Years 5 & 6 Tamar
Welcome to Tamar Class 2017-2018
Teaching Team
Ms J Salter (Teacher)
Miss L Denford (Teacher)
Mrs. K Sinclair (Teaching Assistant)
Welcome to the start of what we hope will be a wonderful new school year!! We hope you have all had a relaxing break, creating lots of new memories. You will find below documents detailing the learning which will be taking place this half term, as well as a weekly timetable. We look forward to the new term ahead!
If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to us at the classroom door in the morning or after school, otherwise please feel free to make an appointment to see one of us after school.
Ms Salter, Miss Denford and Mrs Sinclair 
Learning Star Award 
Value Star Award 
Days to remember
PE will be on a Monday and Tuesday afternoon
Home learning will be set on a Friday and due in the following Wednesday
Open reading sessions for parents will be on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
and Friday from 9-9.30am
Our Trip to Dartmoor!
Despite the dismal weather, Tamar Class had a very informative experience on our trip to Dartmoor. The children gained copious amounts of knowledge about the Bronze Age settlements and also about the formation of the tors on Dartmoor. They will use this to form the basis for their learning over the next couple of months.
PAFC +Sport Move and Learn Project
We are now 2 weeks into our 6 week session with Plymouth Argyle Community Trust. The children have been learning about nutrition and this week enjoyed playing football in small teams. It was great to see some impressive talent and teamwork amongst the class!
Autumn Term 1 Planning
Useful links to support children with Maths and English
Home Learning
Learning in Tamar 2016-17
Heatree Activity Centre!
Wow! What a fantastic few days we experienced at Heatree Activity Centre on Dartmoor. Soe of Tamar class, alongside our friends at St Matthews, enjoyed a sunny few days on Dartmoor as part of our school residential. We were very fortunate with the glorious Devon sunshine and had the opportunity to experience many fantastic thrill-seeking outdoor adventure activities.
Tamar class, as always, showed respect and support to all children and instructors on the visit and encouraged each other to have a go and stay safe. I could not be more proud - all of Tamar were amazing, inspirational and an absolute delight to be away with!
Take a look at the pictures below to get just a glimpse of the fun that we had.
Literacy - Writing a balanced argument
Our latest topic has seen the children in Tamar class learning abut the upcoming General Election. We have researched democracy, carried out class debates and found out all about the roles and responsibilities of the politicians in Westminster.
We delved a little deeper into the main political parties and their 2017 manifestos before writing own balanced arguments on the main party policies.
Hope UK Visit - On Thursday Karen Collins from Hope UK came into class to deliver a workshop on drugs and alcohol and how they can impact on our bodies. The children had the opportunity to discuss different drugs, alcohol and associated objects as well as participate in fun games to consider how our bodies change when drugs and alcohol have been taken.
Poetry
In literacy this week we have been writing emotive poems using a picture as a stimulus. To build our poems we created word banks filled with nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
Once we had crafted our poems we performed our poems outside in the sunshine! Please take a look at the learning wall, some shining examples of our work and some photos of our poetry performance.
Narrative Writing - The Easter Story
Tamar class have been working on sentence structure and creating a 'Rainbow' of sentences to help them write a descriptive version for part of the Easter Story.
In class we worked together to draft a version of 'The Last Supper' before the children worked independently to write a version of 'The Crucifixion'.
Here is our working wall and some of the children's work.
Family Worship: A big WELL DONE Tamar class for your fantastic assembly on Aspiration!
PERSUASIVE WRITING
In literacy we have been creating travel brochures persuading readers to visit Guatemala.
The children had lots of opportunity to read different persuasive travel brochures before researching the top places and attractions to visit in Guatemala. Using their knowledge of modal and imperative verbs the children crafted persuasive paragraphs full of exciting vocabulary to ensure the reader felt compelled to book a flight to visit the 'terrific temples of Tikal'.
Please take a look at our learning journey below and some excellent examples of the children's work.
Widening Horizons
Year 5 had the opportunity to visit FlyBe at Exeter airport last week. The children were able to see behind the scenes and learn about the different job roles on offer. Armed with questions and excitement, the children boarded a commercial plane (in the airport hanger), quizzed FlyBe engineers, took over the controls in the cockpit and took part in safety demonstrations at the training centre. Many of the children were interested to learn more about the qualifications needed and the training needed to become a pilot, member of cabin crew or flight engineer.
Literacy - Writing a Creation Story
This unit has seen Tamar class planning and writing their very own versions of how the world was created. We had the opportunity to read many different creation stories from all over the world, discuss and analyse the writing devices used and revise and perfect our use of fronted adverbials, relative clauses and using figurative language to help paint a picture in our readers minds.
Here is our learning journey and an example of a creation story ending as well as an example of our work having undertaken peer and self assessment of the narrative and unit as a whole.
Bright Sparks
Please take a look below to view some of the work Tamar Class did during the Autumn term.
Writing Biographies
During literacy we have been writing a biography about Thomas Edison. Tamar have read lots of different biographies about famous scientists to identify the different features of a biographical text. The children then 'boxed up' key notes they had researched on Edison before using this information to create their final biography. All children were encouraged to use key grammar and punctuation skills learnt during the unit, such as: fronted adverbials; the passive verb form; semi colons and brackets to add extra information to their writing.
Please take a look at our learning wall and a couple of examples of the children's final outcomes.
PSHE in Tamar
This week has seen visitors from the British Red Cross and Devon and Somerset Fire Service talking to the children in Year 5 and 6. All of Tamar enjoyed a safety talk from our local firefighters based in Camels Head station. Some even enjoyed trying on the safety equipment and clothing used by the fire service.
British Red Cross came in to lead a workshop for Year 6 on 'what it means to be a Refugee', they learnt how we can support children who may come to our school as a refugee and the children had a chance to discuss and understand the difficulties facing many children and adults who are forced to leave their home. A big THANK YOU to our visitors for their rich learning experiences offered to Tamar and a huge WELL DONE to all of the class for their brilliant behaviour and respect. Please take a look at some of the photos from the visits below.
Firework Poems
Tamar have enjoyed a week of poetry to celebrate Bonfire Night. We read lots of 'Firework' poems to inspire us and identified imagery-rich language and poetic devices to use within our own poems. Take a look at our 'Learning Wall' which maps our learning journey though this short unit of work.
We kick started our new topic - BRIGHT SPARKS with an afternoon of circuit making in class. The children were able to explore how a circuit works through completing a series of challenges within a small team. Here are some of the pictures from our 'Hook' afternoon.
Widening Horizons! Year 5 started their Widening Horizons project today with a trip to the National Marine Aquarium. We were fortunate enough to head 'backstage' and explore all the exciting job roles that take place at the Aquarium. The children particularly enjoyed learning about the role of a 'Marine Biologist' and watching one biologist prepping the food and feeding the sharks!
Numeracy
In Maths this half term we have been focusing on Place Value and Additive Reasoning. The children have undertaken problem solving, completed Maths inquiries as well as actively demonstrating their reasoning and explaining their thinking to explicitly show how they are thinking mathematically. We have investigated the use of the 'Bar Model' to support our understanding of worded Maths problems to ensure we are undertaking the correct calculation. The following website will support the use and learning of the 'Bar Model'.
Literacy
Continuing with our Land Ahoy! topic we have been writing pirate narratives and the children have written an opening chapter to a pirate story. The learning steps for this unit supported the children to write using effective character and setting descriptions.
The English learning wall displays the steps the children took towards their final outcome.
Here are some examples of our opening chapters;
Land Ahoy! Island Projects and Exhibition. Tamar enjoyed displaying their island exhibits for parents and friends in the school hall. We had some very creative projects made! Well one Tamar Class!
Table Tennis - we have had great fun learning a new skill this half term and today we invited parents in to share what we have learnt. Thank you to those who came along to compete against us.
Literacy
The children have been inventing their own Pirate poems in literacy, using descriptive devices and pirate specific vocabulary, the children have written some fantastic poetry describing the different things you would find on a pirate ship. Take a look at our class 'Piratosaurus'.
Take a look at our Pirate Adventure afternoon!
Last week we launched our topic 'Land Ahoy!' with a pirate adventure on and around the school field. The afternoon provided lots of opportunity for the class to work collaboratively, learn 'pirate' skills (shelter building, fire lighting and map reading) and gain further insight into the lives of pirates past. We had lots of fun learning specific vocabulary and of course talking and dressing like pirates. Here are just a few moments from our afternoon...
Helpful Reads!
Have a look at Tamar class loving their learning last year.
2015 - 2016
Y6 Climbing - more to follow next week!
K ey Stage 2 really enjoyed their Greek Extravaganza today. We did a huge range of activities, from drama to debate, from art and crafts to architecture, from navigation to word origins. Here is a flavour of the day
Mayflower Marina - Millfields Inspire. Jobs on and around the marina experienced first hand by Y5
We have learned a lot about the Amazon Rainforest - its geography, its climate and its inhabitants, both plants and animals. Take a look at our Learning Wall, some of our Information Posters, and a few of our poems
Our Learning Wall on Instruction Writing
We had a wonderful day at the Stem Centre - it was informative, fun and interesting. We looked at the parts of a plant in the 3-D cinema, which was "awesome"; we visited the allotment and we designed seeds for different kinds of seed dispersal: wind, animals and water.
To round off our French topic on food and drink, we invited the Foundation children to Le Cafe de St Georges. Some of us translated the menu for them and placed the orders; the rest of us were waiters and waitresses taking the orders and taking them back to the kitchen. A fun (and delicious) way to finish off the topic.
We made over £70 selling Fairtrade products (the chocolate was particularly popular) at the end of our topic on Chocolate. It's good to know that the farmers will get a fair price and we get a yummy bar of chocolate. Win, Win!!
Tom Palmer, the author, came to talk to us about how he came to be an author. He was inspired to write by his love of sport, and most of his books are sports-related. We finished off the session with a kick-off!
Spring Curriculum Overview 2016
As part of KS2 Hook Day, the class got to taste a variety of chocolates to see if they could name them and assess whether they were a high, mid or low price range and to discover which chocolate bar was the class favourite. There was a big divide within the class between the dark, milk and white chocolate. It was interesting to see which children had the sweetest tooth!
After this, they watched a Power Point on where the chocolate may have come from and the need for fair trade. The class were very reflective and wrote some extremely emotive diary entries as one of the children discussed in the presentation.
Finally, in the afternoon, the class took on the challenge of creating a company that designed, made and promoted their own unique chocolate bar which they then pitched to the rest of KS2. SOme of their ideas were amazing and I'm sure companies like Cadbury's and Mars would soon snap them up!
Chocolate tasting!
Some examples of our diary entries written as a child working on a cocoa farm.
Our Learning Walls
Our trip to the synagogue
KS2 Egyptian Hook Day
Planning overview Autumn 2015
Medics Month as part of Millfield's Inspire
Celebrating Passover in R.E.
Survival skills at Mt Edgcumbe
Graduation from Millfied's Inspire
The Year 5 children graduated from Millfield's Inspire on Tuesday 7th July at St. Peter's Church. All of the children have enjoyed visiting different work place and have great aspirations in their chosen future careers!
Graduation 2015
Some of our Big Questions.
Our jigsaws and powerpoints about different faiths.
Power point presentations on different faiths.
SCIENCE WITH A TWIST!
On Friday 10th July, Year 5 visited All Saints Academy where they enjoyed using microscopes to look at cells and used bunsen burners to see which foods gave us the most sustained energy. They had an amazing time and we look forward to wring with them again in the future.
Science fun at All Saints Academy
Homework Projects
The class have worked hard at home to find out about the flora and fauna of Dartmoor. They created posters, models, pictures and presentations, which have been enjoyed by the rest of the class.
Thank you to all those children who made a huge effort to complete this!
Our summer projects.
The Dog's Trust visited us to give us an understanding of how to behave towards dogs in public.
On Thursday 11th June, KS2 visited Foggintor and its surrounding area. They had an amazing time and walked a long way without a moan or groan from anyone! They walked along the old railway track and saw where people used to live on the moors. Some intrepid explorers climbed Kings Tor and were 'wowed' by the beauty of Dartmoor in 360 degrees!
The children had also made pasties and insulators in D.T. and Science and were impressed that the pasties were still warm after three hours!
A huge thank you to all the parents who supported us on this trip! 
KS2 trip to Foggintor, Kings Tor and the surrounding area
Year 5 made insulators for their pasties.
Year 6 enjoying their first aid training!
The class had an amazing trip to City College to experience a variety of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) activities. They were WOWed with exciting experiments and challenged to make bird feeders from willow; a weight that would drop slowly to the deepest oceans and boats that would hold the most pennies!
They also experienced what it would be like to be inside a gigantic bubble; held giant land snails, flew a virtual fighter plane; cracked WW1 codes and plenty more!
I know they had a fantastic time and wished they could have stayed all day!
STEM activities at City College June 2015
Sweet and savoury pasties with our own unique fillings! Delicious!
Millfield's Inspire visit to Peninsula School of medicine with Year 5.
Our rowing team 2015! Year 6 represented the school at Plymstock Secondary School and were a real credit to St George's. Well done Year 6! :)
NMA visit
Year 6 in training for the rowing championships!
Stiltskin Theatre Hook Day!
A visit from Plympton Owl Man!
Tableaux of the Christian creation story
Finding out about the world's weather in maths using Ipads
Hoodwinked!
- St George's Church of England Primary Academy, Admiralty Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 3RX
- T: 01752 224863
- E: admin@stgeorgesstcmat.org