Stingray May Update!

What a busy term we have had already!

We have started new topics in every subject.

In English and History, we are studying the Titanic. We had a go at role-playing as different passengers. The first class passengers had a much better time than the third class passengers! We then found out about the real passenger we were role-playing. It was fascinating to read about their stories.

In Science, we started our ‘Animals Including Humans’ topic – we were given all the vocabulary we will be learning and tried to link them together. We had to explain why we had linked certain words in the way we had!

The children also loved the Hobbit production! The settings and props were incredible and it was great to learn about a piece of classic literature in such an interesting way. Year 5 were also lucky enough to have a behind the scenes workshop. We learnt about how the lighting, sound and prop creation works. The children also had a go at acting out one of the scenes exploring different lighting and sound to change the way the scene felt.

This week has also been Careers Week. The children have been researching jobs that they would like to do in the future and finding out the pathway to getting there! We have had lots of interests including: software developers, paediatric nursing, kennel workers, civil engineering, just to name a few. We also got to go to a Career Fair. The children spoke to lots of different people from different industries. We had lots of interesting questions to ask and learnt a lot about some potential future careers!

Finally, a big thank you to all the parents and carers who attended our year group assembly. The children loved sharing their work with you all!

Mr Roe

Happy Easter from Stingrays!

Have a lovely Easter break.

Thank you for all of your support at Parents’ Evenings and book sharing this term!

Again, we’ve had such a busy term – the children are really looking forward to the next few terms and our trip to Chatham dockyard.

Mr Roe

Stingrays March Update!

As we move towards the second half of the year, Stingrays are still incredibly busy in school!

In our English lessons we have been looking at Roald Dahl’s ‘BFG’. We started the term by looking at some poetry about the ‘Witching Hour’, a time when the world is asleep and the Giants emerge. We have also written some great recipes using the BFG’s favourite ingredient, the Snozzcumber. We have made a class book full of these recipes!

In Geography, we have started looking at South America. The children created some lovely trioramas to display what they have learnt. We have done some map work, locating all the countries and finding out the names of their capital cities.

In R.E. we have been answering a new question ‘What is like to be a Muslim in Britain today?’ We have discussed the 5 pillars of Islam. The children created 5 pillars for their lives that they think are the most important.

We’ve had a very exciting term of Art, looking at different artists of South America. We studied the weird and wonderful dream painting of Leonora Carrington and designed our own dream catchers. We have also looked at Beatriz Milhazes, an artist who uses repeating patterns and colours to create incredible public artwork. We then created tiles we could use to print from and made amazing repeating pattern artwork.

World Book Day was very exciting, it was great to see so many interesting and creative costumes. We spent the day finding out about new and exciting books, authors and characters. It was also lovely to see some of the great plates that were designed by the children as part of the World Book Day competition.

Mr Roe

Stingrays February Update!

What an exciting few weeks we have had in Stingrays class!

Our Forest School has carried on, we have had so much fun creating dens, starting fires with flint and steel, creating decorations and being outdoors! The children have all shown great resilience, whether that be spending ages trying to start a fire or finding the perfect way to create a roof for a den!

We have also had our Storytelling week, a huge thank you to the parents who volunteered to come and read with a group or the whole class, we are very grateful! We have been creating some incredible stories this week about a magical weather tree which the children are very keen to share. We also had the opportunity to use story sacks – we used the figures, toys and materials inside to create 5 sentence stories – some were very random!

In English we have also been creating some alternative chapters for Beowulf. We have created new monsters for him to defeat – we had giant wolves, ogres and even giant worms to conquer!

In History, we have continued our topic of Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons and looked at why Alfred the Great was so great! We’ve also looked at how Viking and Anglo-Saxon Britain rule was slightly different.

In PSHE we have been discussing discrimination and the equality act. The children have discussed what the term equality means and created posters, giving advice for what to do if they ever witness discrimination.

All in all, a very busy few weeks!

Mr Roe

Stingrays January Update!

What a busy start to the 2024 in Stingrays class!

We have started our new History topic, ‘Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons’ and have been looking at what life was like in Anglo-Saxon times. We also studied the invasion of Lindisfarne, we then wrote and presented News Reports about the invasion!

In Maths, we have been starting to look at new methods for multiplication, multiplying 3 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers – this has taken a lot of resilience from the children and they have really impressed me with their attitude to learning.

In English – we have been looking at an exciting new story, a chapter from Beowulf. It is the story of a great warrior who tackles different creatures. The children created story maps to help them memorise the story, then we looked at the setting of the story and created spine poems. I was really impressed by some of the vocabulary choices.

In R.E. we have been researching different religious buildings and looked at why they are designed in particular ways. The children loved learning about different cultures and it sparked some great discussions about the different religions in our class.

Finally, we have also started Forest School this week – making dens and using the mud kitchen. To quote some of the children it was ‘a fun level of infinity out of 10’! Just a reminder that children need to bring in kit to wear for Forest school that is warm and preferably waterproof.

Mr Roe

Stingrays December Update!

Hi everyone!

As the term draws to a close we would like to share all of the hard work that is still happening in Stingrays class.

In English we have been looking at some of our favourite Christmas adverts – particularly Edgar the Dragon. The children wrote some very persuasive letters, apologising (as Edgar) for their behaviour and begging to be still be allowed to be a part of Christmas festivities! We have also been watching Kevin the Carrot’s circus and writing some reviews – some were fairly critical of the performances!

In Science, we have continued our Forces work – looking at air resistance and gravity. We experimented with different materials, shapes and sizes for their parachutes to see which are most effective. We have also began planning some K’Nex or Lego vehicles that can be powered by the wind, using our knowledge of forces too.

In Design and Technology we have also created some amazing gingerbread men using our newly found sewing skills! The children have had to design and make felt gingerbread men, learning how to do a running or blanket stitch too! It has taken a lot of resilience from the children and they have done amazingly well.

I have loved seeing the completed decorations for our competition come back to school and they have been proudly placed on our door for all to see! The children have also been making snowflakes and other decorations for our Christmas tree!

Have a lovely break and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

Mr Roe

Stingrays November Update!

The start of term 2 has seen us starting some exciting new topics.

In R.E. we have been creating mission statements for our lives. We thought about what is important to us and then created some short sentences to encourage ourselves to live our lives in a particular way. Some children focused on their faith, some on their ambitions and some on how they would treat others. There were some very inspiring mission statements that we will try to stick to!

In Science, we have started looking at Forces. We have studied gravity, friction, air resistance, buoyancy and water resistance. This week we focused on gravity and the similarities and differences between weight and mass. We used Newtonmeters to measure the weight of objects and scales to measure their mass!

We have been doing Remembrance Day Art this week, and the children have created some incredible pieces of Art including poppies. The children tried incredibly hard to match the style of the original artists. You can see these on our classroom window!

In English we have been studying a story by Jeremy Strong called ‘This is NOT a fairytale’ which sees our main character Luke take on some interesting obstacles in some strange ways. The children have written some excellent diary entries as Luke to retell the main events. We have also introduced a Star Writer of the Week, this will be awarded to a child who has worked incredibly hard to improve their writing and listened carefully to feedback!

We look forward to seeing everyone at our Book Share next week!

Mr Roe

Stingrays October Update!

Well it’s been a very busy few weeks since our last update!

Our Science topic has seen us studying the movement of the planets, Earth and moon and describing why our days, months and years are the length they are!

We’ve been looking at scholars and philosophers in Ancient Greece and the impact that they have had on our lives today.

During this month we will also be discussing several significant figures for Black History Month – first was Marcus Rashford. We have started writing letters asking him to be an ambassador for a charity that the children chose, as well as designing kits that include all of Marcus’ favourite causes.

We also had our Colour Run which was a lot of fun! The children had a great time getting in a bit of a mess and running through all of the paint! See the pictures for a bit of a before and after! Thank you to all of the parents for the donations and sponsorship money.

We have also had our Autumn Art Workshops and we had a great time creating some wonderful pieces of jigsaw tree art.

I hope you all have a lovely half term and look forward to seeing you all after the break.

Mr Roe

September Update!

What a busy start to the year! We have hit the ground running this year and have jumped straight back into learning.

We have started several new topics this year, in Science we have started looking at Space. We have studied models of the Solar System such as Copernicus and Ptolemy! We have also been researching the planets of our Solar System and have been using the iPad to look at our night sky. We have been discussing why each planet would have different length years because of their orbits.

In Art we have been studying perspective and illusions. We have been using vanishing points to create some incredible drawings of 3D buildings! We have also been looking at ‘the trompe l’oeil technique’ and creating life-like hand drawings!

In History we have been studying Ancient Greece and democracy. We have looked at different city-states, such as Athens and Sparta and compared them. Lots of the children said they definitely preferred the democracy of Athens as opposed to the Spartan Oligarchy!

We have also been discussing Ancient Greek Mythology in English and the children have created stories as the first humans created by Prometheus in the story of Pandora’s Box.

A very busy term so far with much more to come!

 Mr Roe 

If you were unable to attend the 'Meet the Teacher' session, here are the slides shown for your information.