Autumn 2024

We have had a fantastic start to the school year in Y5. Everyone has settled in really well and we have made a great start to our new topics! An outline of what we are learning in the autumn term can be found here and the homework outline can be found here.

Our topic question for this term is ‘What extreme holidays can you take?’ which focusses on learning about mountains and deserts. We will start by learning all about the formation of different types of mountains and all about different mountain ranges in the world. We will also be doing some exciting writing based on the literacy shed film 'The Ridge' with Danny MacAskill. After October half term, our focus will switch to deserts, where we will locate world deserts, discuss survival in the desert and how cities have been built in deserts now.

In English this half term, we start with some  persuasive writing based on the book 'The Day the Crayons Quit' by Oliver Jeffers. We will be also be creating writing based on our class book 'The Boy at the Back of the Class' by Onjali Q Rauf. It is a lovely story about a refugee child who starts a new school and makes a great group of friends to go on adventures with. We are all really enjoying it so far and I look forward to doing some writing inspired by the book.

In maths, our current focus is number and place value. We have been looking at the value of digits in numbers up to one million and how we can compare and round these numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000. Next, we will be moving onto addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

In Science, we have started our topic looking at Earth and Space. We have invented some creative ways of remembering the order of the planets, and we will be creating models demonstrating how the Earth orbits the sun.  

In other subjects, we will be looking at 'Keeping Healthy' and 'Differences and Diversity' in PSHE; evaluating the work of David Hockney in order to inspire our own mountain themed pop art; learning about computing systems and networks, especially how information can be shared; exploring reasons people believe God exists and whether we can live by the values of Jesus in the 21st century in RE; learning names for pets in French and having whole class trumpet lessons!

Sounds like a busy and exciting term!

Summer 2024

Year 5 had a fantastic Spring term and we can't wait to see what the final term in Year 5 has in store! Full details of the learning taking place in Year 5 this term can be found here. Our Year 5 homework grid for Summer 2 can be found here.

Our topic this term is Ancient Maya. We will be travelling back in time to this ancient civilisation period, where we will be finding out about a whole range of items, such as: locating where Maya people lived, placing the Maya civilisation in history, learning about cities and society, everyday life, farming, religions and the writing used by Maya people. We will also be completing some exciting art work inspired by this time period. We are creating Ancient Maya Stelae out of cardboard, as well as making our own worry dolls. 

We are starting our final whole class reading book called 'The Nowhere Emporium' by Ross Mackenzie. This is one of my favourite books to read as it is full of magic and adventure. We will be completing some narrative writing inspired by this in English, as well as writing a newspaper report based on the story 'The Viewer' by Shaun Tan.

Maths this term will focus on statistics, shape and measure, where we will be converting units of measurement. We will also be building onto our decimal knowledge by making links to fractions and percentages, as well as adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals. 

In science we will be comparing the lifecycles of plants, amphibians, birds, insects, reptiles and mammals. Then we will move to our final science topic of the year, where we will look at the journey of the human body from birth to death. 

Spring 2024

We have had a fantastic first term in Year 5 and we are excited for all the things planned for Spring. Full details of the learning taking place in Year 5 can be found here. Our Year 5 homework grid for Spring 1 can be found here.

Our topic this term is Rainforests. Children will be locating these on maps, researching about countries in which they are located and investigating the animals and plants that live in these complex ecosystems. Then we will be moving on to looking at tribal life and also the effect of deforestation on the rainforests. In art, we are producing rainforest work inspired by Henry Rousseau.

We are reading an exciting book this half term - 'The Explorer' by Katherine Rundell. It is an entrancing story about four children who get lost in the Amazon rainforest and have to try and find their way home. We are then looking forward to doing lots of adventurous writing based on this! In addition, we are also going to be looking at the poem 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes, where we will be performing, analysing and having a go at recreating a section.

In maths, we are currently mastering long multiplication, and we will soon be moving onto division. We will also be looking at fractions, decimals and percentages this term, where we will be learning to find equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages. We will also be learning how to compare and order them and round to the nearest wholes. As well as all of this, we will be calculating the area and perimeter of shapes and looking at statistics. 

In science, we are learning about materials and their properties. We will be investigating thermal properties, dissolving, evaporating, and discussing whether changes are reversible or irreversible. 

In PSHE our topics are exploring emotions then we will move onto looking at relationships.