Year 5 Friday 7th January 2022

Date: 6th Jan 2022 @ 5:04pm

Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog

Happy New Year to all my Year 5 families. I hope you all had a great break and are ready to go in 2022!

This week in year 5

In Maths we have worked on equivalent fractions.  We have been converting fractions into equivalent fractions with both a higher and lower denominator and looking at finding the lowest term. This is a really tricky skill but the children will need to remember the rules with equivalent fractions – we can only use times and divide when making equivalent fractions and that whatever we do to the top we have to do to the bottom.  This week everyone has worked really hard to grasp the concept.

In English we have started reading Street Child. This book is about a child during the Victorian era who ends up becoming a runaway. The story describes his life on the streets at a difficult time. So far the children have made some predictions, discussed the thoughts and feelings of characters through freeze frame drama and showed scenes from the book and discussed each character.

In RE, the children started their Mission topic.  We have explored what it means to have a mission in life and how different people are called to their mission.  Next week we will be concentrating on our Holy Communion.  Please ensure that all sacramental programme folders are back in school for the church visit on Monday. You had a booklet to complete over the Christmas period that should also be returned.

In French, we learnt about how French people celebrate La fete des Rois - the Feast of the Epiphany. A special cake which contains a lucky charm is shared. Whoever gets the lucky charm in their slice becomes the King or Queen for the day. We then focussed on the phonic sound oi (wa) as in roi, listening to a song with lots of oi words and reading them. Tres bien! Bonne annee!

In PE, the children completed the train run warm up, we have some super runners in Year 5 and they all really trying their hardest.  Due to the cold weather we had to stay inside and had a spirited game of dodgeball and benchball.  Next week even if the weather is cold we will still be doing PE outside, so please send in plain, dark leggings or jogging pants so they can keep warm.  We are also suggesting thin gloves and hats if the children want to wear them. That way we will be able to split the class again and learn 2 different areas of PE each week.

We are studying history again this half term and our topic is the Victorian era. This fits alongside our English novel and will help with their understanding of the story.  We have had an introduction lesson where we looked at the industrial changes that happened and how this prompted migration from the countryside to the cities and the negative consequences this had on people. We discussed the lack of housing, jobs and food and the spread of infection, illness and disease.

In Art, the children returned their focus to the artist Jo Quigley and looked in more detail at the features of her work.  They have written a plan and chosen a specific piece of art for their inspiration and will sketch a rough plan ready for their final piece over the coming weeks.

In Science, the children had a wonderful lesson with Mrs Quillam.  They investigated words that can be used to decribe different materials that they may be working with scientifically. They then went on to write questions that would lead to a fair test and went back through their science books and discussed questions that could have been used for enquiries in their previous topics. Mrs Quilliam was very impressed with their enthusiasm and their ideas. I'm sure this will help the children with their experiments and enquiries in our next topic Properties and Changes of Materials.

DON’T FORGET (see above for further details)

Sacramental folders need returning for church on Monday.

Additional warm clothes for PE sessions required from next week.

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. Practice 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 we are counting up in 4s, 0.4 and 0.04. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 4s, 0.4 or 0.04 e.g. 3.2, 3.6, 4 or 1.13, 1.17, 1.21 etc.  This will help the children learn and remember strategies to help them in maths. 

Spellings words containing ‘ant’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. 

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 will receive a sheet with these words on over the next few days, I have highlighted the words that your child spelled correctly in the spelling test before Christmas. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering their spellings. Continue to practice these and will be assessed again near Easter.

antique, assistant, disadvantage, elephant, fantastic, gigantic, radiant, reluctant, want, advantage, ignorant, anticipate, defiant, important, distant

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 fractions. 

Spellings words containing ‘ant’.

The children have worked hard this week and settled in well.