Year 5- Autumn 2- Week 1
Date: 7th Nov 2025 @ 4:04pm
We have had a fantastic start to the second half of our autumn term in Year 5! Everyone has come back full of enthusiasm and curiosity, ready to explore our new learning topics. We’ve already been very busy discovering the new books, subjects, and challenges that will keep us engaged over the next few weeks.
In English, we started our new unit in a very magical way! We ventured into our nature garden and found mysterious pieces of paper caught in the branches of the trees — they were the lost endings to fairytales! This exciting discovery gave us a clue about our new text, The Lost Happy Endings by Carol Ann Duffy. We talked about the features of traditional tales and how authors sometimes twist them to create something new. We even played a fun storytelling game where we invented our own imaginative fairytales with surprising endings. The children showed incredible creativity and teamwork!
In Maths, we have been investigating factors, multiples, and square numbers. We explored how factors fit together like puzzle pieces and used arrays and factor rainbows to help us visualise our ideas. We discovered that multiples are part of our times tables and practised spotting patterns between them. Learning about square numbers was especially fun—we built squares with cubes and realised how each square number grows in a predictable pattern. Everyone worked hard to solve reasoning problems and explain why certain numbers are factors or multiples. It’s been fantastic to see how confident the class has become when talking about their mathematical thinking!
In RE, we began our new topic by comparing the Christmas stories from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. We looked carefully at the similarities and differences in how each Gospel tells the story of Jesus’ birth. We discussed who the main focus was, who came to visit baby Jesus, and any extra characters or details that were unique to each version. The children asked thoughtful questions and showed great understanding of how different writers can tell the same story in slightly different ways.
In Science, we started our new topic all about Materials. We began by learning about the different states of matter—solids, liquids, and gases—and explored how they can change when heated or cooled.
Finally, in History, we were thrilled to begin our new topic on The Mayans. We started by finding out where and when the Mayan civilisation were discovered and discussed what life might have been like for the people who lived there. We can’t wait to learn more about their culture, beliefs, and daily life in the weeks ahead.
It’s been a wonderful start to the half term, and we’re looking forward to even more exciting learning adventures as we continue through the rest of the term! A big thank you to Mr Lightfoot and team who kept Year 5 running smoothly whilst Mrs Houghton was out on training.
Reminders:
- Kindness week is next week. Children are welcome to bring along any 'rock star' props that they have at home.
- Year 5 will be visiting St Peter's Church to mark our minutes silence on Rememberance Day.
- Swimming starts on Wednesday 26th November.