Highlights from Year 5

This half term seems to have flown by due to Polling Day and Bank Holidays, so we have been extremely busy trying to fit everything in that we needed to cover, and all the children have learnt some exciting facts and created amazing work on a range of topics. Even though a very short term, we have had lots of fun and the warmer weather has helped!

We have been studying the book, George’s Secret Key to the Universe, the children are enjoying the funny nature of this book and the fact that it is littered with actual information about space, computers and aliens! It’s all very intriguing at the moment.

In Mathematics, we have been learning all about place value with decimals and using our own understanding of column addition and subtraction to solve decimals calculations, remembering to use zero as a place holder (very important in mathematics!). We've also been looking at converting different units of measurement e.g. cm to m, kg to g and vice versa. The children are getting much better at converting and remembering to use that zero and the correct unit of measurement at the end!

In English, we were looking at narratives based on the theme ‘Rags to Riches’. We talked about what this meant, and the children created a text map of Cinderella, as this is an example of a ‘Rags to Riches’ story. We then acted out part of the story and used the text map to re- tell the story, identifying features for our own narrative was important and using karate punctuation we have grasped the understanding for inverted commas. The children really enjoyed using the karate punctuation and it helped them to remember the rules for speech. We will be writing our own narrative based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

In Geography, we looked at rivers from the source to the mouth and its journey from the start to the end and what happens to the river along the way. We had fun acting out the journey of a river in groups when someone was a raindrop being carried down a river! We also looked at the River Thames and how pollution affects rivers.

In Science, we looked at Forces and how they react on different objects and surfaces. We did some pushing and pulling in pairs and we also learnt about gravity, air resistance and why we don’t fall to the centre of the Earth! We tested the force friction using different surfaces and measured in Newtons using a force meter. The children enjoyed pulling objects along and predicting which surfaces would slow an object down quicker.

In Music we have been looking back at Rap in the 80’s, discussing things like Walkman’s and cassette players to help us learn the theme tune from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

In Spanish, we have been learning to speak about the weather and become weather forecasters explaining the weather in Spain. The children have loved learning the song and been brave enough to speak Spanish in front of the class!

Although it has been a short half-term, it has been an enjoyable one and the children have learnt lots of new things and produced great work.

Mrs Beauchamp

Year 5 Class Teacher