Welcome to Griffin Class

HT6

The Great Dinosaur Mystery

HT5

Darwin's Delights

Chester Zoo

On Thursday 26th April we visited Chester Zoo.  It's such a long way but we felt it was worth the journey.  Not only did we get to see some amazing animals, we participated in a fantastic workshop all about evolution.  We learned how giraffes and okapis evolved from the same animal and adapted their bodies to the habitat they lived in.  We also found out that a giraffe has the same number of bones in its neck as a human - 7!  That was a surprise.   Steph, an education officer, used an activity involving frogs to teach us about natural selection and helped us to understand how this has helped to evolve animals over very long periods of time.

Please have a look at our photographs, many taken by the children themselves.

HT4

Heart Dissection

Today we became scientists and tried our dissecting skills.  First we explored the heart and felt how one ventricle wall is thicker than the other.  We used our fingers to probe the arteries and veins and found that the arteries crossed over.  It was fascinating to see how the water could go in a vein and out of an artery but not the other way.  Hearts are incredible muscles.  Take a look at our dissection photographs.

HT3

I hope that you have all had a fantastic Christmas and are ready for the new year in Griffin Class.  Remember that we are visiting Weston Park museum on Monday 8th January (our first day back) so don't forget your packed lunch.

Pharaohs

Let's travel back 5000 years to the dusty realms of Ancient Egypt. Cruise along the Nile, entering a world of mysteries and curses, mummies and kings. Unravel the secrets of ancient tombs, using historical sources and ancient artefacts. Find out about powerful pharaohs and grandiose gods. Make yourself a nemes and you'll really look the part. Open the doorway to Ancient Egypt - who knows what treasures you will find!

Weston Park Museum

On Monday 8th January we travelled to Sheffield to visit the mummies in Weston Park Museum.  We became trainee embalmers for the day and learned all about the process of mummification.  Have a look at our photos and see if you can work out what we were doing in each.  After lunch we had to complete an Egyptian museum trail which was quite tricky.  We learned lots of interesting facts and had a great time.  Mrs Ellis received a message from Laura, the site supervisor for Sheffield Museums.  This is what she said about us...

I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say a big thank you and well done to the Y5 and 6 children who visited Weston Park Museum for some Egypt workshops yesterday – they were wonderfully behaved in the gallery spaces and a real pleasure to have in the building.

What amazing children we have at Gateford, you should all be very proud of them...we definitely are.

HT2

Welcome back.  Remember to keep checking our class pages for updates on topic websites and to check you have the correct spelling list and homework for the week.

¡Hola Mexico!

Welcome to Mexico! Get ready to explore this unique country, from its towering temples and its stunning geography to its pulsing rhythms and fun packed festivals.

STEM Day

On Friday 1st December, we held our first STEM day.  In the morning Griffin class considered the question -

Can anything survive being frozen in ice?

There were some amazing answers with problems such as heart stopping, frozen blood and burst veins making us feel it was not possible.  We talked about bacteria and how they can survive in the harshest of conditions and then someone mentioned that surely it was dependent on how long the 'thing' was frozen for.  We then carried out an investigation to find out the quickest way to melt ice to release a person (Lego figure of course).  Making the test 'fair' was tricky but we had a good try.

In the afternoon we investigated igloos and then, using only cotton wool, paper, cocktail sticks and glue, we had a go at building our own.

Have a look at our photos to see how we did.

Day of the Dead

Celebrations

HT1

Welcome back and welcome to Griffin Class.  I hope you are as excited about our first half term as I am.  Our topic is -

Splish! Splash! Splosh!

We will be learning about all things watery.  We will find out about states of water and the water cycle.  There will be mapping activities to learn about the rivers and oceans of the world.  We will investigate the wildlife which inhabits our oceans.  Water safety and how dangerous water can be will also feature in our work.  If you have any books or items you think the class would be interested in linked to our topic then please bring them along to class.

Shorts and Shades

What a brilliant first day back.  We have had fantastic fun making boats, flags, playing beach games, creating sand art, making mosaic fish eating doughnuts and we even had our photos taken on the beach.  Can you spot yourself?

Containers

We tried to make containers which would hold a litre of rice.  Have a look to see how we did.