Year 5

On Wednesday 23rd April, Year 5 enjoyed celebrating Earth Day 2025. The day started with a special assembly led by Mrs Lanforth who explained this year's theme. We spent some time thinking about previous Earth day activities and reflecting on the work already done in school. In guided reading, we read a non-fiction text about Earth Day 2025 and worked in pairs to answers questions about the information. After that, we discussed how we use our school grounds and identified what we could do to improve them. We walked around the grounds and evaluated which areas could be better utilised and how. Year 5 instantly spotted an area outside the year 5 and 6 classrooms that could be developed to improve biodiversity, encourage more birds, butterflies and insects and enhance the space. The children had a range of excellent ideas including creating a wildflower meadow, adding bird feeders and bug hotels and planting a tree. The spaces next to the outdoor PE cupboard and at the edge of the KS2 playground were discussed next and it was decided that these areas would be perfect to plant some mature trees that could be used to create shade during the hotter, sunnier months. Different species of trees could be chosen to broaden the range of trees within the grounds. The children are keen top develop a well-being garden that all children in school could use as a calm space to regulate and connect with nature. The area backing onto the amphitheatre was highlighted by the children as a good place to do this. The children talked about having seating areas, colourful trees and plants and fragrant flowers such as lavender to create a calming space. Finally, the children noticed that the area behind the year 5/6 ramp could be used to make pollinator pitstops using planters to attract bees, butterflies and insects. All of their ideas were collated and have been passed onto the Green group and school Council. We can't wait to put these ideas into action. Watch this space!

 On Wednesday 12th March, we carried out activities connected to our Climate Curriculum work at Beechwood. In guided reading, we looked at articles in the children’s newspaper, The Week, that were about climate issues. After reading the articles we completed activities connected to them.  Next, we looked at the climate learning mat for year 5 for the Spring term. We discussed what we had learned about already in our history work. We have already spent some time thinking about how WW2 impacted the environment and could make links between those events and the knowledge outlined on our mat. We thought about this and decided to create posters on the chrome books educating people about what can be done in school or at home to act against climate change. In pairs, Class 12 researched what could be done and created posters to put into a Beechwood Climate Action book that the Green Group want to create. During the day, we spent time practising the song, ‘Wonderous World, written for Beechwood by Shine.  We had also been set a task by the Green Group to research a plant to have as a class plant. Class 12 researched which plants would be best for a classroom environment based on how easy they are to care for and their air purifying qualities. Once they had shortlisted the plants, everyone voted. The winning plant was a spider plant as studies have found that spider plants are the most effective in helping clear chemicals from the air.  We also had an assembly by the Green School Project about being a Carbon Zero School.

On Wednesday 6th November, year 5 took part in our first Climate Joy Day. In guided reading, we read an article about the Earthshot prizes and innovative people who had come up with creative ideas to help care for and protect the world. The main aim of the day was to use our new autumn term Climate Learning Mats which have been developed with the DEC. We spent some time thinking about the climate work that has already been done in school before moving onto the new mats. After looking at the mats together, we focused on an area of the mats that links to our curriculum. We learned what a carbon footprint is and researched some practical steps we could take to help reduce our own carbon footprints. We were surprised by how it easy it could be to do this. We recorded our ideas on a footprint stating what positive action we could take and the impact it could have on the environment as a result. We also enjoyed listening to and singing the song, 'It's a Wondrous World' to remind ourselves of what an amazing place our planet is and why it is so important to take care of it for future generations.

Learning Mat