Welcome to Year 5
Class teacher: Miss Parkinson
Teaching assistants: Mrs Stead and Miss Colquhoun; Miss Colquhoun (PPA cover Thursday pm)
School Council
Our Year 5 School Councillors this year are Miah and Violet. They will be meeting regularly with Mrs Sunderland and helping to make important decisions to help improve our school. They will also be a point of contact for other members of the class to voice their opinions, taking and acting on pupil feedback.
Spring 2
In English this half term, we will be reading and writing from the book, 'How to Live Forever', by Colin Thompson.
'You've come for this. haven't you?' said the man, holding out a small book.
Peter took it and read the faded words: HOW TO LIVE FOREVER, or IMMORTALITY FOR BEGINNERS...
We started off the term with a DT day - Cooking and Nutrition. We learnt how to make a simple Bolognese recipe and then adapted and developed the recipe to improve its nutritional content.
World Book Day
What a fabulous day we had for World Book Day with some ‘eggsellent’ entries in the ‘design an egg book character’ competition. Well done to Ronnie, Ella and Leela who were voted first, second and third places retrospectively.
We also had a fantastic number of books donated for the book swap event which was enjoyed by all in the afternoon.
In Art we are continuing to learn about landscape and city scape artists such as Vanessa Gardiner and The Shoreditch Sketcher. We have practised extending our sketchbooks before taking them outside to draw the landscape around us. We are using mixed media during this exploration stage.
In PE we are learning the art of Yoga. We already know a number of poses and balances and we are practising flow techniques, concentrating on our breathing.
Every Friday the children learn French with Mme Bex. Currently they are learning to construct oral and written sentences that involve days of the week, places, transport and the weather.
Spring 1
In English, this half term we will be reading, 'The Fastest Boy in the World', by Elizabeth Laird.
In my dreams I'm always running. My feet fly over the ground and I'm sure that if I could just go a little bit faster I'd take off and fly like an eagle.
This is a story of an eleven-year-old boy who loves to run and dreams of being a gold-medal-winning athlete, in spite of his ragged shorts and bare feet.
When his Grandfather announces that he's taking Solomon to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city, Solomon cannot believe his luck. But when Grandfather collapses following the long journey, Solomon knows that he's the only person
As part of our History topic, Ancient Greece, we lucky enough to be able to participate in a workshop which inspired the children with practical activities and hands on exploration.
Today we took part in a whole school Blast from the Past Day. In Year 5, we were given the decade of the 1970’s to learn and research.
In Music, we are continuing to learn how to play the violas and we love it!
World Religion Day is celebrated every January on the third Sunday. In 2024, that fell on the 21st January. This week we had a whole school assembly to learn about this day and how its aim is to promote understanding and peace between all religions, which hopefully then encourages people to learn about other faiths and their followers. In RE, this week we created double page spreads for World Religion Day.
As part of our PSHE lessons, we had a visit from D Side who taught us all about cigarettes, E cigarettes and vapes and the dangers involved from using these.
In History this half term, out topic is called, The Indus Valley. The Indus civilisation startled almost 5,000 years ago and each week we will be learning more about this period in history.
In Science, our unit this half term, is Living Things and their Habitat. Our first lesson, was about how new plants are made.
In Art, our unit for this term is called Mixed Media Land and City Scapes. In this pathway, children are introduced to the idea that artist don’t just work in studios - instead they get out into the world and draw and paint from life, inspired by the land and city scales around where they live.
Autumn 2
During our last weeks of Autumn 2, we have been very busy. From Christmas jumper day and chasing Santa wearing our reindeer antlers, to decorating our classroom with paper chains, to partying with our friends from the rest of KS2, to enjoying Christmas dinner and then finally to walking up to church for our Christmas service led by Year 3. Oh and not to forget concerts by Rock Steady and Mr Stott as well as a surprise visit from Leodis's brass band! We are now all ready for a well deserved rest!
All of KS2, including Year 5, took part in an interactive assembly all about Leeds 2023 Children's Day. We learnt more about our rights, voice and why these are important.
As part of the Christmas Unit in RE, we produced some among artwork based on the Christmas story.
In French, the children have been performing La Nativite with the help of our new French teacher Bex.
Year 5 enjoyed taking part in a Picture News webinar all about British Values and Protected Characteristics for Children in KS2.
Around the World Day 2023
Year 5 really enjoyed their day learning all about Spain. They started by locating the regions and finding out some key facts about Spain. This included landmarks, local cuisine and festivals. This was followed by learning the numbers 1-10 in Spanish which was great fun. Next, the class learnt some flamenco dance moves!
In the afternoon, they explored the artist Antoni Gaudi, a Spanish architect, and created their own artwork based on his famous 'trencadis' technique, a kind of mosaic made from broken pieces of tiles.
Please take a look at some photographs and videos from the day.
In Art, the children have been learning all about typography, which is when designers work with fonts and layout. They created their own letters in a playful way to discover arrangements they liked, using lots of random shapes.
In Science, Year 5 learned about the phases of the Moon. They posed questions such as, 'Does the Moon always appear as a circle in the sky?' and 'Why does the Moon appear to change shape?' They enjoyed creating the Moon phases using Oreo cookies.
