Much Ado About Nothing

This week Year 5 have been working hard to put our scenes from Much Ado About Nothing on its feet ready for the Festival that we will be taking part in in March at the Grand Theatre. We’re so proud of how well the children have been working together as a team to tell the story and I’ve been amazed at what great actors they are. We’ve really played around with scenes and had to make many changes as we go, but everyone has adapted well and it’s really coming together.

Yesterday, a letter about the Festival came home and we would appreciate it if you could send back the reply slip to confirm attendance at the Festival. Thank you to those who have already sent back your reply slip. Please don’t forget that tickets are now on sale direct from the Box Office at the Grand Theatre, or their website (https://www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/event/much-ado-about-nothing), so book early to avoid disappointment. Please ensure you book tickets for Tuesday 15th March, the day of our performance.

Our learning this week…

In maths the children have continued to work on perimeter of rectangles and rectilinear shapes and in the context of problem solving.

In English, in addition to rehearsing for our performance of Much Ado About Nothing, we have been exploring the characters of Hero and Claudio at different times of the play. The children have written diary entries from the point of view of one of the characters at two different parts of the play to show the contrast in the characters’ feelings and thoughts.

This week in RE we have begun to talk about inspirational people and have discussed how Jesus was the most inspirational person to have lived. The children have reflected on Jesus’ mission and have looked at ways we can join in his mission.

In Spanish - The children have been consolidating their knowledge of number and have been counting.

Computing - This week the children have begun to tinker with a new software program called Sonic Pi which allows the children to compose their own music.

In PE the children have played Handball

In art the children have continued to make their sculptures inspired by Alberto Giacometti by applying modroc.

Year 5 School Council

This week Year 5 have been given the opportunity to put themselves forward for the role of School Council which is starting again across school. I was very impressed with how many of our class wanted to be part of it. This morning the children voted by secret ballot and this year’s Year 5 school councillors are Evie and Henri. Well done both of you!!

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Samuel

Writing Award - Gabriella

Maths Award - Maia

Year 5 Star Winner -

Bedrock Competition

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Maisy 491 points

2 Francesca 348 points

3 Gabriella 327 points

4 Abigail 312 points

5 Henri 256 points

Well done to all the children who are on our leader board this week.👏🏻

Times Table Rock Star Battle

I’m proud of all your efforts during the TTRS battle against Year 4 last week. On Friday Year 4 had managed to get ahead of us but with great effort, Year 5 were able to take and maintain the lead to the finish over the weekend. Well done Year 5!

Resilient moves…

Thank you to those of you who have shared your resilient moves…

What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Develop life skills (Help make tea for your family) ( Learning)

  • Be brave (Coping)

Well done year 5, you’ve all worked hard this week. Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Our week...

Our learning this week…

In maths the focus of our work has been measuring in cm and mm to work out the perimeter of shapes.

In English we have been exploring the Shakespeare play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’. Year 5 will be putting together a performance of this play to be performed on the Grand Theatre stage. We will perform alongside other associate schools across Blackpool and Wyre as part of our role as Lead Associate school in partnership with the RSC and the Grand Theatre. More information will be sent home soon about this performance.

The focus of our work in RE has been on the Ten Commandments and why God gave us them. The children reflected on their importance and the difference they make to our lives.

In Science the children have explored how levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

In history the children finished researching aspects of daily life and society in Ancient Greece and then shared their work with the rest of the group.

In Spanish the children have designed their own flags and have written sentences to describe them.

Computing - the children have continued to use the 3D design software package TinkerCAD to finish designing new tyres for a Mars Rover.

In PE the children completed tennis activities hitting a forehand or back hand hit and then played racquet and ball familiarisation relay.

In swimming on Tuesday the children all took part in life saving skills. They worked really well and the swimming teachers were very proud of them. Well done Year 5! Thank you for all your support in making sure they had appropriate clothing for this activity.

In art the children have begun making their sculptures inspired by Alberto Giacometti.

Yesterday we had a visit from Life Education, delivered by Stephen Boardman. He came in to talk to the children on the theme of looking after our mental health, as well as physical health – and the connection between the two using the Wellbeing Wheel. Through role-play the children explore the influence of friends on decision making and they identified and practised assertiveness skills.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Lily K

Writing Award -

Maths Award - Idana

Year 5 Star Winner -

Bedrock Competition

Bedrock have launched a new prize draw competition with some more fantastic prizes which started from the beginning of this half term till February 13th. You have all been entered into this competition and for a chance of winning, you just need to collect 140 or more points using Bedrock. If you go to the dashboard on your Bedrock account, you will find details of how you can collect points. Remember, you need to complete at least one Bedrock lesson for homework but to earn more points you can do more. Please remember, you should only complete ONE Bedrock lesson each day at home. In addition to Bedrock’s competition, we will also have our own in class Bedrock competition too. The member of our class who has the most Bedrock points by the end of half term will win a prize. Good luck Year 5!

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Maisy 387 points

2 Abigail 262 points

3 Gabriella 260 points

4 Henri 221 points

5 Franchesca 184 points

Well done to all the children who are on our leader board this week.👏🏻

Resilient moves…

Thank you to those of you who have shared your resilient moves…

What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Find time for your interests ( )

  • Calming down when things get difficult and making yourself feel better (Coping)

Times Table Rock Star Battle

Don’t forget our battle against Year 4. Unfortunately, we are currently losing against Year 4 in the competition. Well done to the Year 5’s who have already taken part. It would be lovely if everyone can do their bit . I will be keeping an eye on the scores. The battle will finish at 6pm on Sunday. Good luck Year 5!

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

“Lord I am not worthy to enter under your roof but only say the world and my soul shall be healed.”

On Tuesday we had a visit from Father Frank who came to meet the children in preparation for our class mass we attended on Thursday. Father Frank talked to the children and set them a challenge to answer in church. What does heal mean? Do you need to be healed? In mass yesterday Father then asked for their responses and the children came up with some great ideas and Father Frank explained to them the true meaning and where in the mass we talk about God healing us - “Lord I am not worthy to enter under your roof but only say the world and my soul shall be healed.” The children all behaved impeccably and our readers read beautifully. Well done Year 5, we were so proud of you all!

Our learning this week…

In maths the children have been dividing numbers by 10, 100 and 1000.

In English the children have finished their free verse poem about a classroom. I am really impressed with how creative they were and the poetic features they included.

In Science the children have explored the effects of water resistance.

In history we explored how enslavement was central to life in ancient Greece and they have begun to research aspects of daily life and society.

In Spanish the children have written sentences to describe the colour and shapes on different flags.

Computing - the children have been learning to use a new 3D design software package called TinkerCAD ready to design new tyres for a Mars Rover.

In PE the children have completed a small circuit of fun Boccia and Curling challenges that allowed them to focus on developing their technique, tactics and usage of equipment.

In art the children have finalised their drawings in the style of Alberto Giacometti in preparation to make their own sculptures.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Tyler

Writing Award - Idana

Maths Award - Lily

Year 5 Star Winner -

Resilient moves…

Thank you to those of you who have shared your resilient moves…

What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Get some fresh air (Basics)

  • Develop a life skill (Learning)

Swimming 🏊🏻

On Tuesday the children will be learning life saving skills in their swimming lessons and have been asked to bring in either a long sleeved thin top and shorts or short sleeved top and long legged bottoms (pyjama style). (Jean material will not be accepted.) These will be worn over their swimming costume and they will be expected to remove them when they are in the water. Good luck Year 5!

Other Notices:

  • PE days are on Tuesdays (Swimming) and Fridays this half term.

  • Only a watch and plain stud earrings may be worn to school - no other jewellery.

  • Long hair must be tied back.

  • If your child is showing any cold symptoms PLEASE test them for Covid using a lateral flow test and if in any doubt, please go for a PCR. We must all do what we can to ensure this does not spread through school - we all know how quickly germs spread among children and although they might not be badly affected, those around them may well be. Many, many thanks for your continued support on this issue.

  • A reminder that I will update the Home Learning page if there are any members of the class having to isolate due to Covid, and are well enough to complete work. It is not expected for those who are off with other illnesses to complete Home Learning, hence why it is only updated for those isolating.

Well done for all your hard work this week, including those of you at home, and we hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

For your information :

Active Blackpool February Sports Camp

Active Blackpool have been in touch about their Sport Camp sessions that they have on offer. These are for children and young people with mild to moderate additional needs to experience sporting and physical activities they may be already familiar with, but also some new and exciting activities along the way. Monday 14th February 2022 – Friday 18th February 2022 08.30 – 17.30

Full and half day options available. Please contact active.blackpool@blackpool.gov.uk for bookings and further information.

Information for mental health

We’ve been asked to share this link from the NHS. https://web.ntw.nhs.uk/selfhelp/ The link takes you to a range of self help guides.

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

"Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved." Mattie Stepanek

We’ve had a fantastic week in Year 5! On Wednesday, the children were professionally filmed for our Christmas Carol Concert “A Christmas Window”. They all did really well and we look forward to being able to share this with you next week for you to enjoy.

Also this week, Year 5 were set a number of challenges in our DT/Science lessons. In the first of these sessions, the children were split into three groups and given a different challenge. One group had to make a simple frame from wood, using tools safely. The second group had to make a a moving vehicle using tech card and their knowledge of circuits and the third group had to make a vehicle shell for a chosen planet and design it using their knowledge of that planet. All the children worked extremely well and completed their challenges successfully…

The children were then put into small groups and together as a team they were set the challenge of designing and making a moon buggy model. The children designed their buggy, deciding on the materials that they would need and set off making it. By the end of the morning the children finished their moon buggies. I am so impressed with how hard they all worked and more impressed with the maturity they all showed, working in their teams supporting each other and with good cooperation and collaboration. Take a look at what they achieved so far. Next week we’ll finish them and post some photos.

Our other learning this week:

English - They 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 used description to build images around a single idea.

Maths - The focus this week has been identifying finding factors and multiples of numbers.

RE - The children used the Bible to record the key points of the conversation between God and Moses.

PE -Please see the recording below of the work the children have been doing. It’s not quite finished but the groups have done a great job so far choreographing their own group pieces to put together as one whole dance.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Vinny

Writing Award -

Maths Award - Lily K

Year 5 Star Winner - Lily K

Bronze medal awards

Well done to all of these children who took their Bronze medal award in their chosen instrument (Flute or Clarinet) and passed with flying colours! I’m so proud of you all and I know Miss Benson was extremely proud of you all too!

Bedrock

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Francesca 563 points

2 Gabriella 386 points

3 Maisy 346 points

4 Alisha 316 points

5 Samuel 304 points

Well done to all the children who are on our leader board this week.👏🏻 Don’t forget Year 5, this next week will be your last chance to earn 140 points by the 19th December to be entered into the Bedrock competition for a chance to win an amazing prize. Don’t forget our in-class competition too - there will be a prize for the member of Year 5 who has the most points by the end of next week.

Resilient moves…

Thank you to all the children who shared their resilient moves this week.

What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Fresh air and exercise (Basics)

  • Take responsibility for yourself (Core Self)

Christmas Jumper Day & Christmas Dinner🎄🎅🏻

A reminder that our PTFA are holding a Christmas Jumper Day on December 14th, when children (and staff) can wear their lovely festive jumpers and bring £1 - this is also our Christmas Dinner Day in school.

Other notices:

Cold days

As we are having to keep the classrooms well ventilated, it can get quite cold in the classroom at times. Due to this, the children are welcome to wear extra layers of clothing under their school uniform and/or they can bring in their PE hoodies should they wish to double up on top of their jumpers/cardigans.

Please also ensure that your child comes to school with a warm coat (and hat/scarf/gloves for those really cold days) everyday for playtimes as we will go out in all weathers for fresh air and exercise.

Well done Year 5. We hope you have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

"Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful" Rita Dove

As part of our involvement with the Blackpool Young Poets project, we had a visit from a poet called Charlotte Wetton yesterday who came to work with the children to edit their poems. The children have been working really hard on their poems this week which have been based on their visit to Blackpool Central library and the window art. During Charlotte’s visit, she shared a poem with the children and worked with them to improve the language used. The children then had a go at improving aspects of their own poems and Charlotte gave them some great tips on how to perform their poems confidently. I’m so proud of how hard the children have worked and how brilliantly they behaved and participated in the poet workshop. Well done Year 5!

Our learning this week…

In maths the children have been using line graphs to solve problems and have been reading and interpreting tables.

In RE the children have listened to the story of Abraham and Sarah, learnt about the Covenant God made with Abraham and have reflected on Abraham’s trust in God.

In Science the children have explored the effect that gravity has on objects and have measured the force of gravity using Newton meters.

In geography the children have been using all the skills they have been learning over the last term to create a travel itinerary (including location on maps, latitude and longitude for absolute location, climate, time zones) for a group of travellers who are travelling through America.

In PE the children’s Space dance is really starting to take shape. This week they have begun to tidy up their own choreographed dance piece in groups and have been performing it to music.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Kyran

Writing Award - Evie

Maths Award - Samuel

Year 5 Star Winner - Idana

Bedrock

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Francesca 443 points

2 Gabriella 254 points

3 Alisha 245 points

4 Samuel 213 points

5 Ollie 192 points

Well done to all the children who are on our leader board this week.👏🏻 Don’t forget Year 5, you need to earn 140 points by the 14th December to be entered into the Bedrock competition for a chance to win an amazing prize (see poster below). Don’t forget our in-class competition too - there will be a prize for the member of Year 5 who has the most points by the end of term.

Reading for our Reception Buddies

Well done to Ebony and Ollie who have completed the challenge to read a story to their buddy with such great expression and enjoyment. I know Reception have really enjoyed listening to your story telling.


Resilient moves…

Thank you to all the children who shared their resilient moves this week, it’s great to see what you’ve been up to and the great achievements too. Well done!😊

What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Know and understand yourself (core self)

  • Good housing - keep your bedroom tidy (basics)


Christmas Jumper Day 🎄🎅🏻

Our PTFA are holding a Christmas Jumper Day on December 14th, when children (and staff) can wear their lovely festive jumpers and bring £1 - this is also our Christmas Dinner Day in school (more details to follow about this!)

Other notices:

Swimming

Please note that swimming is a cumpulsary part of the PE curriculum and therefore if the children are in school then they should be going swimming. It has been brought to my attention that there have been a small number of children who have not brought their swimming kit in and have said that they are not well enough to swim. School policy is that if your child is well enough to be in school, then they are well enough to swim. Unless school are informed of reasons why your child may not be able to swim by a parent, then clean school swimming kit and a towel will be provided for them to take part. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Cold days

As we are having to keep the classrooms well ventilated, it can get quite cold in the classroom at times. Due to this, the children are welcome to wear extra layers of clothing under their school uniform and/or they can bring in their PE hoodies should they wish to double up on top of their jumpers/cardigans.

Please also ensure that your child comes to school with a warm coat (and hat/scarf/gloves for those really cold days) everyday for playtimes as we will go out in all weathers for fresh air and exercise.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Our week...

Due to our involvement in the Blackpool Young Poets programme, today Year 5 went to Central Library in Blackpool to take part in a workshop. There the children worked with staff to think about words with value, using the windows in the library as inspiration. Working in groups, the children then decided on one value and created their own window which we finished off in school this afternoon. I’m so proud of how well the children behaved and represented our school and of the work that they achieved whilst they were there. Well done Year 5!


Our learning this week…

In English, in addition to poetry work, the children have been planning and starting to write their biographical writing about Anthony Horowitz (author of the Alex Ridar series).

The focus of our maths lessons this week has been subtracting 4-digit numbers with exchanges and then using estimating and approximations to check their answers.

In RE this week we learnt about All Saints day and why this day is special for Catholics. We then looked at the words of St. Teresa of Avila who said, “Jesus has no body now on earth but yours”. We considered what this meant and then identified ways in which we could continue the mission of Jesus.

In geography the children have identified climate patterns of places across America using climate graphs.

In art the children continued to create their window inspired by the values pictured in the windows at Central Library.

In Spanish the children used their new vocabulary to make their own fictional family tree.

In Bounce Forward today the children have continued to think about their strengths. The children have identified their own strengths and the strengths in others and then chose three key strengths.

In PE we have started our unit of dance with a space theme. We’re really lucky to have Mrs Frost in our class as she is also a dance teacher and is leading the children in their work.

Reading for our Reception Buddies

Well done to all the children who have risen to the challenge of reading a story to their buddy. I have loved receiving these stories and I am so impressed with how well all the children have read the stories with such great expression and enjoyment. I know from Mrs Holden that Reception are really enjoying listening to their story telling too. Well done Year 5!

If you haven’t yet recorded yourself reading a favourite story for your buddy, it’s not too late to send it to me and then I’ll pass it on to Reception. If you’re struggling to send it by email because the film is too large, many parents have used a website called ‘We Transfer’ which allows you to send it for free.

These are the children who have been awarded their story telling ‘applause’ award so far…

Bedrock Competition

Bedrock have launched a new prize draw competition with some fantastic prizes which started this week and will run till the 19th December. You have all been entered into this competition and for a chance of winning, you just need to collect 140 or more points using Bedrock. If you go to the dashboard on your Bedrock account, you will find details of how you can collect points. Remember, you need to complete at least one Bedrock lesson for homework but to earn more points you can do more. In addition to Bedrock’s competition, we will also have our own in class Bedrock competition too. The member of our class who has the most Bedrock points by the end of half term will win a prize. Good luck Year 5!

Resilient moves…

Over half term, Year 5 were challenged to make resilient moves. Thank you to all the children who shared their resilient moves this week, it was lovely to see what you’ve all been up to.

What resilient moves will you make this week? It would be lovely if you could email me at least one photo of you making a resilient move so we can share them here. Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Exercise and fresh air (basics)

  • Take resonsibility for yourself (core self)

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Summer

Writing Award - Year 5 - So proud of all of Year 5 and their efforts with our poetry work both in school and at the library today.

Maths Award - Alisha

Year 5 Star Winner - Maia

We hope you all enjoy bonfire night and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Year 5 achievements...

I can hardly believe that we are already here at the end of our first half term. This half term has been really enjoyable getting to know all of your wonderful children and I’m so proud of all of them. They have all worked so incredibly hard and I’d also just like to say thank you to parents for supporting your child with their reading at home and with their online homework.

Our learning this week…

In English the children have been reading biographies and an autobiography about authors Jeremy Strong and Anthony Horowitz and have identified the features of them.

The focus of our maths lessons this week has been adding and subtracting 4-digit numbers with exchanges.

In RE the children have written a letter for Pope Francis in response to his call to all of mankind to protect the Earth. The children wrote to tell Pope Francis how they can be good stewards of the Earth.

In Science the children have learnt the order of the planets by writing their own mnemonics and have described their movement in relation to the sun.

In geography the children have been learning to identify climate patterns using climate graphs and have identified the link between latitude and climate.

In art the children have used natural forms as a starting point for imaginative drawings.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Idana

Writing Award -Leo

Maths Award - Sophie

Year 5 Star Winner - Lily K

Our Reading Champions…

Well done to our reading champions this half term who have all completed bookmarks for reading regularly at home…

When the children read regularly, golden tickets are given out and then we do a draw at the end of each half term. Well done to Izzy, who is our golden ticket winner for this half term.

Bedrock Competition

Well done to all of Year 5 who achieved 120 points or more on Bedrock over this last half term. I wish you all luck for the Bedrock prize draw! A big congratulations goes to our Bedrock Champion, Franchesca, and well done to all the other children on our TOP 5 scoreboard. Well done!

Here is our TOP 5 winners on the scoreboard:

1 Franchesca 540 points ⭐️Bedrock Champion ⭐️

2 Sam 500 points

3 Maisy 287 points

4 Evie 282 points

5 Summer 266 points

Resilient moves…

Last week, Year 5 were challenged to make resilient moves - have a laugh and get together with people you can rely on. Thank you to Maisy who shared her resilient moves this week…

What resilient moves will you make this half term holiday? It would be lovely if you could email me at least one photo of you making a resilient move so we can share them here. Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Have a laugh (Coping)

  • Spend time with good people in good places (Belonging)

Visit to Central library

On Friday 5th November, as part of our English studies this term and our involvement in the Young Blackpool Poets project led by the National Literacy Trust, we have the opportunity to visit Central Library in Blackpool to take part in a workshop. We will leave school at 9.40am and we expect to return to school by 11.30am. We hold general consent for this visit. A special thank you to our wonderful PTA who have very kindly paid for the cost of the coach.

GULP Challenge Winners!!!

At the end of Year 4, the children completed Fit2Go and took part in the GULP challenge. This week Mrs Ormerod made a surprise visit to class to let the children know that they had won the GULP challenge and therefore won a whole class trip out to the High rope course at Stanley Park! Well done Year 5! We’ve not yet set a date for the trip, but I think we’ll wait till the weather is better and book it for some time in the Spring or Summer term.

Well done Year 5, you’ve all been amazing this half term. We hope you all have a wonderful half term holiday.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Doctor Seuss

Well I can hardly believe we’ve been in school a month already and achieved so much. The children continue to make me proud with all that they do and achieve. Keep up the great work Year 5!

Bedrock

I am so delighted to see that so many of the children are using Bedrock at home and moreso because so many of them are completing more than what is expected of them for homework. This programme is a fantastic resource and really does improve the children’s vocabulary. To say the children have only been using Bedrock for just over a week, I am completely blown away by how many points some children have already earned themselves…

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Sam 204 points (WOW!👏🏻🌟)

2 Maisy 141 points

3 Gabriella 95 points

4 Idana 70 points

5 Ebony 65 points

This truly is fantastic so well done Year 5 and keep up the great work! Don’t forget Year 5, you need to earn 140 points by the 24th October to be entered into the Bedrock competition for a chance to win an amazing prize (see poster below). There will also be an in-class prize for the member of Year 5 who has the most points by the end of term.

Reading

In class we have been talking about the importance of reading and I’m really pleased that so many children are reading daily. As Doctor Seuss says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Please can I ask that parents continue to encourage your child to read at home and sign their reading diary. More recently, we have noticed that some children are already not reading as regularly as they should and some children are not bringing their reading diaries to school everyday. This is such a shame and it really is having an impact on their quiz scores in school and the progress they are making. The children should be reading for at least 20 minutes a day at home. To improve this, we will continue to check reading diaries daily and in addition to the Dojo points and the Golden tickets they usually receive for reading and taking quizzes, they will receive daily bonus points which will be decided by our spinning wheel. By earning Dojo points for reading, this will support the children in getting a minimum of 40 Dojo points each week in order to be included in our weekly prize draw on a Friday and will increase the number of Golden tickets they receive ( as usual our Golden ticket winners will be drawn at the end of term). Get reading Year 5! 📚

Our learning this week…

In English the children have begun planning their own episode of Ramona’s escape down the mountain using ideas from Jeremy Strong’s story.

Our focus in maths has been reading and writing numbers up to a million and adding 10s, 100s, 1000s, 10000s and 100000s.

In RE, the children have been reflecting on the importance of the Creation story and have identified the reasons why God made us.

This week in our space topic in Science, the children have been describing the orbit of the Earth around the Sun and have looked at how the tilt of the Earth give us the Seasons.

In Computing the children have furthered their knowledge of binary coding and have now been challenged to doing binary addition.

In our geography unit the children continued to identify places to send the chosen travellers to, based on their particular interests. The children have now settled on 7 places through north and south America and have a used an atlas to identify their location on a map.

In Spanish we have looked at a new vocabulary for family words and we identified these by looking at some of the characters from the film Coco.

In art the children have enlarged their Hundertwasser images they have created and have begun to develop their work using layering methods to communicate ideas and make images.

During our Bounce Forward session we continued to look at the basics potion on the resilience framework and the children identified three different ways that they can challenge themselves to be more resilient. Take a look at the resilient framework here.

In PE the focus of the lessons continued to be attacking and defending. This week the children played dodge ball and an inclusion game called Goal Ball. In Goal Ball the children were in two teams sat facing each other on the hall floor with their eyes closed and they used their sense of hearing to pass the ball (a bell ball) to each other with the aim of scoring a goal.

This week’s PE Premier League Primary Star awards went to…

Star of the week - Sam

Be connected award - Leo

Be fair award - Lillie

IMG_7583.JPG

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Sam

Writing Award - Livia

Maths Award - Kyran

Year 5 Star Winner -

We hope you all have a lovely weekend Year 5, you deserve it!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

“Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.” Pope Francis

Year 5 have had another lovely week and have continued to work hard. The focus of our class worships this week have been about putting others first. Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be great in God’s eyes, they must put others first.” Year 5 have prayed for all those who help us and they have thought carefully of ways that they can put others first at home, at school and other places they go.

This week we’ve also joined CAFOD’s Eyes of the world campaign to help fight the climate crisis. In November the eyes of the world will be on us as Britain hosts world leaders for the United Nations' climate change talks – COP26. They will make important decisions that will shape the future of our global family and so we have joined CAFOD’s campaign to call on the Prime Minister to support the world's poorest communities affected by the climate crisis. As Pope Francis says in Laudato Si’, “The cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor are one.” We must stand together with those who are being affected by the climate emergency around the world, so that world leaders cannot ignore our united voices. To show our support to the campaign, in art today the children have created their eyes of the world pictures.

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Our learning this week…

In English we have been looking closely at how Jeremy Strong tells the story using a mixture of description and dialogue to move the story forward. We have had a go at writing our own dialogues which reveal details about the story.

Our focus in maths has been reading, writing, comparing, ordering and rounding numbers up to 100,000.

In RE, in light of teaching about how the world began and taking both the Scientific view and Theological views into account, the children have written their answer to the question.

This week in our space topic in Science, the children have been looking at how the rotation of the Earth allows us to have day and night. Ask your child to explain it to you, to see how much they’ve remembered.

This week in our computing lesson the children learnt about the five different Mars Rovers that have been sent to Mars to collect data. They also learnt that each Mars Rover that has been sent has a greater amount of Random Access Memory (RAM) which has enabled the Rover to carry out more instructions in a row. To finish our lesson the children played a game that simulates programming a Mars Rover.

In our geography unit the children have been set the challenge to plan a trip that takes a group of travellers from the north of North America to the southern most tip of South America. This week the children have been using atlases to locate the countries within North and South America and have begun identifying places to send the travellers based on their particular interests.

During our Bounce Forward session we focused on the Basics potion of the Resilience framework (click on link to see the framework) and considered which of the ‘ingredients’ we can take responsibility for. We then focused in on getting enough sleep and thought about what helps us get to sleep and what prevents us getting to sleep at night. Year 5 all agreed that when they don’t get enough sleep it makes them less resilient and they aren’t as happy. It is recommended that children of their age should be getting between 9 and 10 hours sleep at night.

In PE we are lucky enough to be working with a PE specialist called Erin from Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. The focus of our lessons has been attacking and defending and this week’s PE Premier League Primary Star awards went to…

Star of the week - Tyler

Be connected award - Ebony

Be ambitious award - Summer

Bedrock Competition!

A big well done to those children who have already logged on to Bedrock at home as part of this week’s homework. As you can see below, Bedrock have launched a new prize draw competition with some fantastic prizes to win. You have all been entered into this competition and for a chance of winning, you just need to collect 120 or more points using Bedrock from now till the 24th October. If you go to the dashboard on your Bedrock account, you will find details of how you can collect points. Remember, you need to complete at least one Bedrock lesson for homework but to earn more points you can do more. However, please do not complete more than one lesson per day to ensure vocabulary retention. In addition to Bedrock’s competition, we will also have our own in class Bedrock competition too. The member of our class who has the most Bedrock points by the end of half term will win a prize at the end this half term. Good luck Year 5!

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Our award winners:

Golden Award - Gabriella

Writing Award - Tyler and Lily T

Maths Award - Summer

Year 5 Star Winner -

Well done Year 5! We hope you all have a lovely weekend with your families.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

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AuthorKay McVey

“When times get tough, we don't give up. We get up.” Barack Obama

Year 5 have had another great week of learning. The children have settled well and are really getting into the swing of things. Many of them have earned themselves lots of dojo points already because of their great attitude, focused learning, effort and great work. We’re now checking diaries daily and all bookmarks have now been updated . I’m so pleased to see so many have already read and are getting their diaries signed each night - dojo points are also rewarded for this. Well done Year 5, keep that up!

Our learning this week…

In English we have continued to investigate the features of author Jeremy Strong’s writing. His style of writing includes a lot of parenthesis - extra information or after thoughts. The children have been learning to use parenthesis marked by commas, brackets or dashes.

Our focus in maths has been rounding numbers up to 5-digits to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. We learnt a little rhyme to help us remember the rules for rounding.

In RE the children have discussed the Scientific view of how the World began and also listened to the Creation story from Genesis 1 (Theological view) and have made their own Creation wheel as a reminder of the story.

In Science we have been considering different types of evidence, both direct and indirect evidence, for the shape of our Earth. We also spent time on Wednesday , as it was a really sunny day, observing how a shadow of someone changes over the course of the day and why that is.

We had a really successful Computing lesson this week where the children learnt all about Binary coding that computers use to communicate with each other. The children found out that the Curiosity Mars Rover communicated back and forth with Nasa using this code. They have learnt how to read binary up to eight characters and understand that each one or zero is referred to as a bit. They then played a game on the computer where they needed to calculate binary numbers, knowing each digit is worth double the one that precedes it. It’s quite a challenging concept so I was really impressed with how quickly they understood this and they managed some really high scores.

In our Spanish lesson this week we learnt to ask and answer some basic information about ourselves and have begun to explore how we answer those same questions about someone else.

In Bounce Forward this week, we discussed tough times that people go through and the resilient things we can do to help us get through them. Some of the children chose to share their own personal stories and I really was impressed with their openness and honesty. We talked about how important it is to talk to someone we trust and share how we feel when we’re going through a tough time, as a problem shared is a problem halved. Resilience is the ability to bounce forward in tough times - “When times get tough, we don't give up. We get up.” Barack Obama.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Leo

Writing Award - Henri

Maths Award - Evie

Year 5 Star Winner -

Another great week Year 5, keep up the great work! We hope you all have a lovely weekend with your families.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

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AuthorKay McVey

Our first full week...

We’ve had a lovely full week in Year 5 this week. It has been so great to see how quickly the children have settled into Year 5 and have adapted to their new class routines. I am so proud of all of you!

On Wednesday, for the first time in almost two years, KS2 were able to go across to Church to take part in mass to celebrate "The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”. Again I am so proud of the behaviour of the children - they all showed great reverence, listened well and took part in the responses. It felt very special to be back all together in church to celebrate Our Lady’s birthday, our patron saint, but also because sadly it will be the last time that Father Jim would conduct a mass for us in Our Lady’s Church. During mass the children were able to present Father Jim with a gift to say thank you for everything that he has done for us whilst he has been our parish priest and we will miss him dearly.

Our learning this week…

In English we have begun looking at stories by the author Jeremy Strong. This week the children have read “This is not a fairy tale” and they have begun identifying the key features of his style of writing and have compared this to other extracts of his stories.

In Maths the focus has been on place value.and the children have been reading and writing 5-digit numbers and recognising the value of each digit.

In RE we have been discussing how the world began and have compared their own views against those of their learning partner.

In Science we will be learning about aspects of Earth and Space. This week the children have shared their existing knowledge of this topic and they took part in a Space quiz to see how much they know already.

We have also begun a resilience programme called Bounce Forward as part of our PSHE lessons. Bounce Forward, written by Lancashire Mind and Headstart, is a universal resilience programme, which has been designed to increase wellbeing and resilience in children across Blackpool. Bounce Forward will give the children the opportunity to improve and build up their resilience strategies and skills, in a practical and fun way. This week the focus was sharing information about themselves and thinking about what resilience is.

On Tuesday the children began their swimming sessions and we were delighted with the way they conducted themselves and represented our school. They made a fabulous start to their lessons and this enabled their swimming teachers to get them sorted into swimming groups quickly and begin working on their new swimming techniques. Well done Year 5!

Our Computing topic this half term is all about the Mars Rover and this week the children have learnt about the automated motor vehicle and have  explored how and why the Mars Rover transfers data. To get an idea of the distance that the Mars Rover had to travel, the children also researched the distance to Mars based on the length of other objects, such as Big Ben, the length of a blue whale, the length of a double decker bus, and the length of an Olympic sized swimming pool.

The focus of our Spanish lesson was a recap of previous learning. It’s lovely to see that Year 5 have not lost their enthusiasm for speaking a different language! ¡Qúe bien!🇪🇸

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Maia

Maths Award - Ebony

Writing Award - 

Homework 

A reminder that a summary of this week’s homework can be found on the Year 5 homework page. Please make sure homework is completed by Monday ready for spelling and times table tests on Tuesday morning

Well done Year 5, you’ve all worked hard this week. We hope you all have a lovely weekend and we’ll see you on Monday.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Frost

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on  year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

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AuthorKay McVey