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Excalibur Class (Year 4 and 5)
Excalibur – Years 4 & 5
Welcome to Excalibur Class
The adults in Excalibur Class are:
Mrs Helen Trusson – Class Teacher (Monday – Thursday)
Mr Dave Gordon – Class Teacher (Friday)
Mr Jack Bunter – Teaching Assistant
Miss Martha Everest - Student Teacher (Autumn and Summer Term)
Summer Term 2024
Congratulations to Barnaby and Albie being awarded their Blue Peter badges this week!
Reproduction of plants
In science we have been learning about how some plants can reproduce using only the one parent (plant). Using a geranium plant, we carefully took cuttings to attempt to create clones of the plant. We have placed them in water to see if we can grow roots, ready to plant them in soil...fingers crossed!!
Fantastic Plastic Workshop
We had a lovely start to the summer term when Carymoor visited and delivered a 'fantastic plastic' workshop. We were reminded of the 3 'R's; Recycle, Reuse, Reduce with a particular focus on plastic.
We then completed the session by making our very own plastic greenhouses and added some cress seeds.
Spring Term 2024
Anglo Saxon Sutton Hoo Masks
We were thrilled to be able to finish our masks we built successfully with the help of Mr Plumbley.
World Book Day
Excalibur class looked amazing in all the super costumes worn to celebrate world book day.
We started the day with a visit to the book swap...
As well as having plenty of opportunities through the day to read, we also joined a live World book day session with author-illustrator Sarah Bowie based around her recent book called Nina Peanut. Amongst other things, she taught us how to create some of her illustrations from the featured book.
Galliford Try STEM visit
Excalibur class were set a challenge to create something to hold a mobile phone when we were visited by 2 representatives from Galliford Try construction. We had lots of fun creating our models...once we had decided as a team whose ideas to work with!!
And the winning team was.....
We were also invited to try on some of the protective clothing typically used in the construction industry. Excalibur class still enjoy an opportunity for 'dressing up'.
PCSO visit
This week we had two police community support officers (PCSO) visit and talk to us about how to keep ourselves safe. They shared some useful information about what to do when faced with situations we were unsure about. Thank you again to Bea and Martha for their visit and wealth of knowledge.
Mardi Gras 2024
Better late than never, Excalibur and Lancelot children celebrated Mardi Gras this week. The actual date for Mardi Gras is always held on Shrove Tuesday, so unfortunately due to this being in half term this year our festivities had to wait until this week. The children researched what happens on Mardi Gras and why it is celebrated, whilst adorning masks, headdresses and beads. They are looking forward to sampling some King Cake next week to complete their topic.
King cake is traditionally served at Mardi Gras celebrations. A little plastic doll is hidden inside a King cake and tradition dictates that finding the baby in your cake symbolises luck and prosperity. Take a look at the photos to see who found the doll in our cake. It was delicious!
Tooth decay experiment - the results!!
So, a week later we removed the eggs from their liquids and had some very interesting results...
The children are really considering their choice of drink after seeing these results...especially coke and apple juice.
Tooth decay experiment
This week, we have set-up an experiment to investigate the affect of different liquids/drinks on our teeth. We have immersed 5 eggs in a variety of liquids and we are recording our observations on how each of the liquids are affecting the shell of the egg each day... an update to follow next week!
Year 4 Team building
Year 4 children from local schools gathered at Ansford for an afternoon of team building activities. As you can see from the photos, the children had lots of fun and were faced with several challenges which led to some head-scratching!!
Anglo Saxon DT project with Mr P
Our Anglo Saxon helmets are beginning to resemble that of one that would have been worn in battle to to protect the wearer's head from enemy blows. The children have to show that they can work together and of course have patience when attaching the delicate pieces that help build the structure of the helmets.
The Glockenspiel
In our music lessons this term, we are starting to learn to play music using the glockenspiel. This week we have been focusing on playing the notes D, E and F. It took a great deal of concentration to play in time but we actually sounded really good!
Square Numbers
The Year 5's have started exploring square numbers and how they are calculated. We enjoyed using cubes to make representations of cube numbers to deepen our understanding of these special numbers.
Science
This term we are studying the digestive system in science. We have discovered what our digestive system looks like below the surface of our skin, and learnt the correct names for those parts that play a vital part in our digestion of foods and fluids. Recently, we have started to find out the function of each of the organs and body parts in the digestive system and made the diagrams seen in the photo.
Yoga
We are starting every Tuesday morning this term with a yoga session.
The children are really enjoying it, using the opportunity to focus on their health and wellbeing!
Year 5 and 6 Statutory Word List
Art Project
This term, sees Excalibur have the opportunity to work alongside Mr Plumley on an Anglo Saxon project. Children have started to model their Saxon masks using a papier-mâché technique.
Autumn Term 2023
Christingle
We had our Christingle service this week. We bravely lit the candles at the start of the service which set a lovely Christmas atmosphere. Excalibur class contributed some bible readings which related the parts of the Christingle to words spoken by God and Jesus from both Genesis and John's Gospel.
Pantomime
We enjoyed watching the production of Beauty and the Beast at this years visiting pantomime...
Pudsey Visit
We had a surprise visitor this week...we were a little excited!!
Ancient Greek Day
We had an amazing day experiencing first hand what life may have been like during the Ancient Greek civilisation....
We started by learning about the Greek alphabet and attempted to write our name and Greek gods using Greek symbols. We also attempted to solve secret codes which were written using the Greek alphabet.
Next, we sampled foods which would have been typically part of an ancient Greek diet. The children really challenged themselves to taste and explore those foods which were sometimes new experiences...
We spent some time during the day comparing the modern Olympics to that of the Ancient Greek Olympics. At the end of the day, we had our own 'Mini Olympics' including the events discus, javelin, sprinting and standing jump. Blackdown house won the Olympics overall - well done to everyone for taking part in a fun-filled Ancient Greek day!
Children in Need 2023
Y4 Cinema Trip
We had a fun time at cineworld, Yeovil when the Y4 children had the opportunity to watch a special screening of the film 'The railway Children - Returns'. It was a really good film and taught us a lot about the conditions for people in WWII - the whole experience was enjoyed by all! A special thank you to parents and family members for arranging transport to the venue.
Playscripts
We are writing playscripts for a scene from the Ancient Greek myth 'Icarus and Daedalus'. To understand the features of a playscript, we acted out short plays in small groups - everyone was really excited to share their performances with the rest of the class. Well done everybody!
PTFA - Thank you
This week we received our class gift from PTFA funds - these lovely bean bags - which we are making great use of when reading for pleasure in our classroom. They seem to be encouraging the children to enjoy and develop a love of reading even more!
Hello Yellow Day
Excalibur class joined thousands of people wearing yellow across the country to show their support for young people’s mental health.
Excalibur enjoy all the fun of the carnival
Some Little Miss and Mr Men from Excalibur Class, joined Mr Gordon, Mrs Sherry and Mrs Hoddinott at Castle Cary Carnival on Saturday night. The children danced, laughed and interacted with the crowd as they walked through the street of Castle Cary. Well done to everyone who took part. Fingers crossed for the official results!
Downing Street Visit
Year 5 accompanied Lancelot Class to London on Friday where they had the opportunity to visit 10 Downing Street and meet the Prime Ministers wife Mrs Murty.
The children were also able to visit some of the famous landmarks of our capital city before viewing Stonehenge on the way home - the children that were still awake that is!
Harvest Festival
The whole school and community met at the church for our Harvest Festival. Excalibur class shared information about how Harvest is celebrated around the world including; America, Thailand, Portugal, Indonesia, China and Ghana.
European Languages Day
We celebrated European languages day focussing on the country of Greece. We learnt how to say some words in Greek such as 'Yassou' meaning hello and we also continued to research many interesting facts about the country and culture of Greece.
Science
Our topic this term is exploring properties and changes in materials. We have investigated thermal insulators by studying the temperature of water in a variety of materials as well as using a simple circuit to identify which materials make good electrical conductors and insulators.
Ukulele
Excalibur class have started ukulele lessons. We have been learning to play in harmony with all sorts of songs...the 'star wars' theme tune was particularly popular!
Excalibur class have made a fantastic start to this new academic year - we have been really impressed with how they have brought enthusiasm and engagement to their lessons and we are very much looking forward to the year ahead.
