Griffin
Welcome to Griffin class and year 5.
Please use your class page to find out what we are learning about in class. There will be links to websites to help you research for our topics. Photographs and copies of your work will be added from time to time so you can share them with your grown-ups.
Roll up! Roll up! the circus came to Gateford.
Scream Machine
Roll up! Roll up! Learn about the history of traditional fairs in Britain and see how they have changed. Ride the rides, scream the screams. Investigate how rides work, why they make us scream and try building your own. Design your own theme park and build a web site to inform and persuade your audience to come along and have some fun.
Lego Workshop
JuniorSTEM
Today we have been learning how to be engineers. Mr Hawken from JuniorSTEM helped us to follow complicated instructions to build a fairground ride and then use the Lego program to control our ride. We learned: how to make our rides spin, how make them rotate faster and slower, how to use a sensor, how to add noises and graphics. Our algorithms became very complicated but our rides worked really well.
Take a look at our photos and videos. We have also "tweeted" some videos and photos, why not follow us on "Twitter"? @griffinclass
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Roller Coaster
Year 5 and 6 joined forces to research the top rides in both the US and the UK. They tried to design a roller coaster which was both safe and fun, a tricky thing to do and even attempted to build a ride using Lego or K'nex. They also found out about entry costs and facilities at theme parks across the country.
Tomorrow's World
Texts, emails, messages, websites, blogs and podcasts - there are so many ways to communicate.
Discover the movers and shakers in the world of technology. Try to imagine what our world might look like in 50 years, or 100 years.
Investigate UFOs and aliens.
Work as a website builder and animator.
Design the future!
Bunny Bounce
Darwin's Delights
Ship Ahoy! We’re off on an exciting expedition with Charles
Darwin and his crew on HMS Beagle. Can you trace his route
across the vast ocean? Stop at the magical Galápagos
Islands to see the amazing species that helped Darwin
develop his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Do you know what’s so special about a lava lizard? Or why
the blue-footed booby has blue feet?
See how animals adapt to their environment over time and
meet some of the world’s greatest explorers and
naturalists.
Imagine how humans will evolve in millions of years. It’s a
scary thought!
Griffin Class visit the Galapagos Islands
Read our "Just So" stories.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
What a fantastic way to kick start our topic on Darwin and evolution. First we had a great talk from Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist who starred on ITV's Dinosaur Britain. Next we participated in three workshops on fossils, lemurs and polar bears. After lunch it was time to explore the rest of the park. Here are a few photos...more to follow.
Spelling lists for half term 3 and 4
VOCES8 at Worksop College
Six members of Griffin Class were fortunate enough to attend a singing workshop with the renowned choral group "VOCES8" on Tuesday 12th January. They had an amazing time meeting lots of other primary school children and joining together to learn, compose and perform songs alongside the group of professional singers. Some family and friends managed to join us for the concert and commented on what a great event it had been.
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 our 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!
The Great Pyramid Build
To round off a fantastic topic, we held a pyramid building competition. We gathered lots of junk and met with parents and friends in the hall. We only had 20 minutes to complete our creations before Pharaoh Ellis came along to judge. What a lot of fun we had.
Ancient Egyptian Dressing Up
The ancient Egyptians loved to dress up and look their best. Both men and women wore jewellery and make up. We tried to make our own jewellery and then, with our eyes made up, posed for photographs in front of our Egyptian wall paintings.
Homework Challenge
Griffin class have been working hard to complete tasks for the Pharaohs homework challenge. Have a look at our photos and presentations.
Weston Park Museum
On Wednesday 6th January we visited Weston Park Museum. We had a fantastic day learning about the ancient Egyptians. We saw many artefacts but the most amazing was the 2700 year old mummified bodies. Anita told us how they had taken the mummies to a nearby hospital to investigate and examine them to find out exactly what was beneath the linen wrappings. We then learned all about the mummification process. Please look at our photos and watch our videos.
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Sources of evidence
Today we were learning about primary and secondary sources of evidence. We used photographs of artefacts from the ancient Egyptian civilization to learn about what the people who were alive then were like. Then we used secondary sources of information (books and the internet) to add to our understanding.
Barcelona Language and Culture Tour - Easter 2017
There is still time to sign up for this trip if your child is in year 3, 4 or 5. See the presentation for more information or call in to see Mrs Blackman.
Barcelona Easter 2017
Tribal Day
Monday 30th November was Tribal Day for Griffin Class.
Throughout the day, Mr Fox, led the children through a wide variety of tasks and challenges which were all aimed at building team spirit and self-esteem. The children had lots of fun but were really challenged by some of the activities. Many talents and skills had to be drawn upon, compromise and discussion were essential. Take a look at our photos and videos of the day.
Tribal Day
Haka Performances
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Victorian school children
Victorian Adventure Day
Griffin and Minotaur classes became Victorians for the day. Miss Daisy and Henry visited the school and took us on a time travelling journey back to Victorian times where we visited a Victorian classroom, handled genuine Victorian artefacts, played inventors, poor families and rich families and joined in with some fun games which were popular during the Victorian period. Check out our photos of the day.
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Victorian collages
A procession of monarchs
Who were the Victorians?
This half term we will be travelling back in time to find out who the Victorians really were. We will discover a time when great minds thought new thoughts and ingenious inventors created so many things we take for granted today. We will look at the differences between the rich and the poor, men and women and we will find out what life was like for children back when Victoria was queen.
Take a look at the websites to start your journey to the past now.
Newsletter for half term 1
BLOOD HEART
Heart Dissection
On Thursday 3rd September we all became surgeons and had the opportunity to dissect a sheep's heart. First we were asked to handle the heart to feel the different textures, the white substance was firmer than the red. This was fat with the red being the muscle. We investigated the openings and used syringes to find out which were entries to the heart and which were exits for the blood. Then we used some scissors to cut open the heart to look at the different chambers. Take a look at our photographs which show us carrying out the dissection.
Sheep Heart Dissection
Overview of curriculum for academic year 2015-2016
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