Blackfell Primary School

Meet the Magnificent Mayans!

Over the summer, and to help kickstart our History topic, Year 5 completed some fantastic homework! Some people carried out research and created PowerPoint presentations and fact files, others made art and design projects including Mayan temples and calendars. Some people even brought some real Mayan artefacts to share with the class. Thank you for all of your hard work over the summer!

Mayan Class Assembly

Year 5 put on a magnificent performance in our class assembly. We explained all about who the Mayans were and where they came from; all about the Mayan gods and religion; and important legacy left behind by the Maya such as Maths, writing and most importantly, chocolate! We sang lots of songs and showed off how much we have learnt so far about this ancient civilisation. 

Science: Brighter Bulbs

Our Science topic this term is Materials and their Properties. During one of our lessons, we were investigating electrical conductors and were given the task of making flood lights at a football ground as bright as possible. To do this, we tested a range of electrical conductors to see which one would make a bulb shine the brightest. We concluded that the coin was the best electrical conductor due to it being made of copper. 

Maths: Heart Rate Experiment

We have been learning about statistics in Maths, and have been looking at how to collect data and use it to draw a line graph. To help us with this, we completed an experiment. We went into the hall and exercised for 10 minutes in 1 minute intervals. Between each interval, we took our heart rate and recorded it in our Maths book. When we went back to the classroom, we used this information to create a line graph to show how our heart rate rose as we continued to exercise. 

Anti-Bullying Week: Art 

In Art, we have been learning about the artist Joaquin Torres Garcia, who was famous for painting symbols in his artwork. We spent some time analysing his work, before using this to inspire our own work. We linked our work to anti-bullying week and this year's theme - respect. We designed small symbols that we believe represent friendship, respect and anti-bullying in our sketch books. We then practised our painting skills by painting these onto small pieces of card. We are going to attach all of these pieces of card together to create a quilt effect, similar to Torres Garcia's work. 

RNLI

We had a visit from the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) who came to talk to us about staying safe in and around water. They taught us lots of important facts including: what the different colours/designs of the flags mean and how this impacts our choices in the water, what the lifeguards do and what they wear so they can be easily spotted, what you should do if you ever find yourself in a difficult situation in water, and how to float correctly and call for help if you fall into cold water. We learnt lots of important, life-saving skills and were given leaflets to take away to remind us of what we were taught. 

Year 5 and 6's Christmas Party

Year 5 and 6 rounded off a fantastic term, and got into the Christmas spirit, with a brilliant Christmas party! We played lots of fun games including pick n mix pong, wrap the snowman and charades. We shared lots of laughs, danced and had fun with our friends.

Making Mayan masks

Our first Art and Design project was to design and make a Mayan mask. We began by looking at the types of masks the Maya wore: death masks and festival masks. We learnt all about why they wore them, and the types of patterns/designs that they had on them. We then designed 3 masks of our own, before turning one of them into a final piece. We used the skill of mosaic to decorate our masks. You can find them displayed proudly on the wall in our classroom - they look very authentic!

Videocasts: The Hero Twins

In Literacy, we have been writing our own Mayan legends. To help us with this, we heard the creation story of the Maya, known as Popul Vuh, where the Hero Twins defeated the lords of the underworld and became the moon and the sun. We then split into groups, and using the story as a prompt, wrote a short script retelling part of the story. We then used the iPads to record videocasts in which we retold the story, and included props and sound effects to make our stories come to life. Our videos and performances were excellent, and we remembered all of the main events.

Durham Cathedral - The Northern Saints

Year 5 went on a trip to Durham Cathedral to support our RE unit - The Northern Saints. Throughout the day, we explored the lives of St. Aidan, St. Cuthbert, the Venerable Bede, St Oswald and St. Hild through a guided journey round the Cathedral. We collected symbols for each saint, visited the shrines of Cuthbert and Bede and heard the stories of the lives of the Northern Saints from our guide, Alec. During the tour we considered questions such as ‘What is a saint?’ and ‘What is pilgrimage?’ The tour ended in ‘Cuthbert’s Island’ room with a time of reflection on our journey with the Northern Saints, we even lit a candle as a mark of respect. We had a great day and returned to school with lots of facts and a great understanding of this topic. 

Anti-Bullying Week: Visit from Kidscape

Year 5 had a visitor from the anti-bullying charity Kidscape who came to speak to us about bullying and how we can tackle it. He taught us the difference between bullying and teasing, the 4 different types of bullying (verbal, physical, emotional and cyber), and what we can do if we feel we are being bullied. He also taught us what a bystander is, and why we should never stand by and watch others being bullied. It was a very informative morning and we learnt a lot of important information. 

Catching Dreams

In Art, we have been learning about the artist Leonora Carrington, a British artist who lived most of her life in Mexico. Carrington painted dream-like images, using fantasy characters, and her love of fairy tales and rhymes can be seen in her work. We took inspiration from her work to create dream catchers so we can hold on to our wonderful dreams! We designed patterns on to paper plates and coloured them in, before weaving thread to create a web effect, and decorating with beads and feathers. They looked really authentic!

Tasting Mayan Food!

In Topic, we have been learning all about ingredients the Mayans used to make their food. We specifically looked at the two most important ingredients, corn and cocoa, and debated which was the most important and why. We then tried some of the food the Mayans would have made using these ingredients including corn tortillas, tomato salsa, guacamole, sour cream, jalapenos and to wash it down, chili hot chocolate! We really enjoyed trying the new flavours although we found some of it too spicy!

Our first PE lesson

Our first PE topic for this year is Invasion Games and we kick started this by playing a game of benchball. We split into teams, and practised our defending and shooting skills. 

Art and Design: Making Clay Monkeys

We have been learning about the South American artist Frida Kahlo in our Art and Design lessons. We learnt about her life, how she loved being one with nature and animals, and how they regularly featured in her art work. We then took inspiration from this and created our own clay monkeys, practising the important skills of 3D design and make, sculpture, and painting. 

Our Finished Clay Monkeys!

Our clay monkeys dried out so we could finally paint them. We thought about the different colours of monkeys, and used images of different species of monkeys to help us decide. We focused on the skill of painting, using different brush sizes and amounts of paint to create different effects. I think you'll agree, they look absolutely brilliant!

Anti-Bullying Week: Creating Posters

During anti-bullying week, we created posters and leaflets to explain what we have been learning. We used information from our session with Kidscape, and information booklets we had in school, which explained some of the most important words linked to anti-bullying such as: stop, bystander, physical, emotional, verbal, cyber, negative and positive. We are going to display some of our posters around school to remind others it is never ok to bully someone, and what to do if you feel you are being bullied. 

Anti-Bullying Week: Computers

During anti-bullying week, we spent some time in the computer room during our computing lesson, exploring the anti-bullying activities available on Purple Mash. Some of us composed agony aunt advice letters, some created fact sheets and acrostic poems, and some of us looked at the different emotions linked to bullying. There was a range of videos and scenarios for us to watch and learn from, with quizzes alongside some. 

Year 5 and 6's Christmas Carol Service

Year 5 and 6 performed their carol service this week. We retold the Christmas story and Y5 played the role of some wonderful characters including Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. We sang lots of carols and shared the stage with Canon Hopper, who came to say a few words and a prayer. Merry Christmas everyone!

Creative Collage and Super Sketching

In Art and Design, we have been learning about the artist Diego Rivera who was famous for making murals (painting on the wall). We took inspiration from his fantastic work to create our own pieces of art. First, we created a collage background for our piece using a range of different materials to create texture. We then used our sketch books to experiment drawing different textures with different pencils including hatching, stippling and ink wash. Finally, we sketched a portrait of somebody that we think is amazing, putting our new skills into practise. These people included singers, actors, YouTube stars and even Miss Henderson! I think you'll agree, our work looks fantastic.