Egyptian life

After looking at the structure of Egypt and how the pharaohs ruled, we took a closer look at the lives of different people within the society of Ancient Egypt.

Can you tell which Egyptians are pharaohs, merchants and farmers?

IMG_1041-1479dgw

Exploring the Nile and pyramids!

Using an educational featured of a game set in Ancient Egypt, we were able to explore some of the features of Egypt.  By doing this, it has helped a lot of us picture it in our heads and understand the features more clearly.

We went for a sailing trip on a reed boat, and took in the views including pyramids to the west, the wildlife and passed farmland a shadufs along the way!

Then, we went for a walk along one of the famous pyramids to see what it would have looked like thousands of years ago.

We all really enjoyed it, and it helped answer some of our questions about Egyptian life, and how it all looked.

Here are the two guided tour clips we used:

Egyptian Shadufs

With the weather so amazing recently, we took a stroll into the woods this morning to create our very own Egyptian shadufs.

Shadufs were a way of collecting water from the Nile up the banks to the farmland, and they had a variety of structures.  We went down to the local stream, and created our own shadufs by the bank using only natural resources (and some string from the classroom!). In teams, a structure was made, and counter balances were also added by using appropriate sized rocks. Check out the incredible finished shadufs!

Egyptian reed boats

After searching for the source of the Nile and exploring how many walks of life were effected by the Nile (the source of life as it is known), we tried to create traditional reed boats that were made over 5,000 years ago.

Small reeds were surrounded by medium length reeds which were then wrapped with longer reeds. They would then tie the ends up for over 24 hours to create the shape which would help it carve through the water. The boats enabled trading and travel between villages and cities, but they had to be careful of crocodiles and hippos!

Spellings: Last list!

The final set of spellings for Y5 is upon us! Again, they are remaining words that don’t necessarily fit a rule with the others words we have.

sufficient, suggest, symbol, system, temperature, thorough, twelfth, variety and vegetable

LONDON TRIP!

We had an incredible trip to London on Friday, and we just can’t stop talking about it! Once all the photos have been collated, we shall make a page on the blog for everyone to see 🙂

Sneak preview! We met Tim Peake and Brian Cox!

Cooper Constructions

To get ready for our London trip last week, we worked in teams to design our own buildings to improve the London skyline even more!

First, we created draft ideas of our designs inspired by buildings around the world including Hong Kong, Dubai and America.

Once we had met as a team and decided on a design, we selected the correct materials for a prototype model. Here are the final results!

Spellings

For the final few spellings words of Y5, they are a selection of words that didn’t fit rules we focused on earlier in the year, but are words that Y5 and 6 should be spelling! There are a few awkward ones in here!

rhyme

rhythm

sacrifice

secretary

shoulder

signature

sincerely

soldier

forty

 

UK Government

After watching a very useful video from Parliament, we have started to understand how our Government works.

We talked about the 650 constituencies and how the local elections effect who is in government and who is the opposition. We also looked at the Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem manifestos and held our own local election for Sheffield Hallam.

Lib Dems won the majority vote in the class!

This afternoon, we played ‘Be an MP for a Week’ which helped us understand what it is like to be an MP, what life is like as an MP and how hard it is to be an MP.

Answering emails, talking to the media and even creating speeches for debates. Everyone started to realise just how demanding being an MP is.

https://www.parliament.uk/education/teaching-resources-lesson-plans/mp-for-a-week-game/mp-for-a-week/

Australian visitor!

Today, Mr C’s friend from his cricket team came in to talk to Year 1 about what it is like in Australia and the sort of animals he has experienced.

Once he had finished, he came and had a chat with us too! We asked him lots of questions including if he surfs, how hot it gets in Australia, what he does for work and if he has ever seen a shark?

He really enjoyed the questions and everyone was really excited to find out about another country. If you have any more questions for him, leave them as a comment on this post 🙂

This entry was posted on June 4, 2018. 5 Comments

Flag design homework

Today, the children shared the most recent topic homework which was to re-design either the Union flag or the English flag. They had to think about what they would represent on their flag and how.

 

Ultimate Homophones Spellings!

After weeks of looking at homophones, Mr C has decided to celebrate by giving an ultimate homophones test! He will select 10-15 homophones from the past few spellings, but you don’t know which ones!

Have a look through your spelling books and select which ones you think you need to learn.

Full marks = 3HP

Over 8 = 2HP

7-8 = 1 HP

Why do we have so many tourists?

Today, we explored the wonders of the UK, and found out where people in the class have been. We also tried identifying iconic places such as Edinburgh Castle, Snowdon, the Lake District, the Peak District, the New Forest and Liverpool.

Then, we focused our question about tourism to London and researched different attractions of the capital. To present our findings, we have used the free app ‘Chatterpix’ to make the places come to life! (they don’t always load correctly in the post, so try refreshing…)

Where would you build a city?

From looking at our country’s history, we have turned towards geography and the features that the UK has.

We explored a range of map types and inferred different information from each. From a topographical map to show land height to a rail map and road map.

After discussing features and why certain cities were located in certain places, we all decided to pick a spot for our own city. Here are the results!

Most people chose to build along the coast line to support trade for their city whilst some stayed inland near roads and airports for the same reasons.

Our Royal Family

After plotting the entire British monarchy on a timeline, it was time to take a closer look at our current Royal Family.

The children had a challenge to create a family tree as accurately as possible without discussing who was who before the task!

A lot of us recognised Prince William and Princess Kate, but also Prince Andrew and Prince Edward!

UK history timeline

After learning all about the different monarchs of England and the UK, Mr C gave us a challenge to plot all the Kings and Queens on a timeline that he provided. It was 10 metres long! Each century was 1 metre so every year was 1cm!

The timeline includes wars our country has seen, including the Civil War and the War of the Roses!

Weekly Spellings

This week contains some awkward Y5/6 words along with very commonly misspelt homophones!

who’s – contraction of who is ‘who is the best?’

whose – whose is this? (possession)

wary – to be cautious or careful

weary – tired

Y5/6

muscle, lightning, necessary, mischievous, marvellous

Kings and Queens

Yesterday, we were learning about all our Kings and Queens in UK history from William the Conqueror all the way to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

We acted out all the changes to monarchy outside on the playground, it took all afternoon! Here are a lots of things we have discovered about our history:

  • William I’s stomach burst!
  • Lady Jane Gray was on the throne for 9 days and is not recognised as a monarch due to her beliefs
  • Oliver Cromwell was involved in our civil war and fought against the crown, killing Charles I. He became the Lord Protector (king in every way but name) and was supported by Parliament
  • There were 4 King George’s in a row!
  • After a victory over France during the 100 Year War, one of the kings left his 10 month old son to be King of France!
  • Wales has been paired with England for nearly 800 years
  • Mary I was nicknamed ‘Bloody Mary’ because she was a very violent leader
  • James I (Mary I, Queen of Scots son) was the first ruler of England and Scotland, and started the idea of uniting the kingdom
  • William II was shot whilst hunting in the New Forest. There is now a stone there (the Rufus Stone) to show where he died

To try and remember all of the monarchs, we are using the Horrible Histories videos!

Wake and Shake: The Bee Gees

This week, we were listening to some great songs by ‘The Bee Gees’ including ‘Staying Alive’ and ‘Night Fever’.

Did you know that ‘Staying Alive’ is the right rhythm to perform CPR, so – if you know the tune – push down on every beat!

The Bee Gees were famous for their disco sound, and we strutted our stuff this week; there was even a dance off!

Spellings: Homophones again!

profit – money that is made, gaining something

prophet – someone who is seen as a messenger, says what may happen in the future

stationary – stay still

stationery – pens, pencils, paper…

steal –  to take something which isn’t yours

steel – a type of metal (Sheffield’s steel is the best! woohoo!)

Y5/6 words

interrupt

language

leisure