25 January 2019

Year 5 Statutory Spellings
This week’s spelling list is formed using words that are from the Year 5/6 statutory spellings list. All children need to know these words by the end of year six. If you don’t know what any of the words mean, find out! Can you show them in a creative way? Can you write them in your own sentences? Can you use them in a list with semi colons?
aggressive disastrous especially nuisance profession
restaurant symbol variety vegetable yacht

There will be a spelling test on Friday 01 February.

We’ve “bin” to the Recycling Centre!

Sorry for the terrible joke – it was rubbish.

Here are a few snaps from our time at the Leeds Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility!

We were astounded by the size of the claw and even more so by all that rubbish! (We were on the seventh floor of the building and the pile went all the way down to ground level and 5 m below!)

 

We played a game where you had to throw the rubbish (a bean bag) into the correct recycling bin. It’s tricky to know what’s what, so check with Leeds City Council if you’re ever unsure.

We also made pledges to become Waste Champions and learnt all about their Living Wall; it had around 110,000 plants on it!

We learnt a lot of facts about recycling from our time at the facility. It’s good to be green!

Living and Learning – solving problems

This week’s Living and Learning theme is I can make things better. Year 5 had a very in depth and beneficial circle time to discuss how we can solve problems and improve any tricky situations we are experiencing. We covered some important topics: sleepresolving arguments and online behaviour.

We first “opened up the floor” to ask if anyone was having difficulty with anything and I would like to thank Year 5 for being very mature, open and honest.

Our first topic was sleep; lots of us said we were finding it hard (or harder) to sleep since returning to school. This included Miss Wilson! Here are our top tips, if you’re having trouble:

Key points:

  • Reduce / stop screen time in the hours leading up to bed.
  • Write down any worries you have and scrunch them up.
  • Listen to calming music or do something relaxing.

Next up – resolving arguments:

Key points:

  • Treat people how you would like to be treated.
  • Walk away and give yourself time to calm down if you need to.
  • Be a good role model for siblings.

Finally, something that was very important for lots of people in the class and seems to have been causing a couple of issues outside of school. Here are our top tips:

Lots of children were sharing their experiences of online behaviour that made them feel upset or uncomfortable. This is a great start. To make things better, often the first step should be to talk to someone.

Key points:

  • Do not – DO NOT – ever share your password with someone under any circumstances! This is your personal information and should be kept a secret. Would you give anybody a key to your house or car? It’s the same thing.
  • Change your password if you suspect anybody knows it. And make it as complex as you can whilst it still being memorable.
  • Act online how you would in real life. Hiding behind a keyboard does not make you brave. Make sensible, kind choices online – just like when you’re face to face.

Thanks to Year 5 for our mature and beneficial talk this week.

If any parents or children are still having issues or have concerns, please come in to speak to me or to Mrs Weekes to discuss this further. Thanks!

 

 

What’s the matter with materials?

To kick off our mini Science topic – What’s the Matter? – Year 5 carried out an investigation into the properties of materials.

We discussed what made certain materials suitable for certain jobs. For example, glass is suitable for a window because it lets light through it but glass would be unsuitable for a teddy bear because it is very fragile and hard!

Each material (wood/plastic/fabric/metal/glass) was tested for four different properties. We wanted to find out which materials were:

  • magnetic
  • translucent
  • waterproof
  • electrically conductive

We collected lots of data!

Our findings helped us to group materials by their properties…

… and this sparked some brilliant discussion about what was the same and different about each material and what they would be useful for. It also prompted some quite ridiculous and funny ideas for materials that would be a bad choice for certain jobs!

 

Performing Poetry

In this week’s reading and writing lessons, Year 5 have focused on poetry. We have read a variety of poems that were structured in different ways (using semi colons) or were about serious issues (climate change).

We performed poems using actions…

… and were inspired to make our own short piece of drama that had an environment theme.

It was important to remember to (R2s) be loud, have an expressive voice, be confident – even if you didn’t feel it – and work cooperatively with your other actors!

 

11 January 2019

ture

This week’s spelling list is formed using words that end with ‘-ture’. We are recapping a Y4 spelling rule so children should already know these words or this rule. If you don’t know what any of the words mean, find out! Can you show them in a creative way? Can you write them in your own sentences? Challenge yourself to use a relative clause or parenthesis.
capture creature future immature mature
mixture moisture nature nurture fixture

11 January 2019

This week’s homework is Practice Makes Perfect and is due on Thursday 17 January.

I can multiply two digit numbers by two digit numbers.

This week’s maths learning has been centred around multiplication using a variety of methods including using a Base Ten area model, a grid method and a more formal column method.

Children have some practice questions to complete using the method of their choosing. They could even use more than one method in order to check their working out – just like we’ve done in class.

As always, if you need any help or would like to ask any questions, please come in before the due date and I am more than happy to help. Below are some example methods for the calculation 96 x 26 that we looked at in class.

Challenge your child! Can you spot the (possibly intentional) mistake in the grid method above?

The whole point of art!

Last week, we looked at famous artists and their work. First up was Georges Seurat who is most famous for his Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Seurat invented a style of artwork – pointillism! This involves sometimes millions of tiny dots placed intricately in patterns to create an image.

First, we sketched some ideas. Once we’d chosen a final design, we drew out our scene.

Next came the whole point of the exercise – filling in the dots! It was quite time consuming but very strangely relaxing. We took it as an opportunity for some mindfulness and dotted away whilst listening to calming music.

The results were pretty astounding!

  

 

 

14 December 2018

This week’s homework is Talk Time:

I can reflect on my first term. I can make three targets for the next term.

Children have made a brilliant start to the year in the Autumn term. We’re asking them to reflect on what has gone well, what they could improve or what they’ve liked or disliked. We would also like children to make three targets for themselves for the coming Spring term. These targets should be SMART targets:

  • Specific (Don’t be vague.)
  • Measurable (Will you be able to say that you have or have not achieved it?)
  • Agreed upon (Does your adult/teacher/sibling agree?)
  • Realistic (Succeeding is a great feeling. Make sure you can actually achieve your goal.)
  • Timed (Say when you want to achieve your target by.)

Children should be ready to discuss their reflections and targets on Thursday 20 December.