were very proud of our final pieces of work!
The Piano
Article 29—your education should help to develop your skills and talents!
The Piano is a short animation that explores the memories of a central character. An elderly man sits at a grand piano and whilst he plays he experiences his strongest memories. This activity is called ‘Zones of Relevance’ and includes sharing powerful vocabulary that describes the film. There was a lot of discussion and collaboration involved in selecting the most relevant words for the centre of the target sheet.
Ultimate Explorers (Using ebooks)
Article 17— You have the right to get information from different sources including books, computers and other sources.
One of our texts in Year 5 this half term is Ultimate Explorers which is an ebook. We can access it through our Active learn website and it is very easy to use. It works like a normal book but it has a number of interactive features like pop ups and videos! We are exploring the BIG question—What makes a good Explorer?
Questioning the evil Dr. Reeper!
Article 28 – Children have the right to an education.
We wanted to explore ideas about the evil Dr. Reeper from our class novel, George’s Secret Key to the Universe so we hot seated the character and asked him some probing questions!
Spelling – Team teach
Article 28—Every child has the right to an education.
Team Teach is a spelling task that involves one child leading a spelling challenge. Initially the children in each group choose a word from the unit that they have found tricky. The leader then picks a word for the group to spell. Points are scored for correct spellings.
