Thomas Willingale School and Nursery
Spring Term
WB 10.3.25
It has been another busy week in Year 5. The children have been busy completing their assessment this week. Miss Burling and I would like to commend the children on their positive and mature attitude that they have shown this week. We are very proud of each and everyone of them.
This week the children have also enjoyed taking part in a number of other events, including: 'Odd Sock Day', 'Let Girls play football' and a french performance by Freshwater Theatre company.
We are looking forward to dressing up on Monday, 17th of March, for Shakespeare Day and taking part in a Silly Science workshop on Wednesday 19th of March.
We hope you all have a restful weekend.
Today, Friday 7th of March, we celebrated World Book Day- it was a pyjama day!
Through out the day we enjoyed a variety of activities, these included: making books marks, drinking hot chocolate, reading with the Nursery children and finally making reading dens with our friends. We have had so much fun and we are already looking forward to next years World Book Day.
Beauty and the Beast
On Thursday 6th of March, Year 5 and 6 were lucky enough to be invited to Davenant Foundation School to watch their Spring production of Beauty and the Beast. The children had a wonderful time, despite the long walk there and back.
WB 3.3.25
Another week has come to an end... time really is flying by!
In History, we have been learning about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii, Italy 79 AD.
What happened to Pompeii?
In autumn of 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth a cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event gives its name to the Vesuvian type of volcanic eruption, characterised by columns of hot gases and ash reaching the stratosphere, although the event also included pyroclastic flows associated with Pelean eruptions.
The event destroyed several Roman towns and settlements in the area. Pompeii and Herculaneum, obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, are the most famous examples. Archaeological excavations have revealed much of the towns and the lives of the inhabitants leading to the area becoming the Vesuvius National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We then used what we have learnt to create time lines of the key events.
Can you place these events in chronological order?
In English this week we have been learning about recounts. A recount is a type of writing which retells something that has already happened. It is mostly told in chronological or time order. They are written in the first person using 'I', 'me' and 'my'. Personal recounts can include facts and opinions and finally recounts are written in the past tense.
Our recounts were written in the form of a diary entry. Our diary entries retold the events that happened when Mount Vesuvius erupted in Pompeii, Italy in 79 AD.
In Science this week we have been learning about the different parts of a flowering plant and the role that they play in the reproduction of plant.
Plants reproduce to make new plants (offspring) in different ways:
1. Flowering plants can reproduce by making seeds, which grow into new plants.
2. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower.
3. After pollination, pollen travels to the ovary and fertilises the flower.
4. Seed formation happens after fertilisation.
WB 24.2.25
What a brilliant start to the week- let's celebrate!
In assembly today, the competition winners for the recent poster competition were announced. Well done to N from Hawthorn class for her winning poster.
We hope you have fun using your art set!
Also, a huge congratulations to the children who attended the Kurling county finals and came a fabulous 3rd place. We are all very proud of you!
Making and erupting volcanoes
Welcome back! We hope you have a had a restful break and are ready for the next half term. Can you believe that the children are now half way through Year 5. Time is going by so quickly.
Opal Play
A huge thank you to all the children who brought in donations for our Opal Bingo. We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Opal Bingo was Hawthorn class with 64 points.
We also had some opal golden ticket winners. These children were chosen either for their helpfulness when tidying up or for making a significant contribution to opal play. Well done to you all! Miss Burling and I are very proud of you.
WB 10.2.25
This week in school we have been celebrating Safer Internet Day. To help us understand the importance of being safe online we read and discussed the story 'Hanni and the Magic Window'.
Using the link below you can access many more stories about being safe online.
https://padlet.com/hsisteam/online-safety-and-technology-books-qj5pjh9ofxxqz2
In addition to Safer Internet Day, it was also International Day for Women and Girls in Science. This is a day where we celebrated all of the women and girls who have had a significant impact on the Science (STEM) world. These women include:
* Ada Lovelace
* Florence Nightingale
* Mae Jemison
* Marie Curie
* Rosalind Franklin
Can you name any other famous female scientists?
Number Day
WB 27.1.25
What another busy week it has been in year 5!
In Geography this week we have been learning about earthquakes.
We learnt about:
* how they occur.
* what the features of an earthquake are.
and
* how they are measured.
We also learnt about the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010.
To help us understand the impact of earthquakes on different countries around the world, we created our own structures from marshmallows and cocktail sticks and then placed them in a tray of jelly to see if they could with stand being shook. Some of our structures lasted longer than others but they all collapsed in the end, showing the devastating impact earthquakes have on countries around the world.
For PE this week we had a cricket session with Mrs Watkins from DPHS. She taught us about catching, bowling and striking a cricket ball. For safety we used tennis balls as cricket balls are very heavy.
Congratulations to these fabulous young writers who recently entered a short story competition as a result of their creativity they will now be having their stories published in a book.
Well done to all of the Year 5 children that took part in a Handball competition at DPHS. You were very enthusiastic and showed great sportsmanship. Miss Burling and I are very proud of you all.
WB 20.1.25
What a rocking way to start the week!
Today, the children were lucky enough to have a visit from Rock Kidz. They had dance battles with the teachers, learnt some rock moves and learnt a song all about how awesome it is to be yourself.
To help the children remember how awesome they are they learnt a new word 'YASBA'. Why not ask your child tonight what this means?
This week we had our final session with Darren from Ignition Arts. We continued to build on our skills required to work effectively in a team. We were set numerous tasks including making a house that was protected, using a variety of materials. We also thought really carefully about the qualities we would like to see in our friends, we used laminated cards to show which qualities were important for our friends to have. We have thoroughly enjoyed our sessions with Darren and hope that we get to do some more workshops at the end of the year.
In Geography we have been learning about Earthquakes.
What is an Earthquake?
An earthquake is a sudden shaking of the ground caused by the movement of parts of the Earth's crust.
How do Earthquakes occur?
An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault. The tectonic plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the Earth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel. Most earthquakes are caused by changes in the Earth's outermost shell, or crust, which is made up of about a dozen rock masses called plates that are constantly moving.
In Maths we have continued with our learning of fractions. We have been learning how to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions along with comparing and ordering fractions. To help us compare and order fractions we also used or knowledge of equivalent fractions.
Why not have a go at some of the examples below.
Our grammar focus for this week was commas. Commas have many different uses, they include: * commas in a list
* to separate extra information (parenthesis)
* between clauses- to break up longer sentences. Used before words like 'and', 'but', 'so' and 'for'
* with direct speech
* after a fronted adverbial e.g. Suddenly,
What a great start to our Spring term sporting events!
On Friday 17th of January 8 children from KS2 represented Thomas Willingale at a Kurling Event. The children were split into two teams and after a hard fought contest I am please to say that the Year 5 team came 1st and will be representing Thomas Willingale in the county finals in February!
Well done to you all!
WB 20.1.25
Can you believe that we are at the end of another week already? It has been a busy week for us in Year 5.
In Maths we have started a new topic, fractions. We have been learning to find equivalent fractions to unit and non unit fractions. 
We have also been learning how to convert improper fractions into mixed numbers.
In science we concluded our materials topic by learning about reversible and irreversible changes.
A reversible change is when changes can be reversed, meaning that the original materials can be recovered from the change. Characteristics of a reversible change include:
* Changing how a substance looks or feels (changing physical appearance)
* Changing the state of a substance such as solid, liquid and gas.
An irreversible change is permanent. They cannot be undone. For example you cannot change a cake back into its ingredients again. A change is called irreversible if it cannot be changed back again. In an irreversible change, new materials are always formed.
To help us learn about reversible and irreversible changes we worked in groups to sort different pictures of different materials.
We also looked at an irreversible change. In a bottle, we mixed bicarbonate of soda with white vinegar, attached to the neck of the bottle was a balloon. When these two materials are mixed together they create a new material called Carbon Dioxide, which is a gas. Although, we could not see the gas we knew it was there because the balloon inflated.
WB 13.1.24
We have kicked started this half term with our new topic 'Earthquakes, Zones and Volcanoes'. This we have started to learn about the different climate zones around the World. Did you know that there are six main climate zones: Arid, Tropical, Temperate, Polar, Mountainous and Mediterranean.
The map below shows where in the world you can find these different climate zones.
In maths we have been learning how to use the written method to divide. We call this written method 'bus stop'. Some of us found this quite tricky but we persevered and got there in the end. To help us with division we must remember to practise our times tables as this will help us not only when dividing but many other areas of the maths curriculum.
This week we were very fortunate to watch the panto 'Beauty and the Beast'. This was organised by the PTA and it was great fun.
We also had the exciting opportunity to work with Darren from Ignition Arts. We will be having three workshops with Darren where we will explore the importance of sharing our own and other people's strengths and celebrating them. These workshop will help us improve our speaking and listening skills along with being able to work in a team. We are already looking forward to next week's session.
Happy New Year to you all!
We hope you have all had a restful holiday and are looking forward to the term ahead.
