Maths lessons are far more enjoyable when they include a murder mystery! This week, y5 put their investigative skills to the test to solve the mystery of who murdered the young millionaire, Henry Baskerville, following a dinner party at Baskerville Hall. Our young detectives had to calculate the perimeter of all the rooms in the hall in order to generate an 8-digit code, which opened the padlocked journal of the murderer. Who needs Sherlock Holmes with y5 on the case!
It was wonderful to spend this year’s World Book Day with both years 5 and 3 as they celebrated their favourite works of literature with some fantastic costumes and themed activities!
As part of their training, NJS’ newly appointed Digital Leaders visited XP today to learn more about their role and how they can help not only their peers but the staff as well.
The children were divided into groups and asked to find answer to the ‘fantastic problem’: school staff lacking the confidence or knowledge to use new technology or apps in the classroom. After collating ideas and a rationale for why we need DLs, the children presented their ideas to their peers from other schools, an audience of at least 100! Well done to all involved! 👍🏼
This week, the children’s hard work during their first expedition, The Magic of Motion, was acknowledged by their celebration of learning presentation, which also gave the pupils the opportunity to unveil their final product: an information board that will be displayed at one of the local train stations. Throughout the event, all of the students in 5RS demonstrated impressive presentation skills. They were extremely mature and spoke knowledgably with great confidence, which was wonderful to observe!
This week, we transported year 5 into the depths of the Amazon Rainforest to take part in an important debate to determine whether more land should be bought from a local indigenous community to be used for industry. Many other parties that are affected by deforestation in the rainforest also decided to attend the meeting as they wished to have their voices heard.
Using this learning hook, our children worked collaboratively in small groups to write an argument for or against deforestation from the perspective of one of these groups, which resulted in some outstanding persuasive writing! Fantastic work 5RS!
This week, year 5 have used a selection of bedsheets to create their own landforms, which they then used as a basis to investigate human land use. The children used the contours of the land to add a river, forests and pastures, before discussing collaboratively how these might affect human settlements. The pupils recognized the importance of providing human settlements with a water supply, vegetation, building materials, space for livestock and a means of defense. Super work 5RS!
After taking part in a gallery walk of photographs taken from the local area, our year 5 geographers were able to distinguish clearly between human and physical features and explain how the latter has influenced the former. They are then going to build on this learning next week by creating a model land form and using the physical features of the land to inform their human settlements and land use. Super work year 5!
As we begin our spring expedition, the children have been transported into the depths of the Amazon rainforest as they start to explore our guiding question: ‘Why should we help our planet survive?‘ During hook week, the pupils were first immersed in the wonder of the Amazon, from the rainforest layers to the biodiversity of the species that reside there. To celebrate this, our class designed and created an incredible door display, complete with indigenous species from the rainforest canopy. As the week has progressed, the children have gradually been introduced to the issue of deforestation and have produced some thought-provoking news reports to highlight different perspectives on the subject.
As part of our Christmas Expedition slice, year 5 have stepped into the streets of Dickensian London where they have encountered the covetous, old sinner, Ebenezer Scrooge! After recreating the famous character description of A Christmas Carol’s frightful protagonist, the pupils have worked collaboratively to generate powerful vocabulary that will enable them to produce a contrasting description, following Scrooge’s transformation at the end of the novella. What better way to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!
This week, as part of their The Magic of Motion expedition, year 5 and 6 visited the Rail Heritage Centre at Danum Museum, which is home to two impressive locomotives (No. 251 and Green Arrow) and a large selection of railway memorabilia from the Doncaster Grammar School rail collection. The children were also treated to a fantastic workshop that explored how trains have been on a journey of change over the years. This supplemented their classroom learning brilliantly and provided an exciting, hands-on experience for all of our pupils.
