No, there’s not really…it’s the name of a brilliant book that Year Five really enjoyed studying earlier in the term. I’ve come across some photos of drama activities we did during the unit and thought I’d share them so the class can look back over where we started this term. Well done, guys.

Mrs Faulkner

On Wednesday, Year Five visited Tyneside Cinema, in Newcastle. It was to be an historical-based visit, discovering more about the history of newsreel and the cinema itself, linked to our World War Two topic. Interestingly, it took a very different turn… The evil time traveller, Kronos, whom we have been battling in our ICT sessions, turned up! We had to become honorary IMUTT agents and help Ava Scott to defeat Kronos once and for all! Things were not looking good for a while as the cinema gradually transformed into a KronoPlex. However with the children’s help, Ava eventually managed to return the baddie to his rightful place, in prison in 2025!

After all of the excitement, our class were more than happy to chill out in the afternoon with our very own private screening of Nativity. Popcorn, juice and a bit of singing put everyone in a great mood!

The behaviour of the class was complemented by a passerby and I must say, I agree! They were a credit to our school and I was proud to be their teacher. The only problem is how we’re going to top this with an even better trip..!

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

After becoming South Tyneside Basketball Champions a few months back, a team of year 5 pupils won a place in the ‘Champion of Champions’ Basketball final held at Northumbria University. The final was played before the Newcastle Eagles game against 5 other schools. Unfortunately we didn’t win but our team played very well and had a fantastic night flying the Bede Burn flag. They did us all proud and we have some great photos of the night to share. Well done for being such good sports and representing our school in such a positive and honourable way.  Well done!

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Welcome back for our final term in Year 5…Time is flying!

Our soon to be Year 6’s have lots on this term including trips, competitions, sports day, and of course our usual every day lessons.

In maths this term we are focussing on applying our skills and are tackling lots of investigations and problem solving activities. Mastery activities will include topics such as, money, fractions, percentages, measurements and working with Roman numerals.

Our English topic this term is Greek Myths, where children will take part in role play, planning a computer game (and writing instructions for the game), design travel guides, plan puppet plays and of course write their very own Greek myth.

All of this fabulous work will involve using figurative language, focus on grammar and punctuation, dynamic language and allow the children to think about audience and purpose of their writing.

Our topic this term is Africa where we will be focussing on its different countries and their culture. We will look at landscapes, poverty, illness and wealth and discover how each country faces different problems just like in every other continent.

In Science our topic this term is ‘Properties of materials’ where we will be finding out about, states of matter, in particular with reference to separating mixtures in different ways. Children will learn to appreciate irreversible changes that do not need heat and understand the role of heat in changing foodstuffs. We will also look at burning on different materials, iron and the causes and effect of rust.

In RE we are looking at religious communities in our local area. Pupils have opportunities to consider the concept of diversity and a diverse range of views about questions of living together, tolerance and respect. From the study of the religions in the local area and the wider region, pupils will be able to think about their own experiences and views in relation to questions of community cohesion.

Jammed packed this term. Lets go!

Year 5 were lucky enough to receive some specialist basketball training from a Newcastle Eagles coach in the Autumn term as part of a Hoops4Health programme. They also took part in a Basketball road-show where three of the Newcastle Eagles  came into school to work with the class on healthy eating and ball skills.

The children were entered into a tournament against other schools from South Tyneside and won! This meant they were to attend a semi final match which was to take place prior to a Newcastle Eagles game. The children worked so hard and with determination and a great basket from Dylan, Bede Burn won!

A very nervous yet excited team now had to play at half time of the Newcastle Eagles game in the grand final.They watched the professionals while they waited and tension was building….the competition was strong.

However after two amazing dunks from Jake and another one each from Dylan and Ethan, our team were victorious!

Bede Burn Champions!!!

They will now be entered into a champion of champions competition where they will play the champions from North Tyneside and Newcastle…. I’ll keep you posted.

Well done team!!!