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Year 5 Curriculum Overview can be found here: Year 5 Curriculum Overview
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Friday 30th June
We’ve a wonderful week in Year 5 and ‘Enrichment Week’ has once again been amazing!
On Wednesday, we enjoyed so many different arts and crafts activities. We had a range of tasks to explore, including tie-dying, origami and jewellery making. Once we have enough products, we are hoping to sell them as part of a Year 5 enterprise project. Watch this space!
We enjoyed a fantastic Sports Day on Thursday and everyone had so much fun! The races were brilliant in the morning and everyone worked so hard! In the afternoon, we enjoyed benchball, rounders and even a visit to ‘Dino Mania!’ All of the children were incredibly well-behaved throughout and it was lovely to see everyone cheering on their friends.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Hayward
Friday 12th May
Despite only having a 4-day week, we’ve enjoyed lots of new learning! The sun has also made an appearance and this has definitely helped to make everyone feel a little brighter!
In Science this week, we have been learning about the life cycles of birds. We enjoyed finding out about frigate birds and how they inflate their huge, red pouches to help them attract a mate. It was also interesting to find out about the colourful, male birds and how their bright colours help them to be successful in pairing up with a female. In small groups, we ordered the different stages of a bird’s life cycle and presented the information clearly in our Science books.
We have also been busy this week learning all the words for our WOW assembly. Everyone has loved singing two new songs and we know our parents and carers will enjoy the performance. Our Wow assembly is next Friday 19th May at 9:20am.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 21st April
Welcome back everyone- I hope you’ve all had a lovely Easter break!
We’ve had a busy first week back and children have all managed to get back into the swing of things in Year 5! The sunny mornings have definitely helped and we can’t wait for the warmer weather to kick in now that we’ve reached the Summer Term!
In Maths, we have worked exceptionally hard to convert mixed numbers and improper fractions. This has required huge amounts of concentration and everyone is using their learning powers brilliantly to show resilience. Well done everyone!
In Geography, we have been finding out about the causes of flooding. We were all really enthralled to learn about the Gloucester Floods of 2007! Children then created their own mind-maps to show how a flood starts – these are looking amazing!
In Science, we’ve been learning about the phases of the moon and how we see the moon from the night sky. Using the iPads, we researched the different phases of the moon and completed our own diagrams to show a moon cycle over a month. Keep looking up at the night sky everyone and see if you can spot the phase of the moon we can see regularly!
On Friday, we will focus on finding out how levers, pulleys and gears work. Next week, in DT, we will use our learning to help us design and make our own model of a planet in the solar system. Thank you for bringing in all of the shoe boxes from home!
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 24th March
We’ve had a busy week crammed full with lots of new learning. The term has flown by and we can’t believe there’s only one more week until the Easter holidays!
In English this week, we have been working on applying our knowledge of direct and reported speech. We’ve loved being fully immersed in our core text, Letters from the Lighthouse. Thinking carefully about using the correct speech punctuation, we’ve been telling the story through a combination of narration and speech dialogues.
Science this week has been so much fun! We took our learning outside and acted out the solar system: our mission was to orbit around the sun. Meanwhile, we needed to rotate on our axis too which did cause a little dizziness! One child, who acted out the role of ‘Mercury,’ did not have as far to travel due to being closer to the sun. Whereas, the child acting out Neptune took much longer to complete their orbit due to being furthest away from the sun. This helped up to understand why Mercury’s orbit takes 88 days while Neptune’s orbit takes 165 years!
In our Geography lessons, we have been learning about the features of a river, including: the source, tributaries, meanders, ox bow lakes, flood plains and the mouth of a river just to name a few! We will be using our drawing skills to sketch out our own maps showing all of these features.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 10th March
In Maths, we have been grappling with fractions- comparing, ordering and finding equivalent fractions. We have enjoyed our MOT sessions where we’ve had the chance to practise our new learning. In particular, we enjoyed playing a game of ‘equivalent fractions snap’ which made practising our new learning so much fun!
In Science, we have started exploring the topic of Earth and Space. We’ve elicited our current knowledge and sorted general statements about space depending on whether we thought they were true or false. There was so much excitement about our new topic!
In PSHE, we have learned about a range of specific emotions and when we may feel this way, e.g. feeling weary, sympathetic, lethargic or jubilant. We loved learning a plethora of new vocabulary when playing a game of bingo as a whole class.
Next week is Science Week and there is a lot planned to really enjoy every aspect of Science. We are focussing on the theme, ‘Connections’ and I know there will be a lot to talk about as the week goes on.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 3rd March
Welcome back to the second half of Spring Term! We have had a brilliant few days and it is lovely to have so much to look forward to before the Easter break.
In Science this week, we enjoyed taking part in an investigation which measured the effects of water resistance. We created our own blu-tack boats with the aim of securing the greatest amount of water resistance to ensure it floats. Two boats continued to stay afloat until the next day and the stopwatch just couldn’t keep up! We focused on our skills when evaluating an experiment and considered ways to improve the investigation next time.
On Thursday, we enjoyed taking part in, ‘World Book Day!’ Wearing our comfy pyjamas and onesies was a huge hit and we enjoyed participating in an author masterclass with Katherine Rundall. In the afternoon, we made our own bookmarks and chose some very creative designs. The best part of the day has got to be our hot chocolate (with cream and sprinkles) reading session in our school library. We all got to listen to the end of Floodland while enjoying our delicious drink and nibbling on a biscuit or two…
On Friday, our referees will be deciding on the ground rules ready for football to commence next week. We can feel the excitement levels rising!
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 3rd February
We’ve had a busy week in Year 5 with so many wonderful learning opportunities!
During our Literacy lessons this week, we have thought carefully about using a range of cohesive devices which improve the flow of our writing. We read some interesting descriptions of a derelict cathedral, which is a focus setting in our core text ‘Floodland.’ Using interesting sentence starters, we created our own descriptions of the cathedral and managed to include excellent vocabulary to really make our writing shine!
In this week’s Science lesson, we have been planning our own investigation to test the effects of air resistance. We worked in small groups to consider which variable we will change (independent variable) and which variable we’ll measure (dependent variable). Our discussions then helped us to pinpoint all of the variables which need to stay the same and this led onto our understanding of how to ensure a fair test. Next week, we will be testing our own parachutes when following our plans and we’ll be able to determine which factors affected the levels of air resistance.
On Thursday, we had the opportunity to take part in a LAB session with Quedgeley Library. During our workshop, we all tried testing out 3D pens and enjoyed finding out how 3D printers worked. All of our interesting questions were answered by Joel and Andy who explained everything to us brilliantly. We were lucky enough to keep some examples of 3D printing and it is lovely to have a memento in our classroom of an exciting morning.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 27th January
This week has been an exciting one! We’ve enjoyed a trip to Viney Hill to experience the ‘Good Samaritan’ day, many attended Young Voices on Thursday and we’ve loved our visit from ‘The Bird Man!’
Our trip to the Christian Adventure Centre in Viney Hill was fantastic and we all learned valuable first aid skills which could help save lives in the future. We experienced CPR, learnt how to apply bandages correctly and discovered what to do in an emergency- using the acronym DR ABC. In the afternoon, we walked around the woods to find many dangerous scenarios. We applied our learning to the different incidents we discovered. We also managed to squeeze in an archery session, low ropes or fire starting in our groups.
In our English lessons this week, we have been working hard to use a range of adverbs of possibility, e.g. certainly, undoubtedly, possibly etc. When using our core text, ‘Floodland,’ we imagined what it was like for Zoe to visit Eel Island and applied our new class target when writing a diary entry detailing her experience.
In PE, we have worked well in small groups to play mini games using the football skills we have been taught so far. We all thought carefully about using the side of our foot or our laces when passing and striking the ball. It has been lovely to see the progress children have made with their new PE skills.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 13th January
We’ve had a busy week in Year 5 and it has been great to get stuck into our new Spring Term topics!
In English, we have just started looking at our new core-text, ‘Floodland.’ Children are already asking me to read onto the next chapter and we’ve found it difficult putting the book down! We have begun looking at our new target which is including adverbials of probability, e.g. certainly, definitely, perhaps. This week, we have thought carefully about the certainty of each adverbial and worked with our partners to order them from the adverbials which show the most certainty to the least certainty. There was such a deep level of thinking from everyone and we all shared our opinions and explained our reasoning.
In RE, we have been thinking about the question which opens up our next unit, ‘What does it mean if Christians believe God is holy and loving?’ During our first session, we were introduced to the terms omnipotent (having unlimited power) and omniscient (knowing everything). We worked in teams of 3 to focus on our oracy skills and considered the most important characteristics to build our own god. Children thought carefully about each characteristic and worked well to respectfully agree or challenge their partners’ ideas.
In PE, we’ve loved starting up our football training sessions and worked well to control the ball. This week, we considered the different skills involved when passing the ball and even had the chance to use all of our power when kicking the ball to the opposite fence in the MUGA. We’re all looking forward to getting stuck into the football matches.
In Art, we have started to study the artist Henri Rousseau. We have looked at his most famous rainforest paintings and used print outs of these and everything we have learned so far to create our own artistic fact files. They look great and children have thought carefully about adding their own colours and patterns so that they are presented beautifully.
Have a lovely weekend everyone and fingers crossed the rain will ease!
Mrs Hayward
Friday 6th January
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the festivities.
It has been a brilliant few days back in Year 5 and all children have quickly got back into the swing of things. I have been amazed with their focus and concentration- particularly in the afternoons! The extra rest (and hopefully lie ins) has definitely helped children to come back revitalized and ready to learn!
Our English lessons have caused a great deal of excitement amongst the Year 5 pupils. We have been busy thinking about how to write a persuasive letter and consider both sides of a balanced argument. The subject matter for this letter is introducing football at lunchtimes. The class have definitely been split by this incentive with some who would love this opportunity and others considering the implications and potential complications this could cause.
We have thought carefully about the for and against arguments and this has helped with our overall opinion. Whatever our final decision is, we will construct an informative and persuasive letter to Mrs Moss who will be able to consider whether we have thought about everything. We will let you know whether we managed to persuade Mrs Moss and what the final outcome will be!
In Geography, we have been finishing writing our weather reports focusing on the climate and weather in the Amazon Rainforest. We could explain why it is so hot and humid with the addition of heavy rain most days. This has helped us to understand why all the trees and plants grow so well there!
In Maths, we have revised short multiplication and will soon start to tackle long multiplication. Keep practising your multiplication facts at home as this will definitely help.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs Hayward
Friday 9th December
What an exciting week we’ve had in Year 5. We performed our KS2 Carol Concert to all of our parents and it was amazing! Children have worked so hard to practise singing all of the carols and all who had lines worked brilliantly to remember them. Well done everyone for a spectacular performance!
This week, we started our DT project where we are designing Christmas biscuits to our friends in Reception. To complete some market research, Year 5 went to visit Reception to ask them questions about their opinions when it comes to biscuits. Using this information, children have planned their own biscuit design and they will start making their biscuits next week.
We even had our pom-pom treat on Friday afternoon and loved spending time again with the Reception children which was followed by a film treat!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Hayward
Friday 2nd December
We’ve had a busy week in Year 5 with lots of new learning packed in. Practising our new songs for the KS2 carol concert has also been a focus and we can’t wait for you all to come in and hear our singing!
In Geography, we have been learning the locations of all the rainforests in the World. We found out that there are temperate and tropical rainforests. When focusing on tropical rainforests, we learned that they all lie close to the equator and a tropical rainforest biome will always lie between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. We used an atlas and our own world map to colour in all of the tropical rainforests in the world.
In RE, we have loved using our own individual Bibles to read ‘The Transfiguration.’ We looked at some interesting pieces of Art based of the Bible story and we considered the connections between the artwork and the story.
In PE, we have been working on the skills involved when playing a game of netball. We have been thinking carefully about keeping still when holding the ball and using a pivot action to throw the ball accurately to one of our team mates.
Don’t forget to bring your coats into school every day children! Playtimes have been much colder this week!
Have a lovely first weekend of December!
Mrs Hayward
Friday 25th November
Last Friday, Year 5 had the opportunity to visit Forest School and we all had the best afternoon. We worked hard to start our own fires using flint and steel and this required lots of patience. We even got time to play in the mud kitchen, explore the Forest School area and make and eat our own s’mores. We can’t wait for our next Forest School session in the Spring Term.
This week, we have thought carefully about the effects that car engines may have on our environment. Leaving engines running can increase air pollution. We have all entered a competition set by Quedgeley Town Council to create a poster which highlights the damages causes by leaving car engines running. The posters created so far have been amazing and we really hope the winner of the competition is in our class!
We have started practising our Christmas carols this week and we can’t believe how quickly the festivities are approaching! For those who have lines, please keep practising as we will continue to prepare for our KS2 Carol Concert next week.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Friday 18th November
We’ve been busy in Year 5 finishing off our Cheshire Cat lantern. It looks incredible and children have worked brilliantly together as a team! We are very excited to take part in the Lantern Procession this Saturday!
In Science this week, we have been finding new ways to separate materials. We have focused on filtering, sieving, magnetism and evaporation. Mixing together and then separating different items, such as sand with water and then flour and pasta. It has been a bit messy… but we had lots of fun!
We loved taking part in the GSP Really Wild Reading Festival this week and meeting the fantastic author Tola Okogwu. We found out what inspired Tola to become an author and she read out parts of her interesting book, Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun. We discussed our own hidden superpowers and how we are all talented children in many different ways.
In PE this week, we have enjoyed refining our basketball passes before taking part in a series of competitive games. Children worked brilliantly in a team and the fantastic sportsmanship from everyone involved was lovely to see.
Have a relaxing weekend everyone and we will see you on Saturday for the Lantern Procession.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 11th November
We have had another exciting week finishing off our lanterns. Year 5’s huge ‘Cheshire Cat’ is almost complete and he is looking fantastic! Thank you to the parents and grandparents who helped children with the lantern making: a huge amount of hard work has been put in! On Thursday, the mayor visited and we got the chance to talk to him about our lanterns and how we made them.
This week in Geography, we have been finding out where different biomes are located around the world. We will be learning more about a rainforest biome in the next coming weeks and learning about the climate, flora and fauna.
In Science, we are working on planning our own investigation about how we can speed up the effects of dissolving. We have recently found out which materials ae soluble and which are insoluble. Children enjoyed placing a tablespoon on salt and then sugar into jugs of water and watching them dissolve. Hopefully, they will be able to tell you about the results of sand and flour and how we could tell that they are both insoluble substances!
The Lantern Procession will be on Saturday 19th November and more details will soon be given on School Ping. It will be great if you were free to come along and watch us light up the streets of Gloucester!
Have a restful weekend,
Mrs Hayward
Friday 4th November
We’ve had such an exciting first week back after the October half term!
On Wednesday, the first group of children started making their lanterns for the lantern procession. Our fabulous artist, who is called Maya, has been helping everyone with their designs and the individual lanterns are looking amazing! Collectively, the class have started to construct the large Cheshire Cat which will light up the streets of Gloucester! This has created so much enthusiasm and it’s been so lovely to see children spending the day unleashing their creative skills.
We have also been busy creating our own poppies which will be revealed in Tesco Quedgeley as part of the Remembrance display. Some children decided to create their own poppy collages using tissue paper while others used a shading technique with an equally impressive effect.
This week, children have been introduced to our new core text, ‘The Explorer.’ This book has already been a big hit and children have been gripped by the exciting plot which is developing. Our new target is helping us to focus on creating complex sentences in different ways and varying the position of the subordinate clause.
On Friday, we are looking forward to taking part in the Gloucestershire K’Nex challenge. This workshop will focus on developing our STEM skills and the team with the best solution will be invited to the Gloucestershire K’Nex final. We will update you with photos of this exciting event as soon as we can.
What a sensational week we’ve all had in Year 5!
Enjoy the weekend.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 14th October
We have been working hard all term and there has already been so much progress from everyone in Year 5- well done! Nearly time for a well-deserved break.
On Tuesday this week, we enjoyed a Minecraft Coding Workshop. We used the power of code to explore aquatic worlds and uncover hidden treasure with the Minecraft Voyage Aquatic tutorial. By the end of the session, we could all create a list of coding instructions, instruct a computer to perform tasks in a sequence and test and refine our coding instructions. We worked well with our learning partners to complete the coding challenges and everyone needed to keep their cool concentration!
In History this week, we have been learning about the Rosetta Stone and how this discovery helped us to translate hieroglyphics. We have loved using the hieroglyphics alphabet translations to crack our own codes. This week in Art, we will be using clay to create our own cartouches. Using fine tools, we will attempt to inscribe hieroglyphics which will represent our names.
On Thursday, we were visited by a lady named Beth who works for Young Gloucestershire. We all enjoyed a presentation on sea bins and how they are used in the Gloucester canals to tackle to problems we have will litter and plastic pollution. We were all fascinated to find out about micro plastics and the damage they can do to our environment. Beth inspired us all to make important changes to protest our environment.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Hayward
Friday 7th October
We have had a lovely week which started brilliantly with our KS2 Harvest Festival at the church. Year 5 sang beautifully and all children with words recited them clearly and confidently. Well done, Year 5! We’ll keep singing the song, ‘Thank our lucky stars’ as the message does really make us think.
In Maths this week, we have been working hard to recognise Roman Numerals. I have been so impressed with everyone’s focus and concentration in Maths this week. We even managed to read years in Roman Numerals and surprised ourselves when writing our own year of births in Roman Numerals. We have now moved onto working with decimal numbers in Maths and dividing numbers by 1,000. Again, excellent learning powers have been shown and we’ve loved to see many lightbulb moments in our Maths lessons this week!
In Science, we have looked at the results of our investigation when finding out which cup kept the hot drink the warmest for the longest time. We carefully produced our own line graphs to illustrate the results. Interpreting the results has helped us to see that the plastic cup was the best thermal insulator. Children may start finding the best cups at home to keep their hot chocolates warmer for longer! We are hopeful that the new scientific vocabulary is being used at home too!
In RE, we have been thinking about the commandments Muslims follow in their everyday lives. We discussed who we turn to for advice and there were many excellent suggestions for the children. Children enjoyed creating their own posters to illustrate one of the commandments.
In History, we have been finding out about the way Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics as a way to communicate. On Friday, we will be designing our own cartouches and next week, we will use clay to make them.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 30th September
We have had a brilliant week in Year 5 and we’ve all been busy with lots of new learning.
In Maths this week, we have been rounding numbers to the nearest ten thousand and hundred thousand. We’ve also moved onto looking at negative numbers in context. We have been comparing temperatures in different places and understanding which temperatures are hotter or colder.
In Art this week, we have been continuing to practise our sketching skills and using tone in our drawings. We have focused on the parts in our drawings which need to be lighter and darker whilst using our pencils to show this. Our animal portraits are now looking fantastic and in our next session we will work on using these new skills when drawing a dragon’s eye. Watch this space!
In History, we have found out about pyramids and how they were used in Ancient Egypt. We learned that the pyramids were often robbed of all their treasures and in the Great Pyramid of Giza, only a sarcophagus remained. Children were then given time to draw their own labelled diagrams representing all the features of a pyramid.
In RE, we have been focusing on the five pillars of Islam. This week, we looked in detail at ‘Hajj’ and how Muslims take part in a special pilgrimage once in their lifetime. Children came up with lots of very interesting questions which we are looking forward to exploring together.
In Science, we completed an investigation when finding out about thermal insulators. We tested the materials of different cups to see which cup would be the best at keeping the heat of a warm drink. The results of our experiment showed that the plastic cup was the best thermal insulator with the glass cup being the least successful at keeping a drink warm. Using and reading the temperature on a thermometer has been a useful skill during this investigation and it has really helped us to understand tricky scientific concepts.
Please remember that if you’re available, we’d love to see you at our KS2 Harvest Festival which will take place at St James’ Quedgeley Church on Monday morning at 10:30am. We’ve been busy practising our singing!
Have a lovely relaxing weekend everyone.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 23rd September
We have had a lovely week at school which seems to have flown by!
In Maths, children have worked brilliantly to read, write, order and compare 6 digit numbers. Arithmetic quizzes during our MOT sessions are proving to be popular and children love the challenge of beating their own scores.
In Art, we have worked on our drawing skills when focusing on shading techniques. We have used pencil to show tone when drawing our own animal portraits. Year 5 have produced some brilliant art work which looks incredibly realistic!
In History, we have found out about the importance of animals during Ancient Egypt. Did you know that humans were given a life sentence if they ever hurt a cat? We were shocked to find out about the power cats had during these times and how they were considered more important than humans!
Finally, we were very fortunate to have an exciting visit this week from Mrs Grills’ daughter and grandchildren who have travelled all the way from New Zealand. Year 5 enjoyed an excellent and very interesting presentation all about life in New Zealand and the history of the Mauri tribe. The questions children asked were thought-provoking and we were all left wanting to find out more about this beautiful country rich with fascinating culture. Many thanks to our wonderful visitors Mo, Leo and Alfea.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 16th September
We’ve had a lovely week in Year 5 and we have managed to squeeze in such a lot of new learning!
In English, we have been busy writing our own character descriptions of Auggie, who is the main character in our core-text ‘Wonder.’ We used highlighters to pick out key descriptions which have been used in the text and we annotated with own opinions of Auggie. Using expanded noun phrases and modifying nouns, we have written some fantastic descriptions and we are working hard to include interesting adjectives in our writing too!
In RE, we have been learning about the 5 pillars of Islam: Shahadah (faith), Salah (prayer), sawm (fasting), Zakah (donating to charity) and Hajj (pilgrimage). This made us really think deeply about the duties of Islam and the devotional duties of Muslims.
In Science, we have started to explore thermal conductors. We experimented on spoons to find out which material would be the best thermal conductor. Heat from boiling water travelled though the metal spoon well and this helped it to melt butter we carefully placed on the end of the spoon. We then discussed different thermal conductors we have in our homes, such as kettles, radiators and irons.
Have a restful weekend everyone.
Mrs Hayward
Friday 9th September
Welcome to Year 5! We are now officially part of ‘Upper Key Stage 2’ and can’t wait to get stuck into an exciting curriculum crammed with wonderful learning opportunities. I am so excited to welcome back my old class and we have loved moving into our new classroom together this week.
During our first week back, we have been exploring our new core text: ‘Wonder’ by R.J Palacio. We have been introduced to Auggie, who was born with facial abnormality, and is due to attend school for the first time at 10 years of age. We found out that the author, R.J Palacio is also the illustrator of the book and she adopted her own unique style when creating portraits of the characters. In our Art lessons this week, we imitated this style when producing our own self-portraits and used different medias to create interesting effects.
In Maths this week, we have started to explore 5 digit numbers. We can use place value counters to represent a 5-digit number and we’ve been working on finding the value of each digit in a 5-digit number, e.g. the value of 3 in 34,567 is 30,000.
In History, we have started to learn about the beliefs of Ancient Egyptians. We listened carefully to the Ancient Egyptians’ version of the Creation Story and how they believed the world was made. Creating our own story maps has helped us to retell this story with our partners as there are many names of different Gods and it can get a little complicated! Children have been very excited about their new History topic and they were full of enthusiasm, especially when they heard that some lessons will include gruesome details of mummification!
Thank you for making sure all children have their PE kits back in school. Our PE lessons will take place every Monday and Friday afternoons. Next Friday after school (16th September) will be our ‘Meet the Teacher’ presentation. I will go through the Year 5 expectations as well as the curriculum children will enjoy this year. If you are unable to attend, I will post the presentation on Class Dojo.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Hayward