We've had another busy week in Year 5! As you can see from the photo above, the children used trays to test the friction on a variety of surfaces and tested the resistance using a newton meter. We then deduced the materials that, when rubbed together, produced the greatest amount of friction. In English, we completed and edited our persuasive letter in the character of Shackleton ensuring we use formal language, connectives for cohesion and flattery with the purpose of convincing the recipient to join the expedition! We also covered viscosity in our Geography topic of volcanoes. By testing various liquids, we decided that more viscous lava creates stratovolcanoes whereas less viscous lava produces shield volcanoes.

We were delighted that the historian David Olusoga took the time to answer the questions put to him by Year 5 on his views about Black History Month and what more our country needs to do to make progress in creating a fairer society.  Our teachers were incredibly impressed with the challenging nature of our questions and his thought provoking answers.  We have started to look at our core text for this half term – Shackleton’s Journey – by identifying the challenging nature of Antarctica.  We thought about how, if we were Shackleton, we might persuade others to join us on such an intrepid journey of exploration.  Part of our homework this week is to practise the sketching skills we have been developing over the past half term so look out for the artists at work this weekend.