Summer Newsletter, Year 5

Welcome to the summer term!  We are looking forward to a great term ahead in school, with lots of fun activities, our parents’ assembly on 20^th May and a full curriculum outlined below.

English

This term we will begin with a poetry unit, looking at a selection of modern and classic poems that make the ordinary extraordinary, exploring imagery and word choices for impact.  Then, we will be enjoying the study of a short film, ‘Swing of Change’, which links with elements of our history topic and provides the opportunity to explore some of the issues raised in the text, such as racial prejudice and discrimination.  We will use drama to develop understanding of character feelings and use emotive language and relative clauses in writing to describe personal responses to events.

Later in the term, we will be writing non-chronological reports, linked with our geography learning, comparing features with journalistic writing, and will also 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 support this.

Maths

We will start this term by looking at angles and polygons.  The children will measure and draw angles using a protractor and they will learn about the different angle types – acute, obtuse and reflex.   The children will use known facts to help them find missing angles and they will draw polygons with given dimensions and angles. We will then move on to co-ordinates and line graphs, looking at the translation and reflection of shapes.  We will also be drawing and reading line graphs.  The children will add and subtract fractions where the denominators are multiples of the same number.  They will identify, name and write equivalent fractions.  Continuing from this, the children will multiply fractions by whole numbers.  They will work with mixed numbers and improper fractions and convert from one to the other.  The children will revisit using the grid and short method of multiplication and will be introduced to long multiplication.  They will multiply 2, 3, 4-digit numbers by numbers ≤26 using long or short multiplication or grid method, and solve problems involving multiplication and division.

Later in the term, we will be revisiting time.  The children will look at 24-hour timetables and calculate intervals of time.  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 changes in Britain, focusing in particular on the theme of the diversification of the population and looking at how Britain has changed to embrace different cultures, from the time of the slave trade to the present day.  We will look at the reasons for and impacts of population migrations, including identifying multicultural role models and exploring personal stories.

Our geography in the second half of this term will have a physical geography focus, exploring the range of biomes across the globe, their key features and locations and consideration of the threats to some of these biomes.

Science

For the first part of this term, we will be looking at living things and their habitats – the children will describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird.  They will also describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.  In the second half of this term, we will be learning about animals (including humans); describing the changes as humans develop to old age (this will include the main changes that occur during puberty and the changes in old age).

Computing

This term the children will be making sense of the Internet and learning to build a website.  We will learn how the school network and Internet work and we will then explore the HTML used to create websites and edit this using Chrome Developer Tools.  The children will create their own website about online safety using Google Sites.

Additionally, in the second half term, the children will be experimenting with virtual and augmented reality.

Art and DT

We will begin the term with art work, looking at the use of perspective for the creation of interesting images.  We will use photography, taking pictures from different angles, and close-up images and paintings to explore the impact of these devices. We will then continue with a DT project, designing and making our own mechanisms using pulleys, developing an understanding of how pulleys work as well as the skills to use these effectively in our designs.

After half term, we will be linking our art and design work to our geography topic of ‘biomes’, learning to weave and designing and creating our own woven representations of a biome of our choice.

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 focus on health and wellbeing, continuing our learning about the benefits of mindfulness, keeping safe in a range of situations and considering how the children are growing and changing – emotionally, intellectually and physically – as they move towards puberty.

Music

This term the children will complete musical activities that will support them in listening to and appraising music.  They will also learn to perform and review each other’s music.

PE

Our sporting focus for the first half of the summer term will be tennis and athletics.  Please can the children have their PE kits in school every day – PE days will be changing weekly due to Forest School and sessions with Mr Dyce.  PE days will remain every Wednesday and may alternate between a Thursday and Friday.

French

We will be learning how to describe what we do at the weekend and particular times of day as well as learning vocabulary to talk about healthy and unhealthy foods and preferences.  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.  Homework will be sent home in their Learning Logs/Maths folders; please support them to make sure that work is submitted in a legible format before the deadline given.

As ever, please also encourage your child in their reading, giving them the opportunity where possible to sample a wide range of text types and support their interest 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 activities such as reviews or posters regularly as they wish.  This is particularly important in a world where online games and viewing opportunities are increasingly seductive and reduced exposure to the written word is having a growing impact on our younger generations’ literacy skills – your support from home is invaluable in our efforts to counter this.

If you have any concerns or issues you would like to discuss regarding your child, please don’t hesitate to contact the office to arrange for us to call you by ‘phone.

Mrs Rudkin and Miss Sabin