Year 5 Weekly News 17.05.24

In Maths, we have been diving into the exciting world of coordinates and translation. You have been exploring how to plot points on a graph and move shapes accurately. It's been fantastic to see their your problem-solving skills develop as they tackle these mathematical concepts.

In English, we have been delving deeper into our model text, picking apart its structure and language to understand how it engages its audience. You then then embarked on your own writing journey, crafting a 'bargain' letter. So far, we have planned and written paragraph one. This has challenged us by getting us to think about our use of emotive language in order to captivate the reader and make a persuasive argument.

In Computing, we delved further into the world of vector drawings. It was fantastic to see how you all grasped the concept of using the 'zoom' feature to enhance the accuracy of your shapes. Your attention to detail and precision in creating your drawings have truly impressed me. Keep up the great work, team!

Our new art unit kicked off this week with a focus on the intriguing theme of 'structure'. During our initial lesson, we uncovered the role of an architect and engaged in fascinating discussions about the considerations they make when designing a building. We learnt about the 'tiny house' movement and compared these homes to large idealistic designs.

We have had two geography lessons this week. In our first lesson, we learnt about the Amazon rainforest. We learnt that the term 'Amazon' can refer to the Amazon river, the Amazon rainforest or the Amazon basin. We then used maps to find out specifically where the Amazon is. Did you know that it is in South America and it covers 9 countries! It really is a huge place. In our second lesson, we learnt about grid references and used this knowledge to find the grid reference of different places in the UK.

In Religious Education, we continued our journey through the old testament, specifically exploring the story of Ruth and Naomi. Through this tale, we discussed the values of loyalty and friendship, highlighting the significant role Ruth plays in God's overarching narrative. Your insightful reflections and engagement with the lesson have been truly remarkable.

In music, we had our brains tested this week! We played a game called, I went to the shop and I bought... We bought a lot of things! Our most interesting item was a Venus fly trap! We were amazed to see what one looks like. Having fun was definitely our main aim. We managed to remember most of the items and almost made it to end of the line. Great job year one!

This week in our 'Fake is a Mistake' unit we have discussed vulnerability. We watched a video about spider crabs joining together in large groups to shed their old shells and reveal soft new shells. They were doing this to enable them to grow. We talked about times that we have felt vulnerable. The crabs showed that these times of vulnerability can be part of growing up, like moving to high school or going to the shops on our own for the first time, and that it can sometimes be part of building positive relationships with our friends (like sharing our doubts and our fears with friends). However, we should not share everything with everyone. We said we should only open our hearts to people we feel safe with, but what 'makes you vulnerable can also make you beautiful.' This reminded that 'We can be proud of our weaknesses. In our vulnerability, Christ's power shines brightest.' 2 Corinthians 12:9

After recapping last week's French lesson, we moved onto an introduction to some French words for the vegetables we often buy when we go shopping and we had to match the picture to the words. You were introduced to the singular for each vegetable, but when we shop we often buy multiples so we had to ask for some carrot or some onions. When we found out that the singular le, la, les and l' become du, de la, des and de l' we were able to to say 'Je Voudrais du chou-fleur au je voudrais de l'oignon.'

In PE, we've been focusing on honing our athletics skills. We had a lot of fun participating in four different activities to improve our abilities. The activities included javelin throwing, standing long jump, bean bag races, and relay races. I was so impressed by how well you all did and how much effort you put into each activity. Keep practising and pushing yourselves and it'll soon be time to show your skills at our Sports Day next week.

During our Wellbeing sessions, we've been discussing our favourite items. It was interesting to see everyone's choices and why those items are special to each of you. I know it can be tricky to choose just one favourite thing, but it's great to take the time to think about the things that make us happy and bring us joy.

Finally, we had a wonderful time helping preschool practice for their sports day. It was wonderful to see how everyone came together to support them. You were great role models Year 5! Well done.

I am immensely proud of the dedication and enthusiasm you have shown in your learning this week. I hope you have a fab weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

See you on Monday,

Miss Pennance