Welcome to Cedar Class
Years 5 and 6
More resources:
-
Spelling Bee words (all years)
-
Year 5 Spelling Lists - all terms
-
Year 6 Spelling Lists - Autumn - 1a
-
Year 6 Spelling Lists - Autumn - 1b
-
Year 6 Spelling Lists - Spring - 2a
-
Year 6 Spelling Lists - Spring - 2b
-
Year 6 Spelling Lists - Summer - 3a
-
Year 6 Spelling Lists - Summer - 3b
-
Statutory spellings for Year 5 and Year 6
-
Year 5 and 6 - End of Year Expectations
Class blog
Spring 2025
Cedar class has had a very busy start to the year. Our topic has been Oceans and River and we have learnt about the Americas and the different climates and biomes parts cover given the large land masses it covers from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere.
In English we have been reading Journey to the River Sea and our writing has been inspired by this book.
In DT we have been investigating and designing a shelter for a class playground, creating quizzes to find out the thoughts of the children in the school and basing our design and manufacturing specifications on these. We are going to do some 3D modelling of our designs.
Freda Khalo has been our inspiration for art and we have completed a lot of work on self portraits.
In computing we have learnt about data bases and this half term using crumble software to create algorithms.
The children really enjoyed preparing and presenting the class assembly and have recently enjoyed a day out to Nene Valley Park where we investigated the River Nene, finding out about its depth, width and speed as well as pond dipping to discover what wildlife exists in the river at this time of year. Enjoy our gallery of photos of the day.
Autumn 2024
15 November 2024
We have had a great start to the half term. Year 6 have completed their bikeability course learning how to ride safely and independently around the village.
We also had our Viking history day which the children thoroughly enjoyed. In the morning, they made Viking pendants, clay runes to predict fortunes, clay pots and grotesques to scare enemies away, potions to remedy illnesses, candles and practising writing messages. Some were also trained as Viking Warriors as well as learning how to play games Vikings enjoyed.
In the afternoon, we went forward in time and became archaeologists working out what the artefacts that were found were used for, and created our own museum displays.
Finally, the children were treated to a presentation of pewter melting and discussed the properties of that metal and using clay as a mould. The day really brought the Viking age alive for the children.
25 October 2024
Cedar class have very much enjoyed learning about the Anglo-Saxons this half term and for DT have created Anglo-Saxon houses in groups. We decided that we would create a village and here some photos of where we got to by the end of half term. We now need to evaluate our successes and what we could improve if we did it again but the children have really enjoyed the project and we have learnt a lot about how they lived and what their houses were made of.
13 September 2024
We were lucky to have a visit from a local Magistrate, Mr Watts, who told the children all about the work of a Magistrates court. He talked about the sort of matters he deals with and the punishments Magistrates can give out. The children had lots of questions!
6 September 2024
It has been lovely to welcome the new Cedar class children this week and we have been eager to get started with our work. The children have already written stories based on legends about fighting off monsters plaguing villages. We have also started to look at forces in our science work and Anglo-Saxons in topic. Our first class book is Beowolf and we have started to read this and story board the story." In maths we have been looking at Roman Numerals and will continue with place value knowledge and our PE lessons will be covering Netball and Gymnastics. Music with Mrs Hadden will involve 'Anthology of Fantastic Zoology' by American composer Mason Bates. We have also been visited by our new Spanish teacher from Comberton Village College and are looking forward to future lessons with her.
We are very excited this term as we will be visiting Hilltop for our residential in the week beginning 16th September and are looking forward to all the activities provided.
Topic web giving more information can be found on this page together with Homework sheet for this half term.
Summer 2024
Year 6 visit to Clare College, University of Cambridge – 17 June 2024
Year 6 trip to Drayton Manor – 20 May 2024
As a treat following their hard work in SATs the year 6 children enjoyed a fun day at Drayton Manor. Even the teachers got involved and were very wet following the water ride! A good day was had by all!
Spring 2024
Although a very short term, Cedar class managed to pack a lot of learning in. Our topic for this term was communication and in DT we learnt about inventions through the ages to help develop communication and came up with our own inventions. We studied books which dealt with the issue of being an outsider and the experiences of outsiders in different situations, including exploring what a refugee experiences when they arrive in the UK. We then wrote our own stories with the theme of outsiders. In topic we explored the Sumarian civilization and read the battle of Gilgamesh, the first story ever written down.
We very much enjoyed presenting our work to parents and carers in our class assembly, and were able to perform the dance we created about friendship and counting on each other as well as informing them about our learning and showcasing some work we had come up with. As part of our English work we all created slam poetry so it was great to be able to perform some of that in front of a live audience to understand how it feels to actually be a slam poet.
In RE as well as exploring some aspects of Judaism, we started to explore big questions around the environment as our relationship to nature to start to think about our spirited arts which we will be working on in Summer term so watch this space…
Autumn 2023
We have had a great start to the year enjoying studying food and farming in our topic lessons, learning about the changes to farming over time, the different stages involved to get food from the farm to the shops and the research involved in improving farming and looking at how this works in practice in dairy farming and wheat producing.
In English to compliment our topic work we have been reading Animal Farm and have enjoyed exploring the vocabulary and using this to help us develop character descriptions. We have thought about the motivations of the characters and will finish our work writing a diary from a character's point of view about the events in the books.
Science has taken us to space which has complimented our discussions in RE about the big bang and Genesis. In PE we have been developing our hockey and gymnastic skills and in art working on drawing skills, drawing people moving and working on perspective.
Our maths work has focused on place value, the four calculations and we are beginning our fraction work thinking. We are focussing on being able to explain our thinking in all areas we work on and using mathematical vocabulary to do so.
We have been lucky this term as we had a visitor from the Wildlife Trust who came for a day to teach us all about wildlife and nature in the classroom, using maps, learning about habitats and features of animals using biological keys and discussing what action can be taken locally to help wildlife. As you can see from the photos below, we had a great day!"
See photos from our trips this term:
Wildlife day
Summer 2023
On 29 June, our Year 6 pupils visited Clare College, University of Cambridge. See our Special Events Photo Gallery.
Spring 2023
We have continued our learning via the topic of Explorers and Inventors. In Cedar class we looked the stories of major expeditions that occurred early in the 20th century. Our first book was about The Endeavour expedition to the Antarctica and our second about the Great Serum Race in Alaska where a group of 20 mushers did a relay across Alaska to bring back a serum to the town of Nome to stop the spread of Diptheria. Both stories inspired us greatly and we have been very excited to learn about the courage and resiliience of those involved in the expeditions. Our writing has been focussed on recounts, thinking about formal reports, informal diary writing and we are finishing the term writing our own story about an expedition.
With a focus on the Americas we have looked at the natural and physical geography of the countries that make up the Americas as well as also been finding out about the history of the Mayan civilisation. We are in the process of creating Mayan style masks out of clay - photos will follow once they have been finished. As well as our art in DT we have been looking at automaton and creating our own moveable parts - again photos will follow once finished.
Our maths work has been a focus on multiplicative and additive structures as well as working on understanding fractions. This year we have been encouraged to explain our thinking at every possible moment and have found this has really helped our understanding. Our maths swop focus was on reasoning when problem solving.
In PE we have started to train for the cross country competition next term in Priory Park and have had a lot of fun doing orienteering too.
In RE there has been a focus on the Islamic religion and have learnt about the significance of the different prayer positions. We have had some very interesting discussions about prayer. We have also enjoyed singing songs from around the world in music and adding our own musical accompaniment to them.
We hope you enjoyed the taster we gave you of our learning this term in our Assembly, which we were very proud of.
Autumn 2022
We have been pleased to welcome back some children to Cedar Class and meet a group of new children to the class and are looking forward to a very exciting year.
The children have settled in to the routines quickly and are already working very hard.
We enjoyed our trip to Hilltop in November - see the photos in our Special Events Photo Gallery.
Globe Theatre visit
On 6 November, as part of our Tudor topic we went on a day trip to London by train to visit the Globe Theatre. We were given a tour of the theatre and learnt about its development and what caused it to burn down. We also learnt about how plays were staged in Tudor times and the difference in price for seated audience and the groundlings, as well as the etiquette at the time. We have been studying Midsummer Night's dream and were given a drama workshop looking at a scene between Oberon and Titania which we really enjoyed.
We enjoyed our lunch sitting by the Thames watching all the sights before returning on the train home.
Parish Councilor visit
We were lucky enough to have a visit from Mrs Mickleborough a parish councilor for Godmanchester council who talked to us about local democracy and how the council works and liaises with the Local Authority.
Visit from local magistrate
We were very lucky to have a visit from one of the local magistrate, Mr Watts JP, who gave an extremely interesting talk to the children about the workings of a Magistrate Court. The children had many questions and Mr Watts was particularly impressed with their engagement and the quality of their thoughts and questions.
Summer 2022
Safer Swimming trip
Year 6 had a great day on Tuesday 5 July at Milton Country Park. They spent the first half of the morning learning about safer swimming, where it is safe to swim and where not and what to do if they have found themselves in difficulty in the water. They then enjoyed some time learning how to paddle board which they all thoroughly enjoyed. After lunch a relaxing time was had playing in the adventure park.
Spring 2022
We have written some poems inspired by an anthology called Poems from a Green and Blue Planet by Sabrina Mahfouz.
Summer 2021
Milton Country Park
On 6 July the Year 6s visited Milton Country Park where they learnt how to paddle board and swim safely, they then had a picnic lunch. A great time was had by all!
Stibbington
Cedar Class had a great day out at Stibbington experiencing what it would have been like to have been evacuated during the war. They caught the train and walked from the train, being shown the houses their alter egos would have been staying in. They then learnt how to wash clothes and got to play with traditional toys. After lunch, it was time for school and to learn more about propaganda posters. The siren went off as there seemed to be an air attack so we all had to retreat to the Anderson Shelter, where we sang songs to keep our spirits up.
The children thoroughly enjoyed the day and applying what they have learnt so far in Topic to real life experiences.
Train journey to Stibbington
Work and play!
1940s school experience
Autumn 2020
Roman Day - November 2020
Cedar class enjoyed their Roman day this term. The children were able to get involved in many activities including:
- making wax tablets
- creating mosaics
- grinding materials to make ink and then write their own messages
- making bronze brooches
- creating their own herb potions
- making clay charms
- exercising and even going to the latrine!!
The day was organised around being a Roman legion in a camp and the children got to try out different shield formations as well as do an investigation into whether there was a spy in the camp by looking at various artefacts.
We all learnt so much about Roman life and the investigation into the artefacts was particularly fascinating. Did you know the Romans had nail tools to keep their nails clean?
Spring 2020
Ms Ostler's RE Challenge Cards
Autumn 2019
As always, we had a busy Autumn Term in Cedar Class. We started our year with a trip to Bush craft. The children enjoyed various activities from making fires and dens to sleeping under the stars. They learnt how to use camouflage, listened to stories by the campfire, and enjoyed sumptuous food. They even rescued the teachers from a plane crash (with some serious over-acting from the teachers!).
Our topic was food and farming; the children were gripped by the story of Animal Farm and imagining themselves to be Benjamin, the long-suffering donkey, wrote diaries of the events. We went on another trip, this time for a day, to Houghton Mill and had a fascinating tour of the mill and shown its workings and told the history. Although a soggy day, spirits were high!
In science, we investigated space and forces, using our DT skills to make wind power. We learnt some hockey skills and developed a moving dance about bullying for our PE work and we finished the term with some Slam poetry, with the children creating their own and performing them for each other. The children made their own compositions in music and then explored the work of Shostakovich.
Great fun was had preparing for and performing Going for Gold and we will be revisiting the themes from the show in the summer term.
This term our topic is communication and we are exploring the experiences of refugees through our English work as well as looking at the development of writing in the Sumerian civilization. We will also be exploring an ancient story and comparing it to a bible story. We will also be looking at the development of communication to modern day and learning some Makaton and sign language. The children have already started bringing homework in with examples of different forms of communication.
Science is animals and their habitats and materials and In Music we are looking at the work of modern composer Kerry Andrew. Inspired by her composition “No Place Like", we will be thinking about sounds that conjure up our homes and making music of our own.
In RE we are exploring Judaism and asking, "What influences the Jewish people?" We have puzzled over the tefillin and will be thinking about special words that we would like to guide our lives.
Please see below Hannah's writing, inspired by Christmas - 2019.
Summer 2019
Spring 2019 - Human and Physical Geography
This term we have been reading The Explorer by Kathryn Rundell and have written our own explorer diaries. We have also been finding out about the Americas. We have mapped he longitude and latitude of various places in the Americas. We have also worked out what the climate is like and the biome according to its location. As part of our work we have been learning about the Mayan civilisation who lived in what is now central America. We have been making Mayan masks and explored their writing and maths symbols. We did some fieldwork of our village exploring the human and physical geography and some of our Powerpoints are here for your enjoyment. We really enjoyed doing this work and presenting it to each other in class. Our intention is to compare where we have investigated with a place in the Americas.
Autumn - 2018
English Writing - Writing a Recount Using Dialogue
Our Previous Work
Our World Topic - Australia
During art, we have created picture of animals inspired by aboriginal art. Art has always been an important part of Aboriginal life because it connects the past and present, the people and the land, and the supernatural and reality.
There has never been a written language for Australian Aborigines. They used art to convey their important cultural stories from generation to generation.
It was important for Aborigines to pass on information to preserve their history and culture. Indigenous art is centred on storytelling. Storytelling through art is used as a method to convey knowledge of the land, events and beliefs of the Indigenous people.
The use of symbols was a way to write down stories of cultural significance and to teach survival and use of the Australian land.
