Year 5 Weekly News 14.06.24

This week in maths, we have continued our unit on decimals. In particular, we have learnt how to multiply and divide them by 10, 100, and 1000. We have been practising using our knowledge of place value to carry out these operations accurately. I have been so impressed with how you all have been tackling this new challenge head-on and showing great determination to master these skills. As our lessons progressed, we have also been using our knowledge to solve word problems involving decimals. Applying our knowledge in real-life situations has been a fantastic way to see the relevance of what we are learning in class.

In English, we were excited to learn that we will be writing our very own survival narratives using 'The Lost Book of Adventure' to inspire us. In our lessons, we analysed a fantastic example of this type of writing. We carefully analysed its structure and uncovered some useful writing tools that made the narrative truly captivating. From descriptive language to suspenseful plot twists, we identified the key elements that make a survival narrative shine.

For our reading lessons this week, we delved back into the captivating book 'My Name Is River'. Our focus was on honing our comprehension skills, exploring authorial intent, and empathizing with the main character. We dissected the text, deciphering its deeper meanings and immersing ourselves in the narrative. We did a great job at identifying the effect that literary features, such as repetition, have on the reader.

For both of our PE lessons this week, our focus as been Rounders. In lesson 1, we practising fielding techniques and in lesson two we enjoyed taking part in a game of rounders.

In RE, we carried on with our learning from last week. In this lesson, we continued learning about Pentecost and became bible detectives to learn what happened after and how the apostles spread the teachings of Jesus with others.

It was fantastic to see all of your enthusiasm and creativity shining through as we worked on planning and initiating our tasks to raise awareness on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle soft plastics – Year 5's focus in our whole school's courageous advocacy project on recycling. I am proud of each and every one of you for being proactive in making a positive impact on our environment. For our tasks, some of you have opted to create informative and engaging videos, while others have chosen to express their message through artwork and eye-catching posters. It is wonderful to see the diversity in your approaches. I can't wait to see the finished products.

In Art, we continued making our 'dream big' or 'tiny house' style models. We also continued using the 'design as we make method' to construct them. Your resilience and determination shone through once again, and it was lovely to see you helping each other out too. Your designs are looking great so far. Well done, team!

In history, we completed our next lesson on the Mayan civilisation. It started in an unusual way as our first task was to explore the important items you had brought in. Thank you for bringing them in. Why did we do this? We used our items to draw conclusions about people. We learnt that from our items, our civilisation has a writing system, books, domesticated animals, organised sports and much more. Then, we used these ideas to help us think about the ancient Mayan civilisation. Unfortunately, we didn't have original artefacts, so instead we used photographs of ancient Maya artefacts. It was great to hear your ideas, and lovely to hear your discussions too. We concluded that the Maya were a civilised culture who had a writing system and a religion.

In Science, we had a blast learning about irreversible changes. We conducted an exciting experiment to explore this concept firsthand. Our experiment involved mixing bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. The reaction between the two created a fizzy and bubbly effect that we found fascinating. Through these experiments, we discovered that some changes cannot be reversed and result in new substances or transformations.

In Geography this week, we continued our exciting journey into the captivating realm of the Amazon rainforest. The focus of this lesson was the city of Manaus (a fascinating urban centre nestled amidst the lush greenery of the rainforest). To enhance our understanding, we embarked on research quests, exploring the wealth of information available to discover both the human and physical features of Manaus. Through our research, we uncovered intriguing facts about the city's history, culture, architecture, and infrastructure. We also gained insights into the geographical characteristics of the region, such as its rivers, climate, and vegetation. After completing the research, we worked together in table teams to create captivating information booklets about this intriguing city.

I hope you have an amazing weekend,

Miss Pennance