Author: Mr Roundtree

Please remember that the deadline for secondary school applications (September 2016 intake) closes on the 31 October 2015. Please ensure you’ve submitted your application by this date.

You can either apply online by visiting the Leeds City Council website or submit a paper form and return to:

Leeds City Council, PO Box 837, School Admissions, Leeds, LS1 9PZ

Thank you very much for attending the Y5 class assembly this week – I know Miss Rushbrooke was really sorry to have missed it.

Here are a few of your comments:

• “Well done. Could hear them all. Most informative.”
• “Wonderful speaking and great percussion.”
• “Great debate and very informative.”
• “Fantastic! Great confidence!”
• “Loads of great facts showing how much they’ve learnt.”

Having focussed on the River Amazon for the last couple of weeks, we spotted areas of the forest that had been chopped down and discussed what was happening.

We learnt that this is called deforestation and there are pros and cons to it. After learning about why people chop trees down and how they benefit as well as exploring what damage it does to the local and global environment, we formed teams and debated.

Should deforestation be allowed to happen?

Yes – Local people earn money from selling wood that is chopped down and they need that money to pay for food and shelter.

No – Cutting down trees cuts down animals’ habitats and might lead to them dying as they have nowhere to live.

Yes – Trees can be cut down sustainably so that only a couple of trees in one area is destroyed and older, rotten trees can be targetted.

No – But trees that are cut down damage many trees around them.

Yes – Any trees that are cut down can be replaced by newly planted trees so they’ll grow back.

No – Maybe so. However, it takes years for these trees to grow back and they’re never the same as they were.

 

It was difficult to decide which was right or wrong as we could always argue back with another point!

Here’s an overview of what Year 5 will be learning in class in the two weeks running up to half-term.

Topic – Alongside learning about Brazil and seeing how it is similar/different to our country, we’ll be getting creative by looking at Brazilian art and picking up our saws and drills for some woodwork.

Help at home by looking at Brazil on Google maps, finding mountains, rivers, neighbouring countries and then do the same for the UK. 

Maths – Fractions will be our focus all the way up to half-term. The children need to understand equivalent fractions, order fractions by finding a common denominator and they need to be able to add and multiply fractions together.

Help at home by joining in with Practice Makes Perfect homework. Ask your child to explain how to solve fraction problems to you as though you’ve never heard of the word fraction before.

English – Having focussed on writing promotions last week, we’ll continue this and write our own promotional text for a boat trip up the River Amazon. This will be followed by writing recounts.

Help at home by looking at the language used in adverts and read it to each other in your best ‘M&S voice’. Have a meal where only ‘writing talk’ is allowed. Everything you say must be in full sentences as though you were writing it down.