Topic

This term the children have continued exploring the life of the Ancient Greeks. They looked at different sources to find out how the Greeks lived, dressed and were educated. They had conversations about the Minoans and understood the importance of trade for the people of Crete. They explored the difference between Sparta’s and Athens’ government systems and what this meant for their citizens. Children had some time to think about the similarities and differences between these two Greek states as well as how our modern day Britain is in comparison.

Literacy

Children have been reading their class book and are writing a descriptive piece based on a section of this text. Their grammar and reading skills have all been focused around enjoying and understanding the texts they have been assigned. 5CB is exploring Boy at the back of the class, 5T is sinking their teeth into Stormbreaker, 5PB is enjoying Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone and 5C are diving into Kensuke’s kingdom. All children have spoken about the atmosphere in the text and the words chosen by the author to draw a reader in.

Maths

In year 5, children have been learning about the four operations in more detail. They spent some time on each operation and have used their problem solving Curwen core skill to answer questions using these. It has been very important to understand the vocabulary required for each question and to focus on recall of past learning. Children have been able to show off the prior learning of vocabulary related to maths and of strategies needed to solve mathematical problems.

Literacy and Maths

In literacy and maths, Year 5 has been revising in preparation for the assessments. They have worked extremely hard this year, and this was reflected in their assessments. They have also continued reading the class books: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (5B); Kensuke’s Kingdom (5L); The Boy at the Back of the Class (5T); and Alex Rider: Stormbreaker (5C). This term, Year 5 were learning ratios and proportion. They began with an exploratory lesson that got them to visually see that ratios meant ‘for every’ and proportion meant ‘out of’ the whole.

DT

This term for DT, children learnt about sustainability and created windmills. They measured their materials required to create the windmills. Then they used tools (saws and bench hooks) to cut the wood into the appropriate sizes before assembling it into the frame for their windmills. The children then used computers and the software TinkerCAD to design the sails of the windmill, which was 3D printed for their design. As part of the DT Children also took part in food technology where they explored the different produce in the UK and made Pizzas using local ingredients.

RE

After learning about Islam, the children took a trip to the mosque, a Muslim place of worship. The Imam presented information about Islam and children were given the opportunity to witness prayer and to take part if they wished. After this, children presented an Eid assembly to their parents via zoom, to showcase their learning and to pass on the information about the prophet.

Geography Day

For Geography Day, year 5 went to West Ham park to do a quality survey of their local area. Children had to think about the traffic on the road, how clean their environment was, pollution in the area and if there was evidence of eco solutions along the way. They collected things in the park for their journey stick and compiles a tally chart which they turned into a bar graph showing the number of vehicles they saw on the road.

Literacy

We’ve done lots of reading this term, but one day really stands out amongst the rest…World Book Day! It was an amazing experience for all children! They created sandwich boards based on their favourite book or a book they have been reading. It was fantastic to hear all of the different stories and summaries that the children shared with the class. Year 5 got to watch Michael Morpurgo explain how he became an author and how it changed his life.  Many children mentioned how inspiring he was and how they hope to become authors themselves one day. 

Maths

In maths, Year 5 has continued their learning of fractions. We have learnt about fractions of an amount, simplifying fractions and how to solve problems involving fractions. We have also explored angles and properties of shape this term.

Topic

For Science, our topic was materials and their properties. We started off our learning with an exploratory lesson where the children were able to explore different materials with their table groups. It was exciting to see children so engaged and trying to use vocabulary to describe the types of materials. Once the vocabulary was discussed as a class, children were able to use this to justify which material would be best suited for certain things, such as ‘a teapot couldn’t be made of chocolate because it would melt.’

For International Family Week, we decided to create tie dye t-shirts with our chosen country sewn on to the front. We looked at how we could manipulate the pattern and colours to create a design that was unique. The children learned how to use different sewing techniques such as a blanket, chain and running stitch. It was fantastic to have parents come in to support and engage with the children on how to sew a piece of material to their t-shirt. The t-shirts look fantastic and the children can’t wait to wear them for carnival!

The highlight for many children this term was our residential trip to Cheshunt.