Year 5 Summer 2 Curriculum Information

Welcome back for the final time of Year Five. It has been an amazing year, and I would love the last five weeks to end with such a positive ending. We have so much going on this term with trips, sporting events and normal day to day lessons, so please make sure you are keeping up to date with dojo.

Our class read this half term will be the class novel 'Great Expectations' written by one of the most famous authors Charles Dickens. Great Expectations is a coming-of-age novel, and it is a classic work of Victorian literature. It depicts the growth and personal development of an orphan named Pip. This has a great link to our history topic, 'The Victorians'.

In English, we have finally finished our 'One small Step' writing all about Luna wanting to become an astronaut. We followed her life's journey through the trials and tribulations that life throws at a person trying to reach their goal. I was extremely pleased with the outcomes of this piece of writing for all students. This term, we continue with the space theme, where we will write a non-narrative report about the landing of Mars. Something only machinery has been able to do so far. Our vocabulary from last term's space topic will come in extremely handy during the writing of this. Finally, we will end our writing with a poem linked to our VIPERS lessons, concluding our English writing this year.

For Maths, we continue our knowledge of decimals and percentages. We will be moving on shape during the remaining part of the term. It's amazing looking at how far each pupil's understanding has come in maths this year. I want everyone to try and secure as many times tables as possible during this term reading for Year Six. I can't stress how impactful this will be for your child's understanding of primary school mathematics.

In Physical Education, we continue our development of athletics and outdoor adventure activities, where the class will be completing some orienteering at school. In our games sport we will be playing netball, which having learnt the rules and taught this at my old school I realised how good a game netball is.

In geography lessons this term, we will be moving away from the other side of the world (New Zealand and Australia) and back to a local study of Melton Mowbray. After planning this unit during the holidays, I am really excited by some of the tasks, which require fieldwork and looking at Melton's local environmental issues. This will be a great ending to our geography lessons. Our big question during this term is 'what would I find in my local area?'

We continue down the chronological timeline of past events and work our way into Victorian times for history. Having learnt about the industrial revolution and the early British Empire, the class will already have some prior knowledge of the Victorians. I always remember being fascinated by these times when I was taught this at primary school. I hope to bring the learning to life with some drama themed lessons. Our big question during this term is 'what was life like in 'The Victorian age?

Finally, in science, we will be learning about meteorology, which links to the Earth's atmosphere and weather systems. Something we have already briefly touched on during our space topic the last term. I think an absolute highlight during this year will be our space station trip on the first Wednesday back. I can't wait for this trip myself. Our big question this term for science will be 'how are humans affecting Earth's atmosphere?'                            

As mentioned previously, a lot is happening during this term. Just in our first three days back, we have a science trip, and Jubilee Day, so please make sure you keep up to date with dojo, and I will try and get messages across in good time. Thanks as always, Mr Dalby.

Year 5 Summer 1 Curriculum Information

Welcome back Year Five. I hope everyone has had a brilliant Easter Holidays and hope you haven’t eaten too much chocolate.

Our class read at the beginning of the half-term will continue as ‘Wonder’ which is a brutally powerful story of a 10-year-old boy named August Pullman, who has a facial abnormality. As a class we have been really enjoying August’s journey of starting at a new school. I am hoping this story based on true events will continue to promote our kindness/acceptance value. During the second part of the term our class read will be ‘Tin’ all about a boy called Christopher. Christopher is 'Proper': a real boy with a real soul, orphaned in a fire. He works for an engineer, a maker of the eccentric, loyal and totally individual mechanicals who are Christopher's best friends. But after a devastating accident, a secret is revealed, and Christopher's world is changed for ever.

In English our non-narrative writing will focus on earthquakes which has some link to our new geography topic which all about the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. We are particularly focusing the writing on a non-chronological report. During the second half of the term our creative narrative writing focuses on interesting science fiction video called ‘One Small Step by Taiko Studios’.

For Maths the first couple of weeks we will continue our development of fractions. This requires a secure knowledge of times-tables. Please can we make sure that all students to continue to develop this at home; you can sing, shout, and chant those times-tables every night. Furthermore, we will move on to decimals and percentages which has many links to a good understanding of fractions.

In Physical Education we move onto more summer sports. One of our P.E lessons will focus on our development of athletics which will allow some students to be given the opportunity to represent the school next term in athletics events. Our second P.E lesson will focus on tennis skills with an aim to have a tournament on the penultimate week.

In geography lessons this term we will be extending our knowledge of the other side of the world. We stay in the same region of Oceania where we will be looking closely at New Zealand and Pacific Islands. A place with lots of heritage and great geographical features to extend our knowledge. Our big question is ‘Why would the South Pacific be a good place to visit?’

For history we continue along our timeline where the Slave Trade ended, and the ‘Industrial Revolution’ began. We will be looking closely at what life was like in the 1800s in Britain and how this boom of industry impacted life in Great Britain. Our big question is ‘How did the industrial revolution change Britain and the world?’

In Science our new topic is all about astronomy and space. There should be some interesting new learning taking place in these lessons. We will also have a trip to the National Space Centre which will provide an exciting opportunity to extend our knowledge. Our big question is ‘What is within our solar system?’

There are lots of other exciting things happening this term so please keep up to date with class dojo. Thank you as always. Mr Dalby

Year 5 Spring 2 Curriculum Information

Welcome back Year Five. I hope everyone has had a restful holiday and is excited to be back at school after the February half term. We are now more than halfway through the academic year!

Our class read for this half-term is ‘Wonder’ which is a brutally powerful story of a 10-year-old boy named August Pullman, who has a facial abnormality. He is an ordinary kid who plays Xbox, is obsessed with Star Wars, but despite the 27 operations done for his face he will never look the same as others. The author R. J. Palacio wrote Wonder after an incident where her son noticed a girl with a severe facial difference and started to cry. Fearing he would react badly, Palacio attempted to remove her son from the situation, however this made the situation worse for the person with the facial abnormality who felt even more unusual. I am hoping this story based on true events will inspire kindness to those who are different from ourselves.

In English last term, our non-narrative writing focused on developing a biography written about the great environmentalist David Attenborough. In this term, our non-narrative writing will focus on creating a balanced argument about ‘screen time’ where we will have the opportunity for some debates. In our narrative writing we will continue to develop our creative ideas following the book called the ‘Nowhere Emporium’. The Nowhere Emporium arrives in Glasgow, orphan Daniel Holmes stumbles upon it quite by accident. Before long, the 'shop from nowhere' with its owner, Mr Silver pull Daniel into a breath-taking world of magic and enchantment. For those who love Harry Potter you are certainly going to enjoy this book.

For Maths the focus of the term will to be to continue our development of fractions. This requires a secure knowledge of times-tables. Please can we make sure that all students to continue to develop this at home; you can sing, shout, and chant those times-tables every night. Furthermore, we will be looking at area/perimeter of shapes with a more practical outlook on how the learning takes place. For many jobs in the world, it is vital to have a good understanding of measuring area/perimeter.

In Physical Education we are lucky enough to be able to continue our swimming lessons. This is a key life skill and is something which I am passionate to teach. Everybody should have the skill of being able to swim. Our other sport lesson will focus on cricket, with an external company coming in to teach the lessons, with the weather hopefully improving I always enjoy being outside playing cricket. It means summer is close by!

In geography lessons this term we will be learning about Australia, particularly the physical and human geographical features of Australia. It is one of those countries that has always fascinated me. Miss Keyte will be an expert as she spent a few months travelling there a few years ago. Australia is so big that you can travel by plane to northern parts of Africa from the U.K by the time it takes to get from Sydney (east coast) of Australia to Perth (west coast) of Australia. Crazy!

For history we have the important topic of learning about the ‘Transatlantic Slave Trade’ and looking at the origins of why it began in the first place. There will be some sensitive subjects discussed but it is important part of human history. The Atlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of various enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas.

In Science we will be moving away from our biology topic of ‘Living things and their Habitats’ and instead focusing on the element of physics where we will be learning about ‘Forces’. There are some exciting experiments which are going to take place, which even I can remember doing at school.

We do have lots of other exciting things taking place in school throughout the term so please keep up to date with dojo. Thank you as always.

Year 5 Spring 1 Curriculum Information

Welcome back Year Five. I hope everyone has had a restful holiday and is excited to be back at school.

Our class read for this half-term is the famous story of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ written by William Shakespeare. It is a tragic love story where the two main characters, Romeo, and Juliet, are supposed to be sworn enemies but fall in love. Due to their families' ongoing conflict, they cannot be together, a captivating story with a tragic ending. The theme throughout this term has a focus on the importance of reading and developing reading skills. Our VIPERS lessons will be extended because of this.

In English last term, our non-narrative writing focused on developing persuasive writing techniques, where we wrote a letter to Jeff Bezos to persuade him to help fight the cause of ending world hunger. This term our non-narrative writing will focus on biography writing where we will develop new techniques of writing. Our narrative writing will focus on Anthony Browne’s ‘Gorilla’ story. Anthony Browne's incomparable artwork illuminates the deeply satisfying story of a lonely girl, a friendly gorilla, and their enchanted night out.

For Maths our focus for the beginning of the half term will be the continuation of our multiplication and division. This will then supplement the second part of the term where we will move onto fractions, decimals, and percentages. Timestables yet again is key to the learning taking place. This is important that TTRS is being completed and parents help support children with this area of mathematics. There is a weekly reward of an extra ten-minute play time if the pupil completes an average of five minutes everyday in that week.

In Physical Education we are lucky enough to be able to have swimming lessons. This is a key life skill and is something which I am passionate to teach. Everybody should have the skill of being able to swim. Our other sport lesson will focus on basketball, where we will develop hand to eye co-ordination, passing and shooting techniques.

Geography lessons this term will focus on learning about UK. Particularly, East Anglia, The Midlands, Yorkshire, and Humberside and how the topography is different in these locations. In History we move away from the British Empire and start learning about the French Revolution, where there are some interesting battles to learn about. Finally, our science lessons are based around ‘Living Things’ which ties nicely to our learning around David Attenborough.

We have a few exciting events planned which include Drawn to Wildlife Art session with library – 2 hours – 26^th Jan so please keep a look out on Class Dojo for photos of our learning, information, and updates. Please also remember that pink spelling books and grey maths homework books must come back to school every Monday. Thank you.

Year 5 Autumn 2 Curriculum Information

To start the term off on our first day back we have our much-anticipated farm trip. The farm is a mixed farm where the farmer grows crops (wheat/barley/beans) and then raises livestock in other fields. After our ‘farm in the box day’ last term we are now even more excited to see our new outdoor classroom which will be built in a few weeks! We look forward to learning more about the outdoors and helping to develop our forest school.

Our class read for this half-term will be based on Mark Twain's 1885 classic novel called the ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’ Twain's story of a runaway boy and an escaped slave's travels on the Mississippi comprehends the essential meaning of freedom. The book is among the most celebrated works of American fiction and is an absolute classic which will feed into other areas of our curriculum such as PHSE.

In English last term, our writing focused on refugeeism and litter pollution. We continue our writing with another important topic focusing on child labour, especially those children around the world who make football shirts. Our writing will be delving deep into the world of sponsorship and revenue football creates but also looking at the hidden darkness. This writing will focus on elements of sending a persuasive letter to MPs or the local council to enact change. Our second writing piece will be all about presents which is very fitting for the run up to Christmas. There will be some very exciting experience days, which may involve Mr Dalby’s new puppy.

For Maths we will be continuing to develop our timestables knowledge. Our focus of this half term will be focusing on multiplication and division. This is such an important part of mathematics at primary school because all other elements of maths that we must cover like: fractions, decimals, area etc all require good knowledge of multiplication and division. This is important that TTRS is being completed and parents help support children with this area of mathematics.  

In Physical Education we will be using our fitness from last term to help us with other parts of P.E. Our focus will be on gymnastics and dodgeball. On Friday afternoons we will continue with PHSE lessons which will have an important focus on ‘celebrating difference’.

For our Geography lessons there will be a focus on ‘mountains’ and where in the world are the highest peaks. This is something which has always fascinated me, and I am sure will be another interesting geography subject to learn. Towards the second half of the half-term, we are going to be focusing on our history topic ‘The Early British Empire’ and how Britain created an empire across the globe. We are very lucky to have a historian from Leicestershire libraries join us in class to teach us how to think like historians and source different types of evidence. The big question for history will focus on ‘how much of the world did Britain take over?’ Finally, our science lessons will be looking at different types of ‘materials’ where at the end of the term the pupils will be answering the big question ‘what are the different materials?’

Please keep a look out on Class Dojo for photos of our learning, information, and updates. We have lots more exciting experiences planned for this half-term such as Farm Trip.

Year 5 Autumn 1 Curriculum Information

I hope you are all ready for another exciting year? We have an exciting half-term planned. Our class read will be based on the book, ‘Windrush Child’. Benjamin Zephaniah, the author of the book, describes the book as "historical, fiction, but true story" and it's 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. The book follows an exhilarating, eye opening 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. This book encourages all of our school values including acceptance, respect and courage. It also links nicely to our Personal, Social and Health and Education lessons where we are looking at ‘Being Me in My World’.

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

For Maths we will be continuing to develop our timestables knowledge. However, our main strand of Maths is a really important part to learn which is ‘Place Value’; that’s why we are beginning our maths with this strand. Additionally, we will be focusing on addition and subtraction work.

In Physical Education we will be focusing on Fitness and Yoga. Our Friday afternoons of Yoga and PHSE should be a really good way to reflect on the previous week.

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) allows students to describe and analyse the spatial patterns and organisation of people, places, and environments on Earth. Particularly we will be focusing on the different hemispheres. Towards the second half of the half-term we are going to be focusing on our history topic Baghdad, where we will be looking at the rise of the Islam.

Finally, our science lessons will be looking at ‘The Human Body’ particularly the different stages of the human body growing up. Therefore, we will be looking at adolescence, puberty, adulthood and then slowing down in later life. Throughout our learning this half-term, we will be trying to answer our BIG QUESTION:

Please keep a look out on Class Dojo for photos of our learning, information, and updates. We have lots more exciting experiences planned for this half-term such as Ronald Dahl day, Farm in a box activity day and much more.