Year 5
In Year 5, we've had a busy start to the new summer term.
During English, we've been exploring a powerful video "The Piano" and have crafted beautifully emotive letters and first-person narratives. Some of our work has even made it onto the Wow Walls already. Next, we're gearing up for a balanced discussion on the topic: "Is technology destroying the human race?"
In maths, we've tackled some challenging concepts, diving into an introduction to algebra. The children have really embraced the challenge, and we're now focusing on applying our problem-solving and arithmetic skills.
Outside of English and maths, we've been exploring the world of the Vikings, creating timelines, and discovering their systems of crime and punishment. In food technology, we've explored the process of producing beef and indulged in taste-testing different Bolognese sauces. Next up, we're excited to create our own!
In science, we're deepening our understanding of life cycles, becoming experts on plants, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Additionally, we're continuing to enjoy Re (Green Religion) PSHE (looking after ourselves in the sun), PE and music. Feel free to ask us about any of our learning.
We are also excited about our upcoming trip to Ingreboure Valley next Thursday, where we'll be learning rivers, setting the stage for our topic next half term.
Year 5 have continued their hard work into the Spring Term and are already achieving some of their academic New Year's Resolutions.
English
We began the term by watching the music video for Titanium by David Guetta feat. Sia. We used this to inspire our writing and told the story of a troubled teen with superpowers. After this, we worked on our poetry skills, producing poems in the style of William Shakespeare. We enjoyed the story of Macbeth so much that our teachers are going to share more of the work of Shakespeare with us. We are now using our fantastic whole-class reading book, War Horse, to inspire narratives from a different perspective.
Maths
In maths, we started by recapping some of our multiplication and division learning. We learnt some new terms such as prime, composite, and cubed numbers. We have then spent the last couple of weeks working on measurement and geometry. We impressed our teachers with our protractor use, and we are now looking at transformations - translations and reflections.
History
We have gone Roman mad! We are learning all about he success of the Romans, including how they conquered so much of Europe and why their army was so successful. We are moving on to investigating Boudicca and deciding whether she was a hero or a villain. Additionally, we are all excited about our trip to Colchester Castle on February 8th to bring our learning to life.
Science
In science, we have continued to look at material and their properties, moving onto deepening our learning about reversible and irreversible changes. We have learnt what a suspension and a solution are and how to separate them.
Design and Technology
In DT, we have become engineers as we study bridges, how they are constructed and what makes them successful - or not so successful! We had a go at making our own beam and arch bridges and will continue this learning by creating bridges from different materials, which links well with out science learning.
Other Curriculum Areas
We have also continued to enjoy PE sessions where we have practised both tennis and badminton. We have also continued our swimming lessons, where we have become incredibly confident and skilful.
In RE, we have learnt about the five pillars of Islam and investigated why ach is so important tot the Muslim faith.
Our PSHE topic has been about what we can do to support our local areas effort to protect the environment. We created some fantastic posters which give people advice on changes they can make in their own lives.
Finally, in French, we have continued our learning about past times, speaking in sentences to answer questions about what we get up to in our free time.
Year 5 have had another jam-packed half-term so far with plenty of learning in and out of the classroom.
We began the half-term with a fantastic USA enrichment day where we learnt so much about North America and the fifty states. We have continued this learning in our geography lessons.
In English, we started with the legend of Robin Hood which we told in traditional, story-telling language. We then used our art learning about surrealism to inspire a setting description of a Dali-esque dreamscape. This week, we have just completed a unit on ‘The Alchemist’s Letter’ where we wrote highly emotive letters from a father to his estranged son. If you search online for ‘The Alchemist’s Letter’, you will be able to watch our stimulus – it’s very powerful!
In maths, we have had lots of fraction fun! We are now able to use the four operations with fractions and have begun applying this to reasoning and problem-solving questions. We also enjoyed sharing the operations we use at Aveley Primary with our parents and other family members during a workshop.
Alongside all of this, we have visited the Civic Hall in Grays to take part in the Walk Online Roadshow. We developed our knowledge of online safety during an entertaining and interactive presentation from the Two Johns.
Also, just this week, we journeyed to the science museum. On our journey, we enjoyed the sights of London, including seeing the Houses of Parliament which we learnt about last half-term. When we arrived, we took part in an explosive workshop about space before venturing into the galleries. We learnt so much about our previous topic (Earth and Space) and now we are excited to continue learning about materials and their properties.
Year 5 have had a great few weeks of learning.
In English, we have written two distinct narratives - one a suspense story based on the writing of JK Rowling, the other an emotive and descriptive tale of a small family who have ben shipwrecked on the back of a giant turtle.
In maths, we continued our work on place value, addition and subtraction and then moved onto telling the time accurately, studying timetables and working out time intervals.
In science, we have finished our unit of Earth and Space. This involved a live lesson over Teams with Dr Amy from UCL who is an expert on all things space - this secured our learning and she shared 3D glasses with us which made for an immersive experience.
We also continued to apply last year's science learning to design and technology, and begun construction of greetings cards with an electrical component. We will evaluate our attempts on our return to school.
We cannot wait for all the exciting learning that next half term will bring, including our visit to the Science Museum in London.
Year 5 have had an interstellar start to the new academic year. We have already visited an Astrodome (mobile planetarium) where we deepened our knowledge of our solar system. We marvelled at the sights of the constellations and learnt more about planet formation. Back in school we've been producing fantastic writing including information texts on the Earth and Space, and incredible diary entries linked to our current reading book, 'The Many Worlds of Albie Bright'.
