What have Y5 been up to?
Autumn Term 2
Week 7
The last week of term has been the busiest! We have concluded our Autumn term topics and had lots of fun! Here are some photos from our last week of term:
Mrs Maltby and Mr Furey would like to wish Year 5 and their families a happy Christmas.
Week 6
We have had another fun Christmassy week! The advent calendar this week has contained lots of craft activities - we have made Christmas cards, calendars and decorated Christmas pictures and we have been practising songs to sing in Church next week.
In English this week we have been writing travel brochures - we wrote an assessed piece of writing persuading people to visit Lapland at Christmas. In Maths we have continued with our fractions work, this week we have been adding and subtracting improper and mixed number fractions. In our reading sessions we are trying hard to get to the end of 'The Wolf Wilder' before we break up for Christmas. In Science we had fun conducting our own solubility experiments.
On Friday we also held our Year 5 Christmas activity afternoon. We would like to thank all the parents and relatives that came to share the afternoon with us. We made some Christmas decorations, drank hot chocolate and took part in a Christmas quiz. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!
Week 5
It was assessment week this week. We have completed Maths, Reading, Grammar and punctuation and Spelling tests. These tests help to inform teachers about what the children can and can't do and this is used to inform future teaching. The children should be really proud of themselves as they have tried really hard.
This has also been the first week of the Dothill Advent calendar. We have revealed an extra playtime, a music afternoon, Christmas decoration making and decorating and finished with some Christmas colouring. We can't wait to see what next week's calendar will reveal.
The children have brought two letters home this week. One is about 'Bikeability' and the other is an invite for Year 5 parents to come into school next Friday for an afternoon of Christmas decoration making. Parents are invited into Year 5 at 2pm to make Christmas decorations and share some hot chocolate with their child. Could parents attending please bring a mug for your hot chocolate. If you have any questions please speak to your child's class TA or teacher. We look forward to seeing you next Friday.
Week 4
Back to normal this week, with no snow and ice! In English this week we have begun to look at travel writing and the persuasive skills needed to persuade people to holiday in different parts of the world. We have looked at holidaying in Crete and the Rainforest. In our Reading lessons we have begun reading the 'Wolf Wilder' by Katherine Rundell. This is a story about a girl called Feodora, who lives with her mother in a Russian forest. They train wolves who have been kept as pets to return back to the wild. But they upset the Tsar and the Russian Imperial army with their hunting skills. We can't wait to see how the story develops further.
In Maths this week we have continue with our Fractions work and have been learning to compare and order fractions by finding common fractions. This has been tricky, but we're getting there! In our 'Properties of materials' topic in Science we conducted a hardness test this week. We tested several materials by scratching them with a coin and a nail to see if they left a mark. Then we ordered them according to the depth of the scratch left behind. In our PSHE lesson this week we have been discussing the impact that rumours and name calling can have on others. We designed a snakes and ladders game that explained ways to help or make bullying scenarios worse. In PE we continued our eco dances by looking at reusable energy and designing a dance to demonstrate how these work.
Week 3
It has been a slightly different week this week! The week began with us planning our own newspaper report. We continues with the theme of escaped animals in Telford - so please be careful as we have reported alligators, monkeys, eagles, bears, snakes and even wolves roaming free around the landmarks of Telford. In Maths we have begun our fractions topic, we are learning that our times tables knowledge is really helping us to find equivalent fractions so keep practising!
In Geography we researched facts about different biomes and in Art we have continued to look at structures and have drawn and researched the Ironbridge. The snow disrupted our learning a little this week and made some days feel quite long as it wasn't safe to play outside. We took the opportunity on Wednesday to 'go off timetable' and fit in some extra art! We used our buildings and sculpture theme and had a go at creating our own cityscapes.
On Wednesday 18th December we will be walking to Church to perform our Christmas concert. We really need some adults to walk with us - if you are available and willing to walk with us please let Mrs Maltby and Mr Furey know.
Week 2
This week we have concluded our Multiplication and Division topic in Maths and now know how to find Squared numbers, Prime numbers and Cubed numbers. We have continued to learn about the skills needed to write a newspaper report. This week we have learnt the difference between direct and indirect speech. We planned and wrote a fictional shared write about a Tiger on the loose in Telford! We had great fun imagining it in a variety of places such as the Town Park, the Football Stadium and even at the Princess Royal Hospital.
In Science this week we learnt about insulators and conductors. We conducted an experiment to find out if foil or thick foam would be the best insulator. We tried to keep a cup of water hot - we took the temperature of the water every 5 minutes to see which material was the best insulator. Please ask your children about our results!
This week was also Children in Need. We enjoyed wearing Mufti for the day and completing some Children in Need activities.
Week 1
A new half term means the start of lots of new exciting topics. This week we have begun to read the new text that we will use in our Reading and Writing lessons. We are reading 'The White Fox' by Jackie Morris.
In Maths we are concluding our Multiplication and Division topic. Please ask us to explain what Squared numbers, Prime numbers and Cubed numbers are. We have worked hard to try and explain what they are and how you find them. Here are some of us demonstrating why a number is a cubed number:
We have also begun to learn about the properties of different materials in Science, Biomes in Geography, Architects in Art and we have begun to put together an Eco Dance in P.E.
Autumn Term 1
Week 8
This week in Design and Technology we have finished our cushion covers! We would like to thank the adults who came into school to help with this. We couldn't have finished without your help. Here are some of our cushion covers:
Halloween Fun
Week 7 - Anglo - Saxon Workshop
Week 6
We have finally finished our class novel 'Why the Whales Came' by Michael Morpurgo this week. We have really enjoyed this story, even if the ending wasn't the totally happy ending we had hoped for. We have also been reading the story of Beowulf and will be writing our own Legends next week. We have written some amazing pieces of writing this week about the monster Grendel fighting Beowulf. We need to create our own mythical monster next week. In Maths we have finished our addition and subtraction unit, we have found this difficult and will be practising more later in the year.
In Science this week we learnt about the fire triangle. Please ask your children what three things a fire needs to burn. We watched a demonstration that showed up what happens to fire when there is no oxygen. In Design and Technology we began sewing our cushions covers. Thank-you to all the grown-ups who came to help, we look forward to seeing some of you again next week.
Week 5
Our week has seen us produce some amazing creative writing this week. We had to describe the setting of Grendel's swamp from Beowulf. We listened to the story with a background of spooky music and then had to imagine walking through the swamp. In maths we have begun an addition and subtraction unit. We have been practising our column addition and subtraction, especially carrying and exchanging. It's getting tricky as the numbers are getting larger.
All children have been issued with their log-in details for Times Tables Rock Stars. This is their Maths homework and there is an expectation that children are using this 15 minutes a day. If you are having problems accessing this great resource please let your child's class teacher know.
In Science this week we observed the results of our rust experiment. It didn't quite turn out as expected! Please ask us to explain what we discovered! In P.E we learnt two different ways to serve the ball in tennis. In History we had fun using the i-pads to find out as many facts as could about the Vikings. We especially enjoyed learning about their diet! It was another fun PSHE lesson too. In teams we were given 5 minutes to build the tallest paper tower. This became quite competitive. We then discussed the importance of working as a team and how we could work together to be more productive.
Week 4
This week has been a week with lots of practical activities. In English we have started a story writing unit based on the story of Beowulf told by Michael Morpurgo. This is an Anglo-Saxon legend about a terrifying beast. We have really enjoyed reading this story and on Tuesday we acted out lots different scenarios based on the characters in the story.
In maths we have continued to learn to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000. This has been a challenge to some of us as the numbers are getting larger and we need to remember which numbers to look at so we know where to round to. In Science we have again been looking at irreversible changes. We have set up an experiment to see if salt affects the speed a nail rusts. We are excited to see what happens!
We have continued learning tennis skills in P.E and learnt about why Danegeld was important to the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons in our History lessons. PSHE was particularly fun this week, as we had to choose an object from a bag and then in groups we had to make up a game using that object.
Can we please remind parents to reply to the email you should have received about our Anglo-Saxon Workshop on 14th October as soon as possible.
Thank-you
Week 3
Another busy week in Year 5. We have concluded our diary writing unit by writing an extended diary extract based on our reading book 'Why the Whales Came' by Michael Morpurgo. In maths we have been comparing and ordering numbers up to 1,000,000.
Science was really exciting this week as we have been looking at irreversible changes by creating different mixtures.
In our Jigsaw/PSHR lessons we had some great discussions about what migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers are. This led to a great debate about the role of the government and children's rights. In History we learnt about different Viking and Anglo-Saxon Kings and debated why King Alfred was so 'Great'!
The children have asked us to remind you to sign their reading diaries when reading at home. The expectation is four reads a week. Some of them are getting cross because they are missing out on valuable Dojo points because their diaries aren't signed.
Week 2
This week Year 5 have continued with Place value in Maths. We have been learning about place holders and how numbers up to 1,000,000 are made. In English we have continued with our diary work and learnt about idioms and hyperboles. We have continued reading 'Why the Whales came' in our Reading sessions and are enjoying learning more about the characters as the plot is developing.
In Science, we took part in a problem carousel. We had four problems to solve involving reversible changes. We had to identify the components and say how we could solve each problem.
We also began our History topic, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We learnt about where the Vikings came from about their raid of Lindisfarne. We had our first P.E session this year. This term we are using the tennis equipment. A reminder that 5F need to wear P.E kits on a Monday and 5M need P.E kits on a Wednesday.
Week 1
Year 5 have had a busy first week back at school. Mr Furey and Mrs Maltby are both really excited to be teaching Year 5 this year and have loved our first week getting to know our classes.
It has been a week of finding out about new topics and expectations. In Maths our topic is Place Value, we began by practising Roman Numerals and learning the letters for 100, 500 and 1000. In English we are studying the features of diary writing and have already had a go at writing two diary extracts. In our Reading sessions our author focus is Michael Morpurgo and we have begun reading 'Why the Whales Came' and will also be reading 'The Wreck of the Zanzibar' in our story sessions.
In Science, we have begun our 'Changes in Materials' topic. We were set the challenge of working out which glass of water contained salt. We weren't allowed to taste! We learnt about evaporation and how to extract the salt from the water. We also learnt which components were the solvent, solute and solution - Please test me!
In Design and Technology we will be making a cushion cover. We have talked a lot about this, this week. We have material and resources in school but if the children have any material, threads, appliques or anything they wish to put on their cushion please send them in. We are currently planning our cushion covers, but in a couple of weeks time we be making them. If there any adults out there who would be able to come in and help us we would be very grateful. Our D and T lessons are on Friday afternoons, please speak to Mrs Maltby or Mr Furey if you are able to help. Here we are working on our 'Mood Boards'.
For Your Information - All children should have a reading book and their reading diary now. New spellings will be given out on Fridays - the first set were given out this week.