Reading
We are using our class novel, Here We Are (Notes for Living on Planet Earth) by Oliver Jeffers to inspire our reading and writing over the next few weeks. This week, we have enjoyed reading and discussing the book and picking out the main themes and messages.
Each day, this week, we have looked at a new reading skill. We have been using our retrieval skills to read the text and find answers to questions from within the text.
Most children were also able to write their own retrieval question.
Another skill we have explored more this week, is being able to infer the meaning of new words or vocabulary in a text. We learnt how to read around the word to make sense of the unknown word.
We will link the book to our geography learning about our local area too.
Help at home
- read the book again and talking about the key messages
- talk about our local area – particularly what you like and dislike about it
- help your child learn their address
- read other books by Oliver Jeffers
There is a link to listen to it here. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
Maths – Odds and evens!
This week in Maths, we have been looking at odd and even numbers. We know that even numbers are made of 2s and odd numbers have an odd one. We have been counting forwards and backwards in odd and even numbers. In our number fluency sessions we have been investigating how odd and even numbers can be made. We discovered that even numbers can be made from 2 odd parts or 2 even parts and that odd numbers can only be made by 1 odd part and 1 even part.
We used this learning in our main maths lesson to add and subtract 2 from even numbers. We know that when you add 2 to an even number the answer is the next even number. We also know when you subtract 2 from an even number the answer is the previous even number. We worked really hard using odd and even numbers!
Help at home by talking to your child about odd and even numbers. Can they tell you which numbers are which? Can you add and subtract 2 from even numbers?
Spring 1: Week1
The children have come back ready to learn and very happy to see their friends.
They were very excited to see the snow in the playground and it has fit in well with our learning this week about Antarctica. Our word of the week was iceberg and the children are now confident talking about what one is. We were thinking of other words with ice and came up with the word icicle. We went on a hunt around the school grounds to find icicles – the children were very excited when we found some.
Our poem of the week suits the weather we have had. It is called Put on your Mittens. The children have enjoyed sharing the poem and showing me their mittens.
On Thursday, we had a zoom with Farmer Verity. We Zoom Farmer Verity every few months to see changes around the farm and ask her questions.
The children came up with some great questions.
‘Are the animals cold?’
‘Do the animals hibernate?’
‘Do any of the animals like playing in the cold?’
We have been making sure that we are forming our letters correctly by practising our letter formation.
Help at home: by practising too.
We have moved onto our phase3 phonics and have been learning lots of new sounds.
Help at home: by practising the new sounds sent home on Friday.
Our maths next week is all about numeral recognition.
Help at home: by pointing out numerals in the environment.
Science: Zoom with a scientist!
This morning, Year 5 had a zoom with a scientist. They discussed all things space and satellites.
He showed us a picture of every satellite currently orbiting around the earth! There are now satellites which are only 5cm x 5cm x 5cm big.
We learnt that satellites help us in our everyday lives. For example, they are used to monitor the weather, guide us using GPS and give us more information about other planets.
The children were able to ask him some questions about space. They asked some brilliant ones:
- Is there only one international space centre?
- How do you breathe in space?
- Why is space dark?
- Why is space cold?
He also told us some very interesting facts:
- Space smells like metal.
- The light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach to Earth.
- Due to the size of Jupiter, when it orbits the sun, it actually makes the sun wobble.
Help at home: What fact did your child find the most interesting?
Reading: Retrieval
This week’s reading learning focussed on our new class novel: The Nowhere Emporium by Ross MacKenzie.
Year 5 read the first chapter of the book and used evidence from the text to draw and label what they thought the inside of the shop looked like.
Help at home: Summarise what has happened in the book so far. Who is the main character? What has happened to them? What does the shop look like?
Writing: volcanic eruption
Welcome back and happy new year!
In writing this half-term, we’ll be starting with a recount.
The purpose of a recount is to re-tell events and describe what has happened.
Our recounts will be about escaping a volcanic eruption! We’ve been exploring some recounts this week to identify what makes a good one and your children have come up with some success criteria:
- impressive vocabulary
- thoughts and feelings
- description
- past tense
- adverbs
- adjectives
- different sentence starters
Help at home: watch this interactive video and ask your children to describe what they can see and what the person might be thinking and feeling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G7LUQS3X6E
We are geographers!
This half-term our topic is geography. We are geographers! This is a type of scientist who studies the Earth. Geographers study the land (the physical features of the Earth) and the people who live within it (the human features).
In our first lesson of the topic, we looked at the difference between weather and climate.
We also discussed our new key vocabulary for this unit. Did you know the lines of latitude are imaginary lines (measured in degrees) that show how far north or south of the Equator a place is. The further the latitude is from the equator, the colder the climate is. We watched this video to help us understand the difference between latitude and longitude.
In our second lesson of this week, Year 5 learnt about the difference between global warming and climate change. The children decided how they would show this learning: some created videos of news reports; some created scripts interviewing a geographer; and some created posters.
Help at home: In class, Year 5 created actions to remember our geographical concept. Ask your children to act them out!
Reading: current class novel
Year 3’s current class novel is…
The Last Firefox by Lee Newbury.
The children voted for this book from a short list and we’ve been really enjoying it so far!
We’ve added lots of words to our word wall (some fire related!):
- flammable: something that can catch fire and burn quickly
- disintegrate: to break into smaller pieces
- orb: a ball or spherical shaped object
Help at home: Have a look at some of his other books as they link to the one we are reading at the moment!
New year, new topic!
Happy New Year! We hope you had a great break from school and are feeling refreshed.
With a new year, comes a new term and a new topic. This half term, we are being geographers and learning about natural disasters, specifically volcanoes.
This week, we’ve learnt about what’s under the Earth’s crust…
The inner core is made from a mixture of solid metals (nickel and iron). It’s the hottest part of the Earth at around 6100 degrees Celsius!
The crust is the thinnest layer and is where the Earth’s tectonic plates are. These plates move underneath the Earth’s surface and cause natural disasters like volcanic eruptions.
Help at home: Research the location of different volcanoes around the world! Where are they most common? Is there a pattern to where they are? Your child can share their findings during our geography lessons!
Reminder: stay and learn
Stay and learn will take place next week.
Phonics Phase 3 – 14.01.25 9-9:30am
It would be great to see you all there. It is a fantastic opportunity for you to learn how we deliver our lessons and the content that is covered.
