Year 5 Team: Mrs L Houghton (Class Teacher) : Blog items
Date: 15th Sep 2022 @ 9:23pm
It has been fantastic to spend this week with such a fun and hardworking class! So much learning and hard work has already taken place and just a few highlights will be shared here.
We have reached the end of our ‘Encanto’ inspired learning which has given us so many opportunities that have connected so seamlessly to our school values, thinking skills and learning ethos. The children have taken so much from this learning and we are so proud of the work produced. Our learning culminated in an exciting Top Trumps activity where the children created profiles for twelve members of the Madrigal family from Encanto. Each character was rated on how much they demonstrated each of our school values throughout the film. This task led to very interesting discussions with an array of viewpoints and opinions shared. After finalising our set of Top Trumps, it was then time to play an actual game against our friends which was greatly enjoyed by all.
We also began our formal Maths lessons which have been focused on place value. This has included reading, writing, ordering and comparing numbers to at least 100,000 and determining the value of each digit. As part of this, our learning has also included different Maths games with a particular favourite being the ‘Nice and Nasty’ game where the children very much enjoyed defeating their teacher after a close battle. Next week: redemption! Our Maths focus for the next week will continue to focus on place value, extending to numbers up to one million.
In our English work, we have been making predictions about the plot of our first focus text for this half term. Our inference and deduction skills were impressive as we studied a black and white photo of a middle-aged lady, in 1901 who was stood next to a large barrel near Niagara Falls. The only other information we have is that the character within this story is apparently a daredevil. For more context, we investigated what feats a “daredevil” might attempt which led us to watching a short film about a mountain biker called Danny Macaskill who wowed and amazed us with his death-defying ride along the notorious Cuillin Ridgeline. We'll have to wait and see just how accurate our predictions turn out to be!
It was also Roald Dahl Day on Tuesday where we marked and celebrated the magic that Roald brought and continues to bring to children everywhere through his stories, love of language and the humour within his many books and poems. Upon entry to the classroom the children each received a golden ticket. Then we enjoyed some discussions about Roald Dahl’s stories; we learned more about his life and accomplishments and then we took part in some Kahoot quizzes about the man himself. Later, using the BFG as our inspiration, we used watercolours to paint our own dream jars with impressive results!
A fantastic week as we have now really settled into our new Year 5 classroom routines. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and see you on Tuesday.
Reminders:
-Weekly Maths and English homework tasks have now been uploaded on Mirodo (https://app.mirodoeducation.com/login) and should be submitted before the following Wednesday (21st September). Going forward, homework will continue to be set in this way each Friday. If the children require any support or have any worries regarding their homework, they should speak to me about it on Monday. Login details have already been sent home and can also be found on Google Classroom.
-Please also remember that the children have been set their weekly spellings which have been uploaded to Google Classroom. Spelling tests take place each Friday in class with individual results uploaded to Google Classroom alongside the score achieved. These scores will only be visible to me and you/your child as they are sent via ‘private comment’.
-Additionally, it is imperative that daily reading also continues alongside homework tasks. We would recommend at least ten minutes per day where possible. A reading record has been sent home with your child. We would encourage parents to add comments based on home reading too.
Date: 8th Sep 2022 @ 8:39pm
We loved welcoming back the brand-new Year 5 class this week and what a brilliant first week we have had together!
Our school motto for this year is ‘Choose Wisely’ which encourages us to be the very best that we can be throughout this new school year. To explore this further, we used the Disney film, Encanto, as our stimulus. This led to a whole host of activities throughout the week, each of which were connected to this thought-provoking, heart-warming and inspiring film!
One particular activity included exploring the challenges and setbacks of various Encanto characters and their strategies for overcoming them alongside the TSP Learning Curve. We also discussed the importance of mental health and wellbeing through the character of Luisa as we acknowledged the importance of being kind to ourselves as well as to others.
Other activities have included sketching our own casitas in Art; constructing our own casitas in Minecraft; developing Encanto related Spanish skills and talking about Bruno…a lot! We really have achieved so much in our first week with plenty more learning to come.
A poster containing 100 recommended reads for Year 5 children has also been attached to this blog. By providing 100 quality texts at an age-appropriate level, this list may be useful when choosing your child's next book. We hope it inspires the children to continue on in their reading journeys whilst further encouraging a lifelong love of books and stories.
I hope the children have enjoyed this week as much as I have and well done to them all for working so hard. Wishing you all the best for the weekend and see you Monday!
Reminders:
-PE days for Year 5 are on Thursday and Friday each week.
-Homework will begin for Year 5 children at the end of the following week. This will include a short Maths and English task. Spellings will also be set next Friday for the children to practise.
Date: 10th Jun 2022 @ 3:00pm
Here we are…the FINAL half term of Year 5! Time certainly has flown by up to this point but we are not taking anything for granted as there is still so much learning left and plenty more memories to be made. For now, here are some highlights from this week…
In Maths, we have been measuring our capacity and volume skills through various lessons involving converting between litres and millilitres. We finished the week with a particularly fun capacity problem solving lesson. This linked to George’s Marvellous Medicine and included an array of colourful medicines that were mixed and concocted according to our skills of measuring accurately and reading instructions. Next week’s Maths will involve reading timetables and being able to tell the time to the nearest five minutes.
As we began our new monthly value of Truthfulness for the month of June, our first lesson linked to how in fact we can be true to ourselves. Through a circle time discussion and game, we explored our own different qualities and how we perceive ourselves. Each person then paired up with a partner and outlined each other’s qualities to see how well they matched. After much discussion, we hope that each Year 5 left the room that little bit taller with boosted self-esteem.
The children are also now underway with their brass instrument lessons with Mr Fogg from Sefton Music Service. These lessons will continue for the remainder of this half term before the children continue their learning into Year 6.
A brilliant week and wishing you all a fantastic weekend. See you all on Monday!
Reminders:
-Year 5 ‘Bikeability’ will take place next week for those who have opted in. You should have received an email from School Spider to confirm the set day that your child is requested to bring their bike and helmet to school.
- Father’s Day Present Room is on Thursday 16th June.
- Team TSP Mufti Day (Fancy goods and sweets for Summer Fair) is on Friday 17th June.
Date: 20th May 2022 @ 4:40pm
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A brilliantly busy week in the Year 5 classroom including learning galore, both inside and outside the classroom!
Our week ended on a high as we had a look into our potential futures in visiting Edge Hill University on a school trip. On this visit, we participated in a campus scavenger hunt where we learned about various parts of the university campus and the different departments and hidden treasures throughout. We also participated in a Computing workshop where we met Peppa the robot who taught us all about the world of robotics and artificial intelligence. Peppa even treated us to a dance routine (strangely, not “the robot”) and also some Tai Chi. Alongside this, we LOVED our experiences of augmented reality and virtual reality too using state-of-the-art university technology. Later, we had a Biology workshop where we became palaeontologists. Here, we explored various animal bones on display as well as using microscopes to explore even finer details too. What a day!
We have continued to focus on our monthly value of ‘Perseverance’ in our Collective Worship sessions. As this value links so closely to our SHINE value of Hope and being resilient, we were able to explore this on a deep level through some excellent discussions as well as links to our TSP learning curve which supports us in understanding how successful learning takes place. We also took a trip into the past to listen to a song that was released over a year before the Year 5 children were even born! By unpicking the lyrics of ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus, we were quick to realise that this is song with hope and perseverance at its very core. After our exploration of its powerful lyrics, we then each created a piece of artwork built around one of the lyrics which meant something to us. Above all, the children understand that life is a journey that can be both difficult and rewarding but it is important to keep faith, to be optimistic and to learn from any mistakes made.
In Maths, we have continued our focus on ‘position and direction’ as we learned about translation involving coordinates, symmetry and reflection. Next week’s Maths lessons will focus on converting measurements such as millilitres to litres; millimetres to metres and grams to kilograms.
Please also see the book recommendations provided this month from the charity 'Read for Good'. There is a book for all ages from 3-11 to perhaps inspire the next book purchase or local library loan. Happy reading!
What a fantastic week and only one more week to go before another half term break. This year continues to race on by but there are plenty more memories to be made yet. In the meantime, enjoy the weekend!
Reminders:
-Homework will continue to be set via Mirodo (as usual) for this week and spellings will continue to be set via Google Classroom.
-Year 5 optional Parent-Teacher meetings take place on Monday 23rd May and Tuesday 24th May. Zoom details have already been sent for the children that this applies to via School Spider.
Date: 12th May 2022 @ 5:34pm
Another week full of highlights and achievements within the Year 5 classroom!
In Collective Worship, we have been exploring the 'Meaningful May' calendar as a way of promoting mindfulness across our class. This is a great daily reminder for the children to appreciate the little things in life and help to support positivity and wellbeing.
Our artwork explored cityscapes. After looking at some impressive skylines of our own, including our very own Liverpool skyline, we explored the work of pop artist, Charles Fazzino. He blends cityscapes and pop art to create some striking, vibrant creations which inspired us within our lesson. We enjoyed re-creating our own versions and will develop our techniques in the coming weeks!
In Science, we explored the circle of life of a plant by creating our own handmade flowers using a variety of resources including tissue paper, cotton buds, art straws and more. It was important that our completed flowers detailed all of the key reproductive parts of the flower and these were labelled afterwards using key scientific terminology. A creative and informative task that will hopefully help us to retain more of the key knowledge associated with this topic.
In Maths, we have focused on co-ordinates and translation of shapes and have started to apply our knowledge across four quadrants. Next week, we will extend our knowledge of these concepts further including translation within coordinate grids.
An excellent week and we hope that the sun continues to shine into the weekend. Enjoy it and see you all on Monday!
Reminders:
-Homework will continue to be set via Mirodo (as usual) for this week and spellings will continue to be set via Google Classroom.
-Year 5 school trip to Edge Hill University on Friday 20th May.
Date: 5th May 2022 @ 9:44pm
A shorter week but still equally full of highlights and achievements for this amazing class of Year 5 children! Here are just a few…
Our Maths lessons became very practical as we explored the properties of 3D shapes. To do so, we were tasked with creating ‘skeleton shapes’ which used art straws and blu-tack to represent the edges and vertices of each shape with everything from a square-based pyramid to an octagonal prism. Not only that, we moved onto exploring shape nets and how the various 2D faces of a shape join together to create the overall three-dimensional shape. Our creations were impressive and even more so with the resilience shown throughout.
Speaking of resilience, our new monthly value for May links very closely to our core school value of ‘Hope’ (of which resilience is an integral part). 'Perseverance' is our value for the month and the children explored this through the practical opportunities that they had in this Maths lesson with a discussion regarding how best to approach more challenging tasks which may require patience, determination and perhaps even a bit of failure before real successful learning can be achieved. This was a valuable lesson and one that we will carry forward for the remainder of this month. Next week’s Maths lessons will focus on co-ordinates and translation of shapes.
In PE, we have been playing different variations of cricket in order to practise our batting, bowling and fielding skills in abundance. 'Diamond cricket' was a particular favourite where the batters had to be on guard at all times as the bowlers shifted between four sets of stumps selecting which was best to target. This was a frantic game that required a real team effort and concentration throughout.
In English, we have commenced our new focus book for this half term. It is titled ‘The Paperbag Prince’ by Colin Thompson. Before reading even the first page, we did a lot of work exploring the upcoming themes and content of this picturebook. Much of this linked to the environment and the importance of reducing both pollution and waste on our planet. To unpick this further, we watched several videos, including David Attenborough’s Blue Planet, which showed the horrors of plastic waste in the ocean and the detrimental effects that this is having on marine life. This led to many passionate discussions and an array of thinking skills were utilised as we reflected on our emotions using green thinking hats and also completed a Diamond 9 model to help further guide our reasoning. We look forward to getting stuck into this book from next week!
Homework will continue to be set via Mirodo (as usual) for this week and spellings will continue to be set via Google Classroom.
Have an enjoyable weekend and I look forward to seeing you on Monday!
Date: 30th Mar 2022 @ 8:47pm
What an excellent and typically busy week within Year 5 to end the Spring Term!
In our RE learning, we learned about La Semana Santa (Holy Week) and Pascua (Easter) which is one of the most important religious festivals and celebrations in Spain. We wore our black thinking hats to explore the various events and customs of the Spanish people before then testing our knowledge with a quiz.
Not only that, we also played a virtual Easter egg hunt too in order to continue our Spanish learning.
In our English learning, we have enjoyed exploring the lyrics of different songs in some music comprehension lessons. As a tribute to their late drummer, Taylor Hawkins, one of songs we explored was ‘Times Like These’ by Foo Fighters. This song was also covered during lockdown by an all-star line-up of some of the biggest and most respected artists from the UK and around the world – aptly titled the ‘Radio 1 Allstars’. So much discussion took place in Year 5 about why this song was lyrically suited to this time in our lives. Afterwards, we then moved onto Disney classic, ‘Be Prepared’ from The Lion King which was equally a hit!
In a week of many highlights, we particularly enjoyed our Maths Easter egg hunt (or 'the Chicken Run Challenge') which involved us solving Maths questions and then finding the hidden missing number somewhere on our school field in order to earn a prize! Our other Maths lessons have focused on calculating angles around a point (up to 360°) and we applied our skills in a fan-favourite game of ‘Crypto Hack’ through the Blooket website. We also competed in a high-pressure Maths game based on 'The Million Pound Drop'. After the half term break, our Maths will focus on properties of 2D and 3D shapes.
Another treat this week involved the Easter Bunny visiting us as he hopped past our classroom and dropped off some treats for the children!
A fitting week as we approach Easter! The Year 5 children really do deserve an enormous amount of credit for all of their efforts throughout this term and a two-week break is no less than they deserve. Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable time with your families. See you in the summer term!
Reminders:
-PE lessons next half term will take place every Tuesday and Thursday.
- There is no set Maths and English homework for next week, however the Year 5 ‘Virtual Classroom’ has been updated and attached to this blog, which includes links to a variety of websites and resources. All pupils' individual passwords can be found on Google Classroom. Don't forget, there is also the ‘Practice’ section on Mirodo where the children can choose any topic they wish to practise for Maths, Reading, SPaG or Science.
-School re-opens on Tuesday 19th April.
-The children will be taught by Mrs Healy, who met the children this Monday, until Mr McCabe returns from paternity leave. Another massive thank you for all the kind well-wishes received which have meant an awful lot!
Date: 24th Mar 2022 @ 7:53pm
In a week where the sun has shone, Year 5 have continued to shine too.
Our Collective Worship focus on the monthly value of ‘Sacrifice’ allowed us to reflect on how people often sacrifice things for Lent and the reasons behind this. After then discussing the things which we would find most difficult to sacrifice, we explored the ‘iceberg illusion’ animation and how sacrifice is a key element to achieve success. The children were then tasked with seeking out a quote relating to sacrifice which they found particularly inspiring and that resonated with them personally.
In PE, we have reached the end of our focus on Speed Stacking after improving our skillset and speed throughout the half term. This final lesson involved a round robin tournament that took place in the sunshine before five children who had secured the most victories progressed to the grand finals to compete against one another. Our overall winner was proudly crowned, however each child should be proud of themselves for the resilience, effort and improvement that they have shown throughout our PE lessons this half term.
In our English learning, we were extremely proud to write up the “top copy” of our biographies on Commander Chris Hadfield within our Author Books. Accompanied by pictures representative of Chris Hadfield’s life and career, the children worked hard to present their work in the style of a biography whilst also ensuring that their handwriting was neat and showcased their best. Very impressive!
In our Maths work, we have continued to challenge ourselves as we have honed our skills when multiplying fractions by fractions and also when multiplying fractions by whole numbers. As we progressed so well in these areas, we were then able to apply our skills to a range of multiplying fraction word problems, including a QR code hunt in our outdoor area. Next week’s Maths lessons will focus on word problems involving the four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
We can’t quite believe that next week is (already) the final week of this term. In the meantime though, have a great weekend and see you on Monday!
Date: 17th Mar 2022 @ 7:47pm
Another brilliant school week is in the bag as this half term continues to tick on by!
We enjoyed marking British Science Week with an experiment linked to this year’s theme of ‘growth’. This involved the children growing their own rainbow! To achieve this, we decorated the edges of pieces of kitchen roll before submerging each end in a bowl of water and allowing the scientific process of capillary action to occur. To spice up the investigation, the children were given a cheap, mid-range and expensive kitchen roll product in order to make predictions and investigate which kitchen roll product created the best rainbow effect and why. We learned how water is absorbed through the kitchen roll because when the first water molecule adheres to it and begins to move upward, it pulls the next water molecule up with it, like a chain. Alongside that, we enjoyed a colourful experiment and had lots of fun!
In Maths this week, we practised the method for finding fractions of amounts before progressing onto multiplying fractions. We will continue our focus on multiplying fractions next week too.
In our English work, we have completed our journey through the excellent picturebook, ‘The Darkest Dark’. Using our learning about the book's main character, Chris, we began to research further information about what he went on to achieve in later life. We learned how Chris embarked on three missions to space, including being the first Canadian to walk in space as well as serving as the Canadian commander of the International Space Station. With a wealth of facts and information at our disposal, we planned out a biography about the life of Chris Hadfield and are very much looking forward to completing our top copies within our author books next week.
In RE, we completed our mapping out of the main events of Holy Week where the children showed their adeptness at summarising each event and matching it to the appropriate picture. It is fair to say that our black thinking hats were used expertly and our knowledge of the many events during Holy Week is vast.
What a fantastic way to end the week with our class Comic Relief celebrations. Alongside a class quiz, we also took part in a Rock, Paper, Scissors Hoop Relay followed by an outside Dodgeball tournament in the sun for our PE lesson. Such enjoyment, resilience and friendly competitiveness was displayed throughout.
All that is left now is to wish you all a brilliant weekend. Hopefully the sun continues to shine and see you on Monday!
Reminders:
-Year 5 Parent-Teacher Meetings take place on Monday 21st (Y5 classroom) and Wednesday 23rd March (school hall).
Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 9:27pm
Another exciting week in the Year 5 classroom and even more so with National Careers Week and International Women’s Day being a part of it too!
For International Women’s Day (and launching our National Careers Week), we completed a gender-based activity that set out to prove that there is no such thing as a girl’s occupation or a boy’s occupation. The children were first tasked with drawing a picture of their first impression when they heard different job roles. Such occupations included: doctor, footballer, policeworker and hairdresser. We then discussed the main gender choices made and how the pictures that we completed may have looked very different if the same activity was completed in a previous generation. The discussions we had were brilliant for unpicking gender stereotypes and promoting equality. All of our discussions and learning was then cemented by watching the powerful ‘Like A Girl’ advert from Always as well as Nike’s ‘What are girls made of?’ advert which further inspired us to research some powerful female role models of our own.
Our National Careers Week focus continued with two amazing and motivating career talks from both a neurosurgeon and a psychologist. We are greatly appreciative to both Mrs Harris and Mr Guyers for sharing their career journeys with us and for helping to inspire a new generation of potential future workers in your chosen fields.
In RE, we continued to explore the events of Holy Week whilst linking this to Christianity’s view of Easter as both a victory and a sacrifice. The children ordered the main events of Holy Week and summarised each within their RE books by linking each point to its picture representation.
For Maths, we have worked with both resilience and effort as we tackled some assessments to check our understanding of our learning so far this school year. Not only that, we also managed to fit in ‘The Pirate Game’ as well as a percentage scavenger hunt on our school field.
In our English work, we continued to progress in our reading of the excellent picturebook, ‘The Darkest Dark’. We explored the development of Chris’ character from the beginning of the story to now and, next week, we will move onto preparation for our first piece of author book work of this half term. Bring it on!
Last but not least (and we do advise you to approach with caution when entering into this) but please do ask your child their stance on our question of this week: ‘Are there more doors or wheels in the world?’ This class debate started up a frenzy within Year 5 with so many opinions willingly and enthusiastically shared en masse. We fully see why this particular question went viral across the Internet throughout this week and it certainly prompted such excellent thinking within our class.
Time does always seem to fly in Year 5. Wishing you all an enjoyable weekend and see you on Monday!