Year Five 2020.21

Welcome to the Year 5 page for this year! Make sure you pay regular visits to keep up with the news and learning we go through inside and outside the classroom. Each half term, I will provide photographs of what the children have achieved and some of the wonderful activities we complete at school. Also keep an eye on our Home Learning page, which you will find under 'information', to see what we are going to be learning to improve the children's understanding further.

We can't wait to get started!
Miss Hudson & Mrs O'Shea

Autumn 1

This half term, the children have been studying North America (particularly the USA). Take a look at the photos of the Pop Art we have created using contrasting colours in paints and pens.

Autumn 2

This half term, we have been looking at the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. We have learnt all about how they lived their lives and how they have affected the way that we live today. Look at the information texts they have produced to show their understanding from lessons and their own research.

Spring 1

This half term, we have learnt all about the events of World War 2 and how they have affected the world as it is today. We read the book Rose Blanche, which follows the story of a young girl in Germany who came across a strange camp full of people dressed in striped pyjamas. We later discovered that this was a Concentration Camp and created artwork based on the poem 'I Never Saw Another Butterfly'. 

As part of our theme of World War 2, the children also explored the life of evacuees, significant people in the war, created timelines of main events and learnt about the background of the cause and affect of the war. Although the topic was full of sadness, the children were very mature and loved digging into this influential part of history.

This half term will definitely be one that we remember, as it was the time we stayed at home. We had some children in school, whilst the majority spent their days on Teams as they took part in live lessons altogether. Although this was a tricky time, the children did absolutely amazing and I cannot praise them enough for all of the hard work and effort they put in. 

During this time, we made sure to take some time to think about our Wellbeing and spent a whole day off screens to create gifts for ourselves and other people. The children showed just how thoughtful and kind they are and I loved seeing all of their creations.

Spring 2

This half term, we read the book 'The London Eye Mystery' which is all about a young boy called Salim who mysteriously disappears on the very popular London attraction. We made inferences, predictions and asked questions to help our reading and also wrote Newspaper articles all about the event as we became detectives and collected clues.

As we all returned to school, we focused on the topic of Fractions and created maths museums to show off what we had already learnt. The children used manipulatives, drawings and mathematical vocabulary to show their understanding. 

The theme this half term was all about the South American country of Brazil. We learnt all about the location, culture and features of the country and we had lots of fun along the way. The children tasted the exotic fruit, made carnival masks and designed and created their own samba musical instruments. 

As we came to the end of the term, we finished our RE topic of 'Easter as a celebration' by creating artwork. The children showed understanding of why Christians remember Easter as being a victory as the death and resurrection of Jesus was part of God's salvation plan. The only place for this excellent artwork was in the windows, where the sun could shine on them and really show them off.

Summer 1 

This half term, we are going to learn all about the Rainforest and the importance of looking after them. In English, we have researched, summarised and created informative texts, with headings, subheadings, bullet points, pictures and captions. They turned out to be absolutely fantastic and the children are all very proud of them! 

As part of our Rainforest topic, we have looked at the four layers of the rainforest and the different creatures you may find there. The children then created their very own rainforest in a shoe box. They never fail to amaze me with their creativity!

This week, we have written some poetry by working as a group to write, discuss and edit descriptive lines. Many of the children took inspiration from other poets and managed to think of their own figurative language to express the beauty of the rainforest. Each group then worked together to perform their poetry, whilst thinking about their use of voice and movement to add interest and effect for the audience.