Hawk Class (Y5)

Welcome to Hawk Class! 

Class Teacher: Mrs Hudson

My name is Mrs Hudson and I am so lucky to be the Hawk class teacher.  As well as being a class teacher, I am also Deputy Headteacher which means that I spend some time out of class to do other jobs that help to make our school such a brilliant place to be! 

Monday – Mrs Hudson (am)/Mrs Elliott (pm)

Tuesday – Mrs Hudson (am) Mrs Burch (pm)

Wednesday – Mrs Burch

Thursday – Mrs Hudson (am)/Mrs Elliott and sports coach (pm)

Friday – Mrs Hudson

Week 5: Monday 5th July - Friday 9th July 2021

This has been a very exciting and busy week!  We have published our letters to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel regarding our thoughts on the refugee crisis.  Mrs Hudson is going to post them and we will hopefully get a reply.

In science, we thought about asexual plants and how they can reproduce by themselves.  We looked at a spider plant and took some of the plantlettes that had been produced to propagate and grow a new spider plant from them.

We also had a special visit from Mrs Hudson's 11 week old puppy, Clark.  We all met him but some of us got to look after him, which we did brilliantly and take him for a little play and walk around the field.

After an exciting semi-final, we had a football Friday and wore football kits or red and white.  We all have everything crossed for that little match on Sunday night.  COME ON ENGLAND!

Week 4: Monday 18th June - Friday 2nd July 2021

Another very busy week!  We had an amazingly competitive and inclusive Sports Day in our Year 5/6 bubble.  In English we have started to plan our own adventure story based on a photograph as a story starter for inspiration.  In maths, we have started to investigate angles and learn more about them.  We have labelled the parts of the inside of a flower and researched how they reproduce.  We have continued using the program Scratch in computing. 

Week 3: Monday 21st June - Friday 25th June 2021

This week we started to write our letters to either Boris Johnson or Priti Patel regarding the refugee crisis that we face both in the UK and across the world.  We used persuasive and emotive language to express our ideas.  We will be publishing and posting these letters next week.

In maths, we have continued to extend our knowledge of fractions and use it to solve problems.  We finished 'The Boy at the Back of the Class' and thought that it was one of the best books that we have ever read!  We loved it!  We designed and wrote our own book reviews based on the story.

In DT we continued to work in pairs to create working cams and thought about how we could use them to create a moving toy next week.  

In French this week we learnt how to say the names of different clothes - les vetements.

Week 2: Monday 14th June - Friday 18th June 2021

We have been busy continuing to learn about refugees and the struggles in which they face.  We have started to write our letters regarding our thoughts to either Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, or Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister.  We also worked in two teams to erect tents and spent time in them pretending that we were a family of four and thought about how living in these conditions would be.

 In maths we have continued to expand our knowledge of fractions - learning how to multiply them correctly.  In DT we have started to explore cams and how they work.  In ICT we have used a program called 'Scratch' to design our names as animations. 

TERM 6

Week 1: Tuesday 8th June - Friday 11th June 2021

We have had a great first week back in school and have already learnt lots.  In English we are continuing to read 'The Boy at the Back of the Class' and think about the plight of refugees across the world.  We have watch videos and though about the perception of refugees from many angles.  In writing we have started to use a range of present tenses to share what we already know.  In maths this week, we have been adding and subtracting mixed numbers, which has been tricky when we have had to find the equivalent fractions/common denominators but we have been resilient and all progressed.

We are starting a new project in DT based on using cams and spent a lesson exploring the different types of cams.  CSET came into school on Friday and we learnt some new tricks and skills in both archery and lacrosse - a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the sunshine!

Week 6: Monday 24th May - Friday 28th May 2021

Wow, the last week and what a busy week it has been!  We finally managed to finish sewing our cushions as the stuffing arrived - they look amazing.  

In English, we read the book 'Wisp - a story of hope' and were mesmerised by the beautiful illustrations.  We used a range of writing devices to create descriptive pieces of work based on the images that the wisp showed Idris.  In maths, we have been adding and subtracting fractions.  In some cases we needed to use our knowledge of equivalent fractions to solve problems.  

As we have been thinking about refugees, we studied a piece of artwork that was of a refugee's eye and used our knowledge of line and tone to show the sadness felt.

Week 5: Monday 17th May - Friday 21st May

We have continued to focus on our theme of refugees this week and are really enjoying our core text 'Boy at the Back of the Class'.  We have also started to read a picture book called 'Wisp' which is a story of hope written through the eyes of a child living in a refugee camp.  It has beautiful illustrations and we have planned a descriptive piece of writing that we will complete next week. 

In maths, we have started to compare fractions by finding a common denominator which has been tricky but we are trying hard to improve. 

We have finally started to finish our cushions, now that the stuffing has arrived, and they look amazing.  Our Maya mask has also been mounted outside of our classroom now - it looks amazing!

In this week's art lesson we though about how we can express our emotions through the media of art and created some emotion wheels although they aren't quite finished yet.  In music we listened to Motown music and started to feel the rhythm using our bodies. 

Week 4: 10th May - 14th May
We have started a new book related to our topic on 'Forced to Move' where we will be learning about refugees to begin with. We wrote a diary entry based on the day when Ahmet joined the author's school using the past perfect tense.  We have also watched clips on child refugees and their experiences. We also finally finished our non-chronological reports from the last topic.

In maths, we have been solving problems involving improper fractions and changing them to mixed numbers. We are really flying with this now!

We did an experiment during science on irreversible changes by dropping bicarbonate of soda into vinegar and discovered from the reaction that it was irreversible because the soda had turned into a gas.

Week 3: 4th May - 7th May

Even though it has been a four day week, it has been action-packed in Hawk class!  We continued with our non-chronological reports and have finished them  All that is left now is to edit.  We learned about changing state in science - we put butter, chocolate and an ice cube in bags and put the bags into a jug of hot water to see how long it would take each to melt. 

In maths, we have started to learn more about fractions and have been identifying equivalent fractions.  

In order to raise money for our memory garden for a past pupil, Connie Bolt, we participated in a sponsored run.  It was tough but we ran for an hour non-stop with some children completing over 20 laps of our track.

This was the last week of our learning about the Ancient Maya and we decided to end it with a day of cooking!  We made salsa and our own tortillas from scratch and they were delicious.

Week 2: 26th April - 30th April

This week we have been busy learning about all things Mayan!  In English, we have started to write our non-chronological reports using the research that we gathered last week.  We are very excited about the creative designs that we are using!

In maths, we have been focussing on short division and have been developing our knowledge of the bus stop method with great success.  

We have finished our weaving and are very proud of the end product.  We have now started to sew our cushions together using an overstitch.  

Friday afternoon was amazing! As part of our topic we learnt about Mayan food and made our own guacamole and spicy hot chocolate.  What a treat!

Week 1: 19th April - 23rd April

We have had a brilliant first week back and have really enjoyed continuing to learn about he Ancient Mayan civilisation.  

In English, we have been spending a lot of time researching facts on areas of their life that interest us in preparation for writing next week. We have been multiplication magicians this week when learning how to multiply 3 and 4 digit numbers by a 2 digit number so our times table knowledge has come in really handy!

On Tuesday, we set up a science experiment on evaporation and recorded the results on Wednesday.  It was interesting to discover what happened to the salt overnight.  We continued with our weaving project and they look amazing!

Week 5: 22nd March - 26th March

Another busy and brilliant week here in Hawk class!  We have continued and have finished our story 'The Chocolate Tree' and have started to plan writing our own versions.  In order to finish our cushions we need to perfect our sewing skills so we have been practising our 'over-stitch'.  As part of our science unit we are investigating materials.  This week we tested dissolving using flour, salt and sugar to see which would dissolve the fastest.

Week 4: 15th March - 19th March

This week we have been busy learning more about the Ancient Maya Civilisation.  In English we have started to read 'The Chocolate Tree' and have been exploring new vocabulary related to the Mayans.  In maths we have practised using the four number operations and how to use them to problem solve.  We finished our statues that we made based on the work of Henry Moore by painting them a copper colour and Mrs Burch then sprayed them with gold!  We started to look at maps of the world and focussed in the countries in Central America where the Maya existed.

Week 3: 8th March - 12th March 

ARTS WEEK!

We have had the best week back at school altogether again and have loved all of the creativity that Arts Week has brought.  We have sung, played instruments and danced to music from South America and inspired by the Maya Civilisation.  The activities that we have done this week include, pastel work, painting on paper and fabric, sculpture using wire and newspaper, using paste resist to recreate Mayan tattoos and explored the work of Henry Moore.

Our whole class collaborative piece is a a mask which we are making from mod roc.  We will share this when it is decorated!

Week 2: 1st March - 5th March

BOOK WEEK!

This week we have continued to study the story of Hansel and Gretel.  We have rewritten the dark tale using a range of narrative features and created some wonderful pieces of work.  In maths we have looked at the volume of different cuboids and ways of solving problems involving volume.  Our art work was based on a dark picture from the story; we mixed colours and used a range of techniques to create the mood.  After hearing the story 'Silly Billy' we used twigs and materials to create our own worry dolls.  We really enjoyed making gingerbread from scratch and it tasted scrumptious!  

To end our lockdown time together we chose a treat in school.  Hawk bubble held a 'Hawk Bubble's Got Talent' show with heats and a grand final and Deer bubble chose to have extra sport time.

Week 1: 22 February - 26 February 

This week we have been learning about Hansel and Gretel which is our text for World Book Day. We have been using a variety of targets to write some amazing stories about the children in the woods and at the witch's house. In forest school, we enjoyed making little cottages from the resources in our school grounds. Some of us had to use our perseverance skills because the wind blew down our houses so we had to rebuild it. In art, we used viewfinders to look really closely at a small part of an illustration from Hansel and Gretel. We then used colouring pencils to recreated these. 

Week 6: 8th February - 12th February

We have had a wonderfully busy last week of term 3.  We have researched, planned and created our own non-chronological reports based on Earth and Space where we have included as many interesting facts as possible.  In maths, we have been trying hard to convert between metric measurements and solve problems involving different units of measure.  We have learnt about star constellations and used spaghetti and mini star stickers to replicate them. As there is an abundance of fruit in school, we made our own fruit salads.  We also made Chinese lanterns to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Week 5: 1st February - 5th February

This week we have been busy learning how to multiply and divide by 10, 100 and 1000 and we were able to apply these skills to converting units of measure. During English, we enjoyed our oracy lesson especially the um er game where we had to try and talk for a minute without saying um or er. We also practised using watercolour paints and created some fantastic galaxy pictures. Because this week was mental health week, we spent some time thinking about mental health and doing some activities to help with our mental heath. We particularly enjoyed having a go at some yoga. 

Week 4: 25th - 29th January

Another amazing week of learning both at home and in school!  Well done everyone.  We have continued to learn lots about earth and space and found out about the famous astronaut Tim Peake.  We watched and interview and wrote down what we thought were the most interesting facts about him. 

As it has been the RSPB Bird Watch Week, we have spent time bird watching in our school grounds.  We made bird feeders using lard and bird seed so that our birds will have food during these cold winter months.  We also made bird maggots by adding flour to lard and seed and rolling the ingredients together. We placed all of our bird treats in the school grounds.  On Thursday, we took part in a live lesson about birds which aired on CBBC.  

In maths we have been continuing to learn about fractions, decimals and percentages.  We are now experts as converting between them!

Week 3: 18th January - 22nd January

This week the children, both in school and at home, have been incredibly busy. We had  fun creating some fantastic solar systems made out of salt dough. As part of our reading and writing lessons, we have been focusing on chapter 9 of the book 'Phoenix' by S.F.Said. We have practised using subordinate clauses and direct speech to retell part of the story.  In maths, we have continued working on decimal numbers and have started to round them to the nearest tenth and whole number.  We have particularly enjoyed our problems solving Fridays where we got to play a game called strike it out. 

Week 1-2: 5th January - 15th January

The past two week years 5 and 6 have started to learn about Earth and Space and all of the children have loved it!  We are reading the book 'Phoenix' by S.F.Said who also wrote 'Varjak Paw'.

On Tuesday, he did a live question and answer session on Twitter so Mrs Hudson sent some tweets and he replied!  We were all so excited.  In English, we have been focusing on narrative and have used fronted adverbials to describe our own alien character.  In maths, we have been working on decimal numbers and have started to convert them into fractions.  We have particularly enjoyed our problems solving Fridays. 

Week 7: 14th December - 18th December

Our final week of the term has been incredibly busy!  As well as finishing off the learning for our topic, we have been focusing on Christmas joy.  We have filmed our nativity, made Christmas brownies, had a party, watched a pantomime and made Christmas Tree decorations.  After a hardworking and successful term, it is definitely time for a well-earned rest. 

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Week 6: 7th December - 11th December

We started learning about The Christmas Truce during WW1.  We watched the Sainsbury's advert and read a picture book to understand what had happened.  In English, we though of alliteration and similes that we could use to retell the story.  In maths, we have been learning how to calculate the area of a rectangle.  We used our knowledge of drawing with pencils to recreate a piece of artwork based on when the soldiers shook hands.  In history, we read about The Battle of the Somme and located where it happened on different maps.

We LOVED our Christmas lunch celebration on Thursday and made some beautiful hats to wear but we were too excited to remember to take any photos!

Week 5: 30th November - 4th December

What a busy week!  In English, we have been working hard on publishing our non-chronological reports and those that are finished look really professional.  We have also been brushing up on all of our skills that we have learnt so far this term by writing some short narrative pieces.

In maths, we have been learning how to calculate perimeter by using and applying out knowledge of addition, subtraction and multiplication. As we near the end of our topic, we have all made our own trenches which look amazing.

For our nativity, we have been learning and practising our special song - 'O Little Town of Bethlehem.'  Finally, to get us into the Christmas spirit, we decorated our class Christmas tree!

Week 4: 23rd November - 27th November

This week we have been really busy with our assessments however we have also managed to fit in lots of other learning. 

We had our first oracy lesson which we really enjoyed- especially performing to the rest of the class. We had to communicate with each other and choose statements to role play. 
 

In DT, we made paper parachutes which were a little tricky to make but we persevered. Linking to this, we looked at different forces in science. We are now experts on air resistance and gravity. 
 

During our PSHE lesson we discussed bully, discrimination and racism and created some posters to share our messages. 
 

This week in maths, we have been practising dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. We have been able to apply our skills to a range of questions. 

Week 3: 16th November - 20th November

This week in English, we have written non-chronological reports about animals in war explaining the role of horses, mules, dogs and pigeons in WWI.  We have learnt so much about them that we could add lots of detail.  In maths, we have been working on multiplication, including square and cubed numbers. In science, we made and test 3 different sized parachutes to investigate which had the best air resistance. Continuing with our WWI theme, we researched trench food and made our own biscuits.  We left them out overnight to see how hard they would be after 1 day and tried to imagine how hard they would be for the soldiers who had to wait for 10 days to receive theirs.  We used sugar in ours but knew that eventually the biscuits sent to the trenches were made from flour, water and salt.

Week 2: 9th November - 13th November

This week we have continued to learn about animals in war.  We published our diary entries and tea stained them to make them look more authentic. With Wednesday being Remembrance Day, we designed and painted a pebble to commemorate all of the fallen soldiers and they were added to a whole school poppy made from pebbles.  Mrs Harris and Mrs Hudson took some of them to the Warmley War Memorial.  Lots of us have been busy at home creating our own trenches which are totally amazing!  Using 'Draw with Rob', we drew a cartoon version of ourselves to be made into a calendar for 2021.

Week 1: 3rd November - 6th November

This week we have started to look at our remembrance unit 'Animals In War'.  We read the heart-warming book 'Stubby' which tells the real life story of a dog who was part of the American army in WWI.    The artist Paul Nash continued to be our focus in art and we used all of the drawing skills that we had learnt last term to create our own interpretations of his work.  

As a school we are commemorating the fallen soldiers from all wars and we designed our remembrance pebbles that will become a whole school piece of art.

In maths, we have been reading and interpreting timetables so that we can find our way around the world successfully when we are older!

Week 7: 19th October -23rd October

This week has been brilliant!  We have continued to learn more about life in the trenches in WWI and drew diagrams to explain the features.  In English, we have been imagining that we are soldiers in the trenches during WWI and have written diaries entries from the Western Front.  We worked really hard to include all of the knowledge that we have acquired this term, such as, these of fronted adverbials, short sentences for effect and powerful expanded noun phrases.

In maths, we have learnt how to accurately draw and interpret line graphs.  There was some amazing problem solving by some children!

Finally, we had a freaky Friday with everyone, teachers included, dressed in Halloween outfits to raise money for our wonderful school.

Week 6: 12th October - 16th October

Another busy week in Hawk class!  We have been using our addition and subtraction skills to solve multi-step word problems and reason in maths.  Our WWI topic continues to fascinate us.  We are reading the diaries of Jack Cornwall, who was a famous person in the navy, and continuing with War Horse.  We have started to learn more about life in the trenches and on Tuesday we had the best time creating our own.  We were put into two teams and used materials around us, as well as our imagination, to build a trench.  We then had a social distanced battle!

In PSHE, we thought about why we like living in our country. 

Week 5: 2nd October - 9th October

We started the week with Edward bear joining us as we have won the award this month thanks to our book reviews that some children completed at home.  We have been busy continuing to learn more about WWI and have written some wonderful setting descriptions.  We have designed our Christmas cards to bring home to show you before they head off to the printers to be ready to be made into cards to send to friends and family so look out for those in the near future. On Friday, we celebrated World Mental Health Day by wearing yellow and talking about what made us feel emotionally and mentally happy. It was great to have our first WWI project in school! 

Week 4: 28th September - 2nd October

What a busy week!  We were very excited at the start of the week as our new interactive whiteboard was being installed - it is truly amazing. 

Knowing the names and species of the plants and trees in our school grounds is important so we went on a hunt collecting seeds or berries with their leaves and then used the computers to identify the types of foliage that grow in our community.  It was really interesting and enjoyable.  

In RE we have continued to study Islam and thought about the Qur'an and gathered our ideas together.

Propaganda in WWI was our history focus this week.  We studied posters and their use of language to influence the British people and then created our own. We also made short videos to influence people to go to war to fight or to help the war effort if at home.   

Week 3: 21st September - 25th September

This week we have been working hard in our English lessons retelling parts of our class book 'War Horse' focussing on using adverbs to show time, place and manner. Everyone has improved and produced amazing work! Thinking carefully about our pencil lines and tone, we have continued to creat impressive artwork.
We were incredibly excited to be able to meet our new school pets (and were the first class for a snuggle!)

Week 2: 14th September - 18th September

We have been incredibly busy this week working hard and gaining new knowledge on e-safety, line and tone in art and the alliances in WWI.

Week 1: 7th September - 11th September

We read the book 'Happy' and wrote some wonderful poems based on what makes us happy.  We also made some happiness boxes which we decorated and brought in things from home to look at and share with a partner - all things that make us happy!