St Oswald's Catholic Primary SchoolYear 5: Blog items
Date: 8th Jul 2022 @ 2:53pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, the children have completed a number of assessments, including reasoning and their times tables check. They have all worked so hard. I am very proud of the work they have put it. We have also had time to work on adding decimal numbers up to 3 decimal places. We have looked at adding decimals when they have a different number of integers (the number in front of the decimal) e.g. 25.272 + 346.081 = and we have also practised adding when the number of decimal places is different e.g. 390.45 + 283.173 =. The children have practised this in my different ways, including word problems.
In English we have again worked on some assessments but we have also managed to complete our novel Varjak Paw. The children seemed to have really enjoyed the book and for those avid readers there is a follow up book called Varjak Paw the Outlaw, the author is S. F. Said. We have written lots of work using a variety of features to show everything we have learnt this year, including a set of contrasting descriptions of the different settings from the book.
In Science, the children researched insects and amphibians as part of their life cycles topic. They had to find out the names of the creatures at the different stages, how they changed and whether they undertook full metamorphosis or partial metamorphosis.
In RE we continued with our topic of stewardship. The children were able to go outside and take photos and videos of our wonderful world and then wrote why it was precious to them. We also read scripture about creation and discussed what this meant in terms of stewardship and our responsibility of looking after God's precious earth.
We had a special visitor this week in French. Mr Hennigan, who is Head of Modern Languages at All Hallows came to join us for the lesson. He was so impressed! He said, "The standard of French in Y5 is amazing! Their pronunciation is exceptionally good and their grammatical knowledge is very impressive!" Very well done to everyone who joined in wholeheartedly with the lesson. You did St Oswald's proud!
In PE many of you will have seen the children enjoying their tennis session. This was slightly shorter than usual due to the lovely parent's afternoon. The children did however manage to practise their skills keeping the ball bouncing on their racket to improve control and force, they threw a ball to their partner who had to hit it back to them to catch, to improve aim and control power and finally we had a competition like last week where the children had to return a serve.
We have had 2 afternoons of PSHE this week to conclude our topic on careers. The children discussed the different careers they might like to take on in the future and whether these were realistic expectations with their skills and abilities. We looked at what they would need to work on to make these ideas and dreams a reality. We then went on to look at the importance of a range of jobs, the children ranked 17 careers in order of importance. Then I challenged them on the importance of each job, and they concluded that many jobs are important, and it really depends on the situation. I then shocked them by revealing the average wage of the different jobs and the children were able to discuss what wages they thought were unfair and unjust. This sparked a discussion on choosing a job based on wages over interest, vocation and enjoyment. We then went on to look at stereotypes in jobs, where these come from and how they, as future adults, can help to break these stereotypes. We had a discussion on job choices and training with link to university, college and apprenticeships and this all gave them food for thought. They worked really well and debated the topics in a respectful and mature manner.
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.
Spelling words are homophones part 2
alter altar farther father guessed guest heard herd passed past their there they're here hear
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 adding and subtracting decimals.
Spelling words homophones and near homophones.
Date: 30th Jun 2022 @ 6:20pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have been completing a number of assessments. The children have been working on their arithmetic and reasoning skills. They have also been given some bike related maths activities to complete whilst taking part in bikeability.
In English we have continued Varjak Paw, he has now found our 6 of the skills needed to help him get a dog to save his family. We have met a particularly nasty character called Sally Bones, we wrote a diary entry as her and her encounter with Varjak.
We have had some lovely outdoor learning this week. We had our Bikeability sessions and the children worked really hard. They also had a ‘wild weaving’ session, I’m sure you all got to see the children’s fantastic wreaths and crosses that they brought home on Wednesday. They worked so well together and collected some lovely flowers and leaves to help them create their fabulous pieces. They also planted their sunflower shoots into the ground, so hopefully they should flower in the coming weeks.
In RE the children have looked at their role as a steward and how they can be a steward in our world and help sustainability. We created a sustainability tree with ideas of how we can help keep the earth safe and create a positive future for it. We also attended church on Wednesday for the Mass for St Peter and Paul. The children behaved very well and remembered their knowledge of St Paul whom we studied earlier this year.
In French, we wrote sentences about sports saying who you play with, what equipment is used, where it is played and what to wear to do the sport. Our friends had to guess which sport we had described.
In Music, the children have been practising songs from Joseph and will be bringing home song sheets to practise at home.
In PE the children did lots of cycling skills throughout the first part of the week. During our PE lesson on Thursday we practised our tennis technique. They children threw a ball to their friend who had to use a tennis racket to knock it back to them. Once they had improved their aim when returning the ball, they started to play with two rackets. We then played a game where the teacher hit a ball to them and they had to return it, within the playing area. If they missed the ball or the ball went ‘out’ they had to join the teacher and became ball catchers. If they caught their friends out they were allowed to re-join the game. They had a really great time and developed their skills.
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.
Spellings words homophones and near homophones. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
advise advice device devise which witch practise practice bear bare aisle isle aloud allowed who’s whose
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 angles.
Spellings words homophones and near homophones
Year 5 - Friday 24th June 2022
Date: 23rd Jun 2022 @ 5:10pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have finished off number and place value by doing a little more work on multiplying and dividing by powers of 10 and relating this to measure. Some children have secured their facts about measure but some could do to revisit this at home every now and then. They need to remember 1000g = 1kg, 1000ml = 1 litre, 1000m = 1km, 10mm = 1cm and 100cm = 1m for starters. We have moved onto angles at the end of the week, estimating and measuring angles with a protractor.
In English we have continued with the drama in Varjak Paw. The mysterious Vanishings in the book have lead us to writing a newspaper article asking for help to find out what is happening. The children have published these reports in class. We have also been using our inference and comprehension skills by reading chapters and answering questions, using evidence from the text.
In Science, the children continued with their work on living things. They investigated the life cycles of insects and amphibians and learnt common facts about insects and common facts about amphibians.
In RE the children ended their freedom and responsibility topic with a lovely worship, remembering all the things they have learnt.
In French this week, we used all the vocabulary we have learned over the last few weeks to write a paragraph about sports using adverbs of frequency, opinions and negatives. Super writing year 5!
In PE many of you joined us for an outstanding sports day. I’m sure you enjoyed watching the children who put in so much effort, on such a warm day. The children had lots of fun and earned many points for their houses. I’m sure you will agree it was a great afternoon! Please look at the video on St Oswald's YouTube channel.
In Geography, we concluded our topic on China with an investigation in the economic growth of China and how this has impacted upon the country and its people. The children looked into which countries import the most from China and then located these countries on a map.
Online Saftey Update - Live Streaming
Many of our children access YouTube and TikTok as their primary source of online content. Live streamers are becoming ever more popular with children and young people.
Live streaming is the term used to describe the broadcast of a real time video from a mobile device, tablet or games console. Many live streaming apps have functionality for interactions from viewers, such as commenting, live chats and sending reactions during the broadcast.
In this guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as online grooming, privacy & security and online reputation. Also, be aware of age ratings on any platforms you allow your children to use.
DON’T FORGET
The children completed their Common Exception Words Spelling test this week. Thank you for helping them practise.
All Hallows £3 dinner money to be returned.
Bikeability on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Please make sure your booklet and bike check sheet are returned. Children will need their bikes and helmets on all 3 days.
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. Reading daily 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.
No spellings this week, due to completing the Common Exception Words test and the All Hallows visit next week.
Sumdog challenges
PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES
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 converting time and multiplying and dividing by powers of 10.
No spellings this week, due to completing the Common Exception Words test and the All Hallows visit next week.
Year 5 - Friday 17th June 2022
Date: 16th Jun 2022 @ 5:49pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have worked on number and place value. We have practised converting between numbers and Roman numerals, we have rounded numbers up to 1000000 to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, 10000 and 100000we have been comparing and ordering numbers up to 3 decimal places and we have been practising a range of reasoning questions relating to all these topics.
In English things are really hotting up for Varjak Paw! We have been reading about mysterious Vanishings that have been happening in the city and Varjak has been attacked by a cat gang! The children have been using comprehension skills to answer questions, using the text as evidence and have almost finished a newspaper article about the Vanishings.
In Geography, we have learnt a lot about China, its location, its continent and bordering countries. We also learnt about the desertification of China and how rapidly this is happening and how they are trying to stop it. The children finished with a question scavenger hunt where they ran around the playground finding facts about Chinese culture that would help them answer quiz questions.
In RE we finished our topic on freedom and responsibility by looking at the sacrament of reconciliation. The children produced a lovely piece of work that explained all the different actions and words used during reconciliation and their significance.
In French, we practised using the first and third person to write about likes and dislikes from a cafe menu. We also recapped the verbs avoir and etre that the children need to learn off by heart before year 7. Homework - please keep singing the song Je suis un enfant de paix on Youtube. Again, it needs to be learnt off by heart. In PE we played playground games and worked on teamwork and cooperation.
In PE the children had their bike checks ready for bikability in the coming weeks and they practised their hand eye coordination using a tennis racket and ball. They had partners that threw the ball to them and they had to return the ball to their partner, on target, using a tennis racket. We then finished with a relay race in final preparation for next week’s sports day.
In Computing we have been learning about vector drawing. The children used lines and shapes to create pictures. They worked really hard and created many great pictures.
DON’T FORGET
If you forgot to bring your bike or helmet for the bike check, the catch up day is Tuesday.
Common exception words will be tested next Friday
Sports Day on Thursday - children must have their PE kit in school to participate.
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.
Spellings Common Exception words. They should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. Please see sheet provided and highlighted each term.
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 number and place value.
Spellings Common Exception words
Year 5 - Friday 10th June 2022
Date: 9th Jun 2022 @ 5:07pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have been working hard on number and place value. We have identified, represented and estimated numbers on a number line, where all the numbers have not been given. We have rounded numbers all the way up to 1000000 to the nearest 10000 and 100000. We have counted forwards and backwards through zero, using positive and negative numbers and also looked at converting numbers into Roman numerals and vice versa. It’s been a busy first week back!
In English we are getting excited about Varjak Paw. He has escaped the Contessa’s house and trying to find his way in the city. The children have spent lots of time exploring the characters and their feelings, reading into the text and seeing how the author shows the characters feelings with their words and descriptions.
In PSHE we have been reflecting on our school year so far. Looking at what we have enjoyed, where we have improved and what we hope for next year. The children enjoyed looking back through their books and their seesaw accounts and remembering all the amazing things they have done.
In RE the children continued looking at freedom and responsibility, examining the scripture from the Old and New Testament linking to this. They have reflected on times when they may not have ‘loved their neighbour’ and written to God asking for forgiveness and help with being able to ‘love their neighbour’, even in difficult times.
In French this week, we practised conjugating the verb jouer - to play. We are really good at these regular ER verbs now - great progress, year 5! Some people even managed to write sentences independently, with correct verb endings and even including negatives. Impressionant!
In PE the children practised techniques for sports day, they worked so hard and they are really starting to understand how to use their bodies to do their very best.
Online Safety Update
This week, our update is focused on how to set up devices for children. Read our short guide below for some useful tips to safeguard young people against online risk.
DON’T FORGET
Common exception words have been sent home and the final test for these will happen later this month.
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 we are counting up in 0.04. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 0.04s, either forwards or backwards. It often helps the children if they note down the numbers as they say them, it helps them work out the next number more easily when they can see it. Help them use bridging where appropriate to count on e.g. 4.08 + 0.02 = 4.1, then add the other 0.02 to get to 4.12.
Spellings words for possibility and Common Exception words. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
definitely, possibly, probably, frequently, infrequently, occasionally, rarely, certainly, obviously, often, curiosity, restaurant, conscience, disastrous, community.
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 second sheet with these words on by now, I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Easter. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words later in June.
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 number and place value.
Spellings words for possibility and Common Exception words
Date: 7th Jun 2022 @ 3:03pm
Here is the Dance From the Heart video to practise before the roadshow on Tuesday 21st June 2022.
Date: 26th May 2022 @ 4:35pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
The children have had a great half term, working hard and showing improvement in all that they do. I hope you all have a lovely half term and look forward to seeing you all for our final few weeks, after the break!
This week in year 5
In Maths, we are back on place value. We have been looking at numbers up to 1000000, reading, writing and comparing them. We have also been counting forwards and backwards in powers of 10 e.g. adding 10, subtracting 100000, adding 1000. The children were really good and were able to count and find tricky patterns. On our Jubilee day the children completed a maths challenge, ‘Who made the Queen’s cake?’ they had to solve a series of mathematical problems to eliminate suspects, they thoroughly enjoyed this task. Finally on our last day we had a spirited ‘Pirate Game’, where the children have to use quick addition, subtraction, doubling etc. to ‘steal’ the most points.
In English we have started our new novel Varjak Paw by S F Said. We have made predictions for the story, deciding who is the mysterious man, who are the strange cats, what is Varjak going to do? They have used the first 2 chapters to find examples that tell us about the characters, what type of cat are they, how do they feel, how do they act, what are they thinking?
In Science the children have begun to look at life cycles. We have looked at how some animals give birth to live young and some lay eggs. We have compared the life cycle of 2 metamorphic animals, the European common frog and the Monarch butterfly. The children used research skills to find facts and then wrote a comparison of the two.
In RE we read scripture relating to the 10 commandments, we discussed how the Israelites might have felt when they were asked to keep these rules and why they agreed to them and then we looked at how we could keep the commandments in this present day. We also attended Mass on Thursday for the Mass of the Ascension.
In French, we learnt when to use Je joue and when to use je fais with sports words. Then we wrote a paragraph incorporating these new verbs, the sports vocabulary and our opinions. Great job, year 5!
In PE we played playground games and worked on teamwork and cooperation.
On Wednesday we had a lovely day celebrating the Queen’s jubilee. The children took part in Jubilee maths, Jubilee comprehensions, we made a red white and blue profile collage of the queen and we joined the whole school for a 7 decade sing-a-long, where we sang ‘Help from my friends’ from the 1960s. We had a picnic outside where the queen joined us for a quick photo shoot (see attached). It was a lovely memorable day for the children.
DON’T FORGET
Common exception words have been sent home and the final test for these will happen shortly after our break.
Please encourage your child to read over the break so they can change their book on the first day back. Times tables are also something the children can continue to practise over the break, there are lots of fun games online that they can use to practise (top marks maths has some good games to keep them occupied)
If you want some extra work there are English and Maths Challenges on Sumdog that are available at all times. Once the children have completed the assessment, challenges will be set at their level.
Online Safety Update
This week, our update is focused on keeping children safe when accessing online content. A lot of platforms that our children use are dependent on uploaded content. Due to the sheer number of videos added to these sites, moderators find it almost impossible to stop all harmful or distressing content from reaching your phone or tablet screens. The guide below outlines ways in which you as parents and carers can limit the risk.
Have a lovely break.
Date: 19th May 2022 @ 5:32pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have worked hard calculating the difference between and the sum of two numbers. We looked at bar graphs and had to analyse data. We also calculated the range, median and mode of a group of numbers. The children were really good at this topic and enjoyed the session.
In English we have finished our poetry topic. We examined figurative language within poetry and discovered different perspective of characters within the poem. The Highwayman is a long and somewhat tricky poem to read, but the children have really done well to understand the metaphors, personification and similes within it.
In Science, our sunflowers seeds are really coming on, we are hoping to plant them out next week. The children have carried on with their work on plant life and have moved onto seed dispersal. Looking at how animals and wind can help plants to spread their seeds, after pollination. Then we planned and carried out a fair test using a model seed with wings. We were able to identify the different variables and how to make it a fair test. As we didn't all get the same results, we understood that scientists would repeat the investigation in order to get a more accurate answer.
In RE the children started their new topic on freedom and responsibility. They looked at the responsibilities they are afforded, when more freedom is offered.
In French, we practised numbers up to 100 and giving our opinion about different sports. Then we carried out a survey in class asking people what their opinion of different sports is.
In PE the children had another practise for sports day. We are preparing ourselves for a great afternoon. Then the children were able to choose between a game of football or rounders. They had a great time and were very hot afterwards!
We have also had another den building session outside in our outdoor classroom. The children were able to build on their skills and techniques from their last session and improve their dens.
DON’T FORGET
Common exception words have been sent home and the final test for these will happen shortly after our May break.
Online Safety Update
Below you will find this week's online safety guides on YouTube and YouTube Kids. In the guides you will find tips on a number of potential risks such as connecting with strangers and inappropriate content.
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 we are counting up in 0.4. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 0.4s, either forwards or backwards. It often helps the children if they note down the numbers as they say them, it helps them work out the next number more easily when they can see it. Help them use bridging where appropriate to count on e.g. 4.8 + 0.2 = 5, then add the other 0.2 to get to 5.2.
Spellings words with ough said o, uff or ow. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
although dough though doughnut bough enough tough toughen plough drought toughest rough roughest
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 second sheet with these words on by now, I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Easter. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before summer.
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 the difference between and sum of using graphs.
Spellings words spelt ough said o, uff or ow
Date: 12th May 2022 @ 4:47pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have been working on area and volume. The children have been able to use perimeter measurements to help work out the area. They have used calculations to do this (length x width) and also drawn the shapes in their maths books and counted squares to check their answers. They have used cubes to build 3D shapes and counted the cubes to find the volume and then managed to learn the calculation (length x width x height).
In English we have started to examine narrative poetry, specifically The Highwayman and The Owl and the Pussycat. We have looked at the features of narrative poetry and spent time discussing how to use tone, intonation and pace to get the emotion of the poem across to our audience. The children each learnt a section of The Highwayman and performed it together. Please see video on St Oswalds TV.
In Science, the children continued with their ‘living things’ topic and investigated different types of pollination. They watched video clips showing the different types and then went on a nature walk to try and find plants that used the different types of pollination. They have been looking after their plants and we have a number of sunflowers sprouting and our strawberry plants now each have flowers.
In RE the children completed our topic on transformation. We looked at the scripture of Paul on the road to Damascus in more detail and how he managed to transform the lives of others due to his transformation. We reflected in a lovely collective worship to celebrate out learning during this topic.
This week in French, we learnt how to pronounce an/am/em/en and read some unknown words correctly. Next we recapped -er verbs with the verb jouer - to play. We then used an online dictionary to look up some sports words and talked about the advantages and disadvantages of an online dictionary compared with a book. We talked about cognates - words that look the same or very similar to English but are not pronounced the same. Sports words are all cognates so they're easy to learn.
In Art we sketched portraits of the queen. The children were all given the same photo of the queen and were asked to sketch a picture of her in this likeness. They did an amazing job. They really thought about the placement of her features and sizes. They were able to use light and shade to really make the portraits come alive.
In PE the children began to practise skills for sport’s day. They practised running races, collecting bean bags in a hoop, sack racing, egg and spoon and quoit throwing. They had a great time and were all very competitive, I feel we have a great sport’s day ahead (Dates TBC shortly).
In computing the children were able to develop their coding skills using commands and loops. They really enjoyed the session as the programme used had characters from Minecraft so really engaged the children. Remember they are able to use the coding programme at home, they will feel like they are playing a game but actually they will be developing computing skills.
DON’T FORGET
Common exception words have been sent home and the final test for these will happen before the end of the summer term.
Online Safety Update
Age ratings can be used by adults to make an informed choice as to whether a game or platform is suitable for their child.
Below you will find our guide with tips on a number of potential risks including inappropriate content, peer pressure and online spending.
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 we are counting up in 6 and 0.6. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 6 or 0.6s, either forwards or backwards. It often helps the children if they note down the numbers as they say them, it helps them work out the next number more easily when they can see it. Help them use bridging where appropriate to count on e.g. 4.8 + 0.2 = 5, then add the other 0.4 to get to 5.4. This is bridging.
Spellings words containing the letter string ‘ough’ where the sound is /aw. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. 12 spellings this week not 15.
bought fought thought ought thoughtfully sought nought thoughtless brought wrought afterthought thoughtful
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 second sheet with these words on by now, I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Easter. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before summer.
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 perimeter
Spellings words containing the letter string ‘ough’ where the sound is /aw
Date: 6th May 2022 @ 1:13pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have concentrated on properties of shape. The children have a much deeper understanding of angles within triangles and quadrilaterals. They can find missing angles when given limited information. They are also able to work out perimeters of shapes that have been made by joining 2 different polygons together.
In English we have finished our book The Adventures of Adolphus Tips. Again, the children were gripped until the end. I always enjoy their reactions when final pieces of information are given and they cheer or gasp. They have spent this week finalising their extended written piece, including their exciting part or dilemma and their ending. They have all worked really well on these and should be very proud.
In Science, this week the children were botanists. They have been learning lot about asexual and sexual reproduction in plants and this week they were able to facilitate plant reproduction through vegetative propagation. They took cuttings from two different plants and planted them in compost, they planted seeds and one child brought a runner from their spider plant in and we were able to re-pot that. The plants and seeds are now all in our school greenhouse, along with some strawberry plants that we will be taking care off and hoping to see runners sprout from them. Mrs Quilliam, our resident science expert, spoke to the class this week and questioned them on their plant knowledge and she was suitably impressed.
In RE the children continued to look at transformation. We read and discussed the scripture of Paul on the road to Damascus and how this transformed his life. We also looked into how he went on to transform the lives of others.
In Geography, this week we continued our topic on the UK. We looked at old maps of Lancashire and how they were set out and then used DigiMaps online to look at maps from the 1800s, up to present day. We observed the geographical differences in our local area over this time and were able to locate a number of places we recognised, including Chapel Lane and how it may have been given its name. They then went on to look at OS symbols and their meanings and used coordinates to locate landmarks.
In PE the children continued to develop their cricket skills. They split into groups of four and practised batting, bowling, fielding and being backstop. Then two teams joined together to from four teams that played a tournament to apply these skills.
DON’T FORGET
Common exception words have been sent home and the final test for these will happen before the end of the summer term.
Online Safety Update
Lately, we have seen a huge increase in the number of children accessing the Roblox gaming platform. This includes children in our infant classes. This week's guide dives into what to expect your children to find when they use Roblox including any potential risks they may meet. These risks include in-app purchases and chatting to strangers online.
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 we are counting up in 0.4. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 0.4s, either forwards or backwards. It often helps the children if they note down the numbers as they say them, it helps them work out the next number more easily when they can see it. Help them use bridging where appropriate to count on e.g. 4.8 + 0.2 = 5, then add the other 0.2 to get to 5.2.
Spellings words spelled with ’ie’ after c. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
deceive conceive receive perceive receipt protein caffeine seize either neither weird seizure heinous being deceit
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 second sheet with these words on by now, I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Easter. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before summer.
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 properties of shape
Spellings words spelt with ei and pronounced ee
Year 5 - Friday 29th April 2022
Date: 28th Apr 2022 @ 5:09pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
The children have had a busy week, working hard and trying their best.
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have investigated properties of polygons, both regular and irregular. We have looked at rules that make them polygons or irregular polygons including length of sides and size of angles. We have looked at how to work out the size of missing angles when we are given some information. It is vital that the children are aware of the names of different shapes and their properties. Please encourage your children to name a range of shapes and their properties e.g. a square is a regular polygon that has 4 equal sides and 4 equal angles, the total of its angles will equal 360° or an irregular hexagon has 6 sides of different lengths and different size angles, the total of all the angles will equal 720°.
In English the children are working hard on an extended piece of work. They are writing about what happens to Tips when she goes missing. They have planned their story and have completed their opening and build up and edited them. They will continue and complete the story next week. There are some great stories emerging.
In Science, we looked at sexual and asexual reproduction in plants. We recapped sexual reproduction of plants and how seeds are made. We then went on to look at the life cycle of that plant from germination, to shoot, to an adult plant that is able to reproduce and another seed is formed. We looked at asexual plants such as daffodils and potatoes and how they reproduce by themselves. We also dissected fruit and conducted a pattern seeking investigation with the hypothesis, ‘If the fruit is bigger, it will have more seeds.’ We were able to disprove this theory through our investigation.
In RE, we have continued our topic on transformation, around the feast of Pentecost. The children discussed scripture where Jesus appeared to the disciples and how this made them feel. We discussed how their energy was transformed by their faith in Jesus and how they went to spread the Good News in order to transform others’ energy also.
This week in French, we practised listening and reading skills. Then we recapped food words with a game of bingo and a song.
In PE, the children completed their train run warm up and then split into groups for cricket skills. We started developing an overarm throwing technique and catching a small ball. After this they went on to develop their aim and fielding by either throwing at a wicket or acting as backstop to retrieve the ball and return to the bowler. They then practised, in rotation, in groups of 4, at bowling, batting, fielding and being backstop. This then enabled them to join another group for a cricket match. They showed some great promise, we have some great batters (real sloggers), some amazing throwing and catching and the makings of a great cricket team developing.
In DT, the children have now completed their design stage of their cams and followers mechanism. They have work hard on their designs and completed a list of the resources required. They will have an afternoon in the coming weeks to use their knowledge gained from teaching sessions and making their prototype to make their working mechanisms.
In PSHE, the children looked at different types of drugs in society – socially acceptable drugs (that still have negative effects), prescription drugs, over the counter drugs and illegal drugs. They were very sensible in the discussion work and were able to ask questions relating to information they had heard that wasn’t necessarily true. We will continue with this topic this term, looking at healthy habits and how to avoid unhealthy life choices.
DON’T FORGET
Common exception words have been sent home and the final test for these will happen before the end of the summer term.
ONLINE SAFETY UPDATE
This week's Online Safety Update is all about age-appropriate content online. Children can chance upon inappropriate content in various ways, from pop up ads to TikTok or YouTube videos. In this guide you will find tips on a number of potential risks such as social media, gaming and adverts. See link.
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 the curriculum.
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 would 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 spelled with ’ie’ after c. We will look at these in more detail in school next week. They should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
ancient science species efficient deficient glacier scientists sufficient emergencies inefficient fanciest conscience society scientifically bounciest
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 second sheet with these words on by now. I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Easter. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before summer.
Sumdog challenges
PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES.
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 regular and irregular polygons
Spellings words with ie after c
Date: 22nd Apr 2022 @ 3:43pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
The children have settled back into the summer term and have been working hard this week.
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have been working on equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators and converting improper fractions into mixed numbers. This is a difficult concept for some of the children and will require some practising at home. We discussed the rules with equivalent fractions – we can only use divide and multiplication and whatever we do to the top we do to the bottom. When adding and subtracting fractions the denominator needs to be the same and we only add the numerator NOT the denominator.
In English we are getting towards the end of Adlophus Tips. Things are now getting a little exciting. We have been practising different openers this week for our writing. We have planned an extended piece of writing today that we will develop, edit and complete next week.
In Science, we have started a new topic about living things and their habitat. We started off looking at plants and how they reproduce. We looked at botanical illustrations and discussed how these have help botanist understand plants and their reproduction and we were also able to dissect a number of flowers. We looked inside the flowers and were able to find the male and female parts of the flower. If you have any old tulips or daffodils that your children can dissect at home, you could ask your children to show you the different parts of the flower and how it reproduces.
In RE, we have started our new topic on transformation, around the feast of Pentecost. The children first looked at energy and how this can be made and changed. We then looked at scripture relating to Jesus appearing to the disciples and how this energy affected them.
In French, we started with a quiz. The children had to read some paragraphs in French, trying to get the gist rather than understanding every word, in order to answer some questions. It was tricky, but everything is first time! Then we recapped some food vocabulary.
In PE, the children ran their orienteering course again, as a warm up and they were able to complete the course in a much better time, due to developing effective techniques. They then went on to practise skills needed for cricket. They practised over arm throwing at a target, they practised catching an over arm bowl and then they were able to practise batting, in teams of 4, with 1 being the bowler, 1 the batter, 1 the back stop and 1 the fielder. They were able to shoe great promise. I hope to see some real skills emerging over the next few weeks.
In Geography the children developed map reading skills. They were asked to identify human and physical geographical features within the UK. They used knowledge of counties and use of the index to find where these landmarks would be and plot a point on a map. They were very good and worked well in groups to find many locations.
DON’T FORGET
Common exception words have been sent home and the final test for these will happen before the end of the summer 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 Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in –fer. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
referring preferred transferring reference referee preference transference difference inference conferring offering conference preferable different transferred
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 second sheet with these words on by now, I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Easter. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before summer.
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 and mixed numbers
Spellings words adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in –fer
Date: 1st Apr 2022 @ 12:23pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
The end of another great term, how time flies!
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have been working on fractions. The children have been building up their skills on changing improper fractions into mixed numbers and vice versa. This can prove very tricky at times but they have worked well. They have also calculated equivalent fractions and finding the lowest possible term.
In English we have continued with The Amazing Adventures of Adolphus Tips by Michael Murpurgo. The children have written a persuasive letter using modal verbs and they have written another diary entry but this time from a different characters opinion. They worked really hard on using various types of sentences and different types of starters.
In RE, we continued with the story of Easter. The children read scripture about Jesus being condemned to death and the story of the Stations of the Cross. They reflected on the sacrifice that Jesus made for them and how that made them feel and how this may help Christians live in the way Jesus taught us.
In French, we learnt Easter vocabulary and used this to make a card. Joyeuses Paques!
In PE, the children took part in a timed orienteering challenge. They had to follow a map and find 25 different locations around our school grounds. They worked in pairs and all completed the course. We will revisit this on their return and see if they can beat their score on a different 25 stations.
In DT, the children learnt all about different types of cams and how they affect the followers in a mechanism. They then made a prototype cam and follower mechanism and evaluated the resources they used and how effective they were. This will then inform their design for their final product that will be made in the new term.
On Tuesday we had a visit from CAFOD where the children learned all about Catholic Social Teaching. They were very good during the sessions. They gave very carefully thought out answers and participated really well. Eileen, who led the workshop, was very impressed with all the work the children put into the session.
The children attended church on Thursday and made little packages for the church community. They decorated an envelope and then filled it with items for a cup of tea and a biscuit. This will be passed onto the catechists who will distribute them to members of our Parish. The children really enjoyed this and saw the good deed that they were doing and how this linked to teachings in RE.
The children have been working hard during the daily mile. We had our sponsored run for Barnardo’s and this has spurred us on to run further. We have challenged ourselves to run to Madrid before the summer; this is over 900 miles. So far this term we have run just over 550 miles, this takes just past Nantes in France. We still have a way to go but I think with the same hard work and dedication they have shown we will make it to Madrid by the summer!
We had a great day on World Book day. Please see the photo below of all our costumes. Thank you for your support.
Have a super Easter Holiday!
Year 5 - Friday 25th March 2022
Date: 24th Mar 2022 @ 5:19pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
The children have worked hard this week shown great enthusiasm.
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have focused on angles. The children started the week measuring angles using a protractor and drawing their own angles on the desk, they loved this act of rebellion! We then moved onto drawing angles in our books, concentrating on being precise. We then looked at angles on a staright line and learnt how to work out the measurement of an angle without using a protractor. We finished the week with some reasoning questions relating to angles. A great week.
In English we started a new novel, The Amazing Adventures of Adolphus Tips by Michael Murpurgo. We started by comparing the different Michael Murpurgo books that we have read and examining the similarities between them, the children were able to recognise quite a number. We then used this knowledge to predict where this book may take us. Throughout the week we looked at main and subordinate clauses and relative clauses and used these to complete a diary entry in the character of Lily, describing the bombing at the village.
In Science, we investigated irreversible changes. We created our own volcano mixing vinegar and bicarbonate of soda and observed the irreversible change that occurred. Then using our knowledge from the past few weeks, the children had to classify changes into reversible and irreversible changes.
In RE, we read scripture relating to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. The children looked at religious artwork depicting the scripture and made links between the two. They then discussed the sacrifice that Jesus knew he was making and how that must have felt.
In French, we recapped how to conjugate an ER verb. This is quite tricky but once we got the hang of how to choose the right ending, we managed really well. Well done Y5.
In PE, we carried out the train run for a warm up and then we moved over to the forest area of the school. The children were given tarpaulins, ropes, pegs, mallets and given access to any wood and natural resources they could find, and asked to firstly build a den that their team could fit inside and then built a teepee for a toy figure. They worked together so well and made some great structures (see Den Building gallery).
The children have also worked very hard on a certain secret piece that you will see this weekend! They studied light and shade and experimented with a range of media to create a their special piece of art for a very special person in their lives.
The children also completed their common exception word spelling test this week. They have been marked and you will have received a copy of their results in your children’s bags. The words highlighted are the ones they spelled correctly and they should continue to practise the other words including the ones they spelled correctly for the final test at the end of the summer term.
Home Practice 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 ‘ant’ 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.
abundant, brilliant, constant, distant, dominant, elegant, fragrant, ignorant, tolerant, vacant, important, relevant, extravagant, restaurant, defiant.
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 spelled correctly in the 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 angles.
Spellings words ending -ant.
Year 5 - Friday 18th March 2022
Date: 19th Mar 2022 @ 8:46am
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths, we have continued working really hard on coordinates, translations and position of shape. The children have worked really hard to remember to along the corridor and then up the stairs when using coordinates. They have all shown a great improvement in mathematical ability.
In English we have finished our book. The children have enjoyed this novel and have each produced a fantastic descriptive piece of work.
In Science, this week the children investigated reversible changes. We carried out an experiment using chocolate using the processes of melting, freezing, evaporation and condensing. They worked really hard and showed some great scientific skills.
In French, we learnt how to conjugate a regular ER verb in French this week. It's quite tricky but we will practise lots of times in y5 and y6. Bon effort, year 5!
In Geography, we began our topic on the UK. We looked at the different countries that make up the UK, the counties and cities within the countries, and located a variety of human and physical features. The children have shown good mapping skills, locating different counties within the UK.
Obviously the highlight of the week has been our trip to Borwick Hall. The children had the most amazing day, they really pushed themselves and tried things they never dreamed they could! The children did a range of activities during the day. These included indoor caving, an assault course, low ropes and zip lines, team building challenges, raft building and the leap of faith. They had their evening meal and then we all made our way down to the water and the children climbed on board the kayak rafts they had built and we paddled down the canal in the evening light. We then stopped to sit in silence for a while and listened to the nature and other sounds around us and observed the change in the light. We could see the sun was setting and the surroundings were changing in the dusky light, we even saw a couple of bats flying overhead! We then paddled back to the jetty, in the darkness and alighted the kayaks. It was just the most amazing end to a fantastic day! Once I have collected all the images taken on the day, I will add a gallery so you can see your children undertaking some of the great activities during the day.
Home Practice
Reading - You all have a Home Reading book for year 5 so reading every night for 15-20 mins is essential. Remember the aim is for 20 pages a night. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be completed and signed.
You can change your reading book on any school day (book bags to be left in the basket or on the desk in Mrs Mulgrew's room)
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 0.4. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 0.4s, either forwards or backwards. It often helps the children if they note down the numbers as they say them, it helps them work out the next number more easily when they can see it. Help them use bridging where appropriate to count on e.g. 4.8 + 0.2 = 5, then add the other 0.2 to get to 5.2.
This week I would like the children to concentrate on their common exception words. They were sent home around Christmas time. They will be assessed on these on Monday.
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
Date: 11th Mar 2022 @ 12:38pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog.
This week in Year 5:
In Maths, we have been learning how to plot coordinates with simple shapes and how to translate them (move them around the coordinate grid). The children have been remembering to to move along the corridor (x axis) and up the stairs (y axis).
In English we have completed our novel, ‘Why the Wales Came’. The children really enjoyed this book with the main characters learning about trust and friendship. The children have written superb book reviews, which will be sent to Sir Michael Morpurgo.
In Science this week, we have celebrated National Science Week (with the theme being on Growth). We carried out a pattern seeking investigation to test the hypothesis that people with longer legs can jump further. We though we knew the answer already but we had to provide the evidence to prove it. Our scatter graph showed that there is indeed no link between leg length and how far you can jump.
In RE, we have discussed the forty days of Lent and made a Lenten calendar to help us prepare for Easter.
In French, we learnt that there are 3 words for the –le, la or les, depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine or plural. We practised choosing the correct form and giving our opinion of different things. We also read some short texts in French and tried to understand them. We realised that you can work out what unknown words mean from the sense of the sentence.
In PE, the children had a very successful hockey session, focusing on how to work as a team when attacking and defending.
DO NOT FORGET
Borwick Hall trip next Friday. A kit list has been explained in detail on the newsletter.
All children need to provide a disposable bag for their packed lunch.
Please meet at school at 7:45am for prompt leave at 8:00am.
We return to school at 9:00pm.
Home Practice
This week’s tasks:
- Read every night for 15-20 minutes
- Reading is the key to unlock all your learning potential
- Maths
- Every child knows their tables target so please practise this daily
- Counting – decimal numbers
- Start from the number 4, 7, 9 and count up and down in 0.2s, 0.02s and 0.002s. Write them out, just like we do in class.
- Sumdog
- Spelling challenge
- x6 and x12
- Shapes, translations and angles
Year 5 - Friday 4th March 2022
Date: 3rd Mar 2022 @ 5:25pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
Is it really only week two; we have been so busy!
This week in year 5
In Maths this week we have completed lots of work on decimals. We have been multiplying and dividing decimals by 100 and 1000. We have also looked at number families and what happens to them if one or two of the numbers in the family are decreased by 10 or 100, how does this affect the other numbers? Really tricky work but they were able to understand and work out a number of calculations.
In English we have made amazing progress in our book, Why the Whales Came, and plan to complete it next week. We have completed a diary entry as Gracie and edited it. Then we have worked really hard on collecting words to help us write a descriptive piece about either the sudden arrival of the fog or the sighting and discovery of the fire beacon. They will be publishing these and displaying them in class next week.
In Science, we carried out another investigation. This time we practised our science skills through investigating reversible changes by separating materials. They had rice, flour and salt. We had different combinations to firstly mix together and then reverse the process. They did this by means of sieving, filtering and evaporation – we will conclude the experiment next week when the water in our salt solution has evaporated.
In RE, the children have begun their Sacrifice topic. This will take us throughout Lent and help us prepare for Easter. The children have each made a Lenten Promise and these were offered at Friday’s Golden Assembly. The children tried to think of something they could give up to show sacrifice or something they would commit to do more to help or affect others in a positive way.
In French, as it was Mardi Gras this week, we had a pancake-themed French lesson. We read a poem about Les Crepes, focussing on correct pronunciation of the sounds ou and oi. Then children practised using all parts of the verb 'aimer' with various pancake fillings. A final treat - we ate Crepes au chocolat!
In PE, we developed our athletics skills. This consisted of practising the relay including the difficult baton change, speed bounce, standing long jump, vertical jump and the triple jump. Mrs Cookson and I were extremely impressed with their developing skills. Some children were chosen to represent the school in an Athletics Final next week, however, next year I am certain there will be a huge cohort that will get the opportunity.
In PSHE we carried on our emergency situation sessions. This week we learnt about what to do if we had a casualty with burns and scalds and also a casualty that was bleeding. We also linked these to casualties developing shock. Once again the children were really good and learnt some great skills for life.
Please see the separate gallery from our trip to Judge’s Lodgings. What a great day out! The children (and staff) had an amazing experience. I have added all the photos in the gallery (check out the Victorian Mrs Mulgrew in the background in her fetching mop cap!)
DON’T FORGET
Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.
Please bring in a cardboard box for DT. (Many thanks to those who already have.)
All reply slips etc to be returned for Borwick Hall.
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 in 10s and 100s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 10s or 100s, this week concentrating on subtractions. To challenge them give numbers in the higher 1000s.
Spellings words with an ‘or’ sound spelt ‘au’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
pause, cause, sauce, fraud, launch, author, August, applaud, astronaut, restaurant, autograph, cautious, daughter, thesaurus, pauper
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 multiplication and division mentally using known facts. If 40 divided by 5 = 8 then 400 divided by 5 = 80 and 4000 divided by 5 is 8000.
Spellings words containing ‘or’ spelt ‘au’.
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’.
Date: 9th Feb 2022 @ 4:58pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
Half term already! The children have completed lots of hard work and their concentration has improved so much. They are maturing and devloping skills for their next step of getting ready for year 6.
This week in year 5:
In Maths we have been looking at rules of divisibility. We have been learning rules so we can decide if a number is divisible by 20, 3, 4, 6, or 9. The children have loved learning the rules and trying them out with 7 digit numbers. They have also had another look at prime numbers up to 100 and are aiming to be able to remember all the prime numbers up to 19.
In English we finished the novel Street Child. The children have been so keen to read on and find out the plight of poor Jim Jarvis. We are now aware of Dr Barnardo and the work that his charity continues to do today. The children completed the week by writing a review of the novel, and I have been very impressed with their finished products.
In Science, we continued our work of using thermometers and recording results. We have managed to plot the results on a line graph and interpret these results, a really tricky skill.
In RE, the children had their celebration mass on Monday. The children really impressed Father Michael and the catechists with their reverence. The children that put themselves forward to be readers and offertory servers did a great job and were very brave to do something that we haven’t been able to do for a long time. Thank you to all the family members that came to support the children.
In PE, we practised athletics skills to get them ready for competitions that we will be invited to in the coming terms. They also got the opportunity to practise their orienteering skills and completed time challenges around the playground. These times will be sent off to a competition that has been set locally.
The children have taken part in a number of activities for Children’s Mental Health week. We looked at our feelings and emotions and how, as we get older we can manage them a little better and find ways of helping us cope with things that arise. The children were able to think back about things that used to worry them, but now seem funny.
The children also completed their sponsored run for Barnardo's. They managed an impressive 233 and a half miles! After half term I will be setting them the challenge to vitually run to Madrid Spain and we will track our progress on a map.
DON’T FORGET
Topmarks clock online to practise telling the time.
Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.
Reply slips and payment for Judges Lodgings.
Medical forms etc. for Extended Activity Day at Borwick Hall.
Home practice is not being officially set, however, the children will all know their times tables targets, they know things that they struggle with and need to practise and they all have the common exception words that will be being assessed again at Easter. With the children having a week off, we will be hoping that they will all be bringing their reading books back after half term, ready to swap for a new book.
Don’t forget the daily count. Choose a number and ask the children to count backwards and forwards from that number in any multiple you choose. Remember the children are capable of counting in tenths (0.1), hundredths (0.01) and thousandths (0.001).
Sumdog challenges
During half term, if your children are bored, why not get them to take the time to complete the Maths and Spelling training on Sumdog. Once the diagnostic questions are completed, the programme will then generate questions at their individual ability and help them progress and achieve.
The children have had an impressive half term and have lots of achievements to show for it.
Year 5 Friday 4th February 2022
Date: 4th Feb 2022 @ 4:26pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
Year 5 have had a great week, concentrating and practising being a good learner.
This week in year 5
In Maths, we are back on number and place value. We have learnt many different addition and subtraction strategies. We have practised them as arithmetic number questions but also as word problems and reasoning. The children have been focusing on speed and stamina in their arithmetic quizzes and have managed to double the amount of questions they can get through in the past couple of weeks, with increased scores. This is a real achievement and a credit to them improving their concentration skills. I am really pleased with their progress. Ask them about their improvements in arithmetic as they are very proud of themselves.
In English we have finished our missing chapter. The children have worked really hard on their work and editing it. They were able to think about the different skills we have been practising and put them into their written pieces. We are almost at the end of Street Child, the children have really enjoyed the novel and remained keen to read it throughout.
In Science, we learnt when and how to draw a line graph to present our results, then practised reading the scale on a thermometer with different temperatures of water. We then drew a line graph of how the temperature of the water changed over time. Great science skills, year 5!
In RE, we have focused on the work of the Bishop’s within the diocese, or in our case the Archbishop within the Archdiocese. We have learnt what Archbishop Malcolm does and how this is all part of Jesus’ mission. We also continued to look at our role in helping this mission.
In French, we redrafted our final piece of writing about the planets onto a triorama (the children will explain!) and illustrated it. There are some amazing pieces of French writing and the children are super proud of their work! They are on display in the corridor for all to see.
In PE, half of the class started with hockey skills and played a match to see if they could apply them. The other half of the class had an orienteering experience. They learnt about points of the compass and followed compass directions to find different areas in the yard. A difficult task but they navigated it well.
In History, this week the children became historical detectives. We had a range of replica artefacts, loaned from the Lancashire Museums. The children spent the afternoon, examining the pieces, sometimes trying them on and reading about their uses in Victorian times. The children were amazed at the differences between clothing, equipment and expectations from the Victorian times to present day. (Please see the Victorian Artefacts Gallery on the class page) After the detective work they produced a written piece explaining what artefacts can tell us about the time period.
In PSHE, the children are learning about how to react to medical emergencies. This week we learnt about what to do if we are the first to a medical situation. The children learnt about checking the scene for any potential dangers to themselves, what to expect when they call 999 and what information they would need to provide to the operator. They also learnt about casualty care – keeping them calm and warm and not leaving them until the emergency services arrived. They were very sensible and listened carefully.
In Golden Assembly this week the children played the glockenspiels along to a jazz song. They were flawless; the staff and children were amazed!
The children were also presented with a little gift, from the school to celebrate their Holy Communion this weekend and to thank the children not taking part for their encouragement throughout the process.
DON’T FORGET
Topmarks clock online to practise telling the time.
Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.
First Holy Communions on Saturday. See separate letter from Father Michael regarding your time (10.30 or 12.30). Please try and arrive a little earlier so we can start promptly. I will take some group photos and post a gallery next week.
Celebration Mass for all Year 5 children and parents on Monday at 2.15pm. If you can’t make it but grandparents etc. want to come instead, this is fine. Some of the children have opted to read during the mass, it should be a lovely service and allow them to celebrate their Sacramental journey as a whole class.
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 we are counting up in 0.002s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 0.002s, either forwards or backwards. It often helps the children if they note down the numbers as they say them, it helps them work out the next number more easily when they can see it.
Spellings words containing silent letters. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
knowledge, knuckle, wriggle, wrongly, knife, whistle, listened, autumn, gnome, whether, honesty, ghostly, fasten, rewrite, hourly
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. Don’t worry if they don’t know many, they can practise them this term and will be assessed again near 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 a range of addition and subtraction problems. They will need to take their time with these and write some of the calculations down. These are not speed activities but a chance for them to practise the strategies we have been using this week.
Spellings words containing silent letters.
Year 5 Friday 28th January 2022
Date: 27th Jan 2022 @ 4:40pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
The Year 5 class have been working really hard this week to settle in quickly and moving around school in a calmer manner. They have done so well, they have had comments from numerous teachers on how well behaved they have been. Keep it up Year 5!
This week in year 5
In Maths we finished looking at digital clocks and converting between analogue and digital, then concentrated on the value of numbers and decimals places. We first looked at the value of numbers up to 3 decimal places; that the 4 in 35.746 has the value of 4 hundredths, the 5 has the value of 5 ones, the 6 has the value of 6 thousandths etc. They were very good that this. We moved onto comparing numbers with similar digits, to 3 decimal places e.g. 12.401 and 12.104 and placing them in order. We finished the week by rounding decimals to the nearest whole number. We managed to achieve this to 2 decimal places. Some children also worked on reasoning problems to push them further.
In English we have focused on different types of sentences, to help up with an extended writing piece. We have been practising expanded noun phrases, prepositional phrases and adverbial phrases. The children have used these to plan, write and edit a missing chapter of Street Child, which tells us what happens to Jim’s sisters. Incidentally, there is a second book in the Street Child series that tells the sisters story. Many children were keen to read this so I here is the information, should you wish to purchase it - Berlie Doherty Far From Home. The Sisters of the Street Child. There are second-hand copies online for less than £2.
In Science, the children had a busy lesson, undertaking a comparative test. We went to the outdoor classroom to investigate carrier bags. We had a letter from Booths asking us to investigate the best sort of carrier bags. They wanted a bag that could hold 5kg, didn’t dig into the hand and that was environmentally friendly. The children carried out investigations using bags, weights, hooks and clay to find these things out. Finally they made a conclusion and wrote this up, using their findings. Excellent work! (Photo Gallery on class page)
In RE, the children continued their topic on Mission. We looked at Jesus’ mission and how that is carried on today in many ways. We compared different parts of the scripture and how they are relevant to us today.
In French, we have started to write our own descriptions of the planets in French. The children have done really well so far. Next week, we'll finish and illustrate our work. Wait until you see it - you'll be impressed at how well they've done!
In PE, the children were again split into 2 groups’ one playing hockey and one practising gymnastic techniques. The children continued to improve their hockey techniques, passing, stopping, dribbling and shooting. In gymnastics we looked at counter balancing. The children tried different techniques to counter balance their partner and then made up a routine where they moved into a counter balanced position and out of it again. They really work hard in these sessions and take it very seriously. Their finished routines are always of a great quality.
In Art the children finished their final piece. Wow! They have done an amazing job! The children sketched out their cityscape and then used watercolours to add colour. They were able to use more or less water to create texture and shade to their work. Many of the children experimented with water washes in the background, where they didn’t want a lot of colour but didn’t want to leave them blank. Again, WOW! (Photos of the children working in gallery - I will post the artwork, once it is displayed)
In computing we continued with our nesting loops topic in coding. This is a really tricky undertaking and needs resilience. The children worked really hard on working out the algorithm to make different shapes on the screen in a repeating circle.
DON’T FORGET
Topmarks clock online to practise telling the time.
Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.
I told the children they could keep their Holy Communion folders at home but we are going to use them in the offertory in our class mass. So please could you send them back into class.
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 we are counting up in 7s and 0.7s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 7s or 0.7s, either forwards or backwards. A strategy we use is bridging e.g. if the number is 46 and we are adding 7 we would use 4 to bridge it to the next 10 first – 50 and then add the remaining 3. If subtracting we would again subtract to the nearest 10 – this time subtracting 6 to get to 40 and then subtracting the leftover 1.
Spellings words ending ‘ably’ and ‘ibly’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
horribly, incredibly, possibly, forcibly, impossibly, responsibly, visibly, arguably, comfortably, considerably, miserably, probably, remarkably, dependably, believably
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. Don’t worry if they don’t know many, they can practise them this term and will be assessed again near 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 number.
Spellings words containing ‘ably’ and ‘ibly’.
The children have produced some outstanding work this week, I have been so impressed.
Year 5 - Friday 20th January 2022
Date: 21st Jan 2022 @ 1:14pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
This week in year 5
In Maths we been studying area. The children really impressed me with their grasp of the area of a rectangle but also estimating the area of an irregular shape. We also have been practising telling the time. This is a really tricky concept, they have done really well and many seem to understand it. However, it is a skill that needs to be practised over and over. If you type ‘topmarks clock’ into google you can access an interactive clock that you can set to various times and help your child tell the time. If you concentrate on analogue clock first this practise will really help your child.
In English poor Jim Jarvis has had a bad time in the workhouse but managed to escape. The children wrote a persuasive piece of writing, trying to persuade Jim to either stay at the workhouse or run away. They did a really good job. We also did a lot of work on mapping feelings and thinking about the level of feeling someone is having and words that are appropriate e.g. Is the character really terrified at the moment or is he just anxious? Finally we have started to plan a missing chapter of the book and we will concentrate on this extended piece next week.
In Science, the children had a great lesson with Mrs Quillam. She took them on a material hunt around the school, investigating the different materials objects were made from. She was extremely impressed with the level of work produced in a paragraph to explain their findings. This writing was really excellent, using lots of great science vocabulary. Well done - super scientists!
In RE, the children attended their final church session. This week we concentrated on the importance of the bread and wine and how it helps us remember the last supper. The children have been so respectful when visiting the church and have often asked insightful questions. I look forward to seeing everyone at the class mass on Sunday and the Communion practise session on Monday evening. You will learn more about what to expect on their Communion day and ask Father any questions you may have. We have also celebrated Wold Religion Day this week. The children learnt all about Hinduism, listened to the story of Rama and Sita, taking notes and made Rangoli patterns.
In French, the children read and understood some sentences in French about the planets. They will use these next week to help write their own sentences in French.
In PE, the children practised their hockey skills. They started in small groups of 8 - 4 attacking and 4 defending. They had to control the ball, pass to their partner, and try and aim effectively. They swapped over so they all had a chance to attack, score goals and defend. Then they made a team of 8 players and played matches against one another. They are concentrating on improving their technique. I am also proud that everyone can control the hockey sticks properly during the drills and games.
In history this week, we looked at the lives of children in the Victorian era. The children looked at photos of poor children and of Queen Victoria’s children and made decisions about the era based on them. We had some ideas that all children were poor, but realised that some were also wealthy. We then concentrated on the poor children and their lives. We looked at other sources, such as newspaper cuttings, interviews with mining children and more photographs. They made enquiries into these, then learnt some facts that help back up their enquiries. Finally they wrote paragraphs about the sources they used and what historical claims it can help us make about the era. Again, I was impressed with their level of ability.
In computing we had a coding lesson. The children had a go at developing code to create a shape and then further developing the code to repeat the shapes at different locations on the screen. Remember if the children want to revisit any of the code lessons, they can access this at home with their passwords (please remind them not to go further than we have in class).
We have also ‘Planted a tree for the Jubilee.’ The children have helped to plant a row of hedges in the school grounds that we hope will be a legacy in years to come.
DON’T FORGET
Class Mass 10.30am on Sunday
Communion Practice on Monday evening at 6.30pm.
Topmarks clock online to practise telling the time.
Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.
Please can the children bring in a carrier bag for science next week. We are looking for a range of types of bag e.g. bag for life, thin chip shop bag, bakery bag, paper bag etc.
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 we are counting up in 8s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 8s, either forwards or backwards. A strategy we use is bridging e.g. if the number is 46 and we are adding 10 we would use 4 to bridge it to the next 10 first – 50 and then add the remaining 4. If subtracting we would again subtract to the nearest 10 – this time subtracting 6 to get to 40 and then subtracting the leftover 2.
Spellings words containing ‘ent’ and ‘ence’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
accident, announcement, centre, confident, different, equipment, independent, conscience, difference, excellence, intelligence, science, violence, silence, magnificence
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. Don’t worry if they don’t know many, they can practise them this term and will be assessed again near 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 area and time
Spellings words containing ‘ent’ and ‘ence’.
The children have worked hard this week and produced some great quality work.
Date: 13th Jan 2022 @ 5:17pm
Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog
The children have had a busy week working hard.
This week in year 5
In Maths we have learnt some new strategies to use when multiplying – the compensation strategy and grid method. The children enjoyed both and have been using them in their work. We have also done lots of mental arithmetic this week, deciding whether to work it out in our head, use jottings or a written method. We have also practised multiplication and division reasoning problems. These were really tricky and needed lots of concentration. The children have worked really hard.
In English we have continued to read the plight of Jim Jarvis in Street Child; poor Jim has ended up in the workhouse. The children have written notes (in character), they have written descriptive pieces of Jim’s time in the workhouse and they had to write a persuasive piece, whether Jim should run away from the workhouse or not.
In Science, the children looked at the different sorts of enquiry that we use in Science and came up with potential questions that related to each enquiry. This was particularly tricky but the children listened well and thought about each enquiry carefully.
In RE, the children attended church and learnt all about the preparations that have to be made for Mass by both the priest and community members that help him. The children were able to ask questions to Father Michael and Catechists and find out more about being a member of the Parish.
In French, we started a topic on Les planetes. Over the next couple of weeks, the children will build up their space vocabulary in French and learn to construct sentences about the planets. We will finish with a piece of writing about the planets and it will be amazing! Good start, year 5!
In PE, we split into 2 groups. One for learning how to hold the hockey stick safely and then learnt passing and stopping the ball. The other group were inside learning gymnastics. The children were fantastic. We were using mirroring and matching poses. They had to pair up and show poses that were first mirroring one another, then matching. They then paired with another pair and had to teach their pose to one another. These were then turned into a routine with moves in between the poses. I really was impressed with their teamwork and skills.
In Art, the children practised sketching cityscapes, using YouTube videos. They were able to carefully follow the lead of the artist on the screen. Then they looked back at their inspiration art, from Jo Quigley, and sketched out a plan for their final piece. They have all focused well and have great ideas to create a cityscape of London. I look forward to sharing their final pieces in a couple of weeks.
In PSHE we focused on money matters. We looked at the cost of various items a child needs throughout their life and the cost of this. We discussed budgets and why sometimes grown-ups have to be careful with their money. We discussed things that are essential that need to be budgeted for first and things that we would like that maybe we have to save up for.
DON’T FORGET
Sacramental folders need returning for church on Monday.
Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.
On Tuesday the children will be using the outside area and helping to plant saplings that will grow into a hedge. Please send in wellies, in a named plastic bag, to save their school shoes getting muddy. If you don’t have wellies, please send old pumps or trainers that you don’t mind getting muddy. Please send in a bag so the muddy wellies can be put in a bag and not on the carpet in class.
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 we are counting up in 9s, 0.9 or 0.09. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 9s, 0.9 or 0.09 either forwards or backwards. A strategy we use is adding 10 and then taking 1 away if counting up, or subtracting 10 and then adding 1 if subtracting.
Spellings words ending ‘ance’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
acceptance, appearance, assistance, balance, distance, ignorance, importance, performance, substance, vengeance, endurance, disappearance, circumstance, extravagance, attendance
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. Don’t worry if they don’t know many, they can practise them this term and will be assessed again near 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 multiplication and division strategies.
Spellings words ending ‘ance’.
The children have had a great week, working hard.
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.
Date: 5th Jan 2022 @ 11:44am
Too often, children can run rings around their parents when it comes to online safety, but guardians must stay clued up, warns Elizabeth Kitto (prevent education officer for Barking and Dagenham)
While there are a number of important areas of Online Safety, these are the big four.
Filters
Filters are amazing and can set healthy, age-appropriate boundaries for free on any device connected to the home WiFi. These can be set through a phone call to any internet provider and updated as children grow. Updates are incredibly important to gradually increase exposure and allow young people to build resilience as they mature.
Make sure that you are aware that any devices with their own data sets, like phones, will need their filters set separately. And remember that you can set passwords to override the filter system so you don't miss out on any of the film releases that would be less suitable for your 10-year-old.
Safe search engines
For under 10s, setting the homepage to a safe search engine is an excellent way to overcome mishaps. We have all had a seemingly innocent image search go awry, and by using child-friendly sites like Smiggle, YouTube Kids and KidRex, we can reduce that risk substantially. Some large web search providers do have safe search options but, be aware, these are very easy to switch off.
As for older children (year 6), it's all about reinforcing the importance of responsibility. Leaning over a child's shoulder at all times or attempting to monitor their screens using apps is less likely to create a healthy relationship and more likely to teach them how to creatively sneak past you.
Algorithms
Have you ever bought a pair of jeans and then been bombarded with ads for jeans for the next three months? That's an algorithm. They collect information and send us materials that will make us tick. While this may be great for our wardrobe, it can create problems regarding echo chambers and fake news.
Reinforce the importance of learning about the world from mainstream media channels rather than stories from social media or news suggestions from their phones. This can build a more balanced knowledge of the world within the home and help you recognise when you or your children are straying into conspiracy theories and bias debates, and instead form healthy informational environments.
Social media
Social media is often the centre of a young person's world and while many parents may have a Facebook account, they may be less au fait with the newer, young models.
For younger children, play around on social media sites alongside your child, learn together how to block and apply appropriate privacy settings to form a positive online space.
For older children, reinforce the message of accountability. What happens on the internet can be difficult to erase. Many young people have no interest in "friending" their parents, and respect of space can build trust, but if you have any concerns, ensure that the parents feel they can have an open a supportive dialogue to air out any worries.
National Online Safety Training Hub
Continue to access all information on the National Online Safety website. You will get access to all videos and guides by clicking the link below and joining free to our school online safety hub.
http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb
We have set up a watchlist which includes some videos and training we think you will find beneficial.