Year 5

Welcome to Year 5

		Our Team
Mrs Cecil with Mrs King			Mr Fischer with Miss Evans
Contact: k.cecil@chickerell.dorset.sch.uk			Contact: j.fischer@chickerell.dorset.sch.uk

Welcome Back

What a brilliant start to Year 5! Everyone seems to have settled back into the school routine and shown great enthusiasm.

Our main topic this term is Dynamic Dynasties which focusses on Ancient Chinese Civilisationsfrom 2070BC - 210AD.

We have kept the weekly timetable similar to Year 4 to help transition.

Spelling:

Our weekly spelling lists follow the Spelling Shed scheme of work for Year 5. Each week your child will be given between 8 and 12 words to practise at home in their blue spelling books. It is important that they are in school on a Friday, so that the following week's words can be sent home for the weekend. Although we have 2 spelling groups, the spelling patterns that are taught are the same.

Class Reading:

Our class book is called Bronze and Sunflower, which is a novel based in 1950s China.

English:

We are writing narratives this half term based traditional Chinese folktales, starting with Mulan.

Maths:

This half term we are starting with place value. Pupils are learning to recognise numbers to a million and knowing the value of each digit within that number. They will have to be able to write these numbers in words as well as in numerals. We will then move on the comparing 6 digit numbers and ordering them in sequences.

Science:

Our topic is Forces and Mechanisms - learning about different types of contact and non-contact forces including magnetism, air and water resistance and gravity.

Geography:

Investigating our World, using maps to study the local area, national road and train links as well as looking at some cities across the world.

Art - Tints, Tones and Shades:

Our focus is colour mixing to copy famous landscapes. We have already practiced making a range of tints by adding white to a primary or secondary colour; to make a shade, black is added and to make a variety of tones, adding a mix of black and white.

PSHE:

Our focus this term is "Being me in my world". We will be discussing our roles and responsibilities within the school relating to the UNCRC (the 54 articles set out the rights of children by the government) to create our class charter.

RE:

We are learning about the Hindu festival of Holi and finding out the importance of colour in their celebration.

Music

This half term, we are focussing on Rock music, specifically Bon Jovi's classic song Living on a prayer. We will be playing glockenspiels, recorders and drums to accompany our singing.

PE will be on a Tuesday, so PE kits can be worn all day.

We aim to update this Year Group page regularly with details of curriculum subjects, topics and photos for our galleries. Please explore the page to discover more about Year 5.

Contacting the Year 4 Team

We are more than happy to receive emails on the above links. Please bear in mind that we may not be able to respond until the following day due to teaching commitments. 

At times, you may prefer to arrange to speak to us over the phone.  You can do this via email, again using the addresses above, or by calling the school office on 01305 783876 and leaving a message.

The School Day

Children can enter from 8:30, aiming to be settled for registration at 8:40am, after which teaching will begin.

Leaving times have changed slightly so that pupils with surnames beginning with A-M will leave school at 3.05pm. The remaining pupils will leave at 3:10pm. 

Spellings

Spelling lists will be sent home in children's Blue Spelling Book.  This is to support learning the vocabulary to be tested on the Friday of that same week.  Pupils will be taught the vocabulary through stand-alone Spelling lessons, and as part of their daily English lessons.  Our pupils are already responding brilliantly to the new lists, and consistently use Spelling Shed for practicing their spellings.

Reading

We encourage all pupils to read widely with a grown-up at home, discussing the content of books they read so your child becomes fluent in vocabulary, grammar, inference and comprehension skills, promoting their enjoyment of reading. We have discovered that reading to a grown-up at home really does build a stronger  understanding of the texts they read, as well as broadening their range of vocabulary. Wider reading at home also helps students to experiment with new vocabulary in English lessons, and spending quality time reading with an adult at home is priceless for both reader and listener.

Children should bring in their book bags every day, along with their Reading Record. Once their book has been read, and the record is signed, it will be reviewed with an adult in class to determine the student's level of understanding, and once that is secure, a new book will be issued.

Maths

Although all our students performed admirably in Year 4, pupils are still expected to be completely secure in their times tables. To this end, we encourage all students to practise these at home and school, as well as participate in TT Rockstars. We will provide time at school for this, but again, would encourage that they spend time at home working at home on this as well.

There are links below to some sites that may support additional learning at home.

Uniform

Children should wear full school uniform to and from school with black outdoor school shoes, which should be suitable for field play and wet weather. A warm, waterproof or water-resistant coat should be provided in wet and cold weather. When the playing field is muddy, pupils are encouraged to have indoor shoes to change into to wear in the classroom, rather than their muddy shoes, when returning from outside breaks.

P.E

Our PE lessons will take place on Tuesday afternoons for both classes.  Pupils are asked to wear their proper PE kit to school that day. 

Class Galleries

Our Curriculum

As of October 2021, we have begun to use 'Cornerstones' curriculum throughout the school so that we can ensure a solid progressions of skills and knowledge acquisition in the foundation subjects, and Science and English particularly.

What is the Cornerstones Curriculum? 

The Cornerstones Curriculum is a creative and thematic approach to learning that is mapped to the 2014 primary national curriculum to ensure comprehensive coverage of national expectations. It is based on a child-centred pedagogy called The Four Cornerstones and is delivered through Imaginative Learning Projects (ILPs) and Knowledge Rich Projects (KRPs), which provide a rich menu of exciting and motivating learning activities that make creative links between all aspects of children’s learning. We believe children learn better when they are encouraged to use their imagination and apply their learning to engaging contexts. Our curriculum provides many learning challenges throughout the academic year that require children to solve problems, apply themselves creatively and express their knowledge and understanding effectively. Cornerstones also provide a rigorous skills and knowledge framework that outlines the end of year expectations in all subjects. These skills and knowledge are tied to activities and are age-related .

Useful links for maths

	TT Rockstars: There's no quick fix to mastering the tables and improving multiplication recall speeds - it takes regular practice and commitment from pupils, which is why we need to ensure they remain motivated.
	The URBrainy MTC online practice site will help students know how they can improve their times table knowledge, and the speed of their recall. 25 questions per test 6 seconds per question Guidance on where to spend time practising
	Hit the Button is an interactive maths game with quick fire questions on number bonds, times tables, doubling and halving, multiples, division facts and square numbers. The games, which are against the clock, challenge and develop mental maths skills. Regular use of Hit the Button can help students to sharpen their recall of vital number facts in a fun way and learning multiplication tables need not be boring.

Useful links for literacy