Summer Newsletter, Year 5

Welcome to the summer term – we have a busy term ahead, as detailed below.

English

We begin with a study of Noyes’ The Highwayman as an example of classic, narrative poetry to review our use of relative clauses and adverbials for adding detail and writing our own endings to the poem.  We will be using a short, visual text called ‘Tuesday’ to inspire some journalistic writing and will be examining different methods of representing dialogue, including in play scripts.  We will be learning about William Shakespeare and reading simple forms of some of his plays to finish the term.

We will continue to develop the children’s ability to understand and respond to a range of texts with regular reading groups as well as the reading of a whole class text, Goodnight Mister Tom.  We encourage the children to read as widely as possible both within school and at home.

Maths

We will start this term by looking at place value involving 6-digit numbers and the children will use negative numbers, calculating differences between temperatures and rises and falls in temperature. They will use mental addition and subtraction involving money and will calculate the addition of decimals, using rounding and estimating to help.  The children will continue to practise their times tables daily and will also be multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. They will use mental strategies to multiply and divide by 5, 20, 6, 4 and 8 and will use the short multiplication and division methods to multiply and divide.  We will revise comparing fractions with related denominators, find unit and non-unit fractions of amounts and learn decimal equivalents for halves, quarters, fifths, tenths and hundredths.  The children will work out perimeter, area and volume and use co-ordinates and line graphs.  We will regularly set the children problem solving investigations to develop their problem solving and reasoning skills.

History and Geography

We begin the term with a history topic looking at The Battle of Britain as a significant turning point in more recent British history.  We will be considering it within the chronology of major events in World War II, assessing our sources of information about this period and formulating and answering questions about the impact of this as a significant moment in our history.

Our geography this term will focus on our local area, informed by our class walk as well as a visit to Saffron Walden.  We will consider land use and economic, social and environmental factors as well as reading maps past and present to identify and discuss reasons for changes in our area.

Science

This term we will continue to learn about forces, discussing what gravity and resistance are and identifying the effects of friction and water resistance.  We will then learn about Earth and Space.  The children will describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system and they will describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth.  The children will use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky.  The children will have lots of opportunities to work scientifically, planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions.  They will take measurements, use a range of scientific equipment, record results using scientific diagrams and labels, and report and present their findings using conclusions and scientific explanations.

Computing

The children will learn about programming; they will be introduced to flowcharts and how they are used to program and control devices. The children will be taught to build sequences of instructions, control multiple outputs and structure algorithms with decisions and inputs.  The children will also be using word processing to present their work.

Art and DT

We will begin the term with a DT project, designing and making our own cam mechanisms.  This will entail developing an understanding of how cams work as well as the skills to cut, join and assemble these effectively.

In art, we will be linking our work to our geography topic of ‘where we live’, looking at perspective in sketching and drawing and considering the work of local artists as well as famous designers such as Orla Kiely and William Morris to inspire our own print work.

RE and PSHE

In RE, we will be learning more about Hindu places of worship and comparing these with those in the Christian faith as well as looking at religious symbols and their meanings.

Our PSHE learning will build on our understanding of healthy lifestyles by considering medicines and drugs and the risks and effects of their use, as well as assessing possible influencers (the media, including social media, peer pressure etc) and how to identify and respond to these.  We will also be considering how we are growing and changing – emotionally, intellectually and physically – as we move towards puberty.

Music

This term we will benefit from the Wider Opps programme of music teaching and the children will be learning to play brass instruments provided by the scheme, taught by an external instructor who will visit school on a Tuesday morning.

PE

Our sporting focus for the summer term will be rounders, cricket and athletics.  The children will need to have their PE kits in school for Wednesdays and Thursdays.

French

We will be learning how to describe what we do at the weekend, expressing preferences and particular times of day as well as extending our vocabulary to describe our homes.  We will be developing our ability to understand and write texts of increasing length and complexity as well as to respond verbally to a wider range of simple questions.

Homework

The children will continue to be asked to complete 3 pieces of homework each week; these will include spellings and one piece each of English and maths homework, each taking approximately 40 minutes to complete.  As previously, homework should build upon work in class and it should be clear to your child what is required of them.  Please limit your support to ensuring that they have the opportunity to complete their work in time and that they present their work neatly and to the best of their ability.  If they have any questions, we are always happy to answer them.

As ever, please encourage your child in their reading, giving them the opportunity where possible to sample a wide range of text types and support their interest in reading by discussing what they have read and by continuing to share texts by reading aloud together when possible.  They should read daily at home, completing reading challenges regularly as they wish.

If you have any concerns or issues you would like to discuss regarding your child, please don’t hesitate to ask us any questions either at the door at the end of the day or via the office if you would like to arrange a more formal meeting.

Mrs Rudkin and Miss Sabin