Welcome to the Year 5 blog!

Each week, we hope to share with you some of the learning that has taken place in our busy Year 5 classrooms. Maybe you could talk about what the children have been doing at school when you are at home with them?

Friday, 28 March 2025

In Mrs Hawkin’s wonderful English group this week, the children have been working on some amazing poetry. As some of you may be aware, this group of fantastic children don’t always follow exactly what the rest of the year group is doing, and sometimes this allows me to be totally surprised by a beautiful piece of work that I quite literally wasn’t expecting to see! Whilst the rest of the year have been writing stories about the book Malamander, Mrs Hawkin’s group have been writing poems around a single word. They were given a list of words to choose from, and that word then had to feature in each and every line (nearly!). Leighton has produced this really wonderful piece of writing, so rather than continue to witter on (yay, I hear you cry!) I’ll leave you this week with his work. Have a lovely weekend.

Sun shining burning people’s eyes.

The yellow sun shining in the sky.

The sun was giving out a sunburn.

Sun giving people light.

Sun far away with its bright light.

Sun rising slowly as the dreamers awake.

Sun setting as dreams start.

Sun at midday shining brighter.

Sun is leaving us slowly.

Meeting the moon as it passes by.

Sun giving us what we need.

Sun leaving us with a warm goodbye.

Friday, 21 March 2025

This term sees Year 5 embarking on a really enjoyable DT project: making an electrical circuit game!

You must remember these games from childhood (a lot further away for me than you I’d guess!!) – guide a wire loop along a wibbly-wobbly curving and curling piece of wire. Your goal? To reach the other side without the metal loop touching the wire and setting of a jarring noise or light or both!

Our DT this term goes hand in hand with our science: electrical circuits. In learning about how circuits are put together, they have learned what is needed to create the conditions for the game to work. In building up to the putting-it-all-together lesson, they have looked at key vocabulary and games on the market that use similar technology. They have designed their wire shapes, and the backdrop for their games, and created an exploded diagram of the individual parts. This week, they have created step by step instructions that they will need to follow to build their game. Photos of the finished DT projects will follow in due course!

Friday, 14 March 2025

A large part of our geography learning this term has revolved around the science of plate tectonics. Basically (said no-one ever when about to launch into a description of how kilometres thick pieces of rock float about on magma), plate tectonics is the science of how the Earth is a giant jigsaw of rocky crust, on which the land masses and seas of the said planet sit. Furthermore, these giant, rocky, jigsaw pieces slowly move about, which, when stripped down to its fundamentals, causes earthquakes and volcanoes. If I’ve not lost most of the readership of this fine blog already (I’ll admit a trip to the kettle was a powerful urge at this point for me too), then I’ll get to the point of what the children in Year 5 have been up to. Thank goodness I hear you cry…

Over the last two weeks we have been learning about volcanoes. Last week we looked at cross-section of a volcano, and learnt about the various different parts of an active volcano. We learnt that volcanoes can be active, dormant or extinct, and that many volcanoes grow over time, as the erupting lava sets into rock on the slopes of the mountain, increasing its height. This week we delved into the impact that volcanoes can have on human settlements around them. There are many historic incidents of apocalyptic volcanic eruptions: be that the Krakatoa eruption of 1883 which killed 36,000 people and which turned the moon blue for a while afterwards, or the infamous eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD, which buried Pompeii in ash.

And yet people are often prepared to take the risk of living in the shadows of volcanoes: the soil around volcanoes is often more fertile due to the volcanic ash and rock, geothermal energy can be harnessed for cheaper electricity, whilst the volcano itself can become something of a tourist attraction.

Friday, 7 March 2025

Over the last two weeks, we have embarked on a new strand of science learning, leaving light behind and forging ahead with electrical circuits. We have learnt about the symbols that are used on a circuit diagram, whether that is to represent a switch, battery or light (other symbols are available!), and begun to draw our own circuit diagrams. We have created circuit diagrams for real-life circuits and also made a real-life circuit from a circuit diagram. We have learned about how closing a circuit (joining it at both ends and making it a loop) enables electricity to flow through it, and used that information to create our own circuits, using wires, bulbs, switches and batteries. The children always enjoy setting up their circuits correctly so that the bulb turns on, or the motor runs – it really helps to bring the scientific learning to life!

Friday, 28 February 2025

A big, Year 5 welcome back to the new term! I hope everyone is feeling suitably rested and refreshed following a week in the company of your lovely children (however the reality is more likely that you are feeling slightly frazzled from over exposure to said small people!!). As we borrow them for another 6 week stretch, in our maths learning, we have moved away from fractions for a while and have begun to investigate perimeter. We started with rectangles, before moving onto a range of polygons and eventually rectilinear shapes – a very hard to spell word (for me anyway!) that broadly means a shape made up entirely of straight lines. In English, we have begun to think about the skills required in writing a persuasive text, be that (amongst many varied features) repeating the key points you want to make or using emotive language to tug at the heart strings. We will spend this week working out what features an effective persuasive text should have, before we start to think about what we might want to write about ourselves.

Friday, 7 February 2025

We have been working very hard on fractions across the last few weeks. Moving from adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator, to having to find a common denominator because the denominators are different. We then added mixed numbers into the mix, and this week we have been multiplying fractions and mixed numbers by whole numbers. The children often find fraction work the most challenging aspect of maths in Year 5, and I think this cohort is no exception. That said, they have applied themselves well, and it has been really pleasing to see them demonstrating the school values of resilience, aspiration and independence as they strive to improve every day. Well done!

Friday, 31 January 2025

A new week and a new genre for our writing in English. We will be working on news reports in the run up to the end of term. This week we have looked into what makes up a news report: we have talked about how news is told through the eyes of witnesses, so quotes (both direct and indirect) are vital; we’ve talked about the importance of chronological order to get our facts straight; and we’ve discussed how we can use parenthesis (brackets in this case – see what I did there?!) and relative clauses to add additional useful detail to our writing. Phew!

Now, I know that I spoke about art last week, but I just need to mention it again because there has been some utterly lovely creativity going on this week. The children have taken a half picture of an erupting volcano and added the other half themselves. The results have been amazing, from precise copying of the original style, to explosions of vivid and fiery colour. I’ve included a few for you to have a look at!

Friday, 24 January 2025

Our wider curricular learning around Italy has also impacted upon our art this term.

Our subject is volcanoes, inspired by famous Italian examples such as the towering Mount Etna (3350m) and Mount Vesuvius (1281m and the only volcano to recently erupt in continental Europe).

We started by investigating famous examples of volcanic art, by names such as JMW Turner, Clarkson Fredrick Stanfield and Andy Warhol, amongst others. Paint obviously featured frequently, be that oils, water colours or acrylics, but one artist, Utagawa Hiroshige (a Japanese artist) used the medium of woodblock printing to convey images of volcanoes. Next, we looked more closely at a specific piece and looked at the techniques used to show the movement of the lava, both through the air and along the ground – not to mention the vibrant colours that are usually associated with volcanic art. This week, the children worked on some monochrome pencil drawings of volcanoes, practising different types of shading – smudging the pencil for the clouds of ash above the volcano, and using starker, more edgy shading, to show the angular nature of the rocks.

I’m looking forward to the half and half volcanic drawings that we will do next week, when the children take half of a photo of an erupting volcano, and complete the other half!

Friday, 17 January 2025

This term, our science learning revolves around light. We started off with some true or false statements to see how much the children already knew – how many do you know? In the first lesson, we carried out an activity to see if we could prove whether (or not!) light travelled in straight lines. The experiment is outlined on the attached image. Ultimately, we proved that light does indeed only travel in straight lines.

In one of our assemblies this week, Mrs Spackman used the time to celebrate children with differences. She talked about different obstacles children might face in life. For example, being confined to a wheelchair, or being hearing impaired. One of the most inspiring parts of the assembly was when our very own Nela stood up to talk about being visually impaired. Her TA, Miss Osborne, spoke glowingly about how Nela gets on with her learning in spite of her impaired sight; about how she reads and writes using braille; about how she gets around school using her cane to help her avoid hazards; and how her friends have been amazing, learning braille themselves so that they can better communicate with Nela. Such a fantastic example of resilience and independence for all!

Friday, 10 January 2025

I think it was probably true for most if us, staff and children alike, that getting back into the school routine was a bit of a shock to the system. I am sure that many alarm clocks were given a rather hard stare as they blurted into life at some ridiculously early hour on Monday morning – stares that even Paddington Bear would’ve been proud of. But as the week has gone on, the rhythm of school life has slowly returned, and the beat of English, then maths, then our afternoon endeavours has got us all (mostly!) back into the swing of things.

This term sees us leave the realms of the Early Islamic Empire and we head to Italy for some geographic learning. We started this week by revising some geography knowledge – we looked at the globe, and marked the equator, the tropics and the Arctic and Antarctic circle. We talked about the fact that most of the population of Earth live in the northern hemisphere, because that is where most of the land is. We talked about the fact that the North Pole isn’t located on land, but in fact is on a giant floating piece of ice! We’ll head off to Italy next week, with a particular focus of the upcoming unit being volcanoes.

In maths we have begun our fractions learning – always challenging for children, we started by talking about how different fractions can mean the same thing – or in other words, we learnt about equivalent fractions.

Friday, 20 December 2024

And so, we’ve made it, in (largely) one piece, to the Christmas holiday. I can hear the rousing cheers of the Year 5 parents, as you look forward to two amazing weeks with your lovely children!

The autumn term is always a long one – fifteen weeks in fact – and the children have worked hard to get here. They have earnt their well-deserved rest. We’ve learnt a lot: about the Early Islamic Empire in history; about states of matter in science; we’ve worked on the four operations in maths and written film reviews and suspenseful stories in English. That’s before we even get to PE and DT and RE and PSHE and ICT and any other subject that goes by a snappy acronym! This is a lovely year group, and it has been our pleasure, as a staff, to teach and guide these children up to this point, and we look forward to resuming the journey when we return to school in January.

We thank you for any cards, gifts or well wishes that have been sent in our direction, and we would like to wish you all a very restful and peaceful break, and hope that you are able to make plenty of lovely memories with family and friends. Take good care, and we’ll see you again in the New Year.

Friday, 13 December 2024

In history this week we have been bringing our Early Islamic Empire topic to a fantastic conclusion. To show what the children have learnt, they have been creating double page fact sheets/posters in their books, where they are drawing on everything they have discovered. Amazing pictures and interesting facts have been presented beautifully, with some children going above and beyond to do research at home! You can see some of their efforts in the attached pictures.

In maths, we reached the end of our long multiplication journey with some epic two digit by four-digit word problems! The children did themselves proud, and from there we moved off towards short division and the bus stop method. What this part of our maths learning has shown, is that a lot of our children’s times table knowledge could be stronger than it currently is. I know we all have hectic lives, but it would be amazing if, on top of the children regularly using Times Table Rockstars, that they could be constantly quizzed on times tables that they find tricky. I’m not talking about epic exams over breakfast…really just firing a few questions at them in any spare moment you can find. It really will help their maths confidence grow!

Next week we will be having our class parties on Thursday afternoon. There will be no school uniform required, and the children can bring food in. Class teachers will be in touch shortly to let you know how we will be dealing with the food.

Friday, 6 December 2024

And so we find ourselves in the final month of 2024. There’s a lot of change to be had between midway through Year 4 and midway through Year 5 and the children have changed a lot. Much more mature (for the most part!) and focused (ish!), this cohort has made a good start to Year 5. This week has seen us doing the taught write for our Film Reviews in English. We are reviewing a short CGI animation called ‘Wings’, with some rather menacing crows and themes of friendship and the benefits of co-operation. It’s a tricky thing, to explain what you like or dislike about a film, without going too far and giving the whole plot away! We’ll see how much the children have remembered when we head into the independent write next week! 

The week ended with a rather inspiring visitor in the shape of Oakley Banks, a GB gymnast, with a glittering array of medals so far, and with the aspiration of making the 2028 Olympic team. The children enjoyed the assembly – especially the back flip over the prone Mr Miller, and were put through their paces by Oakley with some circuit training in the afternoon.  

Friday, 29 November 2024

Assessment week is always a challenging time for the children, whatever year they are in. Whilst some thrive on the opportunity to show what they have learnt, others find it a stressful experience having to answer questions in a test situation. Nonetheless, Year 5 have done themselves proud this week, showing resilience and independence in their learning, and a fair few will have surprised themselves with the strength of their results. Well done!

We have started a new DT topic this term which is all about making pizzas. As part of that process, we conducted some market research to find out which pizzas were the favourites across Year 5. The children would then be able to use the information to plan pizzas that would be well liked by our year group. Before the survey was taken, the children guessed which pizzas would be favourite, but the actual results were a little different! The data was presented in a bar chart, which you can see in the attached picture. Pepperoni and pineapple pizza anyone?!

Friday, 22 November 2024

This week, we have been learning about squared and cubed numbers in maths. We used cubes to create physical representations of these – the 6³ cube was rather large! Check out the pictures of our squares and cubes in the attached images.

In English, the children have been writing their independent suspense stories – some of them got quite gruesome, even though our inspiration material tended not to be! There have been some really lovely examples (if lovely is the word to use for such writing!) of raising tension slowly, using all of the senses to create brilliantly vivid setting descriptions and some shorter sentences to impact the reader. I’m looking forward to reading these (slightly nervously!) at the weekend!

Friday, 15 November 2024

Well, that was a busy week! It is always nice to properly meet you when we finally get to the first parents’ evening of the year. Even more so, now that we are back to having face to face meetings in the hall. I hope you were all able to ask the questions that you needed to ask, and that you had an insight into how your children have started Year 5.

In our learning this week, we have continued to work on our suspense writing in English. Billy’s story continues as he delves deeper into the woods, heading towards a scream – could it be his friends? We have used that framework to teach the children how to build the tension in the story, and I think they have enjoyed themselves. They are really looking forward to the independent writing now!

We have also started our DT project for this term, where we are creating our own pizzas! We hope that we will be able to visit Hartsdown to use their kitchens and create our masterpieces at the end of the term.

Friday, 8 November 2024

The Early Islamic Empire was far-ranging, and its cities were impressive and renowned across the globe. The empire even stretched as far as Europe, where the city of Cordoba in southern Spain, was a part. We have begun to study Cordoba this week, as part of our history learning. We are using Cordoba to contrast with Baghdad. We’ve researched Cordoba and found out some things about it. Next week, we will write a letter (as if we were tourists to this fantastic place) telling the reader all about Cordoba.

In English, we have begun a unit on suspense writing. This week we immersed ourselves in an example piece of suspense writing, where our main character, Billy, is left stranded in a forest, alone, in a storm, at the dead of night, with a mysterious something nearby. The children were enthusiastic about the story, and we used it to start to look at the features of suspense writing: short, impactful sentences; longer sentences to raise tension; using sound, touch and smell, rather than sight, to leave clues for the reader; relative clauses to add suspenseful detail. They are eager to start writing their independent work already!

“Let’s go camping!”

In the lazy warmth of a late September afternoon, the notion had seemed exciting and filled with the promise of adventure. They had felt so grown up – ten years old, nearly eleven. The world lay at their feet, the future stretched out in front of them offering so many roads, so much potential as high school beckoned. Sitting in the park that day, talking and making plans, surrounded by the laughter and screams of much younger children and the scent of late summer flowers, they were the kings of all that they surveyed. Camping would be a breeze. No problem at all.

That was then. This is now.

The gale force wind, that had torn their sky-blue tent from the ground and cast it, never to be seen again, into the pitch-black night, was screaming and wailing through the trees that surrounded them on all sides. Leaves whipped against them as they struggled to make their way back to the road, their heads bowed and coats pulled tight around them. It was impossible to see more than a metre ahead in these conditions. Desperately trying not to lose their footing on the uneven ground, the three friends kept their gaze directed at the floor. Conversation was simply not practical as the words were torn from their mouths before they could reach the listener’s ear. The rain hammered against their coats performing a frantic, drumming rhythm that could be felt more than heard.

If only they’d checked the weather forecast.

That was Billy’s last thought before the toe of his walking boot got caught by an exposed tree root, and he lost his balance and was swallowed by the dark. For Billy, everything went black.

It would be wrong to say that when he opened his eyes everything swam back into view. In fact, when his eyes opened, he saw nothing but blackness. It must still be night but if the moon was in the sky, it was blanketed by thick layers of cloud. He felt a dull, throbbing ache on his forehead and assumed he had hit his head when he fell. Laying still, he could feel that his clothes were soaked. The rain had stopped and the wind had quietened. All he could hear was the occasional droplet of water falling from a branch and the unsettling noises of a forest at nighttime. He was cold but, it would appear, okay.

He called out his friends’ names. No reply.

As his ears strained to pick out a reply he heard a twig snap and he froze. His breath suddenly sounded very loud indeed and so he tried not to breathe. He listened hard. He could have sworn he could hear something. A shuffling, dragging sound like something heavy being pulled through wet leaves.

He could feel fear’s icy fingers trying to take a hold of him in its irrational grip, butterflies furiously fluttering in his stomach. Probably just a rabbit (except it sounds bigger than that!). Just a deer then (except it sounds bigger that that too!). What on earth is bigger than a deer?

With great difficulty, Billy forced the (very vivid) thought of a rabid, grizzly bear stalking him from his overactive imagination. He had bigger problems. Like moving. Gingerly, he moved his arms and legs. Whilst feeling like they’d been pummelled all over by a UFC fighter (the thought made him quietly giggle to himself), he could at least move them. He sat up, feeling around himself, his hands pushing through what felt like piles of sopping wet leaves, and making contact with the base of a rough, wide tree trunk. Painfully, he slid himself over to the tree and rested his back against it.

Up until now, he’d not really considered his situation. Fear’s grasp had released slightly. But as he let out a soft breath, and started to gather his thoughts, he realised that he was seemingly alone, soaking wet, in the middle of a forest, in the middle of the night, in utter darkness and had no idea where he was, or indeed, which way the road was. He was lost. Panic rose.

And there was something breathing and snuffling and moving and grunting directly behind the tree he was leaning on.

He froze.

Then he felt a warm, almost wet, breath on his cheek. The smell was sweet and sour.

He ran. And ran. And ran. A rabbit desperately – blindly - attempting to evade his hunter.

It has been great to see how quickly the year group has settled back to work following the break.

In other news, 5MP won the attendance reward for the week – well done!

Friday, 25 October 2024

This week sees us reach the end of our first term in Year 5 as various strands of our learning have drawn to a close.  In maths we have finished our addition and subtraction learning, with some tricky problem solving.  In English we have shown the ability to craft tightly honed paragraphs to debate whether or not it is a smart move to go to the shops on a pogo stick (clue: no it’s not!).

In art our mosaics are long finished, but in the time they had at the end of the term, 5H managed to create their own mosaic using miniature glass tiles and grout – you can see the photo of it attached. Very impressive! The end of term also sees us welcome in a stream of home learning projects. Not everybody does these, but those that do, invest time and energy in producing a well crafted piece of work. Again, you can see some of these photos attached.

It remains only to wish you all a lovely half term break. I hope that all of the children have time to recharge their batteries and come back to their learning refreshed. Stay safe!

Friday, 18 October 2024

In English, we are working our way through our newest topic, which is a balanced argument. We have just finished our taught write, where the children work on developing a high-quality example of the genre: in this case, would dinosaurs make suitable pets (obviously we have skipped the thorny issue of their extinction). It is important, in a balanced argument, to make sure we place equal emphasis on both sides of the debate. On the plus side, would dinosaurs make good security guards? On the negative side, is it really a good idea to have velociraptors roaming free in the paddling pool with the kids? The only time we talk about which side of the argument the author favours is in the conclusion. Next week, we will be embarking on our independent write.

This week, the Peer Mentors have begun to meet. Mrs Carpenter has given them the mission to focus on kindness as we are going to try and achieve an international kindness award as a school this year. How exciting! 

Friday, 11 October 2024

In science this week, we have been learning about fair tests and what factors might accelerate the process of evaporation. As I’m sure you can remember from your school days (!), a fair test is when we conduct an experiment but make sure we only change one factor each time. In this way, we will know that it is this single factor changing that will be affecting our outcomes (still with me?). In our evaporation experiment, we filled containers with exactly the same amount of water – the only difference was the surface area of the container. We then waited to see which container’s water would evaporate first. 90mm², 70mm², 60mm² and 35mm². After two days, the water in the container with the largest surface area (90mm²) had evaporated. After three, the water in the second largest had also gone. From this, we can hypothesise that the greater the surface area of a container of liquid, the quicker the evaporation. Simple (phew!).

In Art, we have finished our amazing mosaics. We used different coloured shiny stickers to create beautiful and effective patterns. We have evaluated the success of our project this week, but since that’s not as exciting as the art itself, please enjoy the fruits of the children’s efforts.

Friday, 4 October 2024

In History this week, we continued to marvel at the Early Islamic Empire. Running from 570CE to 1258CE (that’s AD in old money!), this empire expanded rapidly at the start, in no small part due to its agile and fast-moving armies. The empire was renowned for its understanding of human biology, medicine, books and astrology, its reach stretching from Southern Europe in the west, to the edges of the former Soviet Union in the east. This week we focused on the city of Baghdad. The Abbasid caliphs wanted to make their capital into a prosperous city of learning and new ideas. It was such an impressive city that we asked the children to draw it from a bird’s eye view. The only problem? Most of the evidence we have is written! As a result, they had to use written clues to produce their map of Baghdad!

In Maths we have moved on from place value and are starting to focus on addition and subtraction. We started by reminding ourselves how we add up multi digit numbers – especially where we have to exchange. In subtraction, the children were challenged when they found the number they were trying to take away was larger than the number they were taking away from. Again, we practised our exchanging to make sure that we got our answers correct! They’ve worked really hard – well done!

Friday, 27 September 2024

English 

As we reach the end of week four, we find ourselves at the culmination of our first writing topic: a setting description based on a short film called Alma. The film takes place in a snowy, windswept, grey and somewhat bleak city. Our description started with an overview of the rooftops, as if viewed by a bird circling in the icy sky, looking down upon cathedrals and tenements and distant, snow-covered fields. We then zoomed in closer to an alleyway with a sinister looking shop at the end, before stepping through the door of the doll shop, to see what descriptive delights lay inside. The children gave a great deal of thought to their writing, using adjectives and adverbs, simile and personification, to bring colour to the writing. Well done all! 

Maths 

In maths, we reached that always enjoyable (!) lesson on Roman numerals. It can be tricky enough for children to learn one number system from birth, without the added confusion of dropping in a system that relies on letters for them to get to grips with! Nonetheless, they tackled the topic with enthusiasm and were able to solve even tricky problems. Could you tell me what this date is? XXVI / IX / MMXXIV? 

Friday, 20 September 2024

In science, we investigated the question, do all solids dissolve? There was some challenging scientific vocabulary to get to grips with during the course of our investigation! We added six solutes (solids) to a solvent (water) and, using our observational skills, we looked carefully to see if it had dissolved and created a solution. Coffee, salt and sugar all dissolved. Flour, coffee and couscous sunk to the bottom and didn't dissolve.

In art, we continued with our focus on mosaics. We started to think about creating our own designs. Using squared paper, predominantly to ensure that the designs were symmetrical, we worked on a three colour (sometimes black and white) design. There were some striking results!

Week beginning 10/6/24

English

We are very much enjoying our class book 'Stig of the Dump'. (Miss Brown remembers reading it at this age and loved it then, too!) The children have been coming up with all the many ways that bringing a cave person to school could go horribly wrong. We are then writing a story based on this scenario. Some of the ideas they have come up with have been priceless:

• Stig might sharpen pencils to use as spears.

• He could get overexcited playing tag and turn it into a hunt.

• Children have described him leaping around the room, painting on the walls with his  hands.

• Perhaps he would be confused by many lights, thinking that they are multiple suns. 

The story that we are crafting is funny and engaging; even more pleasing is the huge range of punctuation and grammatical structures that the children are including. (The one that you can read here was written to inspire them.)

History/geography

The children loved their visit to Ramsgate Tunnels this week. They learned so much about how the tunnels were used during World War II. Do ask them about their experience there - they will have a lot to tell you. It links perfectly with our history unit based on Thanet in wartime.

Week beginning 20/5/24

English

Over the past few weeks, we have had so much fun with the play 'Macbeth'. The children have been mesmerised by it and they tell me that they are keen to learn more about Shakespeare in secondary school. For our final lesson, we took a closer look at Shakesperian language - particularly as 3,000 of his words are used by us still, today. We had a fun lesson putting together insults the way that he might have done. Perhaps you'd like to have a go, using the sheet that we used? 

Maths

The children have become very proficient at manipulating number - even decimal numbers. Have a look at what they have been doing in one of their lessons this week. 

History

In our topic lesson, we have been learning about Ramsgate Tunnels. As you know, we will be visiting the tunnels IN THE FIRST WEEK BACK. (If you have not signed the permission slip/paid, please do so.) It was fascinating to look at maps of the area over time, as well as to find out more about how the tunnels kept so many people safe during the war.

Week beginning 6/5/24

English

The children have been so excited to be learning about Shakespeare's 'Scottish play': Macbeth. We have been considering the start of the play where Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches. Diary entries have been written, showing Macbeth's conflicting emotions and enormous feelings around the prophecies. (Would he become king? Would Banquo's sons take the crown?) We are all so looking forward to what is next in this extremely engrossing play. 

We used Banquo's diary as inspiration and read some of the original text too.

Maths

One of our jobs this week has been to use decimals for subtraction. We have extended this to include problems involving measures - including money. Can you ask your child to help you figure out these questions?

History

This is a selection of some fascinating sources that we have used to investigate Thanet during World War II. The children have come up with very thoughtful responses to them and it has helped them to consider what it must have been like during that time for the people living here. 

Week beginning 29/4/24

It's been another busy and productive week in Y5. Read on to find out what we have been learning in English, maths and history.

English

On Thursday, we wrote the conclusion to our biographies. This one was about Elsa from Frozen. The children have all made up their own characters to write about.

Maths

History

Week beginning 22/4/24

English

In our English lessons, we are developing the skills to write an entertaining and informative biography. Next week, we will be creating a super hero or considering another character (perhaps from a well-loved story) about whom we could write. This week, one of our jobs was to consider what our sub-headings might be/what to include in each paragraph. Here is an example that helped us with this; it is about a very inspirational woman. 

Geography/history

The children have very much enjoyed exploring our Ordnance Survey Maps of Thanet and the surrounding area. They worked together and used six-figure grid references to locate places of interest and to describe where things are situated. It was a great start to our World War 2 in Thanet project. 

Week beginning 25/3/24

DT

Year 5 had a fantastic DT day to construct and evaluate our wire loop games. There was amazing team work and problem solving involved. We had to follow our instructions to create the games. Below are some of the things that we did:

 * Paint the base of our game—this was everyone's first step.

 * Recreate our design onto our background and add colour.

 * Create our wire maze which we had previously designed.

 * Draw around our components so that a neat hole could be cut out.

  * Insert our mazes into our bases, secure them and then attach the background       to the base ensuring that it is stable.

 * We found the components that we wanted and placed them in the background.   * We connected them together and through trial and error created the perfect        circuit so our games worked.

 We then got the chance to play each others—great fun! 

Book Sharing

We had so much fun sharing our afternoon books with our partner Year 3 classes. The children showed off their work and asked each other lots of questions about the different topics. Some lucky Year 3 children even got to build electrical circuits - under close supervision from their Year 5 helpers!  

Week beginning 18/3/24

English

Could you persuade someone to visit the strange, mysterious little seaside town  shown in the map? What sort of person would want to holiday in a place like this:

Maths

Measuring angles is always fun but we think that we've come up with the best ever activity!

DT

We are all very excited about our DT day on Monday! The children have been working in small groups to generate ideas, draw up plans and test out circuits. Our finished product will be an electrical wire/steady hand game. Watch this space.....we're hoping that parents and carers will be able to try them out next term.

Week beginning 11/3/24

Science

This week we investigated how the amount of batteries affects the volume of a buzzer. We made a circuit which, once complete, set off a buzzer. We then repeated this but added another battery to see what happened. We found that the volume increased every time we added a battery. The stronger the input the stronger the output. 

Week beginning 4/3/24

Maths

In maths this week we have been looking at how to work out area of compound shapes, as well as estimating area of unusual shapes. We have used our knowledge to answer problem solving and reasoning questions throughout the week. 

DT

In DT we have started to think about the design of our electric circuit wire loop games. We worked in teams to make decisions about what our game will be like. We designed our wire maze, thought about what components we will use and then, with this, designed an interactive background. We then had to draw an exploded or cross-sectional diagram to show our full game. Next week we are going to start thinking about the instructions we will need to follow and the equipment we will need. 

World Book Day

We loved our visit from Thomas Taylor, the fantastic author of our class book 'Malalmander'. He spoke to us about a range of things and we were particularly enthralled by his explanation of how he was inspired by his beach-combing finds. He showed us 'mermaid's tears', beautiful shells, fossils and also this amazing uranium glass which glows under the correct light. Our Year 5 writers definitely had their imaginations sparked!

Week beginning 19/2/24

English

We have started our narrative unit.  The classes have been using their knowledge of the fantastic book 'Malamander' to help them write passages of writing filled with action, focusing on techniques such as 'triples', short sharp sentences and dramatic and ambitious verbs.

Maths

This week we have looked at the relationship between fractions, decimals and percentages.  In class, we have gathered an understanding of how we can convert between them as well as identified their equivalence.

DT

This week we have undertook research and analysed board games that use electrical circuits.  Using previous knowledge the classes have built on their understanding of circuits whilst discussing the simplicities and complexities of well-known board games such as Operation.

Week beginning 5/2/24

Maths

We have been learning about decimals and fractions in maths. This week we compared decimals, finding which were greater than or less than. We then ordered different decimals in either ascending or descending  order.

Art

In art we have been looking at landscapes of volcanoes and studying an artist called Kate Fortune. This week was our final week on this topic for art. After designing our own piece and experimenting with different mediums, we created our own volcanoes. Here are some that we have finished.

Week beginning 29/1/24

Number Day

Today we had fun when the year 2 children came to share our puzzle/number day activities. We played battleships using simple calculations to help the year 2 children develop more confidence in maths. It was quite exciting when our boats were 'hit' and the year fives really enjoyed helping the younger children.

Maths

In maths we have been developing our understanding of fractions further. Some groups have been finding fractions of amounts and making connections between fractions and multiplication tables. Other groups have been converting fractions and decimals and challenging themselves to apply their understanding.

English

In English we have been practising writing a news report as a class, sharing our ideas and skills to produce a piece of shared writing. Volcanic eruptions seem to have been the main focus, with all sorts of unexpected locations experiencing these catastrophic events! 

Week beginning 22/1/24

English

In English this week we have been discussing features of a newspaper recount including writing in chronological order. We got to develop this by writing our own events about an escaping panda! 

Maths

In maths we have been using our multiplication and division knowledge to multiply a fraction by an integer as well as finding a fraction of an amount. We started doing this practically but we quickly moved on to working this out mentally.

Art

In art we recreated Kate Fortin's 'Volcano' using 4 different mediums. We divided our page in to 4 and had to copy the picture but in each box, we used either charcoal, oil pastels, acrylic paint or water colours. This was our experimenting phase of our art unit and we're looking forward to being able to create our own volcano pictures! 

Week beginning 15/1/24

English

In English, we’ve been working extremely hard on our ‘showing not telling’. We’ve used our skills as writers to drop hints about a character’s mood, giving flashbacks of their personal histories in order to take our reader on an emotional rollercoaster ride.  This is the kind of piece the children have been aiming for:

They ascend the rickety steps one behind the other. Giddy with excitement, the little girl bounds to the top. Her granny takes longer, navigating each step with care and sighing with every movement. Eventually, they reach the pile of cardboard boxes.

"Come on, granny," Tilly exclaims, dancing on the spot.

Marge wipes the dust off a chair and settles down to the task that she has been dreading.

With shaking hands, she lifts the necklace into the dusty shards of light. The clouds outside reflect the grey, heaviness in her heart. Although her eyesight is now failing her, she can make out the intricate pattern adorning the pendant. She can no longer reach to put it on but she lets the chain slip through her crooked, wrinkled fingers and feels its cool embrace.

The young child's words snap her out of her reverie. "Granny, that's pretty. I've never seen you wear it." 

"It's been wrapped up for fifty years," she explains. She casts her mind back to when she received it as a gift. The day had been bright and sunny, with birdsong in the air. Hand-in-hand, walking in the park with her beloved husband, she had never felt so alive. When they  stopped to sit on a painted park bench (their favourite one), he had placed the piece of jewellery into her soft, smooth hand. "There is a picture inside," he had explained. "The two of us together forever." Without any doubt, she had known that nothing would every part them and her heart flew higher than the birds in the bright sky.

In English, the children finish their independent writing by peer editing. This is when they get an opportunity to read their work to a classmate and discuss the parts of it they are proud of. It is also a time to consider whether they need to uplevel their vocabulary, vary punctuation or include other interesting elements. The children do enjoy this process and take it very seriously.  

Maths

In maths, we have played division board games. We made our way around the board solving division questions until one of us reached the end.

Science

In science, we have been investigating what happens to light when it hits a reflective surface. We have been looking at how reflection happens and realising that it is actually very mathematical. The experiments that we have carried out have been great fun. 

Chill Out Club

Lots of exciting things happen in Miss Brown's lunchtime 'chill-out' room. It is open to all and the children choose what they would like to do. (At the moment, pom-poms are a bit of a craze.) We presently  have a chess theme thanks to the wonderful Gavin Brown, who teaches chess to some of our children. Our only rule in chill-out is that we are kind to each other. Oh - and that we tidy up at the end!

Week beginning 8/1/24

English

The children in 5D have really enjoyed practising their weekly spellings in their new sparkly spelling books, using strategies such as acrostic poems and pyramids to help them remember their focus spellings.

Maths

We have been testing our knowledge of times tables, completing long multiplication sums.  Many children have also been challenged to complete some quite demanding questions and demonstrated great perseverance and focus.

Science

Through the assistance of some torches (and a lack of sunlight!), the children investigated how light travels in straight lines, working in teams to demonstrate light travelling through a series of holes.

Week beginning 11/12/23

DT

To finish off our DT unit we needed to evaluate our pizzas. 

First we evaluated against the design criteria that we had written a few weeks ago; then we answered questions about what we liked, what we would do differently etc. 

We've really enjoyed this unit and we're looking forward to our next DT unit in term 4. 

PSHE

The children in year 5 welcomed parents and carers into the classroom to share some PSHE work together. We talked about kindness and how we should value others but also ourselves. The children (with help from their adults) wrote positive affirmations on Christmas baubles which they then decorated ready to be hung on the tree.

Week beginning 4/12/23

English

In English recently, we have been watching some fun, short animations in order to write our own movie reviews. We have realised that there is a lot to think about in this genre of writing: engaging our reader (of course); retelling the plot in an interesting way (without giving away the ending); giving our own opinions and also considering the main themes and messages.

Next time your child is watching something, perhaps you could ask them to give a tiny review of it at the end!

DT

This week in DT we went to Hartsdown to make the pizza that we designed last week. We followed our recipes and ingredients lists to create a pizza that we are going to enjoy. First, we made the dough for our pizza base, kneaded it and left it to prove. Once it had proved, we spread it out using our knuckles to create the shape of pizza that we wanted. Then we added our tomato sauce, cheese and toppings and put the pizza in the oven. Whilst the pizza was cooking, we decorated our pizza boxes and then checked on our pizzas. The minibuses smelt amazing on our way back to school!

PSHE

In PSHE this week we set out to gain a better understanding of the words PREJUDICE and DISCRIMINATION. In pairs we looked at pictures of children and considered what they might think and say based on just what they looked like. We realised that sometimes we judge people on appearances. It was very powerful because when we found out more, we realised that our first ideas were often wrong and that we made a pre-judgement. We learnt that you can’t always judge a book by its cover!

Week beginning 27/11/23

DT

Design: This week we designed our pizzas ahead of our visit to Hartsdown next week. 

We started by thinking about our design criteria from last week and, using our knowledge from previous weeks, we selected ingredients based on calories so that our pizza wasn't unhealthy.  We drew an exploded diagram of our pizza and calculated total calories. We then wrote our recipes (that we will follow next week) so that we really understand the process - this included using our knowledge of how to make dough from week 1.

Week beginning 20/11/23

English

In English this week, we have been discussing pronouns. We had a lot of fun with this task. Have a go! If you get stuck, your child should be able to help you. (If neither of you can do it, there is a little help below.) There are different ways of completing this, depending on the gender of the orc and whether you want to put yourself into the story.

DT

This week in DT we performed market research about the most popular flavour of pizza voted for by year 5. We compared our results to a survey completed in the UK and were shocked by how different they were. We drew a bar graph of our year 5 results and wrote a design criteria (things that we think are necessary) for making a pizza such as evenly spread toppings, it should be balanced and healthy etc. 

Week beginning 13/11/23

Maths

We have looked at adding/subtracting fractions finding a common denominator and progressed onto outcomes where we have needed to convert improper fractions to mixed number fractions.

Science

In our science lessons we have been finding out about irreversible changes. This week we observed what happened when we mixed vinegar (an acid) and bicarbonate of soda (a base). We saw that this created quite a reaction and that a gas was produced. This gas (carbon dioxide) was enough to partially inflate a balloon. The children then produced some great work using this evidence to explain why the change was irreversible.

History

This week we have been looking at life in rich cities such a Cordoba and Baghdad during the Early Islamic Civilisation. We pretended we were an Anglo-Saxon visitor who was writing a letter to a friend living in late Saxon Britain about the cities and how amazing life was. 

DT

So far this term in DT we have been working on a cooking and nutrition unit. We started by linking this unit to our science and how chemical reactions relate to food. We specifically looked at the process of making dough and we really enjoyed watching it being made and how big it was after it had proved. 

In our next lesson, we looked at the history of pizzas - did you know the early forms of pizzas, known as flatbreads, date back to the Stone Age? We also looked at all the different types of bases, sauces and toppings that you can put on a pizza. 

This week we have been looking at the nutritional value of ingredients in pizza and we used laptops to research (using the safe researching skills we have learnt in computing) to break down the calorie, protein, fat and sugar content. When we go on to design our own pizzas, we will use this knowledge to help determine which toppings we would use to help keep our pizza balanced and not unhealthy. 

Week beginning 6/11/23

English

This week, we used some suspenseful pictures as inspiration for our writing. We walked around the classroom and looked at them. Then we wrote some incredible sentences on our cards, making sure that we used the techniques given. We had eight techniques in total that we had to consider. The next day, we turned some chosen sentences into a cohesive piece of writing.

RE

This BEAUTIFUL poem was written during an R.E. lesson. The children were looking at the teachings of Jesus. I think you will agree that it is absolutely heart-breaking and completely joyful all at once.

What did Jesus teach his followers about love?

Love is patient, love is kind, love is helpful.

Love is permanent, love is always protective.

Love trusts, love hopes, love never fails.

Love does not dishonour others.

Love does not boast, love does not delight in evil.

Love does not envy, does not lie.

Love always perseveres, is not abusive.

It is not self-seeking, love is for your partner and your family

Love is not proud, love is always with you.

Week beginning 30/10/23

English

We have been looking at some lovely texts during our reading lessons. They are taken from exciting books like this one: 'The House With Chicken Legs'. Before we answer our comprehension questions, we like to look at some of the interesting vocabulary from the piece. These words are coloured according to our 'Language through Colour' programme. Ask your child to explain the colours!

Maths

This week in maths we have been finding equivalent fractions of both unit and non-unit fractions. We used both fractions walls and our knowledge of times tables to help us! 

Drama/PSHE

Despite the horrible weather on Thursday, year 5 enjoyed a visit from Ian (KIC theatre) who worked with us on developing characters in drama. We thought about how to challenge stereotypical images to make our acting more realistic and thought about how to really listen to other people's opinions in a positive way.

Week beginning 16/10/23

Maths

We have been busy investigating cube numbers this week, developing an understanding that it is a number multiplied by itself and by itself once again. The children investigated and identified many cube numbers demonstrating some fantastic skills in perseverance!

Home Learning Projects

We've had some amazing home learning projects created this term. We can't wait to see what you come up with next term! Keep an eye out for the newsletter to get more details. 

Week beginning 09/10/23

English

Here in Year 5, we love reading!

We always look forward to our Friday 'Reading For Pleasure' sessions. During this time, we get to read anything that 'speaks' to us. We read with our friends, in pairs and in groups. We read lying down or sitting up. We read with our shoes on or off. We take the time to talk about books and make recommendations. It's a magical part of the week. 

PSHE

This week it was World Metal Health Day on Tuesday. We attended an online masterclass with One Goal to help us with building our resilience. We learnt about the 6 habits for building resilience and we've created a poster which will go up in all the classrooms and around the year 5 areas to remind us on how to build our resilience. 

We were also given some quotes to help us with our journey to being resilient. 

"If I never quit.....I will succeed!" 

"Resilience helps us climb the mountains in our life"

"You conquer your fears by facing them"

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't you are......RIGHT!"

"Building resilience helps you overcome challenges and achieve goals"

Week beginning 02/10/23

English

This week in our English lessons, we have started to think about how to have a healthy debate. Today, we sorted animals into 'good pets' and 'bad pets'. Of course, not everyone in the group agreed! We found ways to take turns when speaking, to respond to others and to put across our point of view politely. Our next job will be to write down our ideas using the more formal  language of debate. 

History

This week in history we were detectives and created a map of Baghdad from written sources. There are no surviving pictures, so we used the notes of visitors to the city written in about AD1100. They wanted to make their capital into a city of learning and of new ideas. The notes of foreign visitors are a particularly rich source as they frequently comment on what is different to their own culture. 

Art

This week the children wowed us with their amazing skills in creating their own versions of Ancient Islamic mosaics. The unit has been a hit across the year group, which is clearly evident from the awesome work they have achieved. 

Week beginning 25/9/23

Science

In science this week year 5 undertook a fair test investigation to find out whether all solids dissolve. We used water as our solvent and had six different solutes to test.  We discovered that water dissolved salt, sugar and coffee to create a solution. Sand, flour and cous -cous did not dissolve. Later in our science unit we will look at ways of separating mixtures including solutions where the solute dissolved. We will keep you updated!

Week beginning 18/09/23

English

In English lessons, our reading and writing skills are equally important. Before we read a comprehension text, we like to look at some of the interesting vocabulary within it. We teach the children to work out what the words mean by using the 'clues' in the sentence. Here is some of the vocabulary that we met this week. 

PSHE

Art

This week in art we spent the afternoon experimenting with repeating patterns and discussing our future plans regarding the creation of our own mosaic designs that will be started next week.

Week Beginning 11/09/23

English

In English, we have been thinking about how to choose vocabulary in order to engage the reader. Different words can create a different picture in the reader’s mind. The children have been delving into the thesaurus to find better words – for example, ‘walked’ has become ‘trudged’, ‘tiptoed’ and ‘strutted’.

History and geography

Our topic this term is the Early Islamic Civilisation. We started by exploring the significance of the Islamic civilisation and how it still impacts us today. For example, they invented their own system of Arabic numerals, and these are the numbers that we use today.

In the next lesson we thought about where the empire was in the world and identify the geographical location of the middle east. We explored a map of the empire and noticed that some of the names of countries were different, so we used an atlas the find and list the modern-day names. We then went on to think about the different biomes (def. a collection of habitats) in the world and matched them with a visual representation.

Art

This term our art topic is closely linked to our Ancient Islamic history and geography topic. In this week's lesson we looked closely at Islamic mosaic art that uses a mixture of geometric patterns, calligraphy and vegetal design. Year 5 were inspired to create their own versions and produced some fantastic results. 

Science

We have been looking at the three states of matter. We used our understanding of the materials' properties and the particle arrangements to classify things as solids, liquids or gases. We then went on to carry out tests to find properties of solids. We identified those that were electrical and thermal conductors, magnetic and transparent. We also used the “scratch” test to rank and order solids according to their hardness.

Week beginning: 17/04/2023

History/geography

This week, we have been preparing for our investigation into the Ramsgate tunnels by exploring the geography of our local area.

We have discovered how erosion affects our local coastline and begun to understand how arches and sea stacks are formed.

Can you see any of these coastal features as you explore Thanet? 

English:

In English this week we have started to look at biographies. At the start of the week, we read Anne Frank's biography and learnt that although her life was tragic, it was also one of courage against adversity. Then we continued the week exploring features of a biography and creating coloured checklists to identify these. 

Art:

This term we are finding out about Paul Nash (War artist) - In our first lesson we looked at a range of his landscape pieces, found out he wasn't very good at drawing figures (which led him to drawing landscapes) and discussed our feelings towards his Art piece - Menin road

Maths:

To kick off the new term in Year 5, we've been looking at angles - classifying, ordering and measuring.  The children have demonstrated some outstanding knowledge of acute, obtuse and right angles, along with learning new ones, such as: straight line and reflex angles.  Here are some of the types of questions we've been tackling this week, feel free to quiz your kids on their angles knowledge!

Week beginning: 20/03/2023

English

This week, we have been deconstructing a persuasive leaflet on visiting Blackpool. We then used the features and our new understanding to write some compelling arguments to visit Margate too!

Science

This week in science year 5 have been identifying different symbols used in circuit diagrams and drawing simple circuits. There was lots of fantastic team work skills being used when they worked in groups to build a circuit. 

This week in science we also learnt about how we see colour. Firstly, we discussed how rainbows are formed, by light refracting through raindrops, splitting white light into the visible light spectrum. We then discovered that we see colours because objects absorb all the colours of the spectrum, except for the colour of the object, this colour light is then reflected into our eyes and we are able to see the colour of the objects. 

Week beginning: 06/03/2023

English

This week the children have been practicing their narrative writing skills.  They have worked in pairs using techniques that promote dialogue, action and description.  All in preparation for their hot write next week.  The children have produced some absolutely breath-taking pieces of writing.

We have also been practicing some of the key skills for narrative writing such as dialogue and carefully selecting exciting vocabulary.

We cannot wait to show you our hot writes next week, watch this space. 

Maths

Miss Brown’s maths set have been finding fractions that are equivalent to one whole. We are excited about our new fractions unit – it’s Miss Brown’s favourite maths topic!

Science

In science this week we have continued to investigate how light travels in straight lines. We did this through the use of mirrors and torches, investigating if we were able to see round corners or behind us, creating reflections of the light source (torches) in the mirrors and reading secret messages! 

At lunchtime, some children come to ‘chill out’ club. It’s warm and there are many games to choose from. It’s lovely to see the children playing together and co-operating so well.

Week beginning: 27/02/2023

English

Clayton made this fantastic guitar and decorated it as his clue for the book 'Space Band'. 

Maths

Miss Brown’s maths set had a challenge to build two different shapes with the same perimeter. Can you see who has succeeded?

Week beginning: 20/02/2023

Science

This week we have started our brand- new science topic - electricity and light.

In our first lesson we investigated and observed how light travels in straight lines.  The children took part in a teamwork activity where they needed to demonstrate light travelling through a series of holes and ending on a target.  Team work was essential if the children were to complete the activity successfully!

Maths

At the start of the week in maths we were learning how to order and compare fractions, looking closely at place value and how we can use prior knowledge to help us understand tenths, hundredths and even thousandths!

In the latter part of the week we have been rounding numbers up to 2 decimal points to the nearest whole number. Rounding is something the children have previously found challenging but, absolutely smashed it this week! 

English

In Miss Brown's English class, we practise our sentence writing skills every morning. Leland came up with this amazing idea after looking at the picture shown. 

Year 5 have been busy using powerful verbs and adverbs, short impactful sentences, rhetorical questions and ambitious vocabulary to write action packed narratives.

In Miss Brown's set they read the book 'The Colour Monster'. We have been exploring what our feelings might look like - and what they might be telling us. All of the poems we wrote were beautiful but these two took my breath away!

My shyness stands in my legs.

It shines at the moon and the sky.

It fades into turquoise.

It swings like a sloth.

It's as big as a human.

It said to me, you need to be brave.

So I am. 

(Arabella)

My sadness stood in my eyes.

My sadness is like a heavy rainfall rushing down. 

My sad colour is green and blue. 

My sadness is a whale floating in the sea by itself. 

My sadness is a baby fox sleeping in the woods under a tree. 

My sadness is telling me to listen to my favourite song

and it tells me to sing it. 

(Lexie-Rose)

Week beginning: 30/01/2023

Maths

For Puzzle Day, year 5 created dot to dot puzzles. First, we completed some extreme dot to dot puzzles before creating our own to challenge our friends. 

Some children have been working together to make a trap for the maths villain. He will be lured in by all of those number ones!

Art

Excellent Come and See in year 5 this week, where we created some folk art inspired volcanic landscapes. The adults that joined us had fun experimenting with patterns to produce some colourful and abstract pieces of art! 

Week beginning: 23/01/2023

Maths

This week we have been learning how to multiply fractions by an integer.  Simultaneously, we have recapped our knowledge on converting fractions from improper to mixed number fractions. There has been some excellent explanations in our reasoning questions as well where the children have demonstrated their conceptual understanding of everything fractions.

English 

Last week, we delved deep into what writing skills are featured in newspaper reports and began applying our understanding.

Can you spot which skills we used?

Come back next week to see how we have applied them to our own reports!

Art

The children have been loving their art lessons. Linking with our geography topic, we have been examining art work by Katie Fort and experimenting with colour and materials.