Author: Miss Goswami

08 September 2023

Instead of learning eight different words each week, we’d like you to learn these 40 words over the whole half-term. Lots of research suggests that learning more spellings over a longer time leads to better remembering how to spell them in the long term.

How you decide to do this is up to you. You might decide to focus on the trickiest words first. Or, you might decide to learn 8 words a week and really focus on these whilst still practising the others, too. For some of you, you might already feel confident with some of the words so might choose to not practise these at all.

However you decide to do it, is up to you. The important thing is that you’re learning them and learning how you like to learn them best.

Each week, we’ll choose eight random words to test you on– this will take place every Friday. These tests aren’t pressured. They might just help you figure out which words you need to practise more.

Learning spellings in this way might feel quite different – or even scary – but it shouldn’t. In fact, you’ve actually got less words to learn this half-term than you normally would.

We’ll keep thinking about this in school and we’ll regularly talk about how we can best practise these words at home.

If you need some ideas for practical things to do, check out the Super Spelling Strategies Guide on the school website.

Half-term 1

This half-term, our spellings are linked to the rules and strategies we’ll be learning in class: 

  • homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently)
  • ‘double up for a short vowel sound’
  • ‘drop the y for an i’
  • using apostrophes for contraction (eg can’t, won’t)
  • adding the suffixes ed, ing, er, est
  • adding the prefixes un, dis, im, in, ir, il

Each Friday, you’ll be tested on 8 of the words from the list below. 

there their they’re inactive accommodate
occur/ing/ed can’t won’t category busy
opportunity advice advise practice practise
naughty dictionary witch which according
irregular embarrass determine/ing/ed century ordinary
curiosity library identity achieve/ed/ing aggressive
disappear appreciate device devise cemetery
queue/ing/ed unavoidable immediately  impossible variety

Living and Learning: Rules

In Living and Learning this week, we looked at the school rules and why they are important.

We also discussed our school’s Acceptable Use Agreement for their use of the internet in school. This document will be sent home with your child today; please sign and return them ASAP.

Help at home: Discuss what rules you have at home and compare them with the school’s rules. Are they similar? Are they different?

A SMASHING masterpiece!

Yesterday, the children finished off their Eggy’s cars. They added safety features like seat belts, crumple zones and a roll cage. Take a look at their fabulous work!

To complete our DT project, the children then had to test their cars against the design brief. We completed three tests:

  • if it was moveable (roll test);
  • if it would protect Eggy when the vehicle crashed (crash test);
  • and if it was driveable day and night (headlight test).

For the crash test, the children pushed their cars down a ramp into a wall to see if Eggy would still be in intact. Take a look at our SMASHING experiment!

Being Healthy Week!

This week has been full of fun and informative activities all about the topic of ‘Being Healthy’.

On Monday, we had a visit from D:Side Dave, who talked about the risks of smoking and vaping, especially the impacts on children. We also had an orienteering session where the children had to find hidden photos and numbers around the school.

On Tuesday, the children had an assembly about physical activity and how important it is. The main message was ’60 minutes of exercise every day’. This doesn’t need to be all in one go but can be broken down in to smaller chunks of time. We also took part in a bike maintenance workshop.

On Wednesday, we had an assembly on healthy eating. We then went to Allerton Grange to take part in a PE lesson.

After that, we had a skipping session with the Skipping School and showcased our skills to the rest of the school.

On Thursday, we had our sports day. On Friday, we finished the week with a talk about promoting good health and a martial arts workshop.

Making Eggy’s Car!

Today, we have started to make ‘Eggy’s Car’.

The design brief for this project is:

  • Design and make a moving vehicle.
  • The vehicle must protect Eggy the egg from harm if the vehicle crashes.
  • The car must be driveable during day or night.

The children used different tools to measure, cut and create. They have now created their bases for their cars and will soon add more details and safety features to them. Watch this space to see more design and technology progress!

Help at home: Discuss what safety features will be added to your child’s Eggy’s car.

Maths Challengers!

Yesterday, four of our wonderful Year 5 mathematicians went to Allerton Grange to compete in their Maths Challenge. It was a full day of events which consisted of 4 different rounds. The children enjoyed themselves and even placed THIRD with a whopping 135 points. Well done to Evan, Ehtasham, Danny and Kian!

Leeds Discovery Centre Trip

Yesterday, Year 5 went to Leeds Discovery Centre to take part in an Ancient Egyptian workshop. The children were able to touch artefacts, design their own Egyptian town and create a self portrait (in the style of hieroglyphics).

The children were amazed by the fascinating Leeds Discovery Centre store, which holds over 1 million artefacts. We were able to look at a range of different items from the past; we were even able to touch moon rock and look at a meteorite!

Help at home: Discuss something they have learnt, their favourite part of the day or a question they now have about Egyptian life.