Our new topic Wanderlust has been eagerly received by the children and they are thoroughly enjoying exploring the world and all it's incredible wonders right from our classrooms!  Wanderlust is the strong, innate desire to rove or travel about so we've been studying places to visit, animals to discover, traditional dress to amaze, foods to tantalise, music to entertain, sights to behold and adventures to embark upon.

All our subject areas have linked with the topic.  For example, in Science we are learning about forces in motions and so investigated which type of paper aeroplane goes the furthest distance - a mode of transport to travel the world.  For Maths, we planned a holiday - setting ourselves budgets, planning flights dates on a calendar, working out flight durations and pricing up activities.  We also linked our Literacy poetry theme to famous cities around the world and the children used personification to bring these cities to life.

Book tasting was an absolute success!  The children came in to the classrooms set up like cafes with tables, table clothes, place mats and books galore.  Mrs Griffiths and Mrs Edwards sorted the books onto different tables by genre and the children were able to spend the morning browsing and choosing books they were interested in, quietly reading, discussing which books they liked/didn't liked, analysing characters and texts and moving between the classrooms to get an even bigger choice of books!  The children's responses were awesome.  Here are some examples of the things they said:

"I really didn't think I was going to like the Shakespeare script but once I got stuck in I was really into it."

"I didn't think I liked reading but I suddenly have a love of books!"

"My favourite genre is fantasy fiction."

"I really enjoyed this morning as it was nice to do some silent reading."

Croeso i Blwyddyn Pump... Welcome to Year 5!

Wow... This half term has been super busy and the children have settled in nicely to their new classes.  Everyone has been building relationships and finding partnerships that work well, supporting each other and trying their very best.  We have covered a variety of topics already - some of our favourites being Animals and reading 'The Explorer' by Katherine Rundell, as well as Healthy Bodies in Science where the children researched the internal organs of the body and located them on a life size model.

We have celebrated National European Languages Day and World Mental Health Day, carefully carrying out activities to explore and appreciate each area.  In addition, we celebrated Dydd Shwmae which was all about Wales and the Welsh language.  Cross Country was a massive success and the children supported each other to really push themselves and finish the course in record time.

After half term, we have our Year 5 Remembrance Day Assembly and we hope to have lots of parents and family members joining us.