Welcome back to school! We hope you have had a super half-term break and are ready to bring enthusiasm and curiosity to all the learning we have planned for you. We are of course entering the busiest and most fun of all the terms - Christmas! Year 5 will be at St Thomas’ church leading the carol service in December.

Science

Everyone has been looking forward to this, we are going to explore the solar system this term! Watch the moon at night, can you work out why it appears to change shape?

Relationships

Our PSHE is going to focus on relationships and how to build healthy relationships - we will have a particular focus on creating and sustaining positive friendships.

RE

We focus on Islamic beliefs this term, building on the children's prior R.E. learning from Y3/4 and developing their knowledge of how these beliefs help people keep to their understanding of the straight path.

Music

This term we will be singing, trying out descant parts to feel their effect and developing our performance skills.

DT

This term involves involves working as architects, understanding structures and how to make them strong and secure. We will be researching, designing and making bird hides.

P.E.

Mr Melson is going to be leading us in basketball and developing both our ball control skills and our ability to work together as a team. In yoga we will be developing strength and control.

Wednesday 14th December 

DT

We were able to hot glue the wood pieces we sawed last lesson to form frames for our bird hides. Following this, we added fabric and added finishing touches such as cutting doors and viewing windows. We were very proud of the results!

Christmas church service

Monday 12th December

In the beautiful setting of St Botolph’s church, key stage 2 came together with parents and families to celebrate the Christmas story and sing carols. We listened to Year 3 tell the Christingle story, then lit the christingles. This was a special moment, as Year 3 sang “This Little Light of Mine” and we held our candles. Year 5 then told the Christmas story and performed “We Three Kings”.

Christingle making

Friday 9th December 

We were able to explain what each part of the Christingle represents. The orange represents the world, the red tape Jesus’ blood, the four sticks with fruit the seasons and God’s gifts to the world. The candle shows Jesus’ light of the world. Trevor also explained how we could help the Children’s Society.

Thursday 8th December 

English

We explored different possible endings for our science fiction narratives through role play. Most of these finished with many dead aliens!

Wednesday 30th November 

DT

Today we began to build our miniature bird hides. We learned how to use the tools safely - junior hacksaws, wooden blocks and goggles - then measured according to our designs and cut pieces of square wood to length.

Monday 28th November 

PCSO visit

PCSO Neil came to deliver an important message in an assembly for Years 5 and 6 today. This followed on from our work through anti bullying week, so we were able to answer many questions and give examples of different kinds of bullying and why someone might bully others. 

Friday 25th November 

RE

In today’s lesson, we focused on understanding the third pillar of Islam, and why charity is central to Muslim beliefs. Attitudes towards wealth and poverty were discussed, and the belief that people who have plenty should share with those who don’t have enough. We worked in groups to answer questions about attitudes towards money and the lack of it.

Wednesday 23rd November 

Christmas craft

Our decorations for the hoops this year are baubles and we have made a great start making them! 

Friday 18th November 

Children in Need

We were very excited to join in with this year’s Children in Need fundraising efforts. We bought cakes from the Year 6 cake sale, and brought lots of 1 and 2 pence coins to cover the whole of Pudsey’s body. We took part in Joe Wick’s special work out too. We discussed the important work that the charity does and reflected on the many things in our lives we are grateful for, aware that not all children have these.

DT

Wednesday 16th November 

Today we developed our understanding of structures and frames by learning about triangulation. We tested 3d shapes to failing point, then added triangles as reinforcement and retested. This helped us when we went on to design our own bird hides, and create prototypes.

Monday 13th November 

Guided Reading 

We love the novel we are reading in Guided Reading, The Boy at the Back of the Class. In order to empathise with the characters we have acted out parts of the story and even ate pomegranate seeds! We are learning about refugees from a child’s perspective, and are able to apply this to current situations in the world. 

Remembrance 

11th November

Preparing for the annual remembrance assembly, Year 5 made a purple poppy wreath, in memory of the animals involved in war.

Thursday 10th November 

PE

We enjoy learning yoga and noticing how it makes our bodies feel. We are practising different poses then trying to flow from one to the next to create a sequence.

Wednesday 9th November 

Science

We investigated the reasons people in the past may have believed that the earth was flat and how scientific understanding has developed over time. In previous eras, people built their understanding on what they could see and we all agreed the land looks flat - especially in Lincolnshire! However, scientists since have provided definitive evidence that the earth is spherical.

Monday 7th November 

French

We learned vocabulary to describe our partners’ hair and eyes, then developed the words into sentences. We practised our pronunciation repeating these phrases to each other.

Thursday 3rd November 
English 

In English we gathered information vocabulary to create expanded noun phrases about aliens. Using these descriptions we painted our own aliens, which will feature in the narratives we are beginning to write.

Mini police

Thank you to PCSO Neil for coming to see Year 5 and announce who has been chosen to be mini police for this year. He told us how difficult it had been to chose from the high number of really good quality applications, but five had to be picked. So congratulations to these children!