Oak Week Beginning 15th July 2025

Oak class have been very busy over the last couple of weeks. In English we have been reading the story of ‘How the Whale Became’ by Ted Hughes. We have created a story map and been exploring the use of adverbials in his writing as well as how he conveys the personalities of the different characters.

In Science Year 5 have been learning all about plants and why they are so important. We discovered the main parts of a plant, such as the roots, stem, leaves and flowers, and talked about how each part has a special job to do in helping the plant grow and stay alive.

This week, we moved on to a brand-new topic: mechanisms! The children explored how pulleys, levers and gears work. We carried out a mini experiment to investigate pivot points and even watched a lever simulation to see how the position of the pivot changes the effort needed to lift an object. Everyone enjoyed predicting, testing, and then seeing the results in action.

Next week, we’ll be linking our learning to history. We’ll be finding out about the Egyptian Shaduf, an ancient machine that used the lever mechanism to help people collect water more easily. The children are looking forward to discovering how science and history connect together in this fascinating way!

To begin our Ancient Egyptian topic we explored the location of Egypt and this week starting making topographical maps, showing the elevation changes and geographical features of the country as it once was.