Orange Class / Year 5
Summer Term 2023
Welcome to Orange Class.
Please find out more information about our Year 5 class below.
Orange Class Work Orange Class Reflective Area
Orange Class Timetable Orange Class Newsletter
Miss Molly Miller - Class Teacher
Knowledge Organisers
In Orange Class, we will be learning about 'Forces' in Science; 'Ancient Greece' in History; and 'Should believing in the resurrection change how Christians view life and death?' in RE. Please take a look at the knowledge organisers for the key information the children will be learning about in these subjects.
- Science / Forces
- History / Ancient Greece
- RE / Should believing in the resurrection change how Christians view life and death?
| Summer Term 1 - 2023 |
| Constructing and Destructing Fabric |
In art, we have started a new topic on 'Textiles'. In our first lesson, we learnt all about manipulating fabric through methods of construction and destruction. With construction, we weaved, plaited, layered, knotted; and with destruction, we cut, tore, removed threads and hole punched. It was quite a messy endeavour when destructing the fabrics!
| Spring Term 2 - 2023 |
| Experience Easter |
In the final week of the Spring Term, we were fortunate enough to take a trip to the Church to find out about Easter. We took part in a carousel of different activities which taught us all about the Easter story and the resurrection of Jesus.
| Marvellous Mother's Day Cards |
In the lead up to Mother's Day, Orange Class created Mother's Day cards with a focus on the use of mixed media. We designed an oriental style vase in pen, then painted branches out, which were then decorated with tissue paper cherry blossom.
| 'A Day in the Life' (but make it collage) |
As part of our learning on collage in art, we learnt about the artist Dale Devereux Baxter. We particularly looked at his use of symbols to represent events in his life. We had a go at creating a collage of our own symbols to represent a day in our week.
| Propagating Mint |
In our science lessons, we have been learning about the sexual and asexual reproduction of plants. After finding out how certain plants reproduce using these forms of reproduction, we applied our learning by propagating mint (artificially asexual reproduction).
We took a cutting from a mint plant, just below the leaf join, and placed it in a container half-filled with water. Over the next few weeks, we will be keeping an eye on our mint cuttings to see if roots develop and if we, therefore, have cloned the parent mint plant!
| World Wildlife Day |
On Friday 3rd March, the whole school took part in 'World Wildlife Day'. This is a day celebrated annually in support of animals and plants across the world. World Wildlife Day is an important event to raise awareness of the endangered animals around the world. Every child arrived to school wearing an animal mask and then each class carried out learning about a specific endangered animal. Orange Class learnt all about tigers - we found out about the different members of the tiger family, their habitats, the risks to their survival and what's being done to protect them.
| Spring Term 1 - 2023 |
| Outstanding Orienteering |
Just before half-term, the whole of Orange Class were able to take part in an orienteering competition at Hartismere. We paired up and took part in all kinds of orienteering activities, navigating our way across fields and the school! It put our teamwork skills to the test, but we worked as hard as we possibly could to succeed!
| How do Hindu children get ready to celebrate Krishna's birthday? |
As part of our learning into 'What spiritual pathways to moksha are written about in Hindu scriptures?', we learnt about how Hindu children get ready to celebrate Krishna's birthday. We then had a go at trying these activities - we created crowns and decorated a child-size Krishna!
| Atlas Explorers |
In geography, we are currently learning about Greece. After getting to grips with how to use an atlas in our first lesson, we then used this skill to identify where Greece is in the world. We discovered that Greece is in Europe, so we used a blank map of Europe to identify all the countries and capital cities in Europe and named the seas and oceans that surround it.
| Print Making Process |
As part of our learning in art, we have begun a new unit on 'Printmaking', focusing on a reduction block print. We looked into the work of artist and printmaker, William Morris, who inspired us when designing our own block print pattern. The first part of our reduction block print involved 'worrying away' part of our pattern in press print, and then printing several copies of it in yellow ink. Over the next few weeks, we will be 'worrying away' more of the press print and layering the print in red and then blue ink.
| Autumn Term 2 - 2022 |
| Superb Sewing |
In the last week of the Autumn term, Orange Class spent a whole day dedicated to DT. We designed, made and evaluated felt phone cases. It was a very busy day and quite hard work making sure our stitching was strong and that our designs were beautiful, but we produced some amazing finished phone cases!
Superb Sewing
| Musical Marvels |
In our current unit of music (Classroom Jazz), we have been learning to play two different songs on the glockenspiel. After learning the songs, we built on our skills by improvising using the same notes. When the song and improvisation were put together, we played a fantastic whole-class piece!
|
Experience Advent |
At the beginning of Advent, we were lucky enough to visit the Church and find out more about Advent. We carried out a variety of different learning activities which helped us understand more about Advent.
| Inspired by Ofili |
In Orange Class, we've been learning about the artist Chris Ofili. His bright and colourful artwork inspired some of our own (however, we decided not to use exactly the same art medium as him, because as well as using paints and resin, Ofili also uses elephant dung - which we decided might be a bit smelly)!
| Successfully Separating Mixtures |
| Autumn Term 1 - 2022 |
| Recycle Day |
This year's Eco Council organised a whole-school 'Recycle Day' as part of 'Recycle Week'. We were given the opportunity to carry out lots of different activities relating to recycling.
In the morning, we wrote stories from the perspective of an animal whose life was being affected by humans not recycling. It was fantastic to see all the creative ideas the class had and the important messages that were in the stories about why we should recycle. In the afternoon, we reused old pieces of cardboard to create jigsaw puzzles (some of these were very tricky to solve) and then we produced posters to share the importance of recycling.
To end 'Recycle Day', we then shared our learning with our paired reading class. We listened to all the learning Year 2 had done on recycling during the day and then shared our recycling stories and posters with them. It was a fun and informative day!
| Auerbach Artwork |
After learning about how to work in the positive and negative in art, we applied our learning to produce a piece of artwork in response to work of Frank Auerbach. Although we got a bit messy with the charcoal, we produced some fantastic final pieces.
| Performing Powerful Poetry |
In our most recent unit of English, we have been learning about free-verse rhyming poetry. Our focus text for this unit was the poem, 'The Listeners' by Walter de la Mare. As part of our learning, we learnt about the importance of pitch, pace, intonation and projection when performing poems. We then applied our learning by working in groups to perform a section of 'The Listeners', which we then performed to the class. *Video to follow*
| Investigating Dissolving |
As part of our science learning on 'Properties and Changes of Materials', Orange Class learnt about materials which dissolve. We worked in groups to plan and carry out a comparative experiment to investigate which factors affect the the time it takes sugar cubes dissolve. We had to decide on an independent variable, these varied from changing the temperature of the water, the amount of times we stir the sugar cubes in the water, and the type of water we used!
| Incredible Imperial War Museum! |
To begin our history topic of 'World War 2', Orange Class took an exciting trip to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. We had a fantastic day exploring Duxford and finding out lots of interesting information about all the military planes and vehicles used in the war and the impact they had on the outcome of the second World War. We were also lucky enough to see many of the famous planes in flight - watching a Spitfire and Messerschmitt in flight was quite the experience!
Incredible Imperial War Museum
| Tints, Tones and Shades |
With our new class name of 'Orange Class', it seemed fitting that on our first day back after the summer that we would create some art surrounding the colour orange. We were introduced to the concept of tints, tones and shades and how to create them using paint. Using orange as our base colour, we created a variety of different tints, tones and shades, which we then used to fill in the shapes of the geometric designs we sketched out. We created some fabulous monochromatic paintings!
Summer Term 2022
| Summer Term 2 - 2022 |
| Exciting Enrichment Day |
We were fortunate enough to be invited to Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham for an 'Enrichment Day' - the theme for the day was superheroes and what an awesome day it was! We tested out Spiderman's web-fluid strength in science, learnt the body parts in German to design and label our own superhero, created a superhero elephant in DT, practised our superhero jumps in PE, and acted out a dramatic scene between a hero and villain in drama!
Exciting Enrichment Day
| Becoming the Solar System! |
Our Science topic for this half-term is 'Earth and Space', so to start this topic, we became our Solar System! We were split into groups and each became a planet, we then role-played the movement of the planets in orbit around the Sun. We had to carefully think about the distance away from the Sun each planet would be and how fast it would move - Mercury became very dizzy, very quickly running in circles around the Sun!
| Experience Pentecost |
Deben Class were lucky enough to take a trip down to the Church to find out more about Pentecost. We had a fantastic time taking part in the Pentecost Experience and learnt a lot about it.
| Terrific Tissue Paper Bowls |
As part of our '3D' unit in art, we created tissue paper bowls. This was a rather messy task, but after several layers of gluey, shredded tissue paper, we produced some beautiful bowls.
|
Summer Term 1 - 2022 |
| Jubilee Day |
To celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the whole school took part in a Jubilee Day. In the morning, we had a fabulous time getting creative and making lots of Jubilee related crafts. This was followed by a whole school 'street party-style' lunch, where we visited by the 'Queen'! The afternoon began with a whole school performance of 'We are the Champions' to parents, after this we took part in traditional games with our families.
Jubilee Day
|
Exploring Fabrics |
In art, we applied our experience of materials and processes to form fabric relief panels. After applying glue, quite heavily, to a piece of fabric, we placed it on a piece of black paper and explored the range of folds and forms that could be produced by pinching, pushing, sliding and scrunching the fabric on the paper. We then adapted and developed our work further by adding Brusho to the surface of the fabric.
| Glorious Gravity |
As part of our science topic on Forces, we planned and carried out an experiment on gravity. The question we were trying to answer was, 'Does the weight of an object affect how fast it falls?'. To test this question, we dropped a variety of objects, of different weights, from the same height to see which one reached the ground first. Although it appeared as if heavier objects reached the ground first, we had to consider the impact air resistance was having on these objects as they fell.
| Fieldwork - Parking in Debenham |
In Geography, we have been carrying out fieldwork looking at the parking in Debenham. As part of our fieldwork, we took a walk into Debenham to identify where we can currently park, how many spaces there are, the safety and accessibility of these parking locations. After our walk, we wrote questionnaires to share with parents/carers to obtain their thoughts about the parking in Debenham. We will use this data to come to a conclusion about what could be done to improve the parking in Debenham.
| Rubbish Day |
On Tuesday 3rd, we celebrated 'Rubbish Day'. This day was organised by Mrs Kindred to celebrate the opening of the litter picker borrowing shed. As part of 'Rubbish Day', the whole school took part in activities linked to litter. In Deben Class, we wrote letters to humans to from the perspective of animals whose lives are being impacted by litter and then we made collages of sea turtles using old magazines.
| Experimenting with Textiles |
In art, we have begun a new unit on 'Textiles'. We spent our first lesson exploring methods of construction and destruction using textiles. Methods of construction included plaiting, knotting, weaving and layering; whereas methods of destruction included hole punching, tearing, ripping and cutting.
Spring Term 2022
| Spring Term 2 - 2022 |
| Easter Egg Hunt |
In the last week of term, the Friends of the school organised an Easter Egg Hunt. We went outside excitedly to search high and low for our named lollipop sticks so that we could claim our Easter egg!
| Marvellous Martian Making |
During British Science Week, we took part in a STEM Challenge which involved designing a creature that would survive on Mars. We had to think carefully about the environment on Mars and what our creature would need in order for it to survive. We sketched out our creatures and then labelled their features, explaining how this would allow them to survive. A few days later, we used clay to model our Mars creature and once they'd dried we carefully painted them to finish them off!
Marvellous Martian Making
| Stereotypical Scientists |
As part of British Science Week, we were set the task of drawing what they think of when we hear the word 'scientist'. After 10 minutes of group collaboration, we had some very crazy-looking scientists! There were a lot of similarities between each group's scientist - mainly men, crazy hair, lab coat, running a mad science experiment. We talked about how these are quite stereotypical scientists and then explored some stories of scientists (and science careers) that smash these stereotypes!
| What's 'growing' on in Year 5? |
In Year 5, we have been learning about 'Living Things, and their Habitats' in Science. We've been exploring the life cycles of animals and the different ways plants reproduce. As part of this topic, we have been incubating quail eggs and planting sunflowers. We had to be very responsible when incubating our quail eggs, we carefully monitored the temperature of the incubator and had to make sure the water was topped up. After 16 days of waiting patiently, our quails finally hatched!
What's 'growing' on in Year 5?
| Spring Term 1 - 2022 |
| Greek Architecture Mono-Printing |
As we are studying Greece in geography, we decided to link this to our art. After looking at typical Ancient Greek architecture, we explored a new printing technique - oil pastel mono-printing.
We coloured a piece of A4 paper in with oil pastel, placed this face down on a page in our sketchbook and then placed a black and white picture (of part of a Greek building) on top. Using a very sharp pencil, we traced over the image. Once we lifted the image and oil pastel paper off, this revealed an oil pastel mono-printed version of our Greek building in our sketchbooks.
To add depth to our images, we used a black watercolour to show where there would be shading in our image. The outcomes were amazing!
Greek Architecture Mono-Printing
| Amazing Adventure Stories |
In English, we've been writing adventure stories. We used the text 'Why the Whales Came' as our starting point for our stories and all began our adventure stories from point at which the characters, Daniel and Gracie, are stranded on Samson Island (the Island of Ghosts). The children were given the opportunity to take the story in any direction they wanted, the result of this showed me just how creative Deben class are! Every single story was different, showcasing the imagination of the children.
Once we'd edited our finished pieces, we then wrote them as mini storybooks and designed a fab front cover for them!
| Exploring Europe with an Atlas |
In geography, we are currently learning about Greece. After getting to grips with how to use an atlas in our first lesson, we then used this skill to identify where Greece is in the world. We discovered that Greece is in Europe, so we used a blank map of Europe to identify all the countries and capital cities in Europe and named the seas and oceans that surround it.
| Messy Irreversible Changes |
To finish our learning on 'Properties and Changes of Materials' in science, we investigated irreversible changes. We first observed Miss Miller mixing bicarbonate of soda and vinegar together to inflate a balloon. We realised that the reaction had produced carbon dioxide, which is what caused the balloon to inflate.
We then got hands on with a bit of a messy experiment by mixing together warm milk and vinegar. We initially weren't sure what would happen; some of us predicted that it would explode! When mixing warm milk and vinegar, the milk curdles and once strained, we are left with a plastic-type material called casein. We left the casein overnight and the next day it had hardened!
| Tree Day! |
On Friday 7th, we celebrated Tree Day! We had been fortunate enough to receive 30 saplings to plant on the school field in commemoration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
We began Tree Day by reading the book 'The Lorax', we discussed the important message in the book and how we should take care of our environment. We then went onto the field to observe the trees so that we could write descriptive tree poetry. After break, we produced some watercolour art based on the Truffula trees (from The Lorax).
Tree Day
Autumn Term 2021
| Autumn Term 2 - 2021 |
| Reindeer Visitors! |
We were lucky enough to meet two furry visitors in the last week of the Autumn term. Two reindeers visited the school and we were able to find out more about them, whilst also being able to feed and stroke them!
Reindeer Visitors!
| Fantastic Phone Cases |
In the last week of the Autumn term, Deben Class spent a whole day dedicated to DT. We designed, made and evaluated felt phone cases. It was a very busy day and quite hard work making sure our stitching was strong and that our designs were beautiful, but we produced some amazing finished products!
Fantastic Phone Cases
| Experience Advent |
To mark the beginning of Advent, Deben Class were lucky enough to take a trip down to the Church to find out more about Advent. We had a fantastic time taking part in the Advent Experience and learnt a lot about Advent.
| Super Sheep Sewing |
This year, the Church's decoration theme is 'Sheep!'. After lots of um-ing and ah-ing about what we could make, we decided on felt sheep. We chose bright rainbow colours for our sheep (in keeping with our Rainbow Pledges) and developed our sewing skills well. Here are some of our finished herd!
Sewing Super Sheep
| Extending Patterns in Paint |
In art, we've been exploring extending patterns. We stuck in a piece of fabric into our sketchbook, then extended the fabric by sketching the pattern and matching the colours.
| Scientifically Separating Mixtures |
In science, we have been investigating the different methods of separating different mixtures of materials. We were given a few different mixtures (salt and water, sand and water, rice and paperclips, flour and raisins) and we tried to separate them using the methods of filtration, evaporation, magnetic attraction and sieving.
Although we made a bit of a mess with the flour and rice, we successfully separated all the mixtures and understood why only specific methods would work separating certain mixtures.
Separating Mixtures Experiment
| Inspired by Ofili |
In our first art lesson of our new unit of painting, we were introduced to the artist Chris Ofili. We discussed our thoughts about his bright and bold pieces (and interesting use of elephant dung!) before creating our own piece in his style.
| Autumn Term 1 - 2021 |
| Rainbow Pledge Day! |
Our Rainbow Pledges are an incredibly important part of our school life and helping us grow as learners and friends. As a school, we had a fantastic day celebrating the first four Rainbow Pledges.
Before breaktime, we had faith in ourselves and others by completing a 'What can I do in 1 minute?' tasks. We estimated how many times we thought we would be able to complete a task in 1 minute (for example, star jumps, writing our name, saying the 5 times tables) and then we had faith in ourselves that we could complete our estimate or do even better! After break, we showed respect to all members of our community by discussing this pledge and then we produced bright and informative posters about how we can show respect to everyone in our community.
After lunch, we strived to be our best by writing a goal for our future selves and by writing a piece of advice that we wish our past self knew. To end the day, we looked after the environment by producing collaged pictures of something relating to the environment, using newspaper and tissue paper.
Take a look at some of the fabulous pictures from our fantastic day!
Rainbow Pledge Day
| Sketching Natural Form |
In art, we have been looking at natural form. We were shown some lily pods, rose buds, sunflower heads and some rather spiky teasels. Using only a pencil and rubber, we sketched out one or more of the natural forms in our book.
In the following lesson, we worked on our skill of enlarging. From our small sketch in our books, we enlarged this to fit the size of an A3 piece of paper. We then explored the use of shading and colour in our sketches.
| Wading Birds of the River Deben |
As each class at Sir Robert Hitcham is named after a local river, Deben class investigated their namesake. We learnt about where the river Deben starts and finishes, which places it runs through and what wildlife we'd find in it, specifically which birds we'd see.
After finding out about the different types of wading birds, we sketched one of these birds, taking great care and adding lots of detail to it. We then created a wavy water background in watercolours. Here are some of the finished pictures!
| Lunchbox Lining - Investigating Thermal Insulators |
Our science topic this term is "Properties and Changes of Materials". This week, we undertook an investigation into which material would be best for the lining of a lunchbox. It needed to be a thermal insulator to make sure the content of the lunchbox would stay cold for longer.
In groups, we carried out a comparative experiment where we wrapped pots in different materials (tinfoil, bubblewrap and paper towel!) and placed an ice cube inside. We measured the temperature of the pot every 5 minutes and observed the state of the ice cube as time went on. Once we'd completed our experiment, we decided on which material would make the best lining for the lunchbox and why.
Thermal Insulator Experiment
| Inspired by Hundertwasser |
In our first art lesson of the term, we were introduced to the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. We discussed our thoughts about his bright and bold pieces, before then recreating a section of one of his pieces.
