Merlins are very resourceful and energetic.  They approach every task with vigour and use creativity to get the very best results that they can.  Through their efforts and resilience they put maximum effort into all areas of the school curriculum.

Welcome to Y5 Merlins class.

In class 5 Merlins, the teacher is Mrs Sage. Our learning support assistants are Miss Evans,Mrs Bagnall and Miss Russell. 

PE:  Please ensure that PE kit is brought into school on a Monday and taken home on a Friday.  All items of PE kit (and school uniform) should be labelled with the child's name and class.

Home Learning:  All home learning is to be completed in your Home Learning books and will be given on a Friday to be completed for the following Wednesday. 

Team Lead:  Mrs Sage

If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to come in and see Mrs Sage or contact the KS2 Lead Mrs Foster. 

Mrs Sage : lsage@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

KS2 Lead: Mrs Foster: lfoster@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

Upcoming Events 

Monday 25th June 2018 - Paignton Zoo trip

Thursday 28th June 2018-Geology walk to Saltern Cove

Thursday 28th June 2018-Science Museum @ Whiterock 

Thursday 14th June 2018; Skills Build Day at South Devon College.

We had a wonderful afternoon at the college learning some new skills to do with the construction industry. All of our groups took part in different workshops, these included:

Carpentry

Bricklaying

Construction

Tiling

Engineering

This trip taught us that there are many different career paths out there that we may like to consider when we are older and gave us a good taster of a wide variety of industries. 

Wednesday 6th June 2018: Sports Day 

Merlins had a lovely time competing in their house teams for the morning throwing and jumping events. They had to use a variety of skills in order to throw the furthest, most powerful, jump the furthest and use stamina to sustain jumping for a specific time. 

Friday 4th May 2018. Reproduction of plants

In our learning we have been learning about the life cycles of mammals, birds, amphibians and insects. Through doing this, we learnt how the life cycles are designed for the continuation of their species. We noticed that even though the insects is the most prolific of the species, they need to be plentiful as they are at the bottom of the food chain.

Leading on from this, we have started to consider how plants reproduce. Today we had an enquiry to see if we could identify, label and define the function of each part of the daffodil. After trying it on our own, we shared our ideas and then had a second attempt at deconstructing our plant and labelling it with our newly found knowledge. Some of the remarks were: 'I never knew that a plant had female and male parts', 'I never knew plants had ovaries', I did not know that the stem would be sticky inside'. All in all we had a lot of fun examining the internal parts of flowering plants and learning how they reproduce. 

Thursday 3rd May 2018. Kayaking on Goodrington sands. 

The weather was perfect today for a smooth kayaking session off Goodrington sands. We learnt how to use our paddles to steer correctly forward and backwards, left and right. In our partners we paddled from South sands to North sands and learnt a lot of new skills in the process. We had to negotiate the small waves to ensure that we were keeping out at sea and not surfing back in to the shore line! We look forward to our final session with Reach Outdoors next week. 

Thursday 3rd May 2018: Climbing with Reach Outdoors

We had a great climbing session today. Working well as a team, we had to support our team by learning how to hold the ropes correctly and support them as they climbed and descended. We challenged ourselves by trying to beat our previous attempts and go just that little bit higher on our next climb. Next week, we will try to beat our personal targets and achieve our climbing certificates. 

Thursday 26th April 2018. Reach Outdoors Kayaking

We had a wonderful experience kayaking with Reach Outdoors off Goodrington Sands in Paignton. We learnt useful team building skills, how to paddle forwards and backwards and challenged ourselves in trying something new. 

Thursday 26th April 2018: Reach Outdoors Climbing 

We all had a lot of fun climbing at the indoor climbing centre in Paignton. We learnt skills in how to support our team mates when they climb and really challenged ourselves in trying to get as high as we could. Everyone managed to beat their previous attempts and go that little bit higher on their second and third attempts. 

Monday 23rd April 2018: Ocean Youth Radio

Today we had a visit from Ocean Youth Radio. We looked at very old footage of Paignton and compared and contrasted the images from years ago to what we know of Paignton today. It was interesting to see how many of our geographical landmarks differ from the images that we saw and how many of our favourite places we visit in the bay, have been transformed beyond recognition.  After looking at the images, we had to create our own adverts encouraging people to come on holiday to Paignton. We learnt how to use the digital recording equipment to record our adverts and look forward to hearing them once they are edited. 

Tuesday 18th April 2018. Science

In our Science learning today, we have been looking at the three elements that make up the fire triangle - Oxygen, fuel and heat. Mrs Sage said that if you took one of the elements away that we could still have fire. We had to prove whether she was right or wrong by conducting an experiment. Before we started the experiment, we had to try to light the candle without using a heat source. Some of the class tried to use their glasses and water bottles to harness the sunlight and angled them to shine on the candle wick. Others used friction by rubbing pencils or sticks together. After three minutes, no candle had lit - this proved that you need a good source of heat to ignite the candle. First, the oxygen was removed from the ignited candle. This was done by placing a cup over the candle and waiting for a period of time. Some of the class chose to wait for 3 seconds, others 3 minutes! The flame diminished quickly, when it was deprived of oxygen, only after 3 seconds! This proved that oxygen was definitely needed for the candle to burn. We then proceeded to test the other elements. We tested the heat by using a pipette to squirt water on the flame to cool it down. After all of the tests, the class came to the conclusion that Mrs Sage could not be correct and that all three elements were needed for a fire to burn. 

Monday 17th April 2018: They Mystery Suitcase

Today we had to be detectives and guess the identity of a mystery person by the clues in their suitcase! In turn, we each picked out a clue, described it and then inferred something about the character by the items that we discovered. This linked in with our new theme: Be Curious. Our items included, a pair of spectacles, an Oxford map, the Cambridge University logo, a pen, the planets, stars and the black hole! After using our powers of deduction we guessed that they mystery person was Steven Hawkins. 

Academic Year 2017-2018

Friday 16th March 2018: Art Workshop

We were very lucky this afternoon to work with professional artist: Geraldine. This Year 5 and 6 collaborative project is in connection with our natural seascape in our local environment. Whilst Year 6 have been busy working towards the batik printing for the canvas, Year 5 started creating the sea creatures to be mounted to the canvas. We used different techniques using material, adding detail with felt and sewing on features. At the end of the afternoon, we had a very colourful array of diverse sea creatures - we look forward to seeing these mounted on the final installation which will be displayed in our mezzanine area. 

Young Photographers Competition

Our school was invited to take place in a Rotary Club photography competition. This was a competition that included all of the schools in Devon and Cornwall. The children that were chosen got through to the judging round. Austin from Merlins was lucky enough to come first from all of the children in Devon and Cornwall. He was not only awarded with a certificate but he received a £25 Amazon voucher too. Well done Austin! The competitors had to submit photographs focusing on different perspectives. Some children took photographs of paths disappearing into the distance, the tops of trees when photographed from ground level and photos that were taken from laying flat on the ground - angling the camera in different ways.  We look forward to hearing how Austin gets on in the regional heats, good luck! 

Thursday 15th March 2018: Assembly and Year 5 NSPCC workshop

We had a visit from a representative from the NSPCC today. After having an assembly, we had a workshop with just Year 5. In this workshop, we learnt the difference between the different kinds of abuse: Physical, sexual and neglect. We all reminded ourselves that any kind of abuse is not okay and it is important to speak out. We learnt about the important work the NSPCC and their helpline, Childline, do for children all over the UK. 

Wednesday 14th March 2018: Visit from Yorkshire Building Society 

Today we had a visit from Yorkshire Building Society to do a Math's workshop with us. Each team of 6, had to plan and budget for a party for 80 guests. Through doing this, we had to carefully plan our expenditure - including how much the

food, drinks, decorations, venue hire and DJ would cost. After calculating the cost to put on the party we had to work out how much each ticket would cost and then if we could increase this price to make a profit! In learning these useful skills we discussed profit and loss, breaking even, variable and fixed rates, budgets, income and expenditure.  After we calculated our budgets, we needed to design a poster to advertise our themed party and design the layout of the room. The entries were judged and the two winning teams took home a money box. 

Monday 12th March 2018. Live Music Now Performance

This afternoon we were entertained by Heather and Rosanna from Live Music Now on the concert harp and flute. They presented a repertoire of familiar themes and some classical favourites too such as: Saint Saens, The Swan and Ave Maria. by Schubert. We were really surprised to learn about the origin of the flute and see how many different playing techniques you could use on the flute. This included beat boxing, flutter tonguing and chirping sounds. 

March 2018. Sequences in Maths

In our Maths learning today, we had a race to answer a wide variety of questions and then order them from the lowest to the highest value. Questions included: Length of time since the last ice age, time for light to come from the moon and the time a shutter is open on a camera when you take a photo in daylight. 

March 2018, Bikeability talk.

We were very pleased to have a talk from Michele from Devon County Council's Bikeabilty programme this afternoon. Michele highlighted the importance of road and bike safety and why cycling is a fantastic way to keep fit. We look forward to congratulating some of our Year 5 children when they pass their level 2.

Our own junk instruments.

For our Home Learning, as inspired by our visit from The Junkman, we had to design and make an instrument from using only junk. There was a huge variety of ideas presented. We had shakers, drums, lollipop drums, scrapers and sleigh bells. We will be using these in our own junk band performance. 

February 2018: Decimals, fractions and percentages

After our learning about the relationships between decimals, fractions and percentages the class had the opportunity to be the teacher! We had to describe, using models and images, how decimals, fractions and percentages related to one another and convince the class. 

February 2018: Junk Man performance and workshop

We were very excited to have a visit from the Junk Man at school today. Donald Knack (originally from America) is very well-known for re-using junk to make percussion instruments. He gave a fantastic performance using just bottles, wood, kitchen utensils and then the whole junk drum kit. The range of tones that the Junk Man created was incredible from using just junk. After the performance, we took part in a workshop and were split into four different groups. Each of our groups had a different rhythm to play and when we played together the interlocking parts were extremely effective. 

Friday 9th February 2018: Charity fundraising day for a defibrillator 

We were very excited to spend some time participating in the fun activities organised by a Year 6 team in order to raise money to buy a defibrillator. The Year 6 team made it fun and informative as we became aware of our increasing heart rate as we took part in aerobic exercises. 

Wednesday 31st January 2018: Visit to Animals in Distress

Congratulations to our Year 5 children who raised money for Animals in Distress, through your efforts in running a raffle at break and lunchtimes you were able to raise a lot of money to support the animals at our Ipplepen centre. As a thank you the organisers invited these 5 fundraisers to see what happens to their money and learn more about this wonderful centre. 

18th January 2018: Investigating Angles

In our learning in geometric reasoning we have been learning how to estimate and accurately measure angles. We were given an assortment of angles and had to quickly order them from smallest to largest, estimate their size and describe them using our prior knowledge. After this, we had to accurately measure them and look to see how close we were. We have been exploring angles in everyday contexts to consolidate our understanding. 

11th January 2018: Poetry Competition Winners

Congratulations to our Young Writers Poetry Competition winners! We are looking forward to seeing your names in print. 

10th January 2018: Regular and Irregular Polygons

Today in Maths, we have been learning to identify regular and irregular polygons. As part of this, we had to make our own polygons from 6 equilateral triangles.  

9th January: Dartmouth Academy Art Day

10 Year 5 students attended an Art morning at Dartmouth Academy today. They worked in the art studio and use a variety of multi-media to portray emotion. This involved working with pastels - using music as a stimuli to mark-make. After this, we painted using ink and created a collage with photographic images of ourselves. The whole morning taught us how to compose a piece of work all based around using colour emotively. 

January 2018: Geometric Reasoning

In Maths, we have just started our new learning sequence: Geometric Reasoning. We began by exploring the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. In doing this, we consolidated our knowledge of faces, edges and vertices and challenged our partners to guess our shapes. 

December 2017: Speech Writing

As part of our learning, we had to write persuasive speeches to Willy Wonka to persuade him to buy our product. We worked together in small groups to refine the features of a speech and ensure that our presentations engaged the listeners. 

November 2017: Open Classrooms

We had a lovely afternoon sharing our Year 5 learning with our parents. On display we had: animations (created in ICT lessons), narrative pieces of writing, challenges in Maths, Science experiment, P.E learning and our chocolate delights. 

November 2017: Exploring materials in Science

In Science, we have been learning important observation, prediction and explanation skills when looking at the changes that happening to materials. We were excited to look at a mystery powder and liquid and predict what we thought would occur when mixed. Little did we know that it would turn into snow!

Tuesday 7th November 2017 - Breakdancing

Year 5 had an exciting afternoon learning how to breakdance. We had Matt from 'Just 4 Funk' in to demonstrate and teach us, which ended with a dance battle to show off our new moves.

November 2017: Changing Materials 

David Beckham told us that when you add water to a solid the solids will dissolve. We had to investigate this statement and prove whether he was right or wrong! After describing and classifying three materials, we predicted in our pairs what we thought would happen when we added water. Some of our results were not as we predicted. However, most of us disproved David Beckham as the flour did not completely dissolve and left a residue. 

October 2017: Fire Safety Talk to Year 5

Year 5 had a very informative talk from the fire brigade from Torbay. During this talk we had to spot hazards in various rooms in a household and also learnt how to make a fire escape plan with our families. We all learnt how to increase our awareness of things that could potentially cause fires and also learn what to do in the case of an emergency. After this, one of us was lucky enough to dress up in their uniform and experience the weight that they have to carry around when on duty. 

October 2017: Our amazing Home Learning.

In connection with our learning in Science, about forces, we had to design a model that uses either levers, gears or pulleys (or a combination of these). We enjoyed sharing our creative inventions with our class. 

October 2017: Visit from the police!

In connection with learning about heroes, we were delighted to host a talk from a Year 5 parent who works in the police. We learnt alot about the various roles in the police force and also had a go at being detectives by solving a mystery crime - through examing the clues and the process of deduction. After this, we were very excited as we got to do fingerprinting too! Alot of us are thinking that in the future we may also like to work in the police force.  

October 2017: Our Friction experiment 

In Science, in connection with our learning about forces, we have been learning about the benefits of increasing and reducing friction. We were investigating the best surfaces to run (whilst wearing trainers) to avoid slippage. We used newtonmeters to measure the force it took to pull the shoe across different surfaces and predicted which surface we thought had the best grip. 

October 2017: Animals In Distress

We were delighted to invite some of our local heroes from Animals in Distress charity to come to talk to Upper Years. All of us were amazed at how the charity first began and the amount of animals that are rescued and happily re-homed each year. All of Upper Years were fantastic at donating food and toys to the shelter and thank you to all of you for your kind donations. Animals in Distress were overwhelmed by your kindness and sent each class a certificate of thanks. 

Dance this half term

In Dance in Year 5, we have been using photographs to create dances. We created solos, duets and group dances which then ended in a whole class dance showing the different way photographs are taken and used in everyday life. We had to focus mainly on smooth transitions between each element of the dance. These photographs show us creating photo frames with our bodies.

Friday 29th September 2017 - Coffee Morning for Macmillan Cancer Research

Some of the Year 5 and 6 children were lucky enough to be invited to join the Macmillian Cancer Research coffee morning at Beverley Park. They were able to decorate their own cakes with butter icing and hundreds and thousands. All the children enjoyed eating them and said they were delicious! Here are some photos of our morning:

20th September: Our Learning In Science

In Science, we have started learning about forces. We were asked to design and make a parachute using: plastic bags, cubes, string, paper, elastic bands and tape. As we were not told the best way to do it, we had to consider how we could balance the weight of the canopy to the cube. We needed to ensure it floated well but not away and also eventually fall to the ground - but not too quickly! After we designed and made our parachutes, we flew them outside and the results were very surprising. Through doing this, we have learnt about surface area, gravity and air resistance. 

Do all heroes wear capes?

In connection with our new theme, we have been looking at what makes a person a hero. We soon realised that all of the heroes we could list were very inspirational people and had qualities and had made sacrifices in order to be that way. All of us thought about how we could become inspirational people and listed the qualities we were most proud of and discussed a sacrifice we could make to be an inspiration to other people: This included sacrificing some of our break/lunch time to read to foundation children and help to tidy up the resources.  

What makes a good mathematician?

We had a good discussion today about the skills needed to be a good mathematician. After this we produced factual posters to share our ideas with others. We will now try to embed this during our lessons in school to ensure that we achieve our personal best in our learning.