Summer 1 - Week 5 - Innovating, researching and recording! 

English

In English this week, the writing genre focussed on information texts. The children read up to chapter 7 gathering information about Podkin, his siblings and most importantly the 12 gifts from the Goddess.

The children used a planning format to innovate their own gifts from the Goddess. They had to consider its name, its magical properties, its history and its current whereabouts. They used 3 of the original gifts to give them inspiration before generating their own. The plan would then provide them with notes for writing their information texts independently.

The children then began writing the introduction, here they had to provide the reader background context, what the text would be about and some information about the Goddess.

Finally, they began writing their main body of the text; this was broken down into weapons, tools, armour/clothing. For each, they had to explain information about the gifts using descriptive language.

Next week, it’s poetry where the children will explore how to use onomatopoeia.

Maths

For Maths, we continued with position and direction. The children learnt about translation, and then translation using co-ordinates in order to be more accurate. They then were introduced to symmetry, where the children had to make connections to previous learning. Using mirrors, they located lines of symmetry on shapes and identifying horizontal and vertical lines of symmetry.

On Thursday, the children then completed their end of unit assessments. Their scores were recorded and next steps/targets set.

On Friday, the children then completed their half termly arithmetic assessment. This is where the children can work towards their targets making progress in their scores!

Wider Curriculum

This week, the children were Geographers learning how to describe and understand key aspects of the water cycle, whilst outlining the impact on human geography through the distribution of natural resources.

This was a heavy research lesson, with lots of discussion and use of retrieval skills to unpick information and record key facts. The children then created a double page spread explaining their understanding of the above. They then use iPads to continue gathering data and statistics.

Next, the children then looked at natural disasters, again the recorded what they had learnt making links to the UK and other foreign countries, outlining the impact on human geography.

We’ve had a busy week, next week is the countdown to half term!

Have a lovely sunny weekend,

Best Wishes,

The Year 5 Team

Summer 1 - Week 4 - Things are hotting up! 

English

In English this week, the children began a new learning journey focusing on the genre ‘Myths and Legends’ and the text ‘The Legend of Podkin One-Ear’. Throughout the learning journey, the children will have the opportunity to explore a range of grammatical skills and knowledge before writing their own version of a chapter from the text.

On Tuesday, the children used their VIPERS skills prediction and inference to write a blurb. The only information they had was the contents page and a map. The children were presented with a range of WAGOLL’s to encourage imagination.

On Wednesday, the children then used their retrieval skills, where they learnt about some of the treasures from the text via an information piece. Using notes, the children then wrote two additional paragraphs, mimicking style, tone and vocabulary.

We’ve also noticed within writing lessons, the children find it tricky to edit, improve and re-draft their work. Therefore, on Thursday the children had the opportunity to improve a paragraph, continuing on from the information writing. They had to look at, sentence structures, formal language, punctuation etc.

Maths

In Maths, the children began their position and direction learning journey. To begin the journey, we introduced them to vocabulary that may appear throughout. We also used our Freya models, to discuss misconceptions and examples which the children can refer to throughout their learning.

So far, the children have looked at reading and plotting co-ordinates and then applying this when problem solving. They have also explored translation and then translation with co-ordinates. For this journey, we have also had the chance to apply our knowledge to real life scenarios.

In Morning work, we continue to revisit learning from our shape learning journey. This week, the children had the opportunity to draw angles using protractors accurately. We will continue to embed this over the next few weeks.

Wider Curriculum

In Wider curriculum, we have continued with our Art learning journey. On Wednesday, the children worked in their sketch books, experimenting with colour palettes for their Modroc animals. They decided which colours and designs words well and how to mix colours in order to generate the correct shade.

On Thursday, the children then began painting their base colours and painting the more intricate details. With the weather being so lovely, we were able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine whilst we painted. Once their animal was complete, they went back to the sketch books, writing annotations and evaluating their work.

We are going to keep hold of the animals and use them in our computing/animation project! WATCH THIS SPACE!

As always, have a magical weekend,

Enjoy the glorious weather,

Best Wishes,

Summer 1 - Week 3 - Healthy bodies, healthy minds, healthy hearts... 

English

In English this week, the children came to the end of their emotive writing, learning journey. Their main ‘Big write’ was to write a recount in the form of the letter. Within the letter, the children had to recall the old man’s time in the war, the moment he lost his friend and the time he first laid eyes on his wife. The content of the letter embedded skills and knowledge learnt across the learning journey.

Once the children completed their letters, they wrote them up into their star writer books!

Our next learning journey is based on the genre ‘Myths and Legends’ – The children will explore the text ‘The Legend of Podkin One-Ear’.

Maths

In Maths this week, we began looking at our old arithmetic papers during our carousel activity. The children had time to look at questions marked incorrectly and re-attempt them. They had support in addressing misconceptions and setting next step targets.

For the rest of the week, the children continued their shape learning journey. The morning work supported this, where the children had the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge of recognising and drawing angles accurately.

To end the journey, the children completed their end of unit assessments. They are then given their score backs and set targets accordingly.

Our next learning journey will be position and direction!

Wider  Curriculum

It was art, art and more art this week! The children began to make their insects/animals. They sculpted them using newspaper, tape and metal wire; all forming the body, head and legs.

Next, they used Modroc to protect and finalise the shape. They worked effectively to model the Modroc to fit their sculptures. Once dry, they would be ready to paint.

Some children still need to Modroc so we will continue this next week. However, the ones who were finished then went back to their sketch books to continue to develop their designs and explain their learning journey.

A special mention to Kyro and Harry who were sent to show their sketch books to Mr Wathern. These were then displayed in our shining stars assembly, WELL DONE BOYS!

Arena Health and Well-being Day

Year 5 on Friday, were lucky enough to have Arena in, to carry out a health and well-being day. The children engaged in a range of activities such as; ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, healthy eating orienteering, capture the flag and team building exercises.

We were incredibly lucky to have wonderful weather and it was great to see the children enjoying being active and working together outdoors.

We hope to have them back again soon!

Hope you have a lovely weekend,

Best Wishes,

Summer Term 1 - Week 1 - Signs of Summer! 

English

In English this week we began a new learning journey on emotive writing. The children are exploring the video from literacy shed ‘The Piano’. Throughout the learning journey, the children will have the opportunity to write in different genres as well as investigating and using a variety of grammatical skills.

To begin the week, the children used their VIPERS skills to explore video and look at symbolism. They were presented with a range of ideas and discussed what this could symbolise and how it enhances the image in our heads. Next, the children learnt how to extend sentences using relative clauses, adjectival phrases etc. and wrote character descriptions for the old man in the clip.

Towards the end of the week, the children learnt about amplifications and how to use a range of literary devices to create them. So far, we have seen some lovely, descriptive language. We will continue to develop our writing over the next few weeks where we will end the journey by writing a recount in the form of a letter.

Maths

Maths varied this week, we had to complete our statistics learning journey before we moved onto angles. On the Monday and Tuesday, the children looked at two-way tables and reading time tables. They then finalised the journey by completing their end of unit assessments.

Mid-week, the children then began their angles and shapes learning journey. To begin their explored degrees, lots of this learning was recalling prior knowledge from Year 4. The children were confident in their recall and made notes of the declarative knowledge for the journey in their books.

To end the week, the children were involved in their weekly carousel, for these activities the children have the opportunity to look back at their arithmetic and reasoning papers and work on areas they find tricky. Teachers and TA’s are on hand to support, show methods etc.

Well done to those children who are continuing to access TTRS at home, keep up the fab work!

Wider Curriculum

We were scientists this week…

On Monday, the children learnt all about life cycles of humans. They learnt about the different stages and recorded key facts and information. During the lesson, the children were also introduced to different animals and their cycles, where we then made comparisons, noting the similarities and differences.

On Thursday, we then moved on to ‘Living things and their habitats’, where we explored the life cycles of common plants. Here the children looked at parts of a plant, how seeds disperse, what asexual reproduction in plants is, before embarking on an experiment. For the experiment, the children would be taking cuttings of a plant and replanting them to see if their grow. In their books they made predictions on what would happen to the plant based on the knowledge they had learnt from the lesson.

Please see this week’s home learning for further information!!

What a great start to a new term,

Have a wonderful weekend as always,

Best Wishes,

Spring 2 - Week 5- Recounts, Resistance and Rhythms!

English

This week in English, we are coming to the end of our learning journey. At the start of the week, the children began to plan their recounts. The recounts were written from Xok the shark’s perspective. In the recount, they had to capture what it would have been like for him captivity and give a detailed recall of the key events. In the plan, the children noted phrases and vocabulary that they could later use in their writing. The children got out thesauruses to upskill their phrases and enhance the emotions they had selected.

For the rest of the week, the children wrote their recounts. They used all of their skills and knowledge from across the journey to write their final piece. The children were able to write descriptively and used stylistic devices to enhance their descriptions. Towards the end of the week, the children then had the opportunity to edit, redraft and improve their work. They then filled out their toolkits, assessing themselves against their success criteria.

Maths

In Maths, we also came to the end of our area and perimeter learning journey. The children showed off their learning in their end of unit assessments. However, some of the children found these quite tricky and this is where Mrs Callister and I decided we would need some consolidation.

With Mrs C and her fantastic art skills, a double page spread of area and perimeter questions was created. The children at their own pace worked through the questions. Here they were able to ask of support in addressing misconceptions. We will also continue to embed this content in their morning work.

At the end of the week, the children then completed their PUMA maths assessment. This is an opportunity for the children to demonstrate what they have learnt across the term. The children enjoy looking at their progress from autumn term and from this information set themselves targets.

Wider Curriculum

In Wider Curriculum we got wet and wild investigating water resistance. In the lesson, the children carried out an experiment, exploring how different shapes/surface areas can have didn’t levels of water resistance. The children were given balls of clay, where they formed a variety of shapes. They then checked their controlled variables before dropping the clay into water. With an iPad they timed which shape sank to the bottom the quickest, therefore having the least amount of water resistance. The children wrote out their methods, made predictions, recorded their results and wrote conclusions on their findings.

Music Performance

On Wednesday 20^th March 2024, the children performed their Brass Performance to all of the parents. We were so proud of our children, who got up there and until the lessons, had never played a brass instrument before. We would also like to say a huge thank you to Tony, our music teacher, who guided the children through their lessons and their wonderful performance!

Important Dates:

·      Parents evening - Tuesday 26^th/Wednesday 27^th March 2024

·      Easter Extravaganza – Own clothes! - Thursday 28^th March 2024 

Have a wonderful weekend, 
Best Wishes, 
The Year Five Team 

Spring 2 - Week 4 - Year 5 are keeping S.M.A.R.T! 

English

This week in English, the children performed an oral discussion. They gathered research based on the theme ‘Should exotic animals be kept as pets’, in pairs they looked closely at the positive and negative impacts. Next, they picked a side and navigated an oral debate. They were given sentence stems to support with how they could lead into their arguments. Finally, in pairs, they performed to the class. The purpose of this lesson was to allow the children the opportunity to gather information for their persuasive writing.

In the follow-on lesson; the children wrote persuasive texts arguing their side of the argument. They broke it down into 3 main arguments and used evidence and statistic to support. We then came back together at the class, where we modelled a conclusion for the children discussing the success criteria and its contents. Towards the end of the week, we moved onto setting descriptions, the children used the map from the story ‘Shark Caller’ as inspiration to write about their settings. Their aim was use to a range of stylistic devices to enhance their descriptions. As a result, they were then able to write a detailed recount of their own arrival on the Papua New Guinea island, detailing all they could see, hear, taste, touch and smell.

Maths

In Maths, the children continue with their perimeter and area learning journey. This week, we started to look at the perimeter of polygons and rectilinear shapes before moving onto the area. The children now know that the perimeter is the outside of the shape and the area is the inside.

The children were also able to articulate that for working out the area they needed to know their times tables! EEEEK. Please do continue to encourage your children to access TTRS at home, it is such a great tool in building your child’s fluency in recalling multiplication facts. Another great resources which myself and Mrs. Callister advocate is flash cards. They removed the pressures of speed and allow the children to really pinpoint to the facts that they do not know.   

Towards the end of the week, the children completed this term PUMA assessments which has a mixture of arithmetic and reasoning questions. This is where the children have the opportunity to show off all they have learnt across Spring Term.

Wider Curriculum

In Wider Curriculum this week we have been Scientists exploring FORCES. The children completed an investigation, answering the question ‘Does the mass of an object affect the force of gravity?’ – The children were given a range of balls all of a different mass, they dropped the balls from the same height, recording the speed in which they fell. “The heavier and bigger the object the bigger it’s gravitational pull” – Lochy 5B. During the lesson, the children also learnt lots of interesting information about gravity and its founder Sir Isaac Newton.

Next, the children explored Air resistance, completing another investigation with a parachute drop. The focus within these lessons was the children’s ability to observe, record and explain their findings in a conclusion.

Online Safety Visit

On Wednesday the children were lucky enough to have a visit from the local police who came to talk to them all about online safety! During the session, the children discussed the different kinds of apps and games that can accessed online, along with their age limits. It was interesting to see how many children access games that are above their age bracket. However, one of the key messages from the police was understanding that these games and apps will be used but it’s how to use them safely that’s important. The children were presented with the acronym  -

S – Stay safe

M – Don’t MEET up with strangers you have talked to online.

A – Think before ACCEPTING anyone online.

R – Not everyone is RELIABLE. They may not be who they seem to be.

T – TELL a responsible adult if you feel uncomfortable or worried.

This acronym is now displayed in the classroom for all to see!

It was also wonderful having these important messages presented by people from our local services with stories that link to our community. The children were then allowed to ask questions about online safety and their jobs as the police. The session was extremely informative and opened our eyes as teachers to the importance of keeping our children safe online.

As a whole, it was an exciting morning, especially when the children saw Mrs. Callister and Miss Beckett locked up in handcuffs! EEK!

Important Dates:

·      Parent’s evening – Tuesday 26^th March / Wednesday 27^th March 2024, please book your appointment on arbor.

·      Wednesday 20^th March 2024 – Year 5 children will be performing their music piece to parents lead by our music man Tony at 2:40pm

Spring 2 - Week 3 - Reading is a passport to countless adventures... 

English

To begin the week, the children continued writing their discussion texts. They continued to develop their unbiased arguments, using research on the positive and negative points to help them. The children at the end of the lesson shared their arguments and ‘magpied’ ideas when returning to edit and improve. In the following lessons, the children were presented with a SPaG focus of commas, colons and semi-colons. They explored what they were, where they would be used and how to use them effectively. In their books, the children then outlined the definition before using the punctuation accurately in sentences that contained themes from the text. For the rest of the week, the children had wonderful activities to complete with links to World Book Day – We look forward to continuing our English learning journey next week, where we will be exploring oral discussions for arguments and persuasive writing! WATCH THIS SPACE…

Maths

In Maths this week, the children begun their new learning journey of perimeter beginning with looking at the perimeter of a rectangle. The children attacked this with confidence and were able to access the problem-solving and reasoning questions quickly. We also completed another arithmetic paper; we went through it as a class notifying any misconceptions and making notes on how to approach the question next time. We recorded the scores in our whole class tracker, the children can then see their progress and record it in their books. The children then set themselves targets based on the test they completed.

Wider Curriculum

In Wider Curriculum we continued with our Art learning journey. This week it was all about our backgrounds. The children had four activities they completed as part of a carousel. They were given 4 small pieces of paper to create 4 different backgrounds using a mixture of media in the form of printing. We had brusho, water colours, foil and felt tips etc. The children then popped their testers into their sketch books where they made annotations, discussing their process, what they like, what worked well and what didn’t. From here, they selected their favourite background to recreate on a larger scale. Once their background was created, the children then began to select their favourite patterns from their journey so far to overlay. Again, this was using mixed media. They had to think carefully about the patterns, colours, media they selected and continue to refer to Kandinsky’s work for inspiration.

World Book Day

What a wonderful day we had for world book day, it was so lovely to see the mixture of costumes and pj’s. In the morning, the children took part in the nationwide quiz from the national literacy trust. The children answered a variety of questions and were introduced to the author and teacher Kit Brown who promoted his brand-new book! We were great quizzers, scoring 20/20!! In the afternoon, the children then went down to EYFS where they shared books with each other, drank hot chocolate and had a biscuit. The children had a wonderful time and were so lovely with the little ones.

Important Dates:

·         Parent’s evening – Tuesday 26^th March / Wednesday 27^th March 2024, please book your appointment on arbor.

·         Wednesday 20^th March 2024 – Year 5 children will be performing their music piece to parents lead by our music man Tony at 2:40pm

·        WPA Bake off – Monday 11^th March 2024 – Cakes to be sold all week

·         Comic relief – Friday 15^th March 2024 – Own clothes or something ‘Funny’  

Have a wonderful weekend,

Best Wishes,

The Year 5 Team