Welcome to Year 5
Year 5 Newsletter Spring 2019
I hope that you have had a good Christmas break. The children are now ready to push on their learning after settling into this year group well. Preparation towards High School starts here and the curriculum for this term is very exciting.
Our topic for this term will be Crime and Punishment and we will be studying History and Geography through this until Easter. Our studies will look at the History of Crime and Punishment and the progress that has been made since Tudor times through to the present day. In Geography we will be studying the journeys of Asylum Seekers and Migration from Africa and European countries to other places in Europe through the very exciting Adrift Project which we will share with many schools in our area.
We will be looking at Changes to and the Properties of Materials in our Science work. This will include being able to:
compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets
know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution
use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating
give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic
demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes
explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.
There will be two PE sessions in each week so the children will require PE kit to cater for both indoor and outdoor activities. One session will be on a Tuesday afternoon and the other is to be finalised.
The homework will continue to be sent out on a Wednesday and due in on the following Monday. Mrs. Watkins and I will be running a homework club on a Thursday lunchtime when children can choose to do their homework in school time. It is extremely important that children continue to practise their tables and read regularly. The 'My Maths' has proved a really useful tool for homework and general practice of what we had been doing in class over the last three years. It consolidates Mathematical methods and makes the learning and interaction more fun for the children at home. I intend to continue with this during this academic year. Please use this as often as possible. It will impact on your child's progress.
In English, we will be looking at the stories of The Highwayman and Beowulf. Opportunities to write include:
Non chronological reports
We will be creating our extended writing through our topic of 'Crime and Punishment' giving the children lots of creative and interesting information for them to improve their Spelling, Grammar and text construction through research and analysis of the topic and the previously mentioned varying genres.
These opportunities form an interesting and varied list and I will endeavour to keep writing opportunities as interesting as possible.
As always, please continue to read regularly with your child as this really helps their comprehension skills and improves their understanding of English Grammar and spelling patterns. I would stress to parents of our class to discuss anything the children have read in any one session with them at home to improve their comprehension skills. This has to be a focus for us moving forward through the year and also towards their personal preparation regarding the reading test at the end of Year Six. Reading helps massively with the children's writing. The reading challenge will continue this year. The children need to get their reading record signed by parents each time they read at home. The children will progress through a series of certificates for reading enough and I fully expect this to impact on their achievement in Literacy.
If you can find the time please read with your child and ask them the meaning of the text they have read. The children need to find evidence for their reasoning within the text.
Spellings that come home will come from the Year Five National Curriculum requirements.
In Maths this half term we will be looking at the consolidation of Multiplication and Division and moving onto the fractions unit for Year 5. Children find fractions, decimals and percentages notoriously difficult so please try to ensure your child is at school as much as possible.
We will ultimately be problem-solving with the skills learnt.
In preparation for the end of year tests here is a signpost to a useful tool for you at home.
This uses the Singapore Bar Model to help your child understand and unpick problems in a logical and systematic way. You may wish to have a play with this before we get to the second half of the first half term.
As we enter the new term I would appreciate your support and encourage you to speak to me directly should there be anything to discuss. Please feel free to speak to me at the beginning or end of the day so that I can deal with any issues that you may have as quickly as possible. This makes for good communication and relations between us all and keeps things positive and forward moving throughout the year. Good communication between myself (as a teacher) and yourselves (as parents) leads to your children being in the frame of mind where they are ready to learn.
As always, I will strive to keep your children happy at school, encourage a love of learning and to equip them with a passion for their future time in Year Six and High School.
Mr. S. Hewson
Autumn Term 2018