year5@allsaints-harwich.essex.sch.uk
Welcome to the Spring term in Year 5. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter and are ready to do that final push of learning to finish off our year in Year 5!
P.E and Forest schools
P.E will now take place on a Wednesday afternoon. For the first half term, we will not be having Forest School as we are having swimming lessons on a Thursday. We will also be having cricket sessions with Chance to Shine Cricket. Therefore, children need to come into school in P.E kits on a Tuesday and a Wednesday and swimming kits on a Thursday.
English
In English this term we will be writing a narrative, a discussion and some letters! We will be using the Year 5 Writing Checklist to identify skills in model text and begin to learn how to use these in our own writing.
Reading
In our reading lessons, we will be reading texts linked to our topic. We will look at these texts and use effective reading skills to build our abilities as high-level readers and writers.
Regular reading continues to support learning so please encourage as much reading as possible. We also have our class reading challenge for children to engage with. We will also be reading our class books at the end of the day for pleasure. Please remember to sign your child’s reading diary.
Mathematics
This term we are going to focus on shape, position and direction, decimals, negative numbers, converting units and volume. Some of these are quite tricky topics so please complete the Mathletics and support your children at home. We will also be continuing on our superhero challenges from Spring term so we encourage you to support your children with their times tables knowledge.
Science
In Science we are going to be focusing life cycles and reproduction and animals. We are going to be able to describe a wide variety of life cycles, order the stages of growth and development and recognise and ask questions to describe the difference between these different life cycles.
RE
For the first half term, we are going to be considering. How Hindus make sense of the world. To do this, we are going to think about Karma, achieving Moksha, looking at the life of Ghandi and reflecting on all of our thoughts. In the second half term, we are going to consider whether religion can help to reduce racism. To do this, we will consider what racism is, what sacred texts say about racism and how this links to every day life.
History
In History we are going to be looking at what life was like in Tudor England. We are going to be able to recall information about King Henry VIII, make deductions about his wives and evaluate his marriage requirements, look at Elizabeth Ist Worcester Progress and explain inventories and their uses.
Geography
This term we are going to be asking the question ‘Would you like to live in the desert?’. We are going to think about where deserts are and what creates a desert, name and identify different deserts, describe some threats to deserts and both positives and negatives of living in this environment.
Music
During our Music lessons, the learning is focused on learning to sing, play, improvise and compose with our song ‘Dancing in the Street’. We will listen to a variety of songs during this topic and appraise our thinking on these genres of music.
Art
In Art we are. Going to be creating portraits. We are going to be thinking about a variety of materials, compositions and techniques to create our portraits, compare portraits and create a self-portrait which represents something about ourselves.
D.T
This term in DT we are going to be doing some cookery! We are going to consider where food comes from, designing a recipe, consider nutritional value, design a label and cook some Bolognese.
Spanish
This term we will be looking at the pets. In this unit they will learn about how to explain what pets they do or do not have and be able to use conjunctions is their sentences.
Homework
Weekly spelling patterns or words are sent home on a Friday via Marvellous Me. We work on these words and spelling patterns throughout the week, but practising at home can help to embed these spellings, ensuring the children consistently use them within their writing.
Mathletics homework is set on a Friday each week and should be completed for the following Friday. All children who complete this earn an extra break on a Friday afternoon. If it has not been completed, this time is an opportunity where we can support children in completing the work.
We also ask that reading is completed five times a week for at least five minutes and recorded in their reading records. Children may wish to read to themselves, but we ask that their reading records are still signed by an adult. They do not need to only read the book they are currently reading at school, but instead could choose to read anything that they are interested in.
Key messages
If you have any questions, anything that you want to let me know or just check, feel free to catch me on the gate in the morning or at the end of the day. Alternatively, you can leave a message with the office or email me on our class email which is Year5@allsaints-harwich.essex.sch.uk.
Please let us know if you have any further questions or queries.
Kind Regards
Mrs Harris