Year 5 Weekly News 10.02.2023

This week we continued learning about fractions in maths. We developed our understanding of equivalent fractions, and we learnt that you can use multiples and factors to find equivalent fractions. Next, our focus moved onto improper and mixed number fractions. We used this knowledge to learn how to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number fraction. Did you know that the top tip for doing this is simply divide the numerator by the denominator, and anything that is left is turned into a fraction.

In English, we started the week by planning our 'Hot Write'. It was lovely to see you using all your knowledge to craft your own story. Then it was time to write. You all worked extremely hard on this and tried your best to use the key features of the text. It was a pleasure reading them, and I hope you are feeling very proud of yourselves. Towards the end of the week, we focused on SPaG terminology. We learnt about coordinating conjunctions and how we can use the acronym FANBOYS to help us remember the seven different words. Next, we learnt how to use the words, and created sentences to demonstrate our understanding.

In PSHE this week, we had two focuses. On Monday, our focus was E-Safety. We learnt about the difference between private and personal information. Did you know that private information is information just about you (such as your date of birth, your name or your phone number), and personal information is information about you which may be true of others too (such as what food you like, what pets you have and what sports you enjoy). We learnt that it is important never to share private information with people online, and that we must also be careful when sharing personal information. Our second focus was our HeartSmart lesson. We learnt about what we can do if we feel under pressure from our friends. You were given different scenarios, and you were asked to decide what a good friend would do and what a bad friend would do. We talked about how it is important to be a good friend. We linked this to the Christian ethos of living well together for in the Bible it says: 'Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking.' Romans 12:2

On Monday, we carried on with our D.T unit (we are making cushions in our unit). This lesson focused on the planning stage. First, we learnt about Ancient Greek clothes and the patterns and colours they used. Did you know that their designs often had a geometric focus? We used this knowledge, and our understanding of symmetry, to create an Ancient Greek inspired designed. In the last part of the lesson, you were introduced to the stitch we will be using – blanket stitch. We practice the technique that we will need to do this. You showed great potential!

On Wednesday, it was time for French and Music with Miss Holland and P.E with Mrs Jenkins. In music, you began your lesson by playing open strings to 'My Dog Has Flees'. Next, you played cord C followed by cord F. In French, you used your knowledge of counting to 100 to help you work out some times table questions. We then spoke the sentences out loud to our partner.

On Wednesday, our learning focused on R.E. In our current unit, we have been learning about salvation and how Christians believe Jesus saved us. In this week's lesson, we explored Christian art work to determine how it portrays this. You thought about the imagery within it, the way it made you feel and the colours used. You came up with thought provoking ideas which were interesting to listen to.

On Thursday, History and Computing filled our afternoon. In History, we learnt about the difference between schools in Sparta and Athens. We realised that they were very different. We compared these schools to our school and realised we learn similar subjects! However, the way school was organised and the type of people that were allowed to go to school was very different. In Computing, we started creating our GoogleSheets by imputing the data we created about the different planets.

Finally, on Friday, we made our Ancient Greek pots! It was messy but lots of fun! You used two different techniques to create your pots – the thumb pot technique and the coil pot technique. You worked hard to add the different features of the pot and used the slip and score technique to attached elements like your handles. You showed great perseverance and did a wonderful job. We will let them dry over the weekend and then paint them when they are ready!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend,

Miss Pennance