Autumn synopsis

 Dear All,

Welcome to Year Five!

I’m thrilled to welcome you all for the new school year. I thought I would let you know what we have planned from now up until Christmas. If you have any questions or concerns that are not answered below, please feel free to come along and ask me. I will be at the Key Stage 2 door most days at hometime.

Homework

Homework will usually be provided on a Friday, to be completed by the following Wednesday. It will generally involve completing a page in the spelling book and possibly also practicing English or maths skills learned in class, or occasionally researching topics.  I expect homework to be completed with a suitable pen (black or blue ink) or pencil and to be returned in good condition in our brand new homework books.  In addition, there will be a spelling test and mental maths test every Friday. Children will be given a list of spellings to learn, focussing on a particular spelling rule or letter pattern, linking to the spelling book homework. In preparation for the maths tests, children should practise their times tables facts up to 12×12. Speed tables sheets are available from me to help with practising at home, or I can suggest other methods including chanting to music, quizzes or simple games.  Once tables are known by heart, we will move on to division tables, eg 60 ÷ 5 = ? With both spellings and tables, I have found that short, regular bursts of practising usually work best and really do make a big difference.

Reading

As in previous years, it is expected that your child will read for at least 15 minutes every night.  The books chosen can be school books or books from home, but should be good quality texts that interest your child.  If your child comes across unfamiliar words they should be encouraged to use a dictionary to find the meaning, improving their vocabulary. Reading records will be checked regularly. Children are responsible for bringing their reading record to school each day and for changing books when necessary.

English

In class, we will be building upon what the children learned in year four and extending their skills of reading comprehension, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, spelling, handwriting and writing composition. This will include studying quality texts together and using them to inspire our own writing; for example our first English unit this term will be based on the novel ‘There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom, by Louis Sachar. This is one of my personal favourites and I am confident that the children will really enjoy it! Later in the term we will get our writing inspiration from a wide range of other sources including an animation video and various texts linked to our first topic, ‘World War Two’. We will be writing fiction, non-fiction and poetry, focussing largely on improving our vocabulary and sentence structure initially.

Maths

This term we will begin by further improving our understanding and application of place value and the four operations of number. We will also practise how to calculate mentally with increased efficiency. We will then progress to developing written methods of calculation. We will also learn about perimeter and area, fractions and line graphs as well as sharpening our problem-solving skills.

Topic

Our first topic in year six is ‘World War Two’.  This is a topic that I personally love and am sure the children will too. From children’s experiences as evacuees to the events of D-Day, from wartime songs to World leaders, we will immerse ourselves in this fascinating period in British history. Our topic will further develop the children’s knowledge of historical events, but will also provide many great opportunities for exciting drama work, detailed written work, historical text studies, art, design technology, music and ICT.  We will also enrich our studies with a trip or two and a very special World War Two day, in full fancy dress! More details of these will follow but adult helpers will be a must so get planning those costumes now! Also, if any relatives of the children would like to come in and tell the class about their wartime memories, this would be greatly appreciated. It has always gone down very well with children in the past as it really brings the topic to life. Please let me know!

Science

Our first two science units of year 5 are called ‘Forces’ and ‘Materials’.  In ‘Forces’, we will investigate friction, air-resistance, upthrust and other forces through practical investigation and design. In ‘Materials’, we will classify materials using their properties as well as investigating reversible and irreversible changes. In addition, we will learn about some separation techniques including evaporation and filtering before trying them ourselves. Both units allow lots of practical exploration as well as improving our written investigation skills and promise to be lots of fun.

Music

This term we will listen to and analyse music from World War Two, and also learn to sing some wartime songs, as well as composing our own lyrics in a similar style. Additionally, we will learn a number of fun singing games and work on our rhythm using percussion instruments.

Other Subjects

We will also find time to enjoy lots of Art and Design work, RE, PSHE, British Values, Computing and French!

PE

Our PE lessons will take place on a Wednesday and a Friday.  Please provide your child with a water bottle, indoor kit and outdoor kit in a suitable bag. PE bags can be left on your child’s peg all week and washed at weekends, ensuring that your child has their kit if any changes in schedule need to be made.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs N Faulkner