Indigo - Year 5
Autumn 2 Newsletter
Welcome back to school! We had a great first half term in Year 5 and we have a jam-packed few weeks ahead on the run up to Christmas. We welcome Miss Gregory, a student teacher from Manchester University, who will teach alongside Mrs Johnson and I until January. I know the children will love working with her as much as she will enjoy teaching them.
Mrs Burns
Literacy and Maths
We will be reading Tom's Midnight Garden, a graphic novel and writing our own play scripts for it. We will also study newspaper and magazine articles and compare older articles to more recent articles, before having a go at writing our own. We will also be looking closely at a range of texts in Guided Reading, including Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, and the poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth.
In Maths, we will focus on multiplication and division, before moving onto fractions. Please ensure your child practises their multiplication and division facts regularly, as they require these skills daily for their maths work now they are in Upper Key Stage 2. In their homework books, you will see which times table we would like them to practise each week, ready for a times table test on a Friday.
Wider Curriculum
Our topics this half term are:
RE: What would Jesus do? (Can we live by the values of Jesus in the 21st Century?)
Science: Circle of Life
Geography: Mountains, with a specific focus on The Lake District
Computing: 3D Modelling
Art: Creating photography (focus artists – Anna Atkins and Ansel Adams)
Music: Why we sing and an introduction to song writing
PSHE: Dreams and goals
French: Space exploration
PE: Outdoor sports and Dance
Outdoor PE will continue to be on a Wednesday afternoon with Dan, our sports coach, and indoor PE will be with myself and Miss Gregory on a Thursday afternoon. Please ensure children come to school on these days in black or navy blue joggers and a white top. Please ensure all jumpers / hoodies are either black or navy blue with no logos. Please also ensure that all earrings are removed on these days as for health and safety reasons, children are not allowed to take part in sport with them in.
Additional Information
Homework expectations
Each Monday, we send out homework books with new spellings and a different times table to practise each week. The expectation is that the children practise these spellings (they can use fun spelling strategies we have practised in class!) and write 5 sentences containing their words, as well as practising the focused times table for that week. We know that some nights are busier than others with clubs and busy family lives, but we ask that the children practise these at least 3 times a week. We ask that they bring their homework books back each night to check on their progress throughout the week. We have noticed a few children not participating with this. Please encourage them to practise as it can be upsetting for your child when they struggle during our spelling or times tables test on a Friday. If children have completed no homework by Friday, we will ask them to practise on a Friday lunchtime.
Reading at home
The children in Year 5 are such confident, fabulous readers! We want to nurture and build on this with our reading incentives. This half term, instead of writing how many minutes your child has read for, please just note down when your child has read a bit each night (it might only be one or two chapters). Each morning, we will reward anyone that has read the night before with a raffle ticket. These raffle tickets will be placed in a box and at the end of the half term, we will pull two raffle tickets out for children to receive a prize. The more raffle tickets your child has, the more chance they have of winning!
Dates for your diary
Week beginning 30th October - The Big Draw week (children will be taking part in lots of drawing activities throughout the week).
Monday 13th November - Children's flu vaccinations
Week beginning 13th November - Interfaith week (Children all over school will be learning about and celebrating other world faiths and cultures. Year 5 will focus on Sikhism and share what we learn during a special assembly on the Friday).
Friday 17th November - Children wear own clothes for Children in Need and bring in a £1 donation.
Tuesday 12th December - Carol Service at St. Mary's Church - 2pm (Years 3-6)
Thursday 14th December - Christmas dinner and Christmas jumper day.
Thursday 14th December - Craft morning 9-10am. Parents and carers are welcome to join us in class.
Autumn 1 Newsletter
Literacy and Maths
This half term, we will working on a dual narrative called The Hunter and The Hunted, and then move onto explanation texts, where we will look at how facts and humour combine in Horrible History books, before having a go at writing our own examples in this style.
In maths, we will be starting the year by looking at place value, including Roman Numerals, and addition and subtraction, including using lots of tried and tested methods.
Wider Curriculum
This half term, we will be learning about:
RE: If God is everywhere, why go to a place of Worship?
Science: Can you feel the force? (Pulleys, levers and gears)
History: Changes to Britain: Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons
Computing: Word Processing and Spreadsheets
D&T: Creating sculptures in the style of Barbara Hepworth
French: Pleased to meet you
Music: What shall we do with the drunken sailor?
PSHE: Being me in my world
PE: Outdoor sports (Wednesday)
Gymnastics (Thursday)
Additional Information
Children will have outdoor PE with Dan on a Wednesday afternoon, and Gymnastics with Mrs Burns on a Thursday afternoon. On these days, please ensure your child comes to school dressed in their PE kit - a white t-shirt, black shorts or joggers and trainers. Please also ensure that earrings are removed for PE days.
Homework will be set each work on a Monday and children will need to complete a bit each night and bring them into school each day to show us their progress. Homework will consist of spellings and times tables and parents will need to sign each night to say their child has completed some homework that evening. There will be a spelling test and times table test on a Friday based on what the children have been learning at home that week.
Children can change their school reading book as and when they need to. We ask that parents sign their child's reading record to show that children have read at home, and also record how many minutes they have read for. We have a class reading reward chart in the classroom where, for each 600 minutes of reading, they have a chance of winning a prize each half term.
Dates for your diary
Freddie Fit - Monday 11th September. Children can come to school in their PE kits on this day.
Christians in Schools workshop - Thursday 28th September
Anglo-Saxon workshop - date TBC
Anglo-Saxon Workshop
Year 5 enjoyed a fantastic visit from Rob at Historic Workshops today. They got themselves into role of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and acted out some battle formations and tactics, carried out an archaeological dig where they used clues to find out which period of history items were from, played some Anglo-Saxon games and took part in a Witan, a meeting where they had to make choices to determine the future of England. What an exciting, informative day!
Take a look at more of our photos in the gallery on the right hand side of this page.
