Year 5

Summer Term - Literacy

This term Year 5 has been exploring the text Shackleton’s Journey. In August 1914, Ernest Shackleton and his brave crew set out to cross the frozen waters of Antarctica. Whilst enjoying the story and learning a variety of facts about his perilous journey, the children also developed their skills for writing in different genres. They wrote in role as one of the crew members and wrote letters to loved ones, diary entries, playscripts as well as a newspaper article focusing on Shackleton’s boat (The Endurance) sinking. 

Year 5 were also extremely lucky to have a visit from the poet Ian Bland. Ian Bland performed some of his humorous poems focusing on school life and teachers. He also helped Year 5 to write and perform their own poems. Many children bought one of his poetry books and even had it signed by him!

Summer Term - Maths

Year 5 focused on geometry and shape this term. Firstly they learned the names of the different angles and worked hard on drawing lines and angles accurately, then used protractors to measure and draw angles, as well as calculating angles on a straight line and around a point. Identifying and plotting coordinates was a focus towards the end of the half term and the children also had a taster of how to translate shapes.

In number, we had a recap of the four operations and then used this knowledge to add and subtract decimals. The children used mental methods to find complements to 1 and written methods to add and subtract decimals with the same number of decimal places.

Throughout the term the children have used their reasoning and problem solving skills to ask “what if…?” questions and explain their thinking.

Summer Term - Science

In Science this term Year 5 have been learning about Properties and Changes of Materials. To begin the topic, the children looked at solutions and mixtures and how a solution is always a mixture but a mixture isn’t always a solution! They continued to focus on solutions and used sea water from Cobo beach to separate the substance (sea salt) from the solution through evaporation. Year 5 also used the processes of filtering, sieving and magnetism to separate substances in a mixture. Next the children found out about reversible and irreversible changes in matter and looked at examples of these. To complete the learning, Year 5 classified materials by their properties such as solubility, magnetism and conductivity.

Summer Term - Other Curriculum Areas

Year 5 have had a jam packed term with activities, visits and an abundance of learning. A highlight for the children was our history visit to Candie Museum, Priaulx Library and Victoria Tower. The children were fascinated by the Victorian artefacts, especially the toys, and were also very grateful for their education having seen some of the handwriting and maths from that era! Victoria Tower was quite a hike but the view was definitely worth it!

In geography, the children enjoyed learning about coastal features and using their knowledge of our coastline to identify the ones we have.

Swimming, cricket and Bikeability have kept Year 5 active during PE lessons, and the children became freehand artists with chalk and oil pastels in our art topic. Block 5 finished on a high with a visit from Exploradome which revisited the learning Year 5 did on space in the autumn term.

Spring Term - Literacy

This term we have absolutely loved reading the Greek myth Odysseus. We were hooked from the start and loved researching different Greek Gods and Godesses. We used our reading to then explore different genres of writing. This included writing a letter in the role of Odysseus, a diary entry in the role of a crew member, poetry and our final piece of writing was retelling the ending from the viewpoint of Telemachus. To develop our writing we have practised using relative clauses to create complex sentences and correct use of speech punctuation. We hope you enjoy looking at our writing below!

Spring Term - Maths

Y5 have been working very hard in maths. The children have been revising how to multiply using both the grid method and the efficient short method for multiplying a 4 digit number by 1 digit. Using the CPA approach, the children have been exploring division; linking the use of sharing counters to the "bus stop" written method. Calculations have included answers with remainders. We had a recap on place value, looking at numbers to 1,000,000 and explored factors, multiples and prime numbers. In fractions, the children have worked on finding equivalent fractions, converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice-versa, and finding fractions of amounts. Most recently we have been learning how to compare and order fractions by finding common denominators.

Spring Term - Science

In our Earth and Space topic we first discovered the order of the planets. We enjoyed creating our own mnemonics to remember the correct order from the sun. Next we found out about the moon that orbits Earth and how it is responsible for the tides. Although the moon may appear to change shape, we know that this is because the moon reflects the sun's light. The part that we see of the moon depends on where the moon is when orbiting the Earth. Our understanding of the Earth orbiting the sun developed our knowledge of day and night and we loved using the torches, globe and lego men to represent this. Finally we learnt about why we have seasons due to the Earth's orbit around the sun and the Earth's tilt.   

Spring Term - Other Curriculum Areas

Year 5 have been lucky enough to have two Art topics this term. Firstly, we used clay to create a 3d piece for the 2024 calendars. Once these dried, the children painted them white and highlighted the shadowed areas using metallic paints. These were then photographed to create the calendars that are hanging up at home! The children also enjoyed making collages out of sweet wrappers which they sketched and coloured. They upscaled them and used paints to create a larger version. 

One of the highlights for Year 5 has been the Design and Technology topic on bridges. The children learned about the different structures of bridge and tested the strength of them using card. The main group task was to make a truss bridge using spaghetti and masking tape; the children had to use a lot of resilience throughout that process! As a class, we created a wooden truss bridge so the children were able to practise their sawing skills. 

In Computing, the children learned about search engines and how to validate the reliability of a website. They were very surprised to find that even though a website can look professional, the information is not necessarily true.

Year 5 were also lucky enough to have a visit from St John's Ambulance to learn about DRABC and how to put someone into the recovery position. These are vital skills which could help save a life one day.

Autumn Term - Literacy

This term we started by consolidating our learning from Year 5. We revised our understanding of sentence structure through writing simple, compound and complex sentences. We also thought about different ways to start a sentence, the purpose of a comma and how to use speech punctuation accurately. Then we started to explore the book Tuesday by David Wiesner which has a creative storyline about an unexplained night of flying frogs. In this text there is great detail in the illustrations but limited text so we had to be super picture detectives to understand the story. We wrote police style reports to explain the story and then immersed ourselves in the genre of newspapers. Our final writing task was to write a newspaper article based on a similar incident but ours was based at La Mare and had flying pigs.

Autumn Term - Numeracy

Year 5 started off this term recapping our knowledge and understanding of place value in number. We used place value charts and lots of concrete resources to work out what the digits of 3, 4 and 5-digit numbers represent.  Next we used this information to practise adding and subtracting numbers, using standard written methods. We then worked on written multiplication skills, using our CPA approach to complete area models. As part of our Cultural Enrichment, Year 5 had a fabulous opportunity to practise their problem solving skills at a Maths Roadshow. The Elizabeth College maths team set up lots of tricky puzzles in the hall for the children. They had a great time and used every single one of our Learning Principles!

Autumn Term - Science

In Science we have been learning about ‘Living Things and their Habitats’. Our first two lessons revisited and built upon learning from Year 4 about mammals, amphibians, birds and insects. We discovered their life cycles and could identify similarities and differences between them. Our learning didn’t stop there! Then we found out about the four major groups of arthropods and enjoyed using an online encyclopedia to discover even more facts and examples! Next our focus was on microorganisms and how some can be helpful and others are harmful. We used the vocabulary consumer and producer when looking at food chains and also found out about the importance of Maria Marion in the field of entomology. We were fascinated to learn that people used to think that insects were evil and born from mud but Maria Merion studied them carefully and published her drawings and findings in 1705. Even David Attenborough thinks that she is amazing!

Autumn Term - Other Curriculum Areas

It has been a busy term for learning. In Geography we revised map skills, key lines of longitude and latitude and learned how to accurately find a place using 4-figure grid references.  The children used data loggers in Computing to register the noise levels in the classroom throughout a school day. They then analysed the graph produced to indicate key times and the reasons for the noise levels. Badminton has been a real highlight for Year 5 this half term. The children have enjoyed learning how to serve and the different types of shots that can be made. The focus for Design and Technology was to make a scene using moving mechanisms. The children had a fabulous time creating a circus-themed scene based on our Class Reader (Fizzlebert Stump). They used pop-ups, pivots and sliders. The results were great and the children were very proud of them.