Year 5

Spring 1

What a fantastic busy half term we've had! Year 5 have been working hard and showing great collaboration and determination in their learning as always. Take a look below to see what we have learnt: 

English 

The children enjoyed revisiting our class book from earlier in the year, Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. This term, we have been using the book as a stimulus for our writing, particularly using 'show not tell' and parenthesis in descriptive narrative writing. We also learnt how to build up tension writing a fast-paced story based on the animation 'Ruin'. We enjoyed high-quality discussion on the science-fiction, dystopian elements of the animation!  

To enhance our history learning about Ancient Greece, in Guided Reading we have been using our retrieval, inference and explaining skills to explore the Ancient Greek myths of Perseus, Theseus and Pandora. 

Those of us new to Year 5 have been working hard with learning English and working hard in phonics sessions to learn how to read. 

Maths 

This half term has been all about fractions! This is an area that some of us have found tricky but we're getting there! Many of us have enjoyed working with Mrs Merrett and getting stuck in to some more complex reasoning problems to challenge our mathematical thinking.  

We have also been working hard on making sure our times tables are secure as well as our inverse division recall. 

History 

We have been answering the key question of 'The Trojan Horse - fact, legend or myth?' - we have been using our historical enquiry skills to examine primary and secondary evidence. We have then hypothesised and come to our own conclusions. 

Art 

We have enjoyed developing our printing techniques to create pieces inspired by nature and poetry. Using acrylic paint, we have explored the shapes of nature, and used these shapes to compose 'poetry on paper'. We also found or created our own poetry then built on our previously-learnt typography skills to weave the poetry into our art. 

PSHE  

We have discussed different types of bullying and ways to prevent it in our school. We have also begun exploring goals and dreams for the future.  

French 

We have enjoyed developing our vocabulary and conversation skills talking about food and practising ordering in a cafe or a restaurant. 

Science  

This half term we have been exploring and investigating forces! Learning about gravity and Sir Issac Newton, experimenting with designing and racing our own boats to test how streamlining affects water resistance. As scientists we have also been focusing on carrying out fair tests and writing detailed conclusions to our investigations. 

R.E 

We have been exploring the question ‘Why do Christians believe Jesus is the Mesiah? We also enjoyed a trip to the ‘Life’ exhibition all about Jesus at Belmont Chapel.  

P.E  

This term while half the class have had swimming lessons, the other half have been developing our tennis skills. We have recapping the forehand and backhand shots and learnt volley and overhead shots as well as different tactics for playing doubles games. As a whole class we have also been developing our passing skills in netball and learning different tactics for getting free and finding space on the court. 

Spring 2

Year 5 have had an excellent second half of the Spring term! 

They have really enjoyed their PE lessons with, tennis, swimming at the Exeter School and the ‘Joy of Moving Programme’ run by the EFL Trust, which focuses on getting the children active and on the importance of healthy eating.

In Science, the children have been learning how to use Newton metres as part of their investigation around friction. As geographers, the children have been learning about mountains, including how fold mountains, such as the Himalayas are created. They have explored why mountaineers found crinoid fossils at the Summit of Mount Everest as well as making comparisons with other mountains in the UK.  The children we are able to talk knowledgeably about their learning when speaking to visitors about their learning!

In DT, the children have been using art straws to create 3D structures. They were given the brief of creating a bird hide and are exploring different joining techniques and their various strengths.

World Book Day was a great success in Year 5. The children designed their own book cover for Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom, the book they have been reading in English. These were displayed on the classroom door for all to see! They also spent some of the day reading and sharing their favourite books with our Year 1 children - spreading the joy of reading across our school.

We were also fortunate to enjoy a special visit to The Barnfield Theatre to watch a production of ‘Spamalot’ performed by the children at Maynard’s School at their invitation.

We are particularly proud of a group of Year 5 children who give up their lunchtimes every Monday to deliver an Arts and Crafts Club for the younger children. They plan each session themselves and bring in all the resources they need. It is so lovely watching their caring and supportive natures as they help the younger children.