What an exciting and memorable week it has been in Year 5! Between Science Week activities, our visit to Chatham House and some fantastic learning in the classroom, the children have had plenty of opportunities to challenge themselves and demonstrate their creativity.

English

This week in English, we have been working on manipulating tenses. The children have had to think very carefully about the tense they are writing in, as each paragraph jumps between the present and the past while we write flashbacks. We have also focused on writing effective trigger sentences, which signal to the reader that a character is about to slip into a memory.

Perhaps the trickiest challenge of all has been balancing these new skills while continuing to incorporate the powerful emotive language we developed last week. The children have worked incredibly hard to ensure their writing is both technically accurate and emotionally engaging.

Next week, we will be reading The Highwayman and debating whether stealing is always wrong.

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been practising how to use the information we already know to answer unfamiliar questions. We began by recapping our knowledge of rectangles and angles before creating reference cards to bring all of this information together in one place.

The children then tackled problems where the solution was not immediately obvious. Instead, they had to identify what they already knew and apply that knowledge until the answer became clearer. This is a hugely important mathematical skill as it helps children make links between different areas of learning and recognise which knowledge will be most useful when solving a problem.

Next week, we will be reading and interpreting data in tables, such as bus timetables, and deciding which types of graphs are most suitable for representing different kinds of data.

Science Week

It has been Science Week this week, and we have had so much fun!

We began by creating our own lava lamps using oil, coloured water and effervescent tablets. The children loved watching the reactions take place and then learning about the science behind them by exploring the concept of density.

We then visited Chatham House for a fantastic STEAM Day. During the visit, we made screen-printed tote bags, baked rock cakes, created metal keychains and even dug for gold! The children made us incredibly proud throughout the day and it was a wonderful opportunity for them to see some of the exciting experiences that await them in secondary school.

We ended the week with an egg drop challenge. First, we learnt how impacts can be reduced by slowing down an object's speed and how air resistance can help reduce the speed at which something falls. The children were then challenged to work in teams and use a range of materials to protect an egg from a significant drop. We saw some wonderfully creative designs and, although many eggs sadly perished during testing, there were also some impressive successes!

 

Spelling:

Mr Oxley and Mrs Mirza’s group’s red words for this term:

Familiar, privilege, sincere, suggest, hindrance, frequently, programme, interrupt, exaggerate, equipped

Challenge words:

Agonising, engulfed, trembling, terrified, overwhelmed

Miss Isaac’s group’s red words for this term:

Favourite, learn, minute, library, February, reign, group, often, forwards, fruit

Love to Learn:

Dates to remember:

17th – 24th June – Book Fair

18th June – Year 6 Come Dine with me picnic

19th June – Zoe Artemedis (local Author) visiting school

24th June – Class photos

26th June – Non-school uniform day for all in return for Summer Fair donations (see Summer fair letter that will come out early term 6 for details)

30th June – Music evening at 6pm

1st July – Big fat quiz of the year (year 4 at 1.30pm and year 5 at 2.15pm)

10th July – Year 3-6 Sports day from 9.15 on the top field

10th July – School reports sent home

13th, 14th, 15th July– Transition days (children will spend these days with their new class teacher)

14th July 2.45pm – Parents invited into child’s new class to meet their teacher