Perfect Portals

On Monday, we were sent a riddle from an alchemist! It told us that there was a portal that would transport us to the island that he lived on. We then started looking for where the portal that would transport us. We couldn’t find it so we decided to make our own. Take a look at some of the fantastic portal pictures we have created!!

Egyptian Pots

Today Fox class had a go at replicating Egyptian pottery out of clay. We looked at lots of examples of Egyptian pots and jars and discussed the colours and designs. We then chose our favourite and had a go at recreating them!

Roller Coasters! Written by a Fox

This week we found out our topic was Scream Machine or as we might call it a roller coaster. We took turns siting on a chair with about 9 other people and we went on a roller coaster. Well not a real one Miss Clark put on a video of a roller coaster on the board. Then we had to act out all of the actions that we would be doing if we went on one. For example if the roller coaster went right then we would lean right and if it went left we would lean left. After that we wrote down all the expressions on a big piece of paper. The next day we read out all of the words and phrases after that we looked up the words in a thesaurus and made them better and improved. Soon we are going to write a poem about going on a roller coaster.

Fashionable Foxes

Miss Clark was very surprised this morning when she looked up to see a new fashion trend emerging in Year 5. Lots of children had put their English books on their heads while typing up their letters.

The Plague has come to London!

Fox class have had fun this week investigating how the Black death could spread if it arrived in London today. As specialist scientists, they have had to research the bacteria and create heath and safety posters for the public. They have had to map one man’s journey through London to see how many people it would affect.

The Peasants' Revolt- written by a Fox!

On Monday 9th October 2019 we acted out the peasants’ revolt.

One of us was Wat Tyler who was the leader of the peasants. One of us played the King- he was spat on (pretend) when Wat Tyler asks for a drink of water. Then he asked for some beer and got on his small horse and is about to go when he gets insulted by Newton the king’s servant. Wat Tyler pulls out his dagger and threatens Newton. After that, the mayor stopped him and struck him with his sword. He gets back small horse and start to ride away. But suddenly he fell and died. Then King Richard said “Hail me and your wages will go up!”

THE SCRABBLE BOARD written by a year 5 member

On Tuesdays, we do something called the Scrabble Board and this is how to play: Every Tuesday we vote on a good word we can use. For example this week we chose famish. That word goes on the scrabble board and each letter gets you a different amount of points. There are also squares that give you a different amount of points (e.g. Triple word score, double letter score, blank etc.).  The points from each word are then put onto a board and at Christmas we will count up all the points from the words then see who will have the most points, us (year 5) or Miss Clark. The prize only Miss Clark knows but I think we will get it either way (and we’re winning).   

Fantastic Fox Farmers Market!

This afternoon Fox class held the first Fox Class farmers market. The children planned everything from what they wanted to sell, the prices and even some entertainment! It was a great success! They raised £354.80 and are hoping to buy a bench to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the school. Thank you to all who came, all who donated produce and to the children for working so hard. Miss Clark and Mrs Stemp are very proud!

A very wet but wonderful trip!!

On Monday, Year 5 spent a very rainy day outside at Brownings Farm to finish our topic on Farming and growing. We learnt about the different tools and equipment used on the farm and how it is important to think about where our food comes from. We also got to see the cattle who crossed the field to come and see us! The Farm also kindly donated some food for our farmers market- thank you very much!

Fantastic Farmers Market

This week, year 5 have been set the challenge of organising a farmers market. They have had to decide what produce they would like to sell, write letters, make posters and decide what they would like to spend the money on. We have also been planning some entertainment. We are very excited for you to come on 14th June for the grand opening!

Year 5 Cress Fest

2 weeks ago Yr 5 were put in groups and ordered to plant four pots of cress. We had to decide what we wanted to change in our experiments. One group wanted to find out what would happen if they said kind or mean things to the cress. This was because one person in their group had seen a blog about how it had affected trees growing. Other groups tested if different soils, light or temperature affected growth. Today, after caring for our plants for two weeks, we analysed the results of our experiments. Some of our plants looked great- some not so great. We had to analyse the results and work out what conclusions we could draw from them.

Holmbury St. Mary to Leith Hill

Last week Year 5 had an amazing time at Holmbury St. Mary Youth Hostel before setting out on their 7 mile walk to Leith Hill. The children arrived full of energy and raring to go. After a delicious dinner, they took part in some tracking and trailing activities as well as creating a picture map of their walk the next day. They then got cosy in their pyjamas, sang some songs and went to bed.

The next morning, after a hot breakfast, Fox class packed their bags and got ready to leave for the hike. It was a long journey and took lots of perseverance. Everybody made it to the top of Leith Hill and they even made it up the Tower!

Amazing Alchemy Writing

Year 5 have written some amazing pieces of writing based on their experience in Alchemy Island.

This is a fantastic poem written by a boy in our class.

ALCHEMY ISLAND

When you think of alchemy, do you think of white lab coats?

Or lots of gold in fantasy moats?

Do think of cool equipment, special gear?

Or amazing powder that you smudge and smear?

Whatever you think whatever you hear,

Compared to this it is quite mere.

Deep in a volcano, dark and dreary,

A prickle down your spine feels quite eerie,

Far down in a bottomless pit,

Near a rock on which the lava sits.

In a desert of cactus and weeds,

Lives all the stuff to fulfill your needs,

In this kingdom there is a land,

 Far beneath the layer of sand.

Up in the air on a frozen peak,

Storms blow up all cold and bleak,

Legend tells of a magical creature,

Down on the ground with wintery features.

High up in the trees sits a special fruit,

Half nut half seed and makes you toot,

To get up and down you can travel fine,

Just grab hold of a jungle vine.

In your homes with your guilty smirks,

Never forget how this island works.

The Scrolls and the Suitcase

On Monday, Mrs Stemp came in holding a suitcase and a scroll. She said it had been left at the office for Fox Class. Inside it contained a map, a riddle and a key. The scroll was from the chief alchemist of Alchemy Island. It said we had to solve the riddle to find where he was from.

On Tuesday, we started searching the school grounds for portals to Alchemy island. We looked all around the playground; in tree trunks, the gazebo, the willow dome, through the tyres on Bertie’s boat- we even tried to make some out of sticks and leaves.

On Wednesday, a second scroll appeared along with 8 samples of materials from the island. We had to examine the materials to find their properties and match them to places on the Island.

Our last scroll appeared on Thursday with 3 jars of contaminated well water. We were asked to clean it by the chief alchemist. We sieved, filtered and evaporated and condensed it. If we send it back clean we might get another scroll with some mystery coordinates of the island.

We’re looking forward to hearing from the alchemist again.

Pharaoh's funeral

On Monday 11th February 2019bc Fox class held a ‘funeral’ for a pharaoh. They made his  made his sarcophagus, death mask and canopic jars one week in advanced and carried on all week. First they split into three groups and drew their designs. Next they started to create them. The canopic jars were made out of clay and they looked AWSOME. The death mask was made of newspaper and cardboard and the sarcophagus was made of just cardboard.  When all the Parts were built and all the decorations were on, the funeral started everyone had either brought or drawn something for the pharaoh in the after-life (A few of them were hilarious). Everyone enjoyed the event and we were keen to have another one.

Egyptian Challenge

This week we have been set the challenge of preparing a body for an Egyptian burial. We have researched and made canopic jars, hieroglyphs, a sarcophagus and death masks. We also practised our bandaging skills.

Egyptian Pottery

Today in Fox class, we have been making Egyptian pottery out of clay.

Everyone did different designs, the pots looked AMAZING!

The type of pot we were making was called a coil pot. We could attach handles, make patterns and adjust it.

The pots all ended up looking like master pieces :)

Egyptian Flat Bread

Today in Fox class we baked Ancient Egyptian flat bread. The earliest version of the recipe was found on the wall of Senet’s tomb in Luxor, Egypt. The original recipe called for bakers to “crush the grain with sticks, using a grindstone crush the grain still finer until you have a heap of white flour”. However we used flour from a packet!

First we mixed yeast, water and honey until it was foamy. Then we added flour and salt to make it into a dough. We then left it to rise.

This afternoon, we flattened and shaped the dough and baked it in the oven.

We tried the bread back in the classroom “It was very nice because it had honey in it- it gave it a sweet taste!”

Egyptian Nemes

In art we looked at the hats that the Egyptian pharaohs wore. These were called nemes (pronounced neh-mehs) . We looked at lots of different nemes and then designed and made our own.

Pop art- By Rosie

In art we have been doing pop art! We looked at some pictures by Roy Lichtenstein and tried to make some of our own. We had to take a photo of ourselves; we could pick to have a photo with someone else if we wanted. After that we sketched the photo with some tracing paper. After we had done that we got a plain bit of paper. We scribbled neatly over the lines of the paper. Then we turned the paper over and drew over the lines. The lead that came off the pencil and printed on the paper. We then had a picture of ourselves. After we had to draw over the lines with a black pen. We then painted it and tried to make all the skin dotty. Can you guess who the people below are?