Year 5

Welcome to Year 5

The staff in Year 5 are:
Miss Oakes, Mr Gardner, Mrs Feddersen-Doyle and Mrs Milinska

Welcome to Year 5’s Class Page!

It has been lovely welcoming the wonderful Year 5 children back into school after our summer break. We already feel very proud witnessing the enthusiasm the children have demonstrated; their willingness to learn has been inspiring and they have settled in nicely to school routines again! We have already created our ‘Golden Rules’ and have introduced our new topics in Science, Geography and RE. All of the children have made a great start adapting to the challenges in Year 5.

Religious Education

We will start this academic year focusing on the topic, ‘Creation and Covenant’ and will move on to ‘Advent to Christmas’ in Autumn 2. During our first unit of learning, children will explore the life of Moses, focusing on his encounter with God and the Ten Commandments. Students will learn about God's revelation to Moses and how this differs from other mythological stories. They will examine the Ten Commandments, understanding their historical context and how they relate to modern life. By the end, students will appreciate the significance of Moses in religious history, understand the nature of divine revelation, and see how faith and virtues shape our world. The children will continue to plan and take part in the deliverance of Collective Acts of Worship. 

English
We have started our English learning journey with the book ‘Cloud Tea Monkeys’. ‘The Adventures of Odysseus’, and Greek myths will follow. Children will explore the settings of the texts and how the main characters overcome difficult circumstances and challenges. Our texts link to our history and geography topics of ‘Ancient Greece’ and ‘Fair Trade’ and the children will be taking part in narrative writing opportunities and drama. We will also be reading the text, ‘Journey to Jo’burg’ during Black History Month to ensure the children build an understanding of stories set in different cultures and the relevance of learning about influential individuals, past and present. In the second half of the term, we will be providing the children with ample opportunities to write narratives, describing settings and building atmosphere and tension.

Maths

In maths, we will be covering the following areas: place value, addition & subtraction, statistics, multiplication & division, and fractions. Children encountered numbers up to 10,000 in Year 4. Children will be exposed to a variety of pictorial and concrete representations, including base 10, place value counters, place value charts and part-whole models. In particular, the ability to use place value charts needs to be secure, as this is the main representation  used in the coming steps where children learn about 5- and 6-digit numbers. Children should also be able to add and subtract 10, 100 and 1,000 to and from a given number, using their place value knowledge rather than formal written methods. We will continue to encourage the children to be proficient in their times tables and number facts, as these are vitally important for many aspects of mathematical problem solving.

Science

In the Autumn term the children will be learning about ‘Forces’ and by the end of the unit, should be able to explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object. They should also be able to identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces and recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect. They will investigate ‘Does the size of a parachute affect the time it takes for it to fall to the ground?’

The children will also learn about Space. The children will study the solar system with a particular focus on the planets and the history of how the solar system evolved. By the end of the unit, they will be able to identify why we have 24-hour days and identify what the Moon looks like, its surface and how long it takes to orbit Earth.

The children’s ‘working scientifically’ focus for this term will be planning; they will plan different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary.

Geography

In Autumn 1, the children will build on their knowledge of Human Geography: Natural Resources. They will identify and define the different types of natural resources in the United Kingdom whilst exploring the terms renewable and non-renewable. They will build their geographical mapping skills through Digimap (online mapping) within the topic as well as look at the production of wood throughout the world and the associated problems. Students will further explore ‘Fair Trade’ in geography. To embed this topic, we have chosen our English text, which has themes of Fair Trade in order for the children to explore this topic within a narrative context. The children will gain an understanding of where Fairtrade products are grown, the importance of Fair Trade and investigating whether Fair Trade is, in fact, fair. They will answer the Big Question ‘How can the earth’s natural resources be shared fairly?’

History

In Autumn 2, the children will be learning about ‘Ancient Greece’ focussing on our ‘Big Question’ of ‘How did the legacy of the Greek period influence the western world today?’ It is very important for the children to understand the chronology of the topics and eras taught in history across the school, but also their understanding and fluency of the timeline of events within a topic. The children will research the different Gods the Greeks worshipped and find out what the Ancient Greeks left behind and their legacy.

Expectations

We encourage all children to demonstrate a high standard of behaviour at all times in order to create a safe, respectful and happy learning environment.

Each class has participated in the process of making a set of ‘Golden Rules.’ The children have agreed to follow the rules as they understand that this will help their learning.

Respecting each other and all members of staff is expected and reflects the ethos of our school. 

The children are required to listen carefully and to develop their self-control and concentration in class and in the playground. 

Working together with parents and guardians plays a big part in establishing good relationships and standards of behaviour.

Homework

In Year 5, we encourage the children to take greater autonomy over their learning and it is an expectation for children to regularly check Google Classroom for updates and announcements. The majority of homework will be set online via platforms such as SATs Companion. Homework will complement the learning taking place in school. Children are expected to practise their spellings, number facts and read for a minimum of 20 minutes daily. Meaningful reading record entries are to be made and records are to be checked and signed each week by parents. These will also be checked by teachers each Friday. 

Homework will cover the following areas:

• RE
• Handwriting
• Spellings and grammar activities
• Times tables & number facts
• English (reading & writing)
• Maths (arithmetic & topic)

Homework not handed in on the due date will result in a demerit and be recorded on our online school rewards system ‘Epraise’.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to the term ahead!

‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’

Nelson Mandela