In Year 5, we have started our science work by looking back at what we already know about plants. We have looked at the plants in our local environment and the fruit and seeds they have produced.
Dispersal is the spreading of things over a wide area. Dispersal of seeds is very important for the survival of plant species. If plants grow too closely together, they have to compete for light, water and nutrients from the soil. Seed dispersal allows plants to spread out from a wide area and avoid competing with one another for the same resources.
We then created paper seeds and observed how they moved.
This will link with our work on forces.
Last week, Year 5 made salt and sugar solutions by dissolving salt or sugar in water.
After that, we left the solution in a container and observed it over time.
Here are some of our results.
Dissolving is a reversible change.
Below is the salt we recovered from the salt solution.
If you were an Ancient Egyptian, would you want to be re-joined with your body in the afterlife when you die?
Today, Year 5 found out more about the process of becoming a mummified person.
The first step is to wash the body. This can be done with wine, Nile water, or both.
Next is the removal of your brain. The brain was thought to be useless, as ancient Egyptians believed that we thought with our hearts, not our heads.
Getting the brain out is tricky, and quite disgusting. To do it, a long hook is inserted up the nose and swivelled around to blend the brain, which is then poured into a bowl.
Then a cut is made on the left side of your body, so that the liver, lungs, intestines, stomach can be removed.
Your heart might be removed too, but only to be dried and put back in later. Ancient Egyptians believed that the heart was the most important organ in the human body, and that you needed it in order to enter the afterlife.
All of these organs need to be cleaned. The liver, lungs, intestines and stomach get put into special containers called canopic jars, which allow the organs to be rejoined with your body in the afterlife.
Each of the jars have a different Egyptian god’s head on them:
Your body is now filled and covered with special Egyptian salt called natron – which gets rid of moisture and prevents decay – and you’re left for around 40 days, depending on how long it takes to dry you out. The natron will be changed on a daily basis.
Next your body is dressed in linen binds.
Finally, a mask is put over your face, you’re placed into a casket, and lastly put into a sarcophagus ensuring you’re ready for the afterlife.
An experiment to see whether some mixtures can be separated by filtering
First, we collected all the apparatus we needed. Next, we folded the filter paper so that it would fit into the funnel. After that, we poured the water and soil mixture into the filter paper, making sure that the liquid did not go above the filter paper. Once all the liquid had been filtered, we removed the funnel from the container and observed the liquid obtained.
Year 5 have been continuing their textile art project by dyeing their fabric. We had to be careful with the dye so we wore gloves to stay as clean as possible.
Here are a few photos showing the dyeing process.
Once the fabric is dry we will embellish our textile creations.
Today, Year 5 visited Weston Park where we travelled back in time to the Bronze age. We considered what it was like in Sheffield at that time.
We thought about how the people were buried.
Once we had looked at the artefacts in the collection, we travelled in space to think about the Ancient Egyptians. We considered the similarities and differences between England and Egypt. We discussed the location of Egypt in Northern Africa and the River Nile which flows through it.
We found out more about the sarcophagus and how X-Rays and CT Scans were used to find out more about the mummified person inside.
We learned more about the mummification process and how internal organs were removed.
We started an experiment to see how salt preserves organic matter.
We discussed grave goods. (Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body.)
We looked carefully at the artefacts and created some of our own.
We also discussed whether grave goods should be in museums and had a debate as ethical archaeologists.
Trade is the buying and selling of goods and services we want and need.
When we think about trade as geographers, we consider the scale of trade and think about how trade links places and people.
Everything we want and need cannot be sourced within the national borders of the United Kingdom. We therefore import items such as food products from other countries. We import some goods into our country for sale and we export other goods which means we send goods to other countries for sale.
The physical geography of the UK prevents us from growing certain foods here.
This week in geography, we have been looking at the packaging of different food to see where it was produced. We discussed the country of origin and the continent and presented our work on a map using an atlas to make sure we located different countries correctly.
Year 5 have been studying the abstract art movement and the work of Kandinsky. We have read The Noisy Paintbox which is an exuberant celebration of creativity. Barb Rosenstock and Mary GrandPré tell the fascinating story of Vasily Kandinsky, one of the very first painters of abstract art.
This afternoon, we created our own abstract pieces and shared our creative session with our grown ups. A productive afternoon was had by all and we were so pleased with how much the adults enjoyed sharing this time with our Year 5 children.
