Welcome to Kingfisher Class.
Thinkers Club
Five Year 5 pupils have been selected to take part in a pilot project developed in conjunction with Canterbury Christ Church University, The Thinkers Club. Throughout the project, pupils will have lectures from university tutors and will be supported in their studies by student ambassadors. Pupils will write a dissertation on their research topic and are aiming to graduate from the programme in June. The launch day at CCCU was held in January and was attended by pupils and their parents. We had a fantastic day taking part in field testing in the sports lab, taking a campus tour, and joining in with an introductory lecture.
7 Billion Ideas
Pupils worked collaboratively in teams to identify a problem, design an invention to help solve that problem, and build a prototype of their idea. They then presented their ideas in our class exhibition. We were very impressed by the range of innovative solutions on show, as well as the effort pupils put into their models and presentations. Some groups learned pattern cutting and sewing skills in order to make their prototypes while others developed their woodwork and construction skills. The “Speak and Write Pen” and the “Phone Charging Jacket” were the inventions that made it to our big school exhibition in the hall. Both teams represented our class very well and the Phone Charging Jacket team were selected to go forward to the LAT final at Strood Academy. Judges commented on the pupils’ confidence and public speaking skills, as well as their passion for an invention that used renewable energy. The team emerged victorious in the 7 Billion Ideas competition and the story of their invention is now being made into a children’s storybook. We are very proud of all who took part.
Art Work
Team Problem-Solving Challenges (Gecko Maths)
Year 5 worked in teams to complete problem-solving challenges. Once someone had solved a problem, they had to explain their strategy and method so the rest of the team understood. Finally,a representative from the team then had to explain the solution to an adult to earn points for the team.
Times Tables
Y5 tested their knowledge of multiples and factors by trying to reassemble a mixed-up multiplication grid that had been cut up into many parts.
Poetry
Kingfishers worked collaboratively to analyse and annotate poetry, moving from station to station around the room. The poems inspired lots of lively debate and discussion.
Science
Inspired by their PYP enquiry, pupils have focused on the topic of materials in Science. They have investigated to find out what pollutants can be removed from the ocean using the processes of filtration and sieving – with many pupils even creating designs for inventions that could do this in the real world. They also investigated evaporation, distillation and decanting and worked to find the most efficient method for separating various solutions and mixtures. Pupils also looked at the benefits and drawbacks of single-use plastics and came up with their own alternative packaging ideas.
Today was peer teaching day in Year 5. First of all, pupils worked in groups to become experts on one of five factors that negatively affected life during the Industrial Revolution. They then took on the role of teacher and each worked with a different group to teach about their topic.At the end of the day, they had a chance to debate what they felt was the most important factor.
Year 5 have been dusting off the cobwebs during this first week back and have been brushing up on their throwing, catching and ball handling skills.
Year 5 finally revealed their Winter Challenge to the school on the last day of Term 3. They created a giant model of our solar system – including a huge plaster of paris sun – to explain the reason we have seasons on earth. The presenters did a great job on the day and a special mention has to go to Kaitlyn – our star (quite literally- do you see her legs sticking out?!).
Kingfisher Class have had a very exciting and busy Winter term. They have been up to lots of different things, including:
Year 5 Library visit
Curling
Kingfisher Class have been lucky enough to try out a brand new sport this term: curling! We are getting into the spirit of the Winter Olympics and learning new skills at the same time. Year 5 realised that they could also apply many of their skills from other sports to help them improve at curling.
Winter Challenge
It was very exciting this week at school as it has been snowing! Year 5 decided that to help inspire their poetry, they would go into the snow and write all about it. It was all very good fun and very helpful!
On Thursday 25th January, Kingfisher Class and Chaffinch Class had a visit from an astronomer, Mr Peter Bassett, who brought his mobile planetarium along to Oaks. Year 5 and 6 had a brilliant time in the dome learning about space, sharing their knowledge and asking lots of interesting questions.
On Thursday 18th January, Year 5 held a very exciting open afternoon where we invited our families in and got them involved in the construction of our bridges. Pupils taught their parents and guardians how to design and construct bridges to be strong, stable and safe.
Year 5 continued their learning about bridge construction by creating cable-stayed bridges out of K’Nex. One group even took on Ms Mehigan’s challenge of adding a working drawbridge section.
The completed bridges all safely held a live load of at least 2kg and really showed off what the children have learned. You can see examples of many different types of bridges that are both functional and that also have some interesting design elements. Well done, Kingfisher Class!
Year 5 applied their new bridge engineering knowledge and drew up plans for their own wooden bridges, which they then set about constructing in teams. They learned how to use a range of tools independently and safely, and also figured out how to problem-solve and adapt their designs when they weren’t quite going to plan.
Kingfishers have been showing off their maths skills in their Brain Builders this term and really impressed Ms Mehigan with their work on data and statistics. Year 5 conducted lots of surveys and questionnaires at home and then presented their findings independently in bar charts, line graphs, pie charts and tables.
On Tuesday 21st & Wednesday 22nd November 2017, Kingfisher Class experienced life as Victorians. We had a Victorian school day and found out what education was like for children in the 19th century; we tried everything from arithmetic and poetry to drill (which we now call PE) and fingernail inspections. The teachers were very strict and children had to sit up straight and remember not to speak unless spoken to; we found this rather challenging! While it was lots of fun to get into character and act, we are very glad that we didn’t live in Victorian times and have to experience that every day.
As well as experiencing Victorian school, we also found out what pastimes and hobbies children used to have. We played marbles, spun spinning tops, tried croquet, watched a Punch and Judy show, and most challenging of all – attempted the diablo. In addition, we tasted gruel (which was not nice) and baked Victoria sponge cakes (which were delicious).
This term we have been learning about thermal conductors and insulators. We planned and carried out an investigation to find out which coffee cup was the best insulator. Costa was the best takeaway coffee cup, but not by much!
It was lovely to see so many parents and families join us for our Open Afternoon Art Gallery. Children and adults worked together to create a giant work of art in the style of Beatriz Milhazes.
As part of our Design and Technology learning we have designed and baked our own Sequilhos biscuits. It was very exciting when our very own Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith visited to judge our baking (Mr Miles and Joyce from St Martin’s Church!).
On Friday 6th October Mrs Ogilvy visited our class. We had found out that Mrs Ogilvy had been to Brazil and the Amazon Rainforest so we asked her to come and tell us all about it. It was really interesting, especially finding out about the different animals in the Rainforest and how people have to travel by river. We loved looking at the photos Mrs Ogilvy brought in and she answered all our questions.
This term we have been finding out about Brazil and we have even created a rainforest in the classroom! We are busy making a class information book about Brazil and we have written stories about a dancing turtle. Last week we made traditional biscuits from Brazil called Sequilhos. You may have tried one when we brought them home.
We have continued learning about different artists and loved creating stencil art in the playground in the style of Banksy. Beatriz Milhazes is a Brazilian artist who uses collage to create her art. We have created our own collages inspired by her work and their bright colours look amazing next to the rainforest.
In PE we are learning how to play netball and we have been working hard on the different ways to pass the ball as well as our footwork.
Kingfishers have been learning about graffiti art. We have debated whether graffiti is art or vandalism and created our own pieces of art. In groups, we designed and made stencils and used chalk spray to paint them on to the playground.
On Wednesday 21st June, we were invited to a Creative Arts Workshop at Valley Park school. During the day, we were able to: make our very own name plaques out of clay, learn and sing a new song, played some drama games and then put it all together to create a performance at the end. Once we had finished our lunch, we were taken around their school farm to see the animals. It was very hot but a lovely day!
This term, year 6 have been coming in to help us with our work! This is making us feel more confident about going up to year 6 and is giving us a chance to ask questions about what is to come. It is extremely helpful and we are enjoying it and will do for the rest of the term!
At the end of our year 5 writing week, we got together at our school with Molehill and Treetops on the afternoon of Friday 16th June. We were able to look at each other’s work and see what they had been writing about over the week. Once we had looked around and had some light refreshments, awards were chosen for best piece of writing and best presented piece of work from each school by a teacher. The winners are shown in a picture with their certificates.
At the beginning of the term, living eggs arrived at our school. Eventually they all started to hatch one by one. Some of us got the opportunity to go down and hold some of the chicks. They were very cute and some were extra wriggly!
After planning our businesses, it was time to work! Soapy Oaks Car Wash got washing the cars for the teachers. Burgers by Bargain Burgers and ice creams from Cool Creamy Cones were sold to the whole school on Wednesday and Friday morning, which were delicious! It was an extremely successful week and we managed to raise £150 for Guide dogs for the blind charity.
On Monday 12th June, we went to Kidzania, which is in Westfield shopping center (London). After a long two hour journey, we finally arrived and we were completely overwhelmed. The children had a chance to try out different professions such as: window cleaning, being part of a pit crew, banking, dentistry, the fire brigade, ambulance crew etc. Once we had completed a job, we were paid with Kidzos, which we then spent in the shop or on face paint towards the end. It was extremely fun!
As a run up to our trip to Kidzania, we have been planning our own businesses to create within the school. We have attended a meeting with Mrs Tipple to confirm our businesses, planned what we want to do and had a trip out to Morrisons to buy the resources to get our businesses started. One group chose to cook and sell burgers, another chose to sell ice cream cones and the last decided that they wanted to wash the teachers’ cars.
On Wednesday 7th June, we had Dan come in to teach us how to make algorithms to program and instruct a sphero ball on a program called Sphero Edu. We were able to control the direction, speed and timings of the ball through the app. We had different challenges… our first, was to make the ball go to the cone and back. The second, was to program it to move around a square on the floor. Our final challenge was outside, we had to program our spheros to go around various posts and loop back around to the beginning. We really enjoyed ourselves.
On Monday 5th June, we were so lucky to have Paul and Pedro and Big Dave and Gordon come and visit us. In the morning, we had an assembly where they told us about the charity Guide dogs for the blind and explained how their dogs help them in their day-to-day lives. In the afternoon, we were able to meet the dogs, experience sight through various types of glasses and set up a course where we guided each other through wearing blindfolds and holding a can to help us feel what was around us. Some of us also got the chance to play blindfolded football! It was great fun and a real experience.
Maths Challenge – are there more than 1 million bricks that make up our school?
In maths week, one of our challenges was to see if the school is made up of more than 1 million bricks. We works in pairs and all had different ways of working it out. One pair believed there to be more that 2 million and others thought it was lower than a million. None of the children were willing to count each individual brick…so I guess we will never know.
On the 22nd May, we were extremely lucky to have some people come and have a talk with us about apples. We learnt a lot of interesting things, such as: how to grow them, the different types of apples and where apples are grown. During the workshop, we were able to try two different types of apples, some fruit bars and apple crisps. We were also able to make our very own fresh apple juice using the juicer. It was very fun and we enjoyed ourselves very much.
This week for P.E., Kingfisher class have been taking part in Battlestation exercises. They have all worked really hard with them and they all had lots of fun.
Well Done!
Returning from the Easter break, we got straight into our Topic with our very own WWII experience. We came in dressed up as children from WWII and learnt in similar conditions to what they had to live in. Our classroom was completely blacked out and the only light source we had were flickering tealights. Air sirens sounded throughout the week, we had to take cover underneath our tables and pray that the bombs would not get us. Throughout the week, we did a variety of things related to WWII. These are listed below:
It was a great way to start off our topic and we all learnt and had fun in a creative way.
On Tuesday 28th March Kent Fire and Safety team came in to give us a fire talk. We found out many things such as:
We also got warned of hoax phone calls and what could happen if you were to pretend to phone the emergency services. It was very informative and interesting! A big thank you to Geoff and his team!
On Wednesday 22nd March we had our very own World Food Day. We had a professional chef come in to help us cook some delicious food. The dishes we made were: singapore noodles, nasi goreng and chicken tikka masala. Kingfisher class prepared, help cook and ate/took some of their dish home. The children also got a chance to taste some fruits from around the world dipped in a warm chocolate sauce. Certificates were given out for: best team work, most delicious dish, and best dressed dish. It was a day enjoyed by all!
On Thursday 9th February, we invited parents in to be apart of our African themed afternoon. We had two main activities: Baking and African Art. For baking, the children and parents made, baked and decorated their own African Animal biscuits, which all looked and smelt delicious! For the African Art, the children and parents designed and made their own African necklaces and masks. The afternoon was great fun and thanks again to the parents who came.
If you wish to view any more of the photos from Robins class, then please access the gallery page by clicking here.
