Year 5

Friday 21st January

Well -  what a strange week! I take my hat off to you, Class 5. You have remained cheerful, resilient and fully engaged on Zoom - Well done. I hope everyone is feeling reasonably well and those of you with Covid are coping. We'll all be back in School teeming with antibodies before you know it!

Please do email me your Alchemist's Machine Descriptions if you have done them. A few have been sent in already and they are stunning.

I will be with you on Zoom on Monday  - I look forward to seeing you then.

Take care and have a restful, recovery weekend.

Best wishes

Mrs Hester

Friday 14th January

Our first full week of 2022!

Thank you everyone for bringing in your potions. A number of you have already presented them to the class and they have been incredibly imaginative and resourceful.

You have also been creative with both instruments and Garage Band to put music to our new topic of Alchamy Island! On Monday, you headed out to the village to take photos of portals that you found. A very muddy walk with only 1 IPad dropped so well done!

In literacy, you have started combining your topic ideas into a portal story and entering a new world or relm. We look forward to seeing where you all end up.

In maths, we have continued to look at fractions - converting improper fractions into mixed numbers and then started to simplify the fractions.

Well done! Have a lovely weekend.

HOMEWORK

Literacy: 3 & 4 in GPS books

Maths: arithmetic worksheet

Spellings: converting nouns or adjectives into verbs by adding the suffix -ise

critic/criticise, advert/advertise, final/finalise, equal/equalise, fertile/fertilise, terror/terrorise, social/socialise, visual/visualise, vandal/vandalise

Cued: different spellings of the long /a/ sound

tray, delay  amaze, snake  stain, explain  crazy, raven  steak, break.

Friday 7th January

A HUGE well done to all the children for their beautiful singing and fabulous performances in their Act of Worship this morning. It was marvellous to see how well they learnt and delivered their lines and how brilliantly they worked as a team. They worked incredibly hard, creating their costumes and rehearsing and we were delighted to be able to show you the fruits of their labour. A huge thank you to Georgie for her help in designing the costumes and to all the parents who were able to come along and watch.

It has been an extremely busy week; we started our Alchemy Island topic with a visit from The Alchemist and her magic cauldron (see pictures below). We also looked at the Periodic Table and discussed some of the elements in it and how it is designed. The children came up with some intelligent questions which we will attempt to answer over the next few weeks.

In science, we began looking at the properties of various items found on Alchemy Island - testing them for magnetism, electrical conductivity and transparency among other things. The ferrous fluid from Iron Lake was the most fascinating.

In maths, we have begun looking at mixed and improper fractions and in literacy we are preparing to write the beginning of a story which involves travelling through a portal.

For homework, the children have brought home a GPS book. Please can they do the first 2 tests  - Grammar Tests 1 & 2.

Have a lovely weekend.

HOMEWORK:

Literacy - in GPS books

Spellings: adding the -ate suffix to nouns and adjectives to create verbs

captivate, activate, motivate, communicate, alienate, medicate, elasticate, hyphenate, pollinate

Cued spellings: different spellings of the /ee/ sound

deer, jeep, sleep, sheep, read, lead, teach, donkey, monkey, key

Friday 17th December

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Well done to all the lovely Year 5 children this term. Thank you for all the stunning, cards, gifts and Christmas messages.

We hope you have a healthy relaxing holiday with your families and we look forward to seeing the children back in 2022. Don't forget our Act of Worship on the first Friday back at 9 am in the Church.

Friday 10th December

What a busy week it's been in Year 5 AND it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We finally have a (very small) Christmas tree gracing the classroom and our Christmas post box is rapidly filling up.

We've been focusing on reading and creating line graphs in Maths and Science  - we started by looking at attendance data across the School over ten days and plotting it on a graph - it became clear that the dreaded Covid has had an impact but we're fighting back! Following an investigation to ascertain the best insulating material, the children plotted their results in graphs and analysed them to identify which insulator worked the best. The humble blanket seemed to top even the Space blanket for conserving heat.

In literacy, we've been creating Powerpoints all about Sir Isaac Newton. We're hoping Year 3 will read them and learn something about his great genius.

Don't forget the Carol Service on Wednesday evening. Children should be dropped at drop and go at 5.30pm. We also have Christmas Jumper Day on Friday - make a donation and wear a glitzy sweater.

There is no homework this weekend. Keep reading and learning times tables.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Friday 3rd December

Advent is upon us. It has certainly got a lot colder this week. We look forward to seeing some of you at the school Christmas fair tomorrow.

During our topic lessons this week, we have continued to go deeper into space. We have followed the path of the international space station and learnt about the Moon landings. The class have also been busy making their props for the class AOW on Thursday. This afternoon, we carried out an experiment to discover which combination of fizzy tablets and water create a rocket that shoots the highest - we were quite surprised by the results but reached a satisfying conclusion to do with the amount of space available for the molecules in the gas to spread out and create the most forceful propulsion - see photos above!

The classroom is a rammed with cardboard and bottles for the spacecrafts that they will be building on Monday and Tuesday. I am hoping they will look more Apollo 11 than Millenium Falcon.

Im maths, you have have been working on graphs and timetables. You have also been converting 24 hour clocks to 12 hours and been been using an analogue clock - sadly an underused skill these days.

During literacy lessons, you have continued to plan your biopic on Sir Isaac Newton. 

Homework

Spellings - words with the sound s spelt -sc - see attached activities for those children at home

science, crescent, discipline, fascinate, scent, descent, ascent, scenery

Cued: height, weight, eight, straight, reign.

Literacy: attached is a workbook focused on adverbials. Please complete AT LEAST the first two worksheets - more if you would like to.

Learn your lines off by heart for the class AOW

Friday 26th November

This week's highlight was, without a doubt, our trip to see Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Cinderella. The children were impeccably behaved on the train and in the Theatre and drew several positive comments from members of the public. The show had something for everyone and we all agreed it was first class entertainment.

In Maths, we've been consolidating the 'bus stop' method of division as well as working on word problems using both multiplication and division. The children are learning fast!

Following our visit from the author, J C Clarke, we have decided to read her novel Spellboda next and we are also writing stories based on her five ingredients for creating a successful tale. Hopefully, we'll be able to collate them into a Class Book of short stories as the Children are really enjoying writing them. I have sent their literacy books home in order that they can finish their stories. Please ensure they are back in by Wednesday.

Please don't forget to send your child in with any small boxes, bottles, tin foil, plastic bottles or sponges you can spare for Thursday of next week.

Have a lovely weekend.

HOMEWORK:

Literacy: complete stories in red literacy books for Wednesday

Maths: in yellow books for Tuesday

Spellings: division, confusion, invasion, decision, collision, television, revision, erosion, inclusion, explosion.

Cued: thought, ought, fought, bought, brought

Reading: at least 5 times including once with an adult.

Friday 19th November

A huge congratulations to you all for completing your first family consultations. You all spoke clearly and had wonderful powerpoint presentations. It was lovely to hear what you have enjoyed so far this year and listening to your own personal targets. You clearly all know your strengths and areas you need to develop. I am sorry I couldn't be there for the consultations on Thursday but Mrs Hester has given me detailed feedback.

At the beginning of this week, we spent a lot of time working on the consultations and the all looked brilliant. During your topic afternoon, you researched the 'Father of Modern Science' Galileo. You have also been busy working on your lines for our class AOW. 

In maths, you continued to work on column multiplication. You developed a better understanding of how the process works and then moved on to word problems. Towards the end of the week, you moved on to division. You looked at dividing numbers by 10,100 and 1000. 

Homework:

Maths - multiplication questions (due Tuesday).

Spellings - adding the -ous suffix when we don't change the root word.

Dangerous, momentous, poisonous, joyous, mountainous.

Literacy - please make sure you learn ALL your lines for our Act of Worship.

Reading as usual for the raffle - remember - you must be in it to win it!

Friday 12th November

Yet another action packed week in Year 5. 

In maths, we have continued to work on square and cubed numbers. We then moved on to multiplying by 10, 100 and 1000. On Friday, we started muliplying 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. Please make sure that you all work on your times tables as this is what is holding some of you back.

During literacy, you were tasked with writing a story pretending to be an adult. We had trips to nightclubs, shopping and even a tattoo. You have obviously be spending lots of time observing your parents' habbits.

In the topic afternoons, you have produced some wonderful work on the phases of the moon and some wonderful drawings of the planets. It has been a brilliant week of work so congratulations to you all!

On Monday at school, you will be creating a powerpoint for your parent consulations. Please have a think about what has gone well so far this year and any tagets you may have.

Have a lovely weekend.

Friday 5th November

Happy Bonfire Night everyone! It's been great to have the children back in School - bright eyed and bushy tailed for the most part.

They are already impressing with their knowledge of Space and we've spent the week on a fact-finding mission to discover as much as we can about what is happening beyond the Earth's atmosphere. We've looked as the size and scale of the Solar System and its planets and tried to digest the enormity of it all.

In Maths we're looking at prime numbers as well as squared and cubed numbers so times tables are crucial - of course. In literacy we've revised speech punctuation and have begun to write stories about the day they pretended they were adults. We've heard some hair-raising ideas from buying very fast cars to purchasing a pet and taking a flight to Brazil....

We have also begun practising for our Class Act of Worship which is on 9th December at 9 am. Attached is the script - literacy homework this week is to learn their lines.

Have a lovely weekend.

HOMEWORK:

Spelling: /k/ sound spelt ch - chaos, orchestra, echo, character, stomach, ache, technology

Cued spellings: edge, hedge, budge, ledge, fudge

Literacy: learn your lines for AOW

Maths: blue books

Times tables and reading raffle as usual.

Friday 15th October

Half-term already! A huge well done to all the children for settling so beautifully into Year 5 and for engaging so well with their learning. They are a delightful bunch. 

We have now completed our Shang Dynasty topic and the children have learnt an enormous amount about this Ancient Civilisation. They finished the topic by creating clay vessels based on those discovered in archaeological digs in China - their various different designs reflect the diversity and craftsmanship evident in ancient artefacts from 3000 years ago.

We are looking forward to our next topic - Stargazers - please do send in any books or information the children would like to share with the Class.

Have a lovely half-term.

HOMEWORK

Read the two books from the OXFORD OWL reading scheme as per the letter sent out this week.

Keep up the times tables practice 

Friday 8th October

It was wonderful to see so many parents at the Harvest Festival on Wednesday in spite of the limits on numbers. Year 5 should be hugely proud of themselves for their retelling of the Good Samaritan and for the informative presentation about the Tear Fund. Thank you, too for your kind donations.

We've had an exciting end to the week with two visiting teachers today. Mr Miles did his second computing session which involved recreating the great female Chinese Warrior, Fu Hao's tomb and Mrs Middleton (who is Chinese) came in to speak to the children about China and to teach them a little of the language. See if they can remember how to count to ten in Mandarin!

In literacy, we are spinning back in time to the Shang Dynasty where the children are imagining themselves at the centre of daily life in Ancient China. I look forward to reading about their antics as warriors/craftsmen/peasants etc.

In maths, we are adding and subtracting numbers up to 1,000,000 using the column method. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Homework:

Maths - for Tuesday

Literacy - comprehension  for Friday

Spellings - we will recap the spellings from this term

Reading  - at least 5 times

Times-tables - practise, practise, practise!

Book Club

It was good to have such a pleasing turn out at  Year 5/6 Book Club and interesting to hear your thoughts on The Night Bus Hero. I think we all enjoyed listening to Miss Wright's, often quite controversial, views!

Next time, our text will be The 1,000-year-old Boy by Ross Welford.

Here's a bit of blurb to whet your appetite.

Alfie Monk is like any other nearly teenage boy - except he's 1,000 years old and can remember the last Viking invasion of England.

Obviously no one believes him.

So when everything Alfie knows and loves is destroyed in a fire, and the modern world comes crashing in, Alfie embarks on a mission to find friendship, acceptance, and a different way to live...

... which means finding a way to make sure he will eventually die.

We will meet again to discuss this novel in Term 2.

Friday 1st of October

Well....the weather has certainly changed. Cold, wind and rain was the format of the week but the class still managed PE, forest school and not a single wet play!

The class continued to work on the Shang Dynasty. They created some wonderful "bronze" ornaments and started to create a leaflet covering all aspects of the period.

In maths, they have been working on their rounding skills of numbers up to 1 million and then moved on to addition by counting on.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and try and stay dry!

Homework

Please continue to read 5 times a week to enter the reading raffle.

Spellings - apply, supply, identify, occupy, multiply, rhyme, cycle (i spelt with a y).

Cued - new/knew, lose/loose, not/knot, mail/male

Maths - rounding coding worksheet

Friday 24th September

In spite of it being assessment week, we have had an interesting time in Class 5. Yesterday afternoon was spent investigating the bronze casting processes used by the Shang Dynasty Chinese. Most of the classroom was covered in plaster of Paris by the end of it but the children produced some beautiful objects which we'll be painting next week.

We've also been honing our comprehension technique, reading the questions first and using them as sign-posts to relevant areas of the text. At the moment, we're working on our powers of retrieval so do quiz your children about what's happening in the books they're reading with you.

In Maths, we've been rounding into the 100,000s and thinking about why we round larger numbers - do ask your children about this.

Have a lovely weekend and don't forget PE and Forest School on Monday.

Homework

Spellings: words with the short vowel sound /i/ spelt with y

symbol, mystery, oxygen, physical, rhythm

Cued Spellings: desert/dessert  fair/fare   grate/great   heal/heel

Literacy: to write a book review using the sheet in blue homework books

Maths: for Tuesday

Times tables

Reading: at least 5 times a week at home, including once with an adult

Friday 17th September

As you can see from the pictures, it's been another busy week in Year 5. Fantastic Mr Fox put in an appearance on Roald Dahl day with the children engaging in their workshop well. They impressed all of us with their beautifully constructed fox masks. We finished the day with a debate asking whether Boggis, Bunce and Bean or Mr Fox were in the right. The Fox won the day and we discussed what a skillful writer Roald Dahl was for persuading us to like Mr Fox in spite of his thieving ways.

In maths, we've begun rounding into the 10,000s and in literacy we have been learning to construct a narrative and have started reading Cosmic by Frank Cottrell-Boyce - do send your child in with a copy if you have it at home.

The children have particularly enjoyed being reading buddies to Year One and have conducted themselves brilliantly with the younger pupils. It is great to see them mixing with other year groups again.

Have a lovely weekend.

Homework

Spellings - ambitious, infectious, nutritious, anxious, obnoxious - to be tested on Friday

Cued Spellings - bear/bare  berry/bury   cereal/serial   break/break - to be tested on Friday

Literacy - short comprehension for Friday in blue book

Maths - sheet for Tuesday in yellow books

Times tables and reading as usual

Friday 10th September

The end of our first full week......breath!

In maths this week, they have continued to work on place value up to the hundreds of thousands. We have been using a lot of counters to read and write these large numbers.

During the literacy lessons, Year 5 has been writing stories about "having a change of heart" using the Susan Boyle audition as inspiration. The work has been well written and is extremely detailed.

The topic lessons have again continued to look at "Dynamic Dynersties". Today they have been designing Taotie masks which look incredible.

The class have also had their first P.E, R.E and PSHE lessons of the year.

Please remember that they have forest school on Monday. They should come into school in their P.E kits and will then get changed into their forest school gear after lunch. They do not need their school uniform.

Homework

Literacy - noun wordsearch 

Reading - please make sure you continue to read at home and get your journal signed for the reading raffle

Maths - starts next week

Spellings - vicious, gracious, spacious, precious and delicious 

      Cued - pair/pear, peace/piece, one/won, meet/meat

Have a lovely weekend!

Friday 3rd September 

It was fantastic to welcome the children into Class 5 and they're already tackling the work with gusto. 

In  Maths, we've begun to look at place value up to the 100,000s and in literacy we recapped word classes and started thinking about how to write a narrative poem. We'll be basing these on ancient Chinese Myths to tie-in with our topic, Dynamic Dynasties.

As part of their topic work, the children located China on a map of the world and zoomed in to study some of the interesting physical features of this enormous country.

We look forward to more of the same next week.

Homework: 

Spellings - homophones to be tested on Friday

medal/meddle  missed/mist  scene/seen  board/bored  which/witch

Cued spellings (everyone should revise these)

What, when, who, why, where

Maths - please keep learning times tables (we will be sending Maths homework in on a

Tuesday to mark the next Tuesday)

Reading - we will have a reading raffle every Friday. Please read 5 times at home and sign your reading diary. It must be signed at least once by an adult after they've listened to you read. See below for details of Book Club

Year 5/6 Book Club Term 1  5th October (note there will be no netball this day)

We are kicking off the year with a novel by the acclaimed author of The Boy at the Back of the Class - Onjali Q Rauf. It is entitled The Night Bus Hero. Here's the blurb to whet your appetite:

'The boy's an absolute menace.'
'He's a bully. A lost cause!'
'Why can't he be more like his sister?'
I've been getting into trouble for as long I can remember. Usually I don't mind 'cos some of my best, most brilliant ideas have come from sitting in detention.
But recently it feels like no one believes me about anything - even when I'm telling the truth! And it's only gotten worse since I played a prank on the old man who lives in the park.
Everyone thinks I'm just a bully. They don't believe I could be a hero.
Bu I'm going to prove them all wrong...
Told from the perspective of a bully, this book explores themes of bullying and homelessness, while celebrating kindness, friendship and the potential everyone has to change for the good.

We very much hope to see some old faces from last year's meetings as well as welcome plenty of new ones.  For possible first-time attendees, who are wondering what's involved, we invite you to read a selected text each term and then join us for an informal discussion about it after school - normally on the last Monday of the term. As we exchange views and ideas, we share a snack and a drink and hopefully have a pleasant hour together socialising with school pals.

If anyone would like more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Kate Haysom and Rebecca Wright