Year 5

Welcome to Year 5

Hello from Miss Naylor, Mrs Rawle, Miss Hadley, Mrs Hill, Mrs Fowkes and Mrs Baker.

Year 5's Got Talent!

What a fantastic morning we had at Straits! It was amazing to see the range of talents that we have in Year 5 and the staff thoroughly enjoyed watching each of the performances. The excitement was building as the children patiently awaited the arrival of our special guest- they couldn't believe it when Simon Cowell walked through the door! The children enjoyed showcasing their talents before having a vote for our first, second and third places. We can't wait to read the children's newspaper reports about the special event! Well done to all of our performers, and also to our amazing, supportive audience.

As voted by the children, our winning act was a brilliant stop-motion creation - well done, Elodie!

Building Bridges!

The children have been learning about different types of bridges during their Design and Technology work. They have investigated the strength of Beam, Arch and Truss bridges and discussed which shape helps to strength the structures, using a mixture of materials such as card, paper and even K-Nex. Over the course of a few lessons, they have practised skills such as: accurate measuring, cutting wood using saws, and strengthening their structures where necessary. The children have shown great team work skills and brilliant communication to successfully build their own Truss bridge. Well done, everyone!

Local Area Walk

As part of our geography unit this half term, the children completed some local area walks in order to identify physical and human features, which date back to the Victorian period. Along the route, the children identified a number of features including: the 'dip', believed to formerly be used for the red clay to make bricks; Bob's Brook, which used to be surrounded by small bell pits; and also, houses which were known as the 'miner's cottages'. On our walk to Baggeridge, we identified the remains of old coal tracks, a bridge used in transporting the coal/bricks and Baggeridge chimney. They also had great fun on the park!

Robotics Day!

Year 5 have had an exciting day today, creating 'Battling Bots'! They have worked well as a team to communicate effectively and decide on roles within their group. The children had an opportunity to design and build their robot, create codes to provide instructions for their robot, and then test out their strength and durability when battling other bots. We had some wonderful comments from the workshop leader, who was very impressed with the behaviour of the children and their willingness to participate. Well done, Year 5!

Victorian Day!

The children thoroughly enjoyed their Victorian Day, celebrating their learning so far. They participated in a range of activities, such as: baking a Victorian sponge cake, visiting a Victorian sweet shop, craft activities and writing their new name using chalk and slate. We loved seeing the children in their costumes and we're sure you will agree, they looked fantastic! Thank you again for your support. Take a look at the photos from a wonderful day!

Harry Potter Trip!

Last Tuesday, the children had a fabulous day at Harry Potter Studios. They explored many of the movie sets, including: The Great Hall (decorated beautifully for Christmas), Hogwarts Express and the Gryffindor common room. For the staff, it was lovely to hear the chorus of, 'Wow', as the children spotted the enormous model of Hogwarts Castle for the first time. The children were a credit to both yourselves and the school. Here are some highlights of the day (more photos will be available on the children's RM Unify account soon).

World War II Day

To celebrate the end of our History unit, 'The Battle of Britain', we had a wonderful day taking part in a variety of activities linked to World War II. The children had lots of fun bringing learning to life by collecting resources from the environment to help them create an Anderson Shelter, which we hope you all have a chance to see on display at Parent's Evening, along with their Class Books showcasing their learning. They also 'joined the Army' and had to complete a series of drills to demonstrate their ability, thanks to a special visitor (who you may recognise not in uniform)!

Well done, Year 5- the staff also had a brilliant day!

Locked in!

To introduce the children to their new writing unit, 'a warning tale', today they experienced what could happen if they ignore a warning. After ignoring a warning from Mr.Wade about going to the annex, Year 5 suffered the consequences of becoming trapped! The children had been told that the gate up to the annex was 'faulty' and that we must not risk going through. However, after discussing a possible alternative route, we made our way to the annex for 'Golden Time'. Unfortunately, when it was time to leave, we then found ourselves locked out of the annex and trapped by the 'faulty' gate. After some contemplating of what we were going to do, an apologetic phone call was made to Mr. Wade who then came to rescue us! We then reflected on our actions, before eventually revealing to the children that it was all planned and it was the 'hook' into their learning.

Science

This term, we will be investigating materials and their properties. So far, we have looked at magnetism and conductivity of different materials, and we have used our knowledge to draw conclusions. Take a look at our conductivity experiment.

A special request...

Year 5 had an exciting announcement from Mr Freear. After the news of the Crooked House being rebuilt, Mr Freear explained that artefacts from WW2 had been found in the local area. An email to Mr Freear rumoured that there were some items in our school grounds! Year 5 were set the task to answer clues, in hopes of recovering any artefacts. The children were full of excitement - we had a lot of fun! We will leave it to the children to tell you what they discovered!

PE days in Year 5 will be as follows...

5HR: Tuesday and Thursday

5N: Tuesday and Thursday

Children will need their PE kits in school on these days and should come to school with earrings removed and hair tied back. If your child has had their ears pierced in the last 6 weeks, please fill in a form from the office. If your child has had their ears pierced for over 6 weeks but cannot independently remove them, please make sure that they wear plastic retainers to school on PE days. The children are not allowed to take part in PE if wearing plasters over their earrings.

In PE this term, Year 5 will be practising their skills in Gymnastics, Badminton, Basketball and Volleyball.

Homework and Home Learning

This year, we are trialling online homework for Year 5 using 'SATs Companion'. Within the next few weeks, your child/children will receive their logins and we will show the children how to use the website and access their homework.

Spelling tests take place every Friday. Weekly spellings will be supported by a given task; this may be a homework sheet or it may be a written task.

We encourage daily reading practice at home and also regular practise of basic maths skills, including times tables.

Below you can find some useful links to help you to support your child's learning at home: