A busy week in Year 5!
This week, Year 5 have challenged themselves to become more independent when completing their steps in writing.
We practised helping our partners by proof reading their writing and using dictionaries to correct our spellings.
On Friday, we reviewed our reading records. The task that was set this week was ‘draw it’ – where the children were set the task of drawing a picture based on the book they are currently reading.
Our reading record task for this Friday is fact file. Please ensure that you child has completed this activity by Friday and it is accompanied by your signature confirming that your child has been reading at home.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please ask!
We are chemists!
This half term, Year 5 have been learning about chemistry in science.
We have been learning as chemists.
Today, Year 5 conducted an experiment investigating whether various substances were soluble. Ask your child what the word soluble means!
If a substance is soluble, the substance and solvent makes a solution.
We tested three substances: salt, sand and sugar. In order to ensure a fair test, we used the same amount of solvent (water), ensured that the water was at the same temperature and left the substances to dissolve for the same amount of time.
We measured accurately…. 
Worked well in a team…. 
And made a logical conclusion based on our results.
Can your child remember which substances are soluble and which aren’t?
Times Tables Rock Stars!
Hello to all of you times tables rock stars out there!
Starting soon, we will be hosting our weekly TTRS competitions across all four classes in KS2.
The winning class each week will receive the coveted guitar and the three players with the top average score in each competition will get a certificate in assembly to celebrate their achievements and effort!
What you need to do:
Make sure your child has plenty of opportunities to practise their times tables at home. A rapid recall of times tables supports children understanding other mathematical concepts and can also help their understanding of new learning, too!
Practising regularly in short, sharp bursts is most effective!
Good luck!
Bike to School week and Let’s ride
Biking and scooting are one of the ways we encourage children to actively travel to and from school and next week we’ll be taking part in Bike to School Week (with Sustrans and the Bikeability Trust). We are pleased to be part of this UK-wide event, encouraging families to cycle, or scoot, to school. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate active school journeys and the positive impact it has on children’s health and wellbeing – as well as the environment.
Bike and scooter storage facilities are available by the side of the Year 4 classroom.
Also, taking place this weekend is the free Let’s Ride session held locally at the Brownlee Centre.
This free family community event is ideal for the whole family to enjoy cycling in a safe and friendly space. At the Leeds Brownlee Centre, Bodington Playing Fields, you can ride at your own pace as many times as you like with volunteers on hand to chat all things cycling.
Sign up for the event here.
Reading challenges…
Check out this photo of some Year 5s completing the reading record challenge ‘read in an unusual place’…
Can you think of a more peculiar place to read a book?
Reading records
Last Friday, your child was sent home with a brand new reading record. This is an exciting new scheme that has been introduced this year for KS2.
The new reading records offer the following benefits:
- it is a place for children to record the books/texts they’ve read and rate them out of five stars
- there are a range of activities your child will accomplish throughout the year based on what they’ve read (each week, details of this task will be posted on class news)
- it gives children a chance to enhance their love of reading during our weekly book club sessions in school
- it gives children ownership and responsibility of their reading
- it allows children to practise their oracy skills during book club sessions when they share what they’ve been reading
- it can be a place for parents to share with teachers the wonderful reading their child has been doing at home
If your child would like to complete a reading activity for this week – please feel free! We will decide on our whole class reading activity for next week, tomorrow.
You can find more details about this in the activities section of the reading record.
Any questions, please ask!
Happy reading!
Living and Learning: 8Rs for learning
Last week, Year 5 were focussing on the Eight Rs for learning. The Eight 8rs for learning are good learning behaviours that we aim to demonstrate during every lesson.
Challenge your child to name the Eight Rs for learning as fast as they can!
During our Living and Learning lesson, we were challenged to order the Eight Rs in order of importance. This was a particularly difficult task as all the children recognised the importance of each R. We engaged in a thoughtful and interesting debate where children were able to argue why they thought a particular learning behaviour was of paramount importance.
Our Science and Geography vocabulary
This half term, our Science focus is States of Matter and we are chemists!
Take a look at our list of vocabulary that we’ve been learning about in class. How well would you say you know their definitions?
Some of them are quite tricky. Can you remember the actions we’ve done in class?
| dissolve | when a solid mixes with liquid to make a solution | |
| mixture | two or more substances that can be separated | |
| chemical reaction | a process in which one or more substances are converted to one or more different substances
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| soluble | when something can dissolve | |
| solvent | usually (liquid) that does the dissolving | |
| reversible | a change that can be undone or reversed
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| insoluble | when something can’t dissolve | |
| solution | mixture of solid and liquid (you might not be able to see the solid)
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| irreversible | a change that can’t be undone or reversed
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We’re also Geographers this half term and we’re learning about urban green spaces and city expansion.
What small activities could you do at home to help you remember this list of vocabulary?
| national park | an area set aside by the government for the preservation of the natural environment | |
| six figure grid reference | contains six numbers which give a precise location on a map | |
| city expansion | also called urban sprawl, this is the increase in a built-up area | |
| urban green space
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any vegetated land or water within an urban area | |
| carbon stores
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places where carbon is stored in the environment | |
| quantitative data
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data which can be written in numbers | |
| qualitative data
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data that can be written in words, not numbers | |
| soundscape | a qualitative record of the sounds in any environment | |
| sampling | a way of collecting fieldwork data without measuring everything |
Netball coaching and half term camps
We are looking forward to having some coaching in school from Elite Netball Academy in the next few weeks.
Elite Netball Academy run weekly netball classes on a Saturday morning at Gateways school and they have an early bird offer for their October half term camps held locally at The Grammar School at Leeds- £25 per day if booked by 17th September.
Week 1
Hello everyone!
I can’t believe that we are already in our second week! Year 5 have demonstrated fantastic attitudes towards their learning and I look forward to seeing how this will help them progress throughout the year.
So far, we have enjoyed…
Practising our linguistic skills in Latin…
Fine tuning our pocket passes in rugby…
Learning as part of a team…
And finding a quiet moment to enjoy some reading or drawing!
Looking ahead, we have a lot of exciting learning to look forward to this half term.
In maths, we’re learning about decimals and fractions.
In writing, we’re learning about how to write a diary entry. Ask your child if they can remember any key features of a typical diary entry.
In reading, we’re recapping how to answer retrieval, inference and choice questions. Our class novel this half term is Survivors – a fascinating read packed with short stories of bravery, resilience and danger. Ask your child if they can use their summarising skills to retell one of the short stories we’ve read so far.
In topic, we’re learning as geographers about the world we live in. Check out this tool on Google Maps to see how school has changed over time. You could see how your own front garden has changed, too!
In science, we’re learning as chemists about the properties and changes of materials. Watch this space for reports on some exciting science experiments!
As of this week, Year 5 also have an in house TTRS competition. Every week, the child who has spent the most time on TTRS is able to randomly shout out a times table of their choice for the class to answer. Please encourage your child to log on so they have a chance of having ‘the power’!
As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if there is anything that I can help you with.
Miss Needham
