Year 5 Blog

 This week the children had to answer the question - Which country would you rather visit in Scandinavia and why? Then we recapped how to use four grid references to find places on a map.

This week the children used globes to identify how the tilt of the Earth has an effect on the amount of light/ darkness in Northernmost part of Norway and Sweden which are north of the Arctic Circle. The polar nights lasts for about 28 days and the midnight sun can last for 50 days.  The Earth is on an axis - 23.5 degrees. Which means that when the Earth is tilted away from the sun, there are parts of the northernmost points that do not receive any sun for parts. When the Earth is tilted towards the sun the northernmost points will receive sun most of the time.  This was quite a tricky concept to learn so the children used torches and a globe to act out how the tilt has an effect of the Earth.

This week, the children were introduced to time zones. They talked about how they have family in different parts of the world and they need to think about the time difference when they ring them. They recapped how the world rotates around the sun to make day and night and how the times will be different in the world. Then the children used a time zone map to identify the different lines of longitude which split the world into different time zones. The Prime Meridian is where the time zones begins, this means that the countries to the east of us will be ahead of us (in time). Whereas, the countries to the west of us will be behind us in time.  To consolidate their learning, the children used live links to compare what is happening in different parts of the world. 

 This week the children have honed their division skills in maths. In English, they have begun to play with and use relative clauses and parenthesis, which they are now able to use, in their writing. F1 is becoming more real as the children are just about to start writing their speeches and practice their presentations which they will present in two weeks time. In Geography, they looked at time zones and how they work.  Well done to the four boys who attended a maths challenge in Ryde, they were great ambassadors for the school. 

This week the children looked at a climate graph for London, Umea and Copenhagen. They began to discuss the climates of each country as well as recapping what climate means.  They were then introduced to the Arctic Circle and a Birds Eye view of the Arctic Circle and the continents that can be found there. The children then used their atlas to label continents and oceans in the area and discuss their climate.