Year 5 Weekly News 06.12.24

In maths this week, we’ve been focusing on adding and subtracting fractions. It’s been fantastic to see how engaged you all are with the topic! Remember, one of the key points we recapped is the importance of keeping the denominator the same when we add or subtract fractions. This concept is crucial, and I’m glad to see you all grasping it.

After finishing our cliff hanger narratives last week, we were intrigued to find out what our new writing focus would be. Well, the mystery of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is still our focus. However, this time, our final piece is going to be a formal report where we are going to be sending an update of what's been going on to Sherlock Holmes. Exciting! So far, Miss Griffiths has helped you explore original text to gather ideas, and she has taught you all about formal language. It's been a great start to our new unit. Also, in spellings, we have been learning about the silent letter ‘t’.

In our RE lesson this week, we revisited the biblical accounts of Jesus' birth as narrated in Matthew and Luke. Delving deeper, we explored the nuanced differences shaped by the intended audiences of these biblical books. We learnt that Matthew wrote the story to tell the Jews that Jesus came to save him whereas Luke wrote the story to explain that Jesus was coming to save everyone. Next, we investigated Christmas carols and realised they had taken inspiration from both versions of the story.

On Tuesday, we focused on our D.T. (Design and Technology) skills. We started off by revisiting some key techniques that we’ve learnt in previous year groups. Can you remember how to thread a needle? It’s a bit fiddly, but with a little practice, you all did brilliantly! We also practiced our running stitch and cross stitch. I was impressed with how many of you were able to showcase these stitches with confidence and how patient and resilient you all were. Speaking of stitches, we introduced a new stitch — blanket stitch! To wrap up the afternoon, we continued cutting out our templates.

In science, you delved into the realm of water resistance with Miss Griffiths. You had a great time making predictions about what shapes would be the most streamlined, and the you carried out a mini experiment to if your predictions were correct. The experiment involved making four different shapes out of plasticine. You then dropped the shapes into water to see which one sank the quickest. We then concluded that the one that sank the quickest is the one that is the most streamlined.

In this weeks’ Geography, we recapped the definitions of import and export goods. Remember, imports are products that we bring into our country from others, while exports are the goods that we send out to different countries. It’s fascinating to see how these exchanges work, isn’t it We also learned some new vocabulary! We introduced the terms "commodities" and "manufacturing". Commodities are raw materials or primary products that are traded, like coffee or wheat, while manufactured goods are products that have been processed or crafted in factories, such as toys or electronics. Can you think of examples for each category? To put our knowledge to the test, we sorted a variety of goods based on whether they were commodities or manufactured. I must say, you all did an exceptional job with this activity! Your ability to classify the items showed just how much you are grasping these concepts.

Our PHSE lesson was a compass, as we learnt about how to handle tricky situations, situations where people may want us to do or say something even though we know this isn't the right thing to do. We discussed what the right thing would be and took inspiration from the Bible: "Do not be shaped by this world; instead, be changed within by a new way of thinking." (Romans 12:2).

In Music, continued with our ukulele playing in our music lesson this week. We recapped playing chord C. We were so pleased to be playing chord C to a very catchy song – A Sailor went to Sea. We followed the instrumental section and will build up to playing the extra string notes as we get used to playing this chord. Well done year 5!

Finally, in PE, after a warm up game to work on front and back supports, year 5 spent the lesson practising their leapfrog. We discussed the importance of having a secure, wide stance, holding our calves and keeping our chins tucked in when we were acting as the support. When we were the jumpers, we had to have a run up and ensure we jumped from two feet and got lots of height so that we didn't put lots of weight on their partners.

I hope you’re having a fantastic weekend. See you tomorrow,

Miss Pennance