Our Big Pit Memories

J5 Big Pit Photos - History Detectives!

If you are wondering why the children all look exhausted sitting in front of the lockers, it's because they are pretending they have just come back from a twelve hour shift.

(Apologies for the delay in uploading these photos! Mrs Marlow has been very busy writing an essay this week!)

What a wonderful day we had on Friday at Big Pit - it was such a pleasure taking you all. We know that you enjoyed the trip as you have been talking about the stories that the miners told you ever since you came back! You enjoyed watching the Blaenavon "Coal Stories" DVD again as you spotted several places that we visited.

This week you have been writing up your responses from your miners questionnaires and Mr Llewellyn and myself can't believe how much you learnt on the underground tour - da iawn! I think that the one fact that has fascinated the majority of you is hearing about the children's work as "trappers" in the mines.

Tomorrow, you'll be able to read first hand experiences of the trip from some of the children in Year 5. If any Year 4's are reading this, you can look forward to this trip next year.

Mrs Marlow

J6 Underground

On Friday Year 5 had a fantastic day at Big Pit. We spent most of the morning underground finding out what life as a miner was like. We then visited the locker / shower rooms and the gallery to learn about the story of Black Gold (coal). Unfortunately we couldn't take the camera underground but the following should give you an insight into what was a fantastic learning experience. J5's photographs will be added shortly.



It's bright out here...



Miners had to wash each others backs.

Just before we go own the mine

FAMILY TREE

Just a little reminder to you all, that before May half term we will be having our "Family Tree" day that linked to our last science topic of life cycles. Several of the children in J5 have already brought in their family trees and we'd like everyone to try and create their own tree in the next few weeks if possible - don't worry if you don't get too far, as much information as you can find will be great.
Please bring them in on the week beginning May 11th

Linking Maths and History

Our Year 5 maths topic this week is negative numbers. We have been learning about different temperatures across Europe and putting our negative number knowledge to good use whilst solving problems.

Yesterday we linked our topic of coal mining to negative numbers and the children worked really hard answering questions about travelling from ground level to the mine( -90m) and then travelling up to various escape routes (-40m, -20m). Well done all!

Why not have a little extra practise of negative numbers by trying one of the following web links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/revision_bites/thenumbersystem5.shtml

The triple whammy of factsheet, game and worksheet provides an excellent revision of negative numbers:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/whatarenumbers/negativenumbers/index.shtml

You will need to put the next link into the browser at the top of the page for this next one to work.

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/pdfs/2temp.pdf

Good Luck - let us know how you get on.

Mrs Marlow and Mr Llewellyn

HISTORY HISTORY HISTORY - Experiencing working life underground.

Today Year 5 sampled life underground, eight team leaders prepared an assault course scenario and led their team through a maze of activities under blindfold. The aim was to sample the difficulties that miners faced working underground in cramped spaces. The children imagined that they were wading through rats, with dirty water to their elbows. They had a great time during the lesson and came out with a real insight into the conditions underground. We all look forward to Friday when we can sample it further at Big Pit (Parents please see letter below).

Big Pit Friday 24th April

To Parents/Guardians,

As you are aware our trip to Big Pit is this Friday and both classes are really looking forward to it. We will be leaving for Big Pit at 9.10 am, we should arrive back to school at around 3pm. The trip incorporates our current History topic looking at working life underground. The trip will include a 30-45 minute tour down the mine shaft. Please remember that a packed lunch is needed - no glass bottles please. Please could you ensure that your child has warm clothing as it can get cold down the mine. If the weather forecast is for rain please provide waterproof clothing. Children can bring a small amount of money if they wish as they will have the chance to purchase gifts (no more than £5 please). The floor of the mine is dirty and uneven, older trainer type shoes are advisable. All children must wear their red school jumpers on the trip, but they are allowed to wear jeans/tracksuit bottoms. Please can you pack a pen and pencil too.
Thanks for your cooperation Mr Llewellyn and Mrs. Marlow

SPELLINGS TOMORROW INSTEAD OF FRIDAY!!!

Hi Year 5 - we have rearranged the spelling test for tomorrow (Thursday) as we'll be busy egg rolling on Friday.

Here are the words, they are linked to our science topic of Life Cycles. (No getting away with anything now we have a blog!)

pollination
fertilisation
seed dispersal
explosion
germination
gestation
reproduction
ovary
style
stigma
carpel
stamen
anther
filament
sepal
petal
life cycle

I can't remember number 18 so we'll just have seventeen!

Mrs Marlow

Making "Addition" Fun - More Practical Maths in Year 5

Counting signs on the fence and doubling answers.

Numbers are all around us. Adding together registration numbers

How many kg? Double the amount.

Red hoola hoops cost £10, green hoops £8 and blue hoops £15. How much to buy all the red and green hoops? Get counting!

We are applying our addition knowledge to practical situations - da iawn! You've got a lot to go though Katie.

Counting window panes is easy, but what do you have to do with your answer?

Read the question carefully boys!

Get sorting you two. You need to add all the grapes and bananas and then run to the next box to finish the challenge.

Year 5 have been improving their addition skills this morning. We've been learning outside the classroom. Seven stations were set up around the yard and every station was linked to addition in some way.Look at the photos and you can see the children thinking EXTREMELY hard.

Here are how some of the children felt about the lesson:

Maria - "I enjoyed trying to add up Mrs Marlow and Miss Newton's birth years together - gosh they're old!!!"

Will - "I think it's better doing maths outside as it's fun and you still learn the same amount"

Ebony - "Today I found it really exciting in maths because we went outside and improved our adding"

Harry and Alex - "We really enjoyed this morning doing maths. We were solving problems on the yard involving multi link, playing an adding game with dice and the chess board and working out money problems with hoola hoops"

Mrs Marlow