Welcome to Y5

There are 30 children in our class. Our teacher is Miss Taylor and our Teaching Assistants are Mrs Cunliffe & Miss Winstanley.

Our class Governor is Mrs Marsh

Our Y5 John Muir Experience

Friday was our John Muir experience. We really enjoyed it. We would love to share it with you, so let’s get started!

Our first activity was becoming a natural scientist. First, we went outside with clipboards and cute little booklets. On the field and in the woodland trail we went to find a nice quiet spot each. We sat down on small mats and observed the wonderful nature as we sketched little pictures of what we could see, and made interesting notes of what was around us. It made us more aware of our beautiful surroundings.

In our next activity we became mini explorers. We went outside with Miss McGinn and explored the whole perimeter of the school, even in places we’ve never been before! We made little sketches and notes of the school in preparation for our next activity. Next, we went inside and took some pieces of paper and started drawing epic and unique maps.

After we had our dinner we assembled into groups. We made our way onto the field to prepare ourselves for the next activity, which was map building using natural substances. We went into the woodland trail and the little forest to find twigs, leaves and bricks since we were building a miniature version of school. It did take a lot of teamwork to complete our task.

After that we went inside to learn how to use a compass. Once we learnt how to do that, we went outside to test our new knowledge of a compass. Miss McGinn gave us some instructions on which direction and how many steps to take, then we were put into groups of three to do this activity. Next Miss McGinn made it more challenging, but no matter how challenging it was, we managed to succeed. We decided to leave it on a high and come in for some tasty snacks.

At half four we made our way outside for bushcraft. We split into two groups for our next activity. The first group learned how to make fire. The bushcraft man told us how to use a Kelly kettle and what they were used for. Then we lit our own fire and put the Kelly kettle on to boil the water. Once it was done, we switched over with the other group to start our next activity, which was den-building. We were put into groups of five. We grabbed our supplies and found our scenery to build on, then we set to work. It took a lot of teamwork but we managed to complete the task. After that we viewed all the other teams’ dens, and we had a competition to see whose den was the best.  Our group won. We had some time to spare so we worked together to build a giant den!!! It was amazing.

After that we went back to the fire to find a good stick to toast marshmallows on the campfire. The marshmallows were warm and gooey. After that the bushcraft men had to go.

It was a lovely evening so Miss McGinn let us play outside for a while. After that the pizza arrived. Hooray! We sat down and ate the pizza. Later we went inside to make our beds. We were given hot chocolate and buttons. After we put our beds out, we went back outside and we did an alien hunt in groups. The hunters won. After all that, we settled around the campfire and sang some songs.

Later we went inside to brush our teeth, put pjs on and go to bed. It was a long and cosy night. In the morning we woke up and got ready for the day ahead of us. After getting dressed, we went into the hall for breakfast (beans and toast). Later we still had energy from Friday, so we went outside onto the field to play rounders before our parents could pick us up.

 We all enjoyed the John Muir experience. It was so much fun!

By Emily, Gabriella and Emily

John Rylands Visit

Today we visited John Rylands library, which is located in the centre of Manchester, we explored the building; it was awe-inspiring! It reminded many of us of Hogwarts.

The library was constructed during the Victorian era.

It was commissioned by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her husband, John.

During our visit we discovered many extraordinary objects and learned many new facts. The library contains 1.4 million objects. The books are printed in many different languages ( 50 different ones)

After our tour of the building we were shown a range of maps; made of Manchester in Victorian times. From one map we discovered that certain areas of Manchester suffered greatly with infectious diseases. We thought it could be due to the houses being so close together.

Another map showed us there were over 2000 places to buy alcohol in a small area of Manchester city centre and that this seemed to link with how much crime was committed in that area.

We also looked a map showing the Victorian Tram system. The trams ran out of Manchester as far as Boothstown. There seemed to be a lot more trams in Victorian times.

One map showed all the shops on Deansgate in 1840. The Kendals department store was already there, but many other shops were very different, many of them seemed to make the goods that they sold. There were also a lot of pubs.

We all really enjoyed our visit. Some of our favourite parts were: the stained glass windows, the marble statues, the ornate ceilings ( you can use mirrors to look at them so you don’t hurt your neck) and all the old books.

We would certainly recommend a visit to John Rylands Library.