Year 5 Autumn 1 Curriculum Information

We have an exciting half-term planned. Our class read will be based on the ‘Windrush Child’ which is written by the author Benjamin Zephaniah.  Benjamin describes the book as "historical, fiction, but true story" and it is about a young boy's journey from Jamaica to England. The character in the book Leonard finds himself in complete shock when he and his mother arrive off the ship to find themselves in Southampton port. His Father, who is living in Manchester already, moved from Jamaica to better his life for him and his family, however Leonard struggles to adapt to life in England and not really knowing his Father. The book follows an exhilarating journey which opens the eyes to the reader to all the issues people face trying to ‘better themselves’ by moving country. This is a story which is extremely relatable to some members of our class who have moved from a different country.  It also highlights the current issues that our going on in our world today. This book allows us to explore all of our school values including resilience, courage and perseverance.  This novel also nicely links to our Personal, Social and Health and Education lessons where we are looking at ‘Being Me in My World’. The children will also have the wonderful opportunity to listen to the story from the picture book ‘The Proudest Blue’ which focuses on the theme of ‘family’ and the wearing of the ‘Hijab’ and our ‘Everyone’s Welcome’ book Stevie Wonder – ‘Little People, Big Dreams.’ 

In English, we are following a similar kind of story to our class novel. The fascinating picture book is called ‘The Journey’, which follows a family trying to flee conflict. This book will be the base to our English writing lessons. Our writing will follow the journey of a family fleeing the area of conflict, which will then result in the children doing an independent write about a new beginning.

Throughout the first half term, the children will be learning lots of information, developing skills and carrying out research on a variety of topics.  In history, we are going to be focusing on the civilisation of Ancient Baghdad, where we will be looking at the rise of Islam. The children will learn how Baghdad was the centre of learning during the golden ages in the year 900CE. They will understand that Baghdad was home to the first universities, hospitals and the largest library ‘House of Wisdom’ in the world and that many scholars travelled to this amazing circular city to study. The class will also take part in some drama and look at how Baghdad was destroyed by the Mongols leaving the river Tigris completely black from the ink from the ‘House of Wisdom’. As we learn about this interesting area of history, the children will be answering the question ‘Why is Baghdad so important to Muslims?’

For our Geography lessons, we are going to focus on ‘Spatial Sense’ which means the study of the locations of things, the conditions at different places, and the connections between places. Thinking about the world in spatial terms (spatial thinking) will allow the children to describe and analyse the spatial patterns and organisation of people, places, and environments on Earth. From their learning, the children will able to answer our big question ‘How do maps help us to locate places?’

During the first part of the Autumn term - the children will continue to develop their scientific skills.  They will learn about ‘The Human Body’ and how the human body changes from being a baby right up to being old age.  Throughout our learning this half-term, we will be asking ourselves: How does our body change over time?                                              

The children will also have the wonderful opportunity to develop their creative skills in art, where they will be exploring art from Western Africa and understanding the spiritual significance and purpose of many African works of art.  They will also have the wonderful opportunity to learn how to play the clarinet in their music lessons as well as developing their knowledge about melody and harmony.

We have many more wonderful things planned this half term: including participating in a day which remembers the fantastic author Roald Dahl;  a career chat from a scientist who works for the NHs, a book-talking session which will provide some wonderful information about which books to read and participating in a creative writing workshop. What a fabulous and interesting start to year five! Let the learning commence.