2022-24 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 used photos from Norway, Sweden and Denmark to identify the physical features of these countries. The children identified that Norway was very mountainous with lots of waterfalls. There are fjords, rivers and glaciers. One of the adults in the room showed us her photo of her near a glacier and a child shared their experience when they visited Norway .  Sweden has mountains to the west and rivers. It also has some fjords as well as lots of dense forests. Sweden has the third largest lake in Europe:Mount Vanern.  Denmark is completely flat with some rolling hills. It is so flat that it often floods. It is made up from lots of islands. Denmark has lots of coastal areas and many beaches. Finally, the class looked at the Northern Lights and how these are formed. Some of the children believe they saw these in Freshwater about a month ago. 

 This term, the children will be studying Scandinavia. Here is a copy of their journey.  The first lesson recapped the different lines of latitude and longitude as well as the four hemispheres. The children then located the continents and oceans before identifying the three countries that make up Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden and Denmark. One of the children through Iceland and Sweden were part of Scandinavia, these countries are part of the Nordic Countries. Finally the children compared the three flags and how they were similar to each other. 

 Using our fieldwork data, the children began to analyse what they had found out and what they think Cowes might need and why. Using their knowledge of maps, the children identified the route they too, and discussed the settlements and human geography they walked passed.  Then, they discussed what the future might looks like for Cowes using the information they have found out. 

 This week, year 5 finally managed to complete their fieldwork identifying how the land  in Cowes High Street is used. The children were a credit to the school and some of the public commented on this.  As the children walked around Cowes, they used a tally chart to record the different types of shops that they saw in the high street. Some of the children were amazed at the amount of estate agents they saw and that there were no banks.  In the afternoon, the children used computers to present their data. 

 This week, the children used Ordnance Survey Maps to see what different places of interest they could find in the Cowes area.The children looked at the scale of the map: 1:25,00, which means that 1cm on the map represents 250 metres on the ground. The children then used this information to see what was in their local area and further afield.