Year 5 - Friday 25th February 2022

Date: 24th Feb 2022 @ 5:57pm

Welcome to this week’s Year 5 Class Blog

The children have settled back into the school week and worked hard this week.

This week in year 5

We have learnt a lot of maths this week.  We have recapped factors and factor pairs and investigated common factors of two numbers; this also helped us to recap work on prime numbers.  We used a lot of our divisibility facts to help us with this.  We have also managed to spend time working on the grid method.  We have completed 2 digits by 2 digits and even worked on 2 digits by 3 digits.  There are YouTube videos if you aren’t familiar with this method and want to help you child practise at home.  The children also enjoyed 'Twosday' this week and had fun looking at the extraordinary date.

In English we started a new novel, Why the Whales Came by Michael Murpurgo.  We have used reading skills to find characteristics of the Birdman so that we could draw and describe him, we have completed reading comprehensions and used evidence from the text.  We have been given extracts of the book without punctuation and tried to correct it whilst our partner reads the book aloud emphasising the pauses and breaks. Finally, we have written a diary entry as Gracie from the story.

In Science, we investigated substances, whether they were soluble or insoluble.  They carried out a series of experiments and recorded their results.  They wrote fantastic conclusions relating to their findings.

In RE, we have finished our Mission topic.  The children have looked in detail at the work of the diocese, the family, the school community and their own role in helping to share the mission of Jesus.  They finished by writing a prayer for Christian Unity. They have been very respectful and thoughtful.

In French, we looked at the Carnaval de Nice which takes place every year at this time. The theme this year is Animaux. We admired the massive floats and the amazing costumes. Quelle spectacle! We researched some facts about it - we said we'd love to visit one day!

In PE, children worked on their relay skills.  They had to think about how to hold out their hand when receiving the baton, how to place it in their partners hand when passing the baton and where they needed to be looking at all the different stages.  The improvement in just one session was amazing; their speeds increased on each practise.  They then worked on attacking strategies within the game of Handball. Everyone developed considerably during the games and showed their teamwork skills and competitiveness. 

The children have started a new DT project where they will be learning about, planning and making a moving animal in its habitat, using cams and followers. They researched a number of vulnerable or endangered animals, looking at their appearance, habitat and movement.  Then we went on to look at a cam and follower mechanism and how it works.  They really listened carefully and were able to explain how the components work together using rotary and linear motion.  I have asked if they can all try and bring in a box to make their model with. Any box around a shoe box, cereal box or large than a cube tissue box will suffice.

In computing we discussed positive and fun interactions online.  We discussed how we interact with others online when gaming and how this can be kept safe, fun and positive.  We designed our own interactive computer game and had to explain how people could interact in a positive and safe way.

In PSHE we carried on our emergency situation sessions.  This week we learnt about what to do if we found someone choking.  The children practised 5 back slaps in slow motion on one another and felt on their own bodies where they would give 5 tummy thrusts to someone who was choking.

DON’T FORGET

Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.

Please bring in a cardboard box for DT.

All reply slips etc to be returned for both Judges Lodgings and Borwick Hall.

Packed lunch required for Judges Lodgings next week.

There is also an amendment to the Borwick trip, details can be found in the newsletter. The children must bring their own packed lunch on this day.

Common exception words will be being tested before the end of term.

Home Practice all relates to this week's learning - These are the tasks to be completed.

Reading - You all have a Home Reading book for year 5 so reading every night for 15-20 mins is essential. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be completed and signed. Some children had a break from reading over the holidays but please ensure this is made a priority now that we are back at school.  Practise is vital to improve in all areas of English.

You can change your reading book on any school day (book bags to be left on Mrs Mulgrew's desk)

Maths – please ask your child what their times tables target is and help them practise this in order for them to progress.

I’d also encourage you to do a daily count with your child.  This week they can count up in 6s and 0.6s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 6s or 0.6s, either forwards or backwards.  A strategy we use is bridging e.g. if the number is 45 and we are adding 6 we would use 5 to bridge it to the next 10 first – 50 and then add the remaining 1.  If subtracting we would again subtract to the nearest 10 – this time subtracting 5 to get to 40 and then subtracting the leftover 1.

Spellings words with an ‘or’ sound. We will look at these in more detail in school next week. They should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. 

forty, scorch, absorbent, decorate, afford, enormous, category, tornado, accordingly, opportunity, abnormal, before, forgotten, performance, vigorous

Don’t forget the children have a big list of Common Exception words to learn; these can be practised each week to push your child further.  You should all have received a sheet with these words on by now. I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Christmas. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before Easter.

Sumdog challenges

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES, MANY CHILDREN ARE STILL NOT ACCESSING SUMDOG.

Please encourage your child to complete the Maths and Spelling Training.  As you know, we set weekly challenges that are linked to the learning that takes place in school.  As an extra feature, the maths and spelling training sections will provide a tailored challenge for your child to practise skills, facts and words they find difficult.  Once the diagnostic challenges have been completed Sumdog will set challenges to aid improvement and development in the appropriate areas for your child.  Once you have completed the class challenges, please use this feature for extra challenge in both maths and spelling.  Many children have still not completed the diagnostic section.

Times tables have been set to reflect class targets

Maths the children have been set activities relating to factors and prime numbers.

Spellings words containing ‘or’.