Well.. what a fantastic, busy second term we have had in Year 5! It only feels like yesterday that we returned after October half term but we have managed to squeeze in so many exciting activities this term!

Vile Victorians
Throughout term 2, we continued with our ‘Vile Victorians’ theme, where we focussed on what life would have been like if we had been growing up in the Victorian Era. We investigated the gruelling, cruel jobs that children had during the Victorian Era(some of them were quite disgusting too! Ask us all about what a Pure Finder was!) We explored what Victorian schools were like for children of all ages and we even had our very own ‘Victorian Workhouse’ afternoon, where we carried out various tasks that would have been completed during a day in the workhouse. We pulled oakum, practised our handwriting with copy books and ink pens, used slate boards and slate pencils and we even got to taste the revolting gruel, bread and cheese (Surprisingly, some of us actually really enjoyed it!)

As we were unable to visit Big Pit this year, we decided to bring Big Pit to the classroom. We had a virtual session with Seren from Big Pit, who lead us in a session called ‘Coal: People, Power and the Planet’. We learnt all about the rise in production of coal during the Industrial Revolution and the different jobs that children use to carry out down the mines, such as trappers and drammers. We all finished the session extremely grateful that we never had to work down the mines as Seren talked to us about all of the dangers that they faced, she even shared some real life accounts from children who once worked down the mine.

Although we could not visit Big Pit this year, we were extremely lucky as we were able to take our learning outside of school on our trip to ‘St Fagans’ and what a brilliant day we all had. We were all so excited to be out of school together after such a long time and we loved exploring the Rhyd-y-car Terrace and Gwalia Stores, all whilst dressed in traditional Victorian costumes, we looked fantastic! The main event however, was our Victorian school workshop, where we experienced what it would be like to be in a Victorian classroom. The school master led us in some lessons on the 3Rs, we sat at Victorian desks and discussed the time table of the day. The PE sessions of basic drills was definitely different from what we are used to these days!

We finished our Victorian topic by learning all about the different ‘medicines’ and ‘cures’ that they used to use. Thankfully, medicines have improved and we are all extremely grateful that we are no longer wrapping sweaty socks around our necks if we are full up with a cold, or tying potatoes to our faces if we had headaches!

Literacy
We have put our persuasive techniques to the test this term as each class has been directing, shooting and editing persuasive adverts using green screens and IMovie. We created adverts to persuade people to donate to Barnardos Children Charity and we created video adverts to help persuade the people of Wales to join Michael D. Jones on his voyage to Patagonia in the 1800s. Take a look on Dojo/SeeSaw if you would like to watch our completed adverts!

Remembrance Day

Year 5 showed how thoughtful and respectful they are during our learning on ‘Remembrance Day’. We started the term with a poetry writing session with Clive from ‘Never Such Innocence’, completed research tasks and discussed the importance and significance of Remembrance Day. Finally, we created some fantastic art work to help us celebrate, from bright and bold poppy mosaics to delicate water paintings!

Show Racism the Red Card

What a fantastic, though provoking session we took part in this term with Lauren from ‘Show Racism the Red Card’. Year 5 impressed us with their maturity when discussing racism and they proved how kind, caring and supportive they are as they discussed how important ‘showing racism the red card’ actually is…

Fight For Facts

With a term full of visitors and workshops, we were lucky enough to welcome Rhys and Dai into school to talk to us about misinformation on the internet. We loved exploring different news stories and discussing whether they were ‘real’ or ‘fake news’. We were very surprised to hear that the ‘goalie cat’ was indeed fake news and the story of the shark on the motorway was one of our favourites! It is safe to say we will not be believing everything we read on the internet from now on!

Move and Motivate
Alongside all of our hard work inside the classroom, we have been busy getting fit and active with ‘Sparky’ from Newport Live. Every Wednesday afternoon, Sparky has been leading our PE sessions getting us moving and motivated to stay healthy. We have practised lots of different skills, including throwing and catching and our tennis skills. We have played lots of different games and have had lots of fun staying active, our personal favourite has definitely been ‘Chicken or Hero’, we all get super competitive!

Children in Need – Crazy Hair Day!

Fantastic efforts yet again on ‘Crazy Hair Day’ this year everybody! We have doughnuts, campfires, a rainbow of colours and many more, all for a fantastic cause!

Glockenspiels with Mr Banks

Mr Banks helped us to get into the Christmas spirit this term as we learnt to play ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ and ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’. Not only did we learn to play them on the glockenspiels but we put our singing voices to the test as we sang along! We definitely have some future superstars in year 5!

I think you will all agree, Year 5 have worked super hard this term and their enthusiasm for learning never fails to impress us. We wish you all a wonderful, restful Christmas break and we look forward to seeing you all again in the new year for another super, exciting term!