Year 5
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 immersed ourselves in the genre of newspapers and our final writing task was to write a newspaper article based on the events in the text. The format of guided reading sessions has continued from Year 4 and we have been reading The Last Bear by Hannah Gold. The children have really enjoyed reading and performing this text; focusing on the themes of character, relationships and climate change.
Autumn Term - Maths
In Maths, the start of the school year always heralds a return to basics, with a revisit to, and a consolidation of, our understanding of Place Value. This included considering and comparing the value of numbers up to 100,000, looking at Roman Numerals, rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000, and the concept of negative numbers. Following on from this, we systematically looked at different approaches to, and different methods of, Adding and Subtracting. We presented and considered three potential ways of approaching Maths from a concrete, pictorial, or abstract perspective. Similarly, we explored a variety of related methods. After studying various aspects of Addition and Subtraction, we built on this prior learning when considering and navigating Multiplication and Division. During this first half-term of Year Five, the children also continued a guided voyage of discovery through their times tables knowledge and understanding, using Number Sense. Through/out the course of the eight-week block, we began with our 6s, worked through 7s, and were roughly halfway through coming to a firm understanding of our 8s.
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. We also explored the many types of arthropods using Britannica Online. 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 explored search engines in Computing; discovering how they work and why some are more suitable for children than others. We had Outdoor Learning this half term and the children had great fun attempting to create tarpaulin shelters in force 7 winds! It was great to get out in the fresh air and do some teambuilding activities. The children loved creating collages out of sweet wrappers in Art, then upscaling them. The results were very effective! In line with being a Gold Rights Respecting School, both Year 5 classes now have their Class Charter on display. The children chose the most relevant articles and came up with shared guidance as to how Rights Holders (the children) and Duty Bearers (the adults) can ensure every child is accessing their rights.