What an exciting week it has been in Year 5! We have continued our journey into space and have been developing our writing, mathematical understanding and scientific knowledge. The children have worked incredibly hard and have particularly enjoyed the opportunity to teach each other this week!

English

This week in English, we have been writing diary entries, focusing particularly on the difference between formal and informal language. We looked at how we use contractions such as don't and shouldn't when writing informally, but how these would not always be appropriate when adopting a more formal tone.

We have also been working on adding emotive language to our writing, particularly when recounting events in a diary. Simply describing what happened is not always very interesting for the reader, so we have been thinking carefully about including our thoughts and feelings to make our writing more engaging.

We have continued reading The Jamie Drake Equation and have explored Chapters 8, 9 and 10.

Next week, we will be moving on to explanation texts and learning about how astronauts manage to do everyday things in zero gravity.

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been working with decimal numbers. We have focused particularly on the fact that hundredths are smaller than tenths, even though hundreds are bigger than tens! We have been thinking carefully about what decimal numbers actually represent and using place value to help us understand them.

We also looked at simple conversions between decimals and fractions, such as 0.36 = 36/100 and 0.453 = 453/1000.

Next week, we will be learning how to multiply and divide numbers by 10, 100 and 1,000.

Thematic

In Thematic this week, we have been learning about what else orbits the Sun other than Earth. We learnt about the eight planets in our solar system and discovered why Pluto is no longer classified as a planet.

We learnt that, to be classified as a planet, an object must meet three criteria:

• It must orbit the Sun ✓

• It must be spherical ✓

• It must have cleared its orbital path ✗

Unfortunately for Pluto, it has not cleared its orbital path and passes through the Kuiper Belt, meaning that it is classified as a dwarf planet instead.

We also learnt that the first four planets in our solar system are rocky planets, while the outer four are gas giants. Team Topaz became experts on the gas giants, while Team Aqua learnt about the rocky planets. They then prepared presentations and delivered them to a group from the other class.

This was a lovely opportunity to mix up the classes and allowed the children to teach each other. It also meant they had to make sure that the knowledge they were sharing was both accurate and interesting!

Spelling

accommodate, accompany, according, persuade, opportunity, marvellous, rhythm, rhyme, queue, dictionary

Challenge words:
apocalypse, celestial, perihelion, aphelion, extraterrestrial

Love to Learn

For this week's Love to Learn, since we have been writing diary entries, we would like you to write one of your own. Choose from one of the topics below and remember to include some contractions and emotive language.

• Tell your diary about an interesting day you had recently.

• Imagine you're Grandad Neil and tell your diary about a crazy day as a rockstar.

CHALLENGE:
Imagine you're an alien and you have just arrived on Earth and found yourself at Chilton. Tell your alien diary about your day!

Dates to Remember

• 25th September – Chilton Fundraisers Family Quiz. More details will follow from the Chilton Fundraisers.

• 8th October – Harvest Festival for Years 5 and 6 at 2.45pm.

• 23rd October – Halloween Disco. All children come to school in fancy dress. Years 1, 2 and 3: 2pm–3pm. Years 4, 5 and 6: 3.15pm–4.15pm.

• 23rd October – Final day of term.