In light of the current situation regarding school closure, we have sent home learning packs to support home study. Below is a list of additional useful resources/websites to further enhance their learning. Our blogs will be updated in due course with additional information and support. Under the difficult circumstances of this week’s announcements, we have been very proud of how the children have shown resilience and maturity.

Thank you for your continued support,

KS2 team

If you need to contact me during this time (as I will not be in school each day to protect myself again this virus) I can be contacted on the email address below. PLEASE NOTE TEACHERS ARE ONLY BEING ASKED TO REPLY TO EMAILS ONCE AND WEEK AND DURING THE SCHOOL DAY OF 8.45AM-3.30PM.

year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk

Home learning activities

Read

Read as much as you can at home-there’s nothing better than getting engrossed in a good book!

Write

In your home pack you have been given a yellow notebook. The children could keep a diary of the things they do at home or encourage them to write short stories.

Websites we already use and your child has a login for:

Bedrock

Bedrock can be accessed and a lesson completed every 48 hours. The username and password has been sent home with your child again.

https://app.bedrocklearning.org/

Discovery Education : Espresso

We have a whole school subscription for Espresso which is part of Discovery Education. There are loads of resources and games that you can access that link to the National Curriculum.

https://www.discoveryeducation.co.uk/login/eha/?service=espresso

Username and password has been sent home in the pack.

Sumdog

https://www.sumdog.com

Free access has been granted for all resources on Sumdog during school closures. Use your own sumdog login username and password provided in your learning pack.

TTRockstars

Keep practising your times tables by logging onto this website using individual username and password that has been sent home.

https://ttrockstars.com

Other websites that are offering home learning resources are:

Education City

Children will be coming home today with usernames and passwords for Education City. This is a new website for the children with access to English, Maths, Science and Computing resources.

https://www.educationcity.com

Classroom secrets home learning:

The pack we have sent home, comes from this website but they have many more resources on offer for children to use:

https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/free-home-learning-packs/

Twinkl

Twinkl is also a resource that we use in school and has many resources that can be used at home.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/search?term=school+closure

Oxford Owl

Maths and English resources

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/school-closure-resources/?region=uk

Third Space

Please see letter regarding access to Third Space maths.

Physical Exercise Links

Young Champions has been created by sports coaches, movement specialists and sports scientists to provide young children with home practice sessions to develop fitness, motor and sports skills. It will help children of all ages and abilities to play sport to the best of their ability and keep them active and healthy. Parents can sign up here:

https://www.amaven.co.uk/young-champions

An alternative one is The Body coach TV 9am Monday to Friday with Joe Wickes.

PostedMarch 20, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

First of all I just want to say a massive well done to all the children in Year 5 who took part in Bikeability last week. The weather conditions weren’t the best at times but they all persevered through the rain, listened well and showed off their safe cycling. We’re very proud of you, well done!

Stage 1 Bikeability took place on the KS2 playground on day 1.

Stage 2 took place on the roads around our local area and was completed successfully by the end of day 2.

Our learning this week:

In English we have further explored Shakespeare’s play Taming of the Shrew and have used drama and a green screen to retell the story. In addition we have considered the relationship between the two sisters, Bianca and Kate, and have written diary entries from their point of view.

In Maths we have worked on factors, primes, square numbers, square roots and mental multiplication and division.

In Geography we have been looking at the water cycle in preparation for our work on rivers.

In RE we have learned about the work of Saint Damien, who went to help victims of Leprosy who were sent to live on Molokai. The children then looked at Corinthians 13, where Saint Paul describes what Jesus meant by ‘love’ and have considered how St Damien has shown his love for others in his work on Molokai.

This week we also had a visit from our school nurse who came to talk to the children about the importance of keeping themselves clean to keep themselves safe and healthy. During assembly she was also there to share how we should be washing our hands throughly and encouraging the children to do this to “Happy Birthday” twice.

Our award winners:

Golden Award : Well done Ryan who has been working really hard, listening well and then helping others with their work too.

Writing Award: Well done Grace for her great diary entry from the point of view of Kate the Shrew.

Maths Award: Well done to Angelo for great arithmetic work in our 5 a day maths and his times tables.

PostedMarch 17, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Thank you for all the effort you put into your World Book day costumes, they all had a really great day. The children were delighted to have Dan Worsley, our Patron of Reading and local author, back in class to do a writing workshop with the children which they have carried on with today - I look forward to reading those! The children also completed activities around their favourite books and shared favourite stories with their Reception buddies.

Dates for your diary:

Bikeability is on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th March. A letter came home this evening regarding details for Monday.

PostedMarch 6, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

This week, as we start Lent, we have been thinking about how we can go the extra mile just like Jesus. On Wednesday we celebrated Ash Wednesday in church and we also decided on our Lenten promises. The children have made their own individual Lenten promises but we have also made some class Lenten promises too…

The first one is something we can do together to think of others this Lent…

The second is a class reading challenge. By the end of term, we - Year 5, Mrs McVey, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss - will read one of three books (chosen by the children). In the last week before we break up, we will celebrate our reading achievement by sharing our thoughts on the book with a book club party. Please encourage your child to read their chosen book to enable them to enjoy our book club at the end of term. You never know, some children might even go the extra mile and end up reading all three (Now there’s a challenge!).

Our learning this week…

English - the children have written a set of clear instructions for making lemon sherbet, thinking about the language used and the presentation and organisation of them.

Maths - the children have been identifying calculations to solve one and two step word problems using mental and written methods.

Science - they have been investigating the effects of friction acting between moving surfaces…

RE - the children have been thinking about why their faith is important to them and how they can actively help Jesus in His mission.

History - they have been exploring the differences between Athens and Sparta, two of the most powerful Polis (Greek city states). We have also learnt about the Battle of Marathon and have discovered where the running marathon has come from.

Dates for your diary:

Tuesday 3rd March is Year 5’s trip to the Grand Theatre to watch the Taming of the Shrew. We wish all the children performing in the play the best of luck, break a leg!

World Book Day is on Thursday 5th March. The children can come dressed as their favourite character from a book or they can bring a prop based on their character. If the children choose the second option they will still need to be in school uniform.
On that day, Y5 will also need to bring with them their favourite book to write a book review and a favourite book that they can share with their Reception buddy.
Bikeability is on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th March.

PostedMarch 1, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Well, I can hardly believe we’re half way through Year 5 already! The children have been working really hard over this last half term and have made me so proud.

In English, the children have finished their stories on Pandora’s Box and in maths they have been working on decimal numbers. In RE the children have been exploring Jesus as our role model and have reflected on how we can join in his mission. In Computing the children have used decoding skills to work out and then write code for a scoreboard on a microbit. In history, the children have compared the Ancient Greek Olympics compared to the modern Olympics.

On Tuesday it was Safer Internet Day. The children discussed their online identities and considered how they represented themselves online.They agreed that people should be free to express themselves online as long as it is done kindly and respectfully.

Their online safety message is:

Check that your online identity reflects how you want people to see you.

Please check your child’s online use and help them to check their privacy settings and ensure their online identity does not give too much away. For more information and advice please see https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers

Well done to our reading champions who have finished one or more bookmarks for home reading this half term…

Each time Year 5 read three times, they are awarded a golden ticket. At the end of each half term, all the golden tickets are put into a draw and two children are rewarded with a prize.

Well done to Claire and Tom who are this half term’s golden ticket winners…

Our award winners (last two weeks):

Well done to all our award winners!

Golden Award - Analiese and Tia

Writing Award - Naomi and Thomas

Maths Award - Sophie

Dates for your diary:

On Wednesday 26th February is Ash Wednesday and the whole school will be in church for mass.

On Friday 28th February mid-term reports will be sent home.
World Book Day is on Thursday 5th March. The children can come dressed as their favourite character from a book or they can bring a prop based on their character. If the children choose the second option they will still need to be in school uniform.
Bikeability is on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th March -For those children who have signed up to take part in Bikeability, please make sure you practise on your bike over the next two weeks to ensure you are confident and ready to start the course.

PostedFebruary 14, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

This morning we went to Church to celebrate the feast day of St John Bosco, who is the patron saint of children. Year 5 accompanied their Reception Buddies to mass and as usual, they were such great role models. I was so proud of how mature they were and saw many examples of Year 5 children supporting their Buddies in making the sign of the cross and joining in with the responses. During mass each class presented a candle they had decorated in preparation for Sunday’s mass to celebrate the Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas). On Sunday, Father will be lighting the candles from each class, so it would be lovely for the children to attend Church on Sunday to see this.

Our learning this week:

English - the children have begun preparing to write their myth about Pandora’s Box from the point of view of Pandora.

Maths - we’ve been looking at place value in 6 digit numbers, comparing numbers and looking at place value additions and subtractions.

RE - the children have been reflecting on the message from the Prophets including Hosea. We’ve also finished off our unit on Covenants, looking at the New Covenant and the new Commandment that Jesus has taught us.

Science - The children have explored the effects of water resistance. They have discovered that objects with greater surface area move through water much slower than objects with a streamlined smaller surface area.

History - The children have been exploring timelines, what BC and AD are, and have ordered Ancient Greek events on their own timelines.

Computing - This week the children learnt about variables and were presented with a Micro-bit program to try and work out what it did. They then ran the code to see if they were right and then investigated how the program changes when variables are changed.

PSHE - In our Bounce Forward session today the children made a badge to celebrate their strengths. They identified one of their key strengths and how their strength helps them to become more resilient.

Our resilient move challenges this week:

To understand right from wrong
To eat a healthy balanced diet

Each week we share the resilient moves that we have made over the course of the week and identify which of the potions they come from on the reliant framework. How many resilient moves can you make this week?

Build your resilience

Use the resilient framework to identify the ones you and your family make. Resilience Framework

Change 4 Life Champions Training - Last week the children were lucky to have an afternoon of training as part of the Change 4 Life Clubs programme. The workshop was to develop Year 5 as young leaders to recruit other children into sport clubs, organised and led by the children themselves, and supporting others, as ambassadors, to lead a healthy active lifestyle. The children had a great afternoon and I was so proud and impressed by how hard they worked. They planned their activities and they hope to set up these sports clubs soon.

For more information on the work that is done around these workshops please see Twitter feeds @SchoolGamesBPL and @Change4Life

Yoga has started again. The children are really working hard with their yoga poses and are developing their breathing and balance.

Our awards

Due to Mass, we didn’t have a Golden Award assembly so these have not yet been given out.

Maths award - Well done to Gabriella.

Please note:

For our performance of Taming of the Shrew, we need a front cover for the programme to be given out in the Grand Theatre. If you would like the chance to design the front cover of the programme, then draw and colour your picture onto an A4 sheet of paper (portrait) and bring it to me by Monday 3rd of February. The picture could be of Padua, where the story is set, or a picture of the characters from the play. There should be no text at all. Thank you.
On Thursday 13th February the PTFA have arranged a ‘Silly Sock Day!’. The children are still to wear their school uniform along with their silly socks or tights and we ask that they bring in £1 on this day to raise funds for our school library.

PostedJanuary 31, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Our learning this week…

English - We’ve continued to explore the characters and themes in the story of Pandora’s Box. Through this story the children have identified synonyms for words in the story and they have looked at devices which create cohesion within a paragraph.

Maths - The children have been revising different mental and written methods this week for each operation and have been identifying which methods we should use so that the most efficient method is chosen. They have also been looking at angles in triangles and identifying acute and obtuse angles.

Science - This week the children have explored the effect that gravity has on objects and how the first theory of gravity was developed. If it wasn’t for Sir Isaac Newton’s curiosity, he would never have questioned why the apple fell downwards from the tree. Year 5 have been learning about Newton’s discovery and have completed an experiment to measure the force of gravity pulling on objects.

RE - The children have looked at the covenant God made with Moses and the Israelites and the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses on two stone tablets. The children have explored the meaning of these and what the rules mean for us, His holy people.

The children have also been thinking about how we can be curious and active, just like Sir Isaac Newton was, and have been recording ways that they live out this special virtue.

History - The children started our new topic on Ancient Greece. They have been looking at a map of the Greek empire, during the time of Alexander the Great, when it was at its biggest and have explored reasons for how and why empires grew.

Art - This afternoon, Year 5 have been looking at the work of sculptor Alberto Giacometti who is famous for producing sculptures of shadowy elongated people/figures. The children sketched each other (in the style of Giacometti’s sculptures), in poses of Olympic athletes, to link in with our Ancient Greek topic, in preparation for designing and making their own sculptures.

Our Award winners…

Golden Award - Well done to Audrey who has really shined her light this week. Audrey is always such a kind and pleasant member of our class and is a great role model for the whole school with her great attitude and hard working nature.

Maths Award - Well done to Grace who has worked really hard on our fractions unit. Grace was able to simplify fractions and she was also able to recognise decimal equivalents.

Please note:

The Bikeability team have been able to offer six more places in March and so there are still a couple of places if anyone else in Year 5 is interested. Please fill in the form and return to school soon to ensure of a place.

There may also be an opportunity for some children in Year 5 who are not taking part in Bikeability because they are not confident on their bike, or who are not able to ride a bike yet. The team may be able to offer a couple of sessions after school to help those children. I will let you know once I hear what is on offer.

Lastly, I just wanted to say a big well done to those children who auditioned today for a part in our RSC Associate Schools’ performance of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Great auditions Year 5, you’ve made our job of choosing the cast members very difficult - if we had our way, we’d take you all! Good job and good luck! Cast members will be announced next week.

PostedJanuary 17, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Welcome back and a very happy new year! I trust you all had a lovely Christmas and we wish you all a great new year. The children have made a positive start to this new year and have started this new term with a great attitude and positive mind set.

We began this new year with a whole school assembly to celebrate Epiphany - the day the Kings visited God incarnate as Jesus Christ. Our focus for prayer and worship for this half term is to be curious and active just like the Magi were.

Our learning this week:

English - We have started our unit on Greek myth stories which links in nicely to our history unit on Ancient Greece. The children have begun to explore some of the features of a Greek myth and we have begun to look at the story of Pandora’s Box.

Maths - I have been very impressed with the work the children have done on fractions this week. They have been working very hard on simplifying fractions and have also been able to find equivalent fractions and decimals to a half, tenths and fifths.

RE - We’ve started exploring the story of Exodus and how Moses was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The children used the Bible to look at Moses’ response to God when he was chosen for this special job.

Science - This week we started our new Forces topic and the children have identified and explained the different forces acting on objects.

Computing - The children have had fun this week learning about a device called a Micro:bit. They used programming skills to build a code and downloaded it to watch their program come alive.

Geography - To finish off our work from last term on the local area, the children have been looking at the data they collected from their field trip surveys and have presented their data in pie charts.

PSHE - This week’s Bounce Forward lesson concentrated on getting the children thinking about what they are good at and their strengths. It comes from many strands in the resilience framework, as their strength may come from any of the five potions. The children considered different strengths and then shared with their learning partner one personal strength and they told their partner which strength they think they have. The last activity saw the children share out 5 sticky notes with a strength written on them and give them to different children in the class - each child received 5 strengths that other children think they have.

Remember to record the resilient moves you make over the week and if you have any photographs to share then please bring them in.

Our Award winners:

Golden award - Well done Leo who has come back to school this half term with a fantastic attitude and has given 100% to his work this week and joining in with class discussions and questions.

Writing award - Well done Claire who’s writing has really impressed me. Claire has included some lovely description and has really focused on including the features we have discussed.

Maths award - will be announced on Monday.

PostedJanuary 12, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Fantastic teamwork, fabulous reading and fun!

Awards

Last week…

Golden award - Well done to Theo who always demonstrates a great attitude to his work and gives 100%

Writing award - Joseph received this for an improvement in his handwriting, well done!

Maths award - Ryan was awarded this for great work in maths and particularly for his explanations of the mathematical concepts. Well done!

This week…

Golden award - Well done to Abigail for making great improvements in concentration and focus in her work and for great work in her reading.

Writing award - Ryan achieved this award for a great explanation of how day and night occur due to the rotation of the Earth. Well done Ryan!

Maths award - to be announced on Monday

PostedNovember 17, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

Well it’s been quite a busy week!

On Wednesday we had a visitor from the Blackpool museum who came to talk to us about the history of the Blackpool Tower circus. The children were then given the challenge to think about a circus act that they could see in the future of the circus and they had to work in teams and prepare a pitch for their act. The ideas were very futuristic and all the teams delivered their pitch to the rest of the class.

On Thursday we had our maths day and I’m so proud of how hard all the children worked. Firstly, thank you for all your effort with the costumes, the children all looked great. During our maths day the children did activities related to our space theme:

The children compared their weight on different planets by multiplying their mass by gravitational field strength and then presented their data in a bar chart;
They used fact cards about the planets to find out the average temperatures of each planet in our solar system and then recorded their findings on a graph;
They calculated the scaled distance of each planet in our Solar system from the sun using the scale 1cm = 7.6 million kilometres and then drew out the inner planets on paper and then measured out the outer planets in the corridor;
The children calculated the size of each planet’s diameter in our Solar system and using a compass they drew out its scaled size using the scale 1cm = 1000kilometres;
The children also had to complete other space themed maths challenges.

On Friday we went to Mass to celebrate All Saints day. Year 5 accompanied their buddies in Reception and did an amazing job.

Thank you to everyone who has donated for the Christmas shoe box appeal, it’s very kind and generous of you all and will ensure other children in the world will have the happy Christmas that they deserve. Thank you!

PostedNovember 1, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

Well I can’t believe we’re already at the end of our half term together! The children have all worked well this half term and it has been lovely getting to know them all. They should all be proud of their achievements. I was particularly proud of the children’s free verse poems that they completed in English this week. The poems have been a joy to read and the children have been able to create beautiful imagery that describes a classroom at the end of a school day, using personification, similes, metaphors and interesting synonyms. They have also used other poetic features such as alliteration, rhyme and rhythm. The children have also achieved well in their maths and over the course of this half term they have demonstrated how much quicker and more able they are at completing our ‘fluent in five’ morning maths questions and our times tables. It is their challenge for next half term to improve on their own scores.

Our awards this week:

Maths award - Well done Claire for persevering with her work on decimals. She found them quite tricky to start with but displayed a growth mind set and was able to work through the problems until she felt more confident.

Our reading champions this half term were…

Grace and Megan both completed their first bookmark for reading at home. Well done, girls! Mrs McCooey and I hope to see many more of Year 5 completing their reading bookmarks next half term!

Our golden ticket winners this half term…

Well done to Angelo and Megan who were our golden ticket winners for reading this half term. Golden tickets are given to children in Year 5 every time they read three times in a week at home and get their diary signed. I’m so pleased to see so many children trying to collect their golden tickets. Let’s see if we can challenge ourselves to collect more golden tickets next half term.

Well done Year 5 for all your hard work this half term. I hope you and your families have a lovely week together and Mrs McCooey and I will see you all after half term.

PostedOctober 18, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

Our learning this week…

English - The children have started to write down their ideas for their free verse poems about the classroom. They have played with the language and have been trying to include all the features of a free verse poem that we have explored.

Maths - The children have continued to work with decimal numbers this week. They’ve had fun listening to each others clues for “What decimal am I?” and successfully working out the number. They’ve also been multiplying and dividing numbers with up to two decimal places by 10 and 100 and explored adding and subtracting decimal numbers.

Science - The information the children collected for homework has enabled us to start comparing information and make some conclusions about the data. This week the children compared the gestation periods of Year 5, presenting their work in bar charts. Year 5 found out that half the class were born at full term (approximately 40 weeks), six were born earlier and 9 later than the 40 weeks.

RE - The children have read the story of ‘The Fall’, about Adam and Eve, and have discussed Original sin and how this has affected all of us in our lives.

Geography - The children have used their new knowledge of 6-figure grid references to locate features on an Ordnance survey map of the local area.

On Tuesday, the children were treated to a fantastic performance of the Merchant of Venice by the RSC. From start to finish the children were transfixed and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Our award winners this week:

Writing award - Well done to Lily for her initial ideas for her poem which include many of the poetic features we’ve been looking at.

Golden award - Zachary got the award this week for being such a well mannered young man who always shows how polite and kind he is to others. Well done Zachary!

Maths award - Reece received the award this week for his perseverance with our independent morning maths work. Well done Reece!

PostedOctober 13, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

In English this week the children have been exploring their creative side as Shakespearian actors in preparation for the arrival of the RSC who will be performing the First Encounters: Merchant of Venice. The children used active approaches to explore the play through a Whoosh and they then performed the play in ten scenes. They also became ‘sculptors’ to create the characters of the play and from their poses the children had to guess which character they were.

In maths the children have been choosing the best method - the most efficient and accurate - for solving addition and subtraction problems. Then we moved onto looking at place value in numbers with two decimal places and have had a go at writing our own “Which decimal am I?” cards for others to solve using the clues written by the children.

In RE the children have answered questions on how the World began. In their responses they have considered the theological truths as written in the story of Creation from Genesis 1, but also they have looked at the Scientific Truths and have shown their understanding that one does not contradict the other.

We have also begun The Extraordinary Month of Mission this week which Pope Francis has designated for October. He has challenged us all to think about our mission on earth and so this week the children have set themselves a mission and they will be recording how they achieve this, throughout this month. Please ask your child what their mission is.

In Science the children have been comparing the growth in animals to that of humans. They’ve explored different animals life cycles and have compared gestation periods, time taken to become an adult and life expectancy. They’ve also explored the similarities and differences between life cycles of different animals.

In geography we’ve begun looking at ordnance survey maps and have learnt to use 4- and 6- figure grid references to locate features on a map. The children found this difficult at first but by the end of the lesson they were certainly getting the hang of it.

At the beginning of this week Shakespeare club performed an ensemble piece from Macbeth for HRH Countess of Wessex on a visit to the Grand Theatre who celebrate their 125th birthday this year. We’re very proud of all of the children who took part but especially the 16 children from Year 5 who took part. Well done everyone!

Our award winners this week:

Writing award - Leo’s writing in RE was very well written and presented. Well done Leo!

Golden award - Well done to Maya who was given this award for being a true disciple of Christ who consistently shines her light in everything she does.

Maths award - Vinny received this award for his wonderful enthusiasm he brings to maths and his very quick mental maths skills. Well done Vinny!

PostedOctober 6, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

We’ve had another lovely week in Year 5 and the children have really settled well into the new routines and are also becoming well established in their new roles and responsibilities - playground pals to KS1, anti-bullying ambassadors, peer mediators and eco-warriors…

In English they have explored a free verse poem and have identified the different poetic features used. The children have now also begun to develop their own ideas for their own poems.

In maths the children have been converting 12-hour clock to 24-hour clock times and have been looking at telling the time with Mrs Parker on a Tuesday. They have also been using the counting on method (frog method) to subtract three and four digit numbers.

On Thursday we celebrated European Day of Languages. Thank you for your efforts in dressing up in the colours of the Spanish flag for the day, the children all looked great. During the day we found out about Spain and identified some of its customs and traditions and learning new Spanish vocabulary. We also used our geography skills to locate Spain on a world map and within Europe and then using an eight point compass we looked at different places in Spain in relation to Madrid.

In the afternoon the children found out about the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and then recreated some of his pieces of work. This gave us the opportunity to reinforce our Spanish work on naming colours and parts of the face and the children were able to give their opinions on his work using their growing vocabulary.

Some photos of the day...

Continental style tuck thanks to Mrs Fawcett in the kitchen.

Tortilla Española (Spanish omelette)

The award winners we celebrate this week:

Golden Award - Angelo won the award this week for being a great reading champion in Year 5. He has already read many books and taken many quizzes due to his regular reading both at home and the opportunities he has in class. Well done Angelo, keep it up!

Writing award - Well done Charlie for using descriptive language to bring to life the idea of a cracked window in preparation for writing poetry.

PostedSeptember 28, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

Year 5 are continuing to work hard and we’ve had an enjoyable week…

In English the children have continued to look at poetry and have compared more traditional poems that contain regular rhythm and regular rhyme to free verse poems which contain line breaks and irregular rhythm and rhyme. They have also begun to write and have experimented using personification and they have also used description to build images around a single idea. I must say I’m really impressed and can’t wait to see what they come up with when they start writing their own poems.

In maths the children have continued to think about mental strategies for adding and subtracting methods and they have challenged themselves to use the most efficient methods to be quick and accurate. Keep practising these at home!

In RE we have been discussing how the world began and have looked at the story of Creation from the book of Genesis in the Bible and they have made their own Creation wheels.

In computing this week we have been talking about online safety and we watched a number of videos that outline some of the dangers young people can encounter online and have looked at ways they can help keep themselves safe. From this work the children are going to be working in groups to create an animation for Year 3 pupils to help them learn about an online safety issue and to give them advice about how to stay safe online.

If you would like to watch the videos that we have seen then please follow the links. It would be useful to discuss these issues with your child at home and to ensure that settings on devices your child may have are set appropriately so that they aren’t unknowingly sharing any personal information.

Jigsaw from CEOP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyux6NGxRYk

‘Lucy and the Boy’ created by the NSPCC: https://safeyoutube.net/w/XId

Staying safe online by Newsround https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/44074704

This week we also had our second yoga session with Mrs Ward who is coming into school this half term every Tuesday to teach Yoga to KS2. She has been teaching us about mindful bodies and mindful listening and this week we have been learning about mindful breathing. The children have fully engaged themselves in this and it has been a really enjoyable and relaxing way to start our afternoon.

Due to the photographer being in school on Friday, we did not have our Golden award assembly so we weren’t able to give out any awards this week.

PostedSeptember 20, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

WOW, we’re already at the end of our second week! Year 5 have really impressed me with the way they have settled well into class and are already working really hard. Many of them have earned themselves lots of minificates and house points already because of their great attitude, focused learning, effort and great work. Swimming has also got off to a great start and Year 5 have made all the teachers very proud of how they have represented themselves at Palatine Leisure Centre with their new swimming teachers.

Home learning - I’m also really pleased to see those children who are already reading regularly at home and collecting their bookmark stickers, completing quizzes and earning our minificates and golden tickets for reading (Please ask your child about these rewards). At the end of this half term we will pick out our golden ticket winners and reward our reading champions. Please make sure your child is reading regularly at home to ensure they make good progress in this area. Remember Year 5, good readers = good writers!

Our work this week:

In English we have begun looking at free verse poems and have been discussing and identifying the poetic techniques such as personification, alliteration, similes and metaphors, that the poets have used.

In maths we have been working on place value of 5-digit numbers and have been comparing and ordering them. The children have also been working on mental and more formal calculations of addition and subtraction.

In RE we have begun our work on Creation and have reflected on the beautiful world we live in. The children have considered the answers to important questions around this topic and are beginning to compare their answers. In RE we’ve also reflected on our school-wide focus - to be ‘learned’ and ‘wise’. In class we’ve discussed this week how wise we can be in the choices we make, even when those around us don’t.

Our topic this half term in science is Animals Including Humans and we have begun by looking at the human timeline, noting the main developments that occur through a human’s lifetime. We have also looked at the length of gestation in humans and have compared this to other animals.

In geography we are going to be investigating our local area. The children have already located Blackpool on a variety of maps using atlases and we have also been using the 8 points of the compass to locate places on a map.

Please look at the Curriculum overview map on the Year 5 page to see all the topics the children will be studying this half term.

This week the children have brought home their homework which is to be completed and handed in by Wednesday ready to be marked as a class. Please see the post about homework expectation and a reminder of this week’s homework on the Homework tab of the Year 5 area of this website.

The award winners we celebrate this week:

Maths award - Well done Mya for her 100% accurate score on our timed times tables test. She completed 144 questions in just 3 minutes and 5 seconds. Fantastic!

Golden Award - Reuben has really impressed me with his excellent attitude, enthusiasm and hard work. He has proved himself an excellent role model already and shown impeccable behaviour. You’ve made wise choices, well done Reuben!

PostedSeptember 13, 2019

AuthorKay McVey

This morning a swimming teacher from Palatine came to meet the children and talk through what they need to know. Swimming will be on Tuesdays (please see letter you received home today) and the children will be accompanied to the pool by Mrs McCooey and Miss Evans. The children will need to come in their school PE kit for the day and will need with them their swimming kit in a separate bag to their school bag. Girls will need a one-piece swimsuit and boys will need swimming trunks (please see photo of acceptable type as baggy swim shorts are not allowed), a towel, swim hat for all girls and boys who have a longer hair style or fringe, and goggles if you return the signed goggles letter. The children will not need shampoo or shower gel as they will only have time to rinse and get dressed quickly ready to return to school. Please can the health forms given out today be returned before Friday so the information can be uploaded for the swimming teachers ready for Tuesday’s lesson. If your child has asthma, inhalers will be taken to the pool by the teachers so please make sure your child has an up to date inhaler in school as soon as possible.

On PE and swimming days earrings will need to be left at home to avoid losing them as children are not allowed to swim or do PE with them in.

Thank you.