The Grove Primary School

Year 5 have made a big SPLASH diving into their topic this term. We have focused on the stories ‘This morning I met a Whale’ by Michael Morpurgo and ‘The Wind in The Willows’. Within our writing, the children have written and performed play scripts, focusing on persuading the audience to save water. They have also written a descriptive paragraph, writing as though they are Michael in the story and they have spotted a whale swimming along the River Thames.

We completed our topic by researching different rivers around the world, and presenting our work as a double-page explanation text. These are looking fantastic! We have really enjoyed reading the children’s writing this term and have really noticed how much effort they have put into figurative language techniques and ambitious vocabulary.

In our Art lessons, we have focused on the artist Katsushika Hokusai and his print ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.’ We have used mosaic ceramics to replicate the wave, considering how colour in Art can affect the audience and imply a certain mood. We then designed our own lino landscape, which we have been using lino cutters to create. We will continue next term on this project, with the aim to print our design on to a white t-shirt.

Our Science focus this term has been ‘Animals including Humans’. We started off this focus with an elderly visitor (Mrs Thomas’ family friend, Barb) coming in to speak to the children about her life throughout its different stages and the physical changes that have happened as she has reached old age. Both Year 5 classes were incredibly polite and thoughtful with their questioning and represented the school well. At the end of the unit, we planned our own investigations, answering questions such as, ‘Are the oldest children the tallest?’

We have been fortunate this term to have our Year group Forest School sessions on a Thursday afternoon. This has truly been a highlight of the week – for both the children and the staff! There has been various activities each week, focusing on team building skills and we have been so proud of the children for how they have respected each other and the school woods.