Welcome to Year 5

Hello from Miss Naylor, Mrs Rawle, Mrs Hill, Miss Hadley and Mrs Watkins. 

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!

Red Nose Day - Comic Relief

We are really proud of the hard work and dedication that Year 5 have shown to create a range of fantastic Red Nose Day stalls. The stalls ranged from cakes and sweets to lucky dip, name the teddy and mini sports. A lovely day for the children to support the younger children, have fun and raise money. Well done!

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 get started on our newspaper reports about the special event! Well done to all of our performers, and also to our amazing, supportive audience  

Local Area Walk

As part of our geography unit this half term, the children completed a 'field work' walk in order to identify physical and human features around the local area, 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'. It was an extremely muddy walk, but we had great fun!

William Morris inspired art work

This term, the children have created a piece of art work which was inspired by an artist from the Victorian era, William Morris. We spent time researching him and finding out why his work became so well-known, before exploring some of his most famous pieces and using these to create our own versions. The children have enjoyed exploring repeating patterns, similar to those used in wallpaper, before creating their own using printing ink. 

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 Wednesday, 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, Hagrid's hut, Privet Drive 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, and we were extremely proud of their behaviour throughout the day. Here are some highlights of the day (more photos will be available on the children's RM Unify account soon).

Children in Need

Today, we helped to raise money and awareness for Children in Need by wearing spots. We also had a danceathon in school, where each year group took it in turns to dance throughout the day. The children enjoyed showing off their dance moves. Here are some photos for you to enjoy!

Making butter

This week, the children have made butter from double cream in their science lessons. They have been learning about reversible and irreversible changes. To make the butter, the children had to take it in turns to shake a container of double cream for 15 minutes - our arms were tired by the end! They had so much fun making the butter and enjoyed tasting the result of their hard work on a piece of bread.

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 had a chance to see on display at Parent's Evening. They also 'joined the Army' and had to complete a series of drills to demonstrate their ability, thanks to two special visitors (one who you may recognise out of the uniform)!

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

Gymnastics 

5HR have been doing gymnastics in PE this term. We have been learning lots of new skills such as: synchronisation, moving in canon, and mirroring and matching. The children have worked both independently and with a partner to create sequences using the equipment. 

Art work inspired by Karl Johnson

The children have been learning about an artist named 'Karl Johnson' this term. He is famous for creating pieces of art using silhouettes. We researched his background and discussed pieces of his work, in order to then create our own WW2 art, also including silhouettes. The children first created a graduated background using paint, and then practised blending the colours into each other, before adding their London architecture silhouette to add the finishing touches. I'm sure you will agree, they look fantastic!

Separating mixtures

This week in Science, Year 5 have been looking at different scientific methods and equipment that can be used to separate a mixture of materials. They have learnt about magnetism, evaporation, filtering and sieving. A supermarket accidently mixed up their materials and the children were challenged to use an appropriate method in order to separate each mixture. All groups successfully separated their materials - well done! We are looking forward to seeing whether our water and salt solution evaporates before half term!

Powerful Verbs!

As part of our writing unit, we have been thinking about lots of different ways to edit and up-level our use of vocabulary, to ensure that our use of language helps to build a clear picture in the reader's mind. Today, we focused on editing verbs. Using a thesaurus, we acted out examples of synonyms to show how an author's choice of vocabulary can make a piece of writing more effective and change the meaning of a sentence. 

IPads in Maths!

After completing our end of unit assessments in Maths, we got to try out the new school IPads. We played a range of different Maths games including 'Hit the Button' and 'TT Rockstars'. We are becoming experts in our times tables! 

Science

This term, we have been investigating materials and their properties. We have looked at magnetism, conductivity and insulation. Last week, we experimented with different materials to find out which material would be the best thermal insulator for a café to use to keep their toasties warm. We wrapped bottles with materials and measured the temperature of the water inside at the start and again after 15 minutes outside. Ask your child which material they concluded would be best to keep a toastie warm!

An exciting discovery...

Year 5 had an exciting announcement from Mr Freear. After the news of the Crooked House, 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

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

5HR: Wednesday and Thursday

5N: Wednesday and Friday

Children will need their PE kits in school on these days and should come to school with earrings removed and hair tied back. 

In PE this term, Year 5 will be practising their skills in Gymnastics, Dance, Tag Rugby and Volleyball. 

Homework and Home Learning

Year 5 will receive three pieces of homework each week: English, Maths and Spellings biweekly. English and Maths homework will be given out on a Wednesday to be returned the following Wednesday where it will be shared in school. This homework will support the children's learning in school and should take at least 30 minutes to complete. 

Spelling tests take place every other Friday. The children will need to bring their yellow spelling books to school on this day. Biweekly spellings will be supported by a given task. This may be a homework sheet or it may be a written task which can be completed in the children's yellow spelling books.

We encourage daily reading practice at home and also regular practice 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:

English

Spelling 

Maths

Curriculum Links