Stanningley Primary School

Year 5 had a great day out, taking the train to York [again] to visit Jorvik Viking Centre and DIG archeological centre.

As part of our Jubilee celebrations, Mrs Pritchatt tasked year 5 to design and make a celebration outfit for the Queen. We researched the way information to come up with an outfit that suited both the Queen and the occasion. We made paper dolls of Her Majesty and dressed them in our new outfits. You can also get to see our own Jubilee outfits too.

We had a trio from the Leeds Lieder Project come in today to work with us. They introduced us to 'art song' which is the art of using music, song and acting to create pictures in our minds. Lieder means 'sing' in German - the language used in the first amazing song we saw performed. They then taught us about dynamics and creating moods with music and finally, they helped us to create our very own song.

In the Autumn term we had a presentation form a rail safety officer, who taught us the dangers of railway lines and how we need to stay well away. As part of the package we got a free train trip! We decided to go to York and visit the National Railway Museum. We had a great day out. Here are some pictures.

Today the children of years 5 & 6 joined other schools from Leeds to take part in a samba workshop. The children were amazing and the music they made was outstanding! What a fabulous afternoon to celebrate their hard work in music this half term.

Year 5 and 6 made lots of noise performing Samba music in the playground. Thank you for supporting us.

We spent an afternoon looking at irreversible changes. These are chemical reactions that cannot be undone or reversed. We toasted bread, cooked eggs, blew up balloons with gas and then went outside as some of them have the potential to be quite messy!

Andy Warhol used common everyday objects from popular culture in his art. We wondered what he would use if he were around today. We created a series of images in the way he did.

We had a great outdoor science assembly from Leeds West Academy Science staff. The showed us some cool experiments including elephants toothpaste!

Here we all are, dressed up for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.

We have been looking at the work of Andy Warhol, the famous pop artist. He made many copies of works using screen printing. We used iPads to reproduce our art works using his portraits as an influence.

As part of our World Book Day celebrations we were lucky enough to have the author/illustrator Chris Mould come and talk to us about his work.

For World Book Day we had fun dressing up as our favourite book characters, decorating potatoes and buying new books to read.

Year 5 took a visit to the Alps. We learnt lots about different reasons to visit the Alps and the exciting activities that take place there. We went on a sleigh ride in Austria while drinking gluhwein [non alcoholic!], had a snowball fight, saw some alpine wildlife and feasted on Alpine treats such as cheese, fondue, cheese, Saucisse sec, more cheese and CHOCOLATE! Guess which was our favourite!

Class 5 have been busy making stockings, having parties and a bit of Christmas Karaoke!

We had the amazing Maia in school today. They taught us about their different instruments and led us in some call and response songs. We even learnt to speak double bass!

During peace week, year 5 decided they wanted to spread the kindness outside of school. We created our own postcards of kindness to deliver to Stanningley Live at Home, then the children walked to the centre to deliver their special post to the members. The children felt very proud and happy to spread the happiness to our community.

Today the children launched Peace Week by all coming wearing odd socks and they looked fabulous. We started the day with a school Zoom assembly followed by a circle time. We thought about how some words can make us feel demotivated and make us want to give up on tasks, while other words can make us smile and encourage us to try our best. This week, we decided to make sure our classroom would be an hub of kindness and encouragement. We introduced a kindness jar, so that people can share and celebrate the kindness of others. We also made a class paper chain of kindness by adding kind words and thoughts before finally celebrating our differences by making our own sock bunting to decorate our classroom. The classroom looks amazing and we are ready for an exciting week ahead!

This week we started our learning about Saxons. The children began by looking at reasons why the Saxons chose to come to Britain. In groups, the children then had to order the reasons in order of importance. The children thought that food, farming and space were the main driving factors around the migration. The children then worked in pairs to look at a map and identify which place names close to us have Saxon origins. They highlighted spelling patterns and meanings that were commonly found in Saxon times.

We had a lesson about how to be safe around railways. We found out about the dangers of being near railway lines and the things we can do to keep safe. We even got to dress up in some railway uniforms from years gone bye to the present day.

We have been looking at Kenti cloth which comes from Ghana. We took inspiration from patterns found in the designs to create our own pieces. This is the first stage in which we have printed just one colour.

We have been learning about forces in science. We have been looking at friction and air resistance. Here, we are investigating what material is the most effective for a parachute.

Colin and Julie came in to help us learn about the slave trade and an important figure called Olaudah Equiano. He was a slave who became free and became a big part of ending the slave trade in Britain. Sadly, this was Colin and Julie's last time in our school as they are retiring. We had a special assembly to say thank you for all the happy times they have given us.

The Leeds Road Safety team came in today to talk to us about road safety. We designed products to promote road safety to other children.

This week the class have been writing their school council speeches and presenting them to the class. Congratulations to Amelia Ball and Max Greenwood who were voted as our class councilors.

Half the class enjoying their music lesson, looking at rhythm.

Here we are making the most of the sunshine. Let's hope it lasts!