From our Year 5 reporters this week:
This Monday, Year 5 had a visitor from the Lancaster University planetarium. We were taken on a tour of the night sky, from our interstellar partner, the moon, to Ursa Minor, the little bear. They told us about the constellations, and used their super-astronomer skills [i.e, pressing that button down on the left hand corner, yes, the little one…] to show us the things they represent. An especially ridiculous constellation was Canus Minor, composed of two stars, joined together, that apparently are supposed to look like two dogs. I don’t know about anyone else, but I didn’t spot the likeness. We were shown around the planets, the gas giants, the dwarf planets, Mars, Venus, Mercury… We learnt how Phea the asteroid smashed into the Earth, throwing us off orbit and giving us the seasons, and about nebulas, the birthplaces of stars. Once the presentation was finished, there was time for questions. Fun fact- the power from the sun could be used to charge 2000000 [followed by 17 more zeros] vacuum cleaners! After the zoom call was over, we had a chance to journal what we learnt. Some did stories, some did poems, some did sketches. We imagined silver rivers linking the stars, vanishings and new constellations… Another wonderful day at U.C.P.S.
In writing this week, we have been writing up our own ideas on space exploration. We have been given a sheet of facts and from bullet points to an amazing decorated article, we have shown our thoughts. We found some amazing facts about space and poverty (why we should aim our money on other things). Could aliens help us with our troubles? Could we show them our intelligence? Could we make an alliance? Could we become the only race to have made contact with aliens? Although some people live on less than a pound a day! Every pound spent on a bolt or screw could be spent on building clean water pumps in Africa, every engineer focused on building a rocket could focus on saving our own planet by creating more, cheaper types of electric car. And, most of all, the amazing super things are only probable and the horrible, terrific, supposedly less amazing things are definite. What are the chances of aliens knowing English? People dying of poverty is pure knowledge while finding amazing unknowns is not.
We are nearing the end of The Jamie Drake Equation by Christopher Edge. Here is a review of the book so far by a member of Fuji class:
“It’s a very good book, I’ve been enjoying it a lot. I like the sci-fi element, but that’s mainly because I love sci-fi. Apart from that, there are also a lot of real things including the International Space Station but probably my favourite part of the story are the aliens themselves because they’re very original. Here are two reasons why I think they are extremely original. One of them is that most of the time, either the aliens are trying to destroy Earth or humanity is helping an alien get back to its own planet. But this is where the unique bit cuts in. I have never heard of a book where aliens are trying to make contact with us and helping us. Another reason it is so unique is, whoever heard of a race of beings who turned into light? I think that’s the most brilliant thing ever. Overall, it’s a great book and I’d love to read it again.”
Notices for parents:
We’re going to be gathering data on Year 5’s online and screen time routines and engagement next week, in order to put together some targeted teaching around safe and responsible use of technology, which we plan to share with you. Watch this space.
The Youth Sports Trust is running after school online clubs every weekday at 5pm until the end of term (18 December). These are an opportunity for all children and young people to do some sport, develop skills and, most importantly, have fun! You can find further details here: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/AfterSchoolSportClub
WRITING COMPETITION OPPORTUNITY: We have found a writing competition online which we would love all of you to take part in! http://chaucer.org.uk/the-canterbury-tales-writing-competition-2020-21-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/ .This competition invites you to conjure up and send in a poem, story or character description on the theme of ‘wishes’ have a look on the link if you’re itching for more information! There are some rather exciting prizes and the deadline is 28th February 2021.
We’ve been mulling over subtrahends and minuends in Maths this week, while applying our understanding of addition as an inverse operation. If you’d like to do a bit of Consolidation Maths Week 5, here it is.
If you can’t stop thinking about space debris (like us!), have a look at this link here: https://maps.esri.com/rc/sat2/index.html
Take a look at these Poems for Week 6 if you’d like to get ahead in Guided Reading next week.
We’ve got a Christmas Reading Challenge for you to tick off!
And finally- a physical activity challenge for you this week to keep you moving at home: Week 5 Challenge
Next week:
Maths: Problem solving with addition and subtraction
English: Writing Showcase