Opal Class

Welcome to Year 5 (Opal Class)

Mr Snelson is your class teacher. 

Tuesday 12th July

Y5 running a sports event for Reception Class.

WB 03.07.23

Today in Science the children further explored forces, looking closely at friction. In order to support this, the children were asked to pick up a jelly cube using their pencils (acting as chopsticks). They were then given another jelly cube that had been coated in oil. They quickly discovered that the cube that was coated in oil was a lot more difficult to pick up due to having less friction and being lubricated. 

Well done Year 5! 

Tuesday 4th July

Y5 and 6 visit to Mowbray Park and The Big Sing at Sunderland Empire.

15.6.2023
Maths investigation into lengths of our body parts.

Opal Class investigated lengths of different body parts today. They had to measure and record in decimal and fraction form and simplify the fraction if it was possible. 

Wednesday 14th June

Y5 participated in Hetton Lyons Cricket Club Tournament against St Bennet's, St Mary's, Easington Lane, Richard Avenue, Argyle House and Lambton Primary School.

Tuesday 13th June

Today the children had their minds blown! 

Linked to the topic of forces, the children were recapping a range of forces. Last week they looked at gravity and thought about how this affects their lives. 

In order to extend this further, they looked at Newton's three laws of motion and matched statements to the law. 

As a challenge, they then used this knowledge to focus on balanced forces. 

The children were given the challenge of making an aluminium can not topple over when tilted on the table. 

They discovered that when a small amount of liquid was added to the can, the can did not fall due to the force of gravity and the centre of gravity in the can being balanced. 

It was great to see the children loving Science! 

Friday 26th May

Opal Class participated in Active Maths today, revising equivalent fractions and fractions of an amount.

Friday 12th May

As part of our art collage topic we have been making pet faces by creating a background face before blending the dog's or cat's eyes and nose with pastels. We then used paint to emphasise the eyes, nose and facial features.

Tuesday 9th May 

Today the children looked at the reproductive parts of a flower. They first dissected them and we discussed what we could find; petals, stamen, anther, filament, stigma. We discussed which were the male and female parts and what the function of each part was. The children then drew their own diagrams, added labels and explained the functions of the parts independently.

Tuesday 18th April 

Today the children began their new Science topic - "Living Things and their Habitats".

Within this lesson, the children were asked to make comparisons of the life cycles of different animals, thinking about similarities and differences. In order to support this, the children first explored (hands-on) a chicken egg. They were encouraged to think about the different parts of the egg and their function. The children were amazing at this; they were able to locate the germination disc ready for fertilisation, they identified the albumnen and it's purpose of protection as well as located the cords which kept the yolk in the centre of the egg. 

Great work Year 5! 

Thursday 30th March

Today we become chefs in our DT topic on healthy dishes when we made vegetable soup. The children ‘sharpened’ up on their cutting, peeling and measuring skills throughout the session. The children worked exceptionally well and the soup was amazing!!!

Tuesday 28th March

Y5 at Silksworth Sports Complex - Dodgeball tournament. 

Well done Hetton Whites for winning the tournament. 

Tuesday 21st March

Facing our fears in gymnastics. All of us managed to use the vault to jump from.

Monday 13th March

As an introduction to our Healthy Eating DT topic, we evaluated the appearance, texture and taste of 4 different soups - chicken and vegetable broth, Cauliflower and kale soup, tomato, red pepper and lentil soup and carrot and coriander soup. It was a rather eye opening lesson! The children now have some new favourite soups!

Friday 10th March

Today we have been looking at the key features of a newspaper report by reading through and then taking a newspaper article apart. This will help us when we come to write our own newspaper report next week. 

Thursday 9th March

Y5 experiencing their Brazilian Football Session and highlighting their skills.

Monday 6th March

Today the children continued their 'Earth and Space' topic within Science. 

They explored the key vocabulary: rotation, revolution, orbit, elliptical. 

They were encouraged to explore how the sun appears to move across the sky throughout the day. The children first used two different sized balls and explored the rotation of Earth around the sun and how this takes 24 hours. The children then moved on to using torches and explored practically how it is daytime when the sun is shining on where we are on Earth. They were then able to see that the other side of Earth would be in darkness, representing that it would be night on that part of Earth. 

Thursday 2nd March - World Book Day

Today we celebrated World Book day by dressing up as our favourite book characters. Throughout the day we had plenty of book activities. Firstly, we had a book character parade in the hall with the other year groups. We then listened to Michael Morpurgo talk about War Horse, a story which we have been focusing on in guided reading. On the afternoon, we had a careers convention with Helen Shoesmith, an illustrator. She talked about her job and how to become an illustrator. 

Tuesday 28th February

In PE this half term we will be focusing on gymnastics. Today we have been investigating different types of jumps and how to land safely from a jump on the floor and off apparatus.

Continuing our science investigation from yesterday, we looked at the relative size of the planets in our solar system and created our own play-dough model scale model of the planets in comparison to the sun. 

Monday 27th February 

Today we began our new Science topic based on "Earth and Space". The children were set the challenge of using research to answer some key questions. They were asked to find out about the planets (their names, size and what they are made up of), discover more about the International Space Station and finally find out about the first moon landing in 1969. 

Tuesday 7th February

Today , in science we have been looking at irreversible changes.

Thursday 2nd February 

Year 5s visit to Jorvik 

We visited DIG where we heard Viking Sagas and dressed up as some of the characters from the sagas.

We then went to Jorvik Museum where we investigated life in Viking times.

Then we returned to DIG for another workshop on Viking battle tactics.

Tuesday 17th January

In Science today we investigated what a mixture was and soluble/insoluble solutions.

We then looked at particle models using counters and ourselves to reinforce our learning.

In Science today we investigated what a mixture was and soluble/insoluble solutions.

We then looked at particle models using counters and ourselves to reinforce our learning.

Monday 16th January

In literacy, we have been writing a letter to Lord Mersey, the High Court Judge who oversaw the Titanic Inquiry. During our literacy sessions we have focused on persuading Lord Mersey that Captain Smith was to blame.

In our independent writing we are trying to shift the focus of blame onto others.

Today, in reading, we looked at blame cards and discussed with our partner who the card was blaming. We then had to think of one word which best summed up the motivation for the 3 points of blame. 

Monday 9th January

This half term we will be working with Durham Cricket Club to develop school club links and develop a pathway for talented cricketers. 

Tuesday 20th December

Y5 and 6 Christmas Party.

Monday 12th December

In DT today we investigated different attachment methods with cardboard. We then planned how we would make our own tower which was strong enough to hold an egg and stay upright. 

Thursday 8th December 

Opal Class planting their tree babies to start our new school forest. 

Tuesday 6th December

Opal Class enjoying their last netball session in the pouring rain!

Monday 5th December
LO: Can I investigate human and physical geography in South America?
In Geography today, we investigated different landmarks within South America and then used the atlas index to locate the position of the landmark within the South American country. Then we discussed and decided whether the landmark was human or physical geography.

Friday 2nd December

In maths today we had to solve the following problem. Here are pictures of our solutions.

Monday 28th November

Opal Class visited ELCAP this afternoon to learn about the Hetton Colliery Railway and visit the museum. We then completed some STEM activities. 

Wednesday 23rd November

Today, Opal Class took part in a Teams Video listening to Rachel Brown talk about her life and career as a female footballer. Rachel Brown (born 2 July 1980) is an English former football goalkeeper who played for Liverpool from 1995 to 1998 and Everton from 2003 until 2014. Rachel made 82 appearances for England and is now a sports pundit for BBC and BT Sport.

Tuesday 22nd November

In netball this afternoon we have been focusing on shooting. The key rules we had to think about were having our feet shoulder with apart (to help with balance and stability) and to keep the ball high when shooting. We also tried to add back spin onto our shots.

Monday 21st November

In Science today, we have been investigating complete and incomplete circuits. We then discussed why some circuits would light the bulb and others would not.

Thursday 17th November

Opal Class and the rest of Key Stage 2 had a special visitor on this afternoon. Poet, Paul Cookson, came to school to talk about his job and recite some of his poems with us.

Monday 14th November

Today we have been investigating electrical circuits in science.  We had to complete the following tasks:

Tuesday 8th November

In PE today, we were learning about netball. We focused on chest passes, shoulder passes and pivoting. It was great fun.

Week beginning Wednesday 2nd November

Finally, we are now in our new school building.

On Wednesday, we have been investigating structures in Design and Technology. We looked closely at the Eiffel Tower and then worked on a 'trial-and-error' basis to investigate how to create a sturdy base for a tower.

Week Beginning 10th October

On Tuesday this week, Opal Class visited Kirkleatham Museum to experience the Anglo-Saxon Princess exhibition. The children showed a high level of interest and put forward a lot of good ideas linked to our topic on the Anglo-Saxons during the discussion parts of the day.

In the morning session, the children investigated Anglo-Saxon techniques for making fire, how the archaeologists realised the princess was buried in a bed and how they used to thread the yarn for clothes and covers. There was some great intrigue and shock/disgust at some of the scents the Anglo-Saxons used to make their house smell nice. 

During the afternoon, we worked on creating our own Sutton Hoo mask. 

Week beginning 3rd October 2022

Reading

We are up to Chapter 24 of Room 13. The story so far has us hooked and we have produced some amazing diary entries as Fliss in the creepy Crow's Nest Hotel.

Have a look at some of our reading responses below and we have left you chapter 24 to enjoy.

Thursday 6th October

Opal Class Sports Leader Training at Silksworth Tennis Centre.

The pupils will now focus on developing their new leadership skills in our new school. 

This week, in our history topic we have been looking at where the Anglo-Saxons came from, why they settled in Britain and what archaeological evidence they have left behind. We then investigated some information sources about life in Anglo-Saxon times and compared the information to life in Britain today.

In RE we have looked at the Sikh story of Bhai Kanhaya and how it tells Sikhs to treat everyone equally. We then looked at how this message links to the modern world today. The children came up with some excellent examples of movements aimed at equality.

Week Beginning 23rd September

Spellings focused on the Read Write Inc Spelling Scheme.

Can you identify the root word and the suffix? 

Use this sheet to help you learn your spellings for the week. 

We have been focusing on decimal and fraction representations this half term. Come in to have a look at all of the hard work in our maths books.