WELCOME
to the
YEAR 5 and 6 CLASSES:
Flame, Gingko and Whitebeam
In our English lessons this half-term, year 5 and 6 will learning about the 'place value' of grammar, punctuation and spelling. This learning phase will have a particular focus on what makes a proper sentence, along with studying the use of verbs, nouns (including different types of noun), adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns. As it is the beginning of the year, it is always good to delve into a little bit of retrieval practice and build on what the children have learned about grammar in previous years.
In addition to the work we will be doing on grammar, our reading and writing focus will be linked to The Vikings, as this is our history topic for the next six weeks. Children will work towards creating their own story with a historical setting.
In maths, for the opening few weeks of the first autumn half-term, the children will be revisiting 'place value' to build on what they have learned in previous years. This is a particularly important topic as it builds the platform for what the pupils will study later on in the year.
These areas will include:
- Comparing and ordering numbers to 10,000,000
- Rounding
- Negative numbers
- Multiplying and dividing whole and decimal numbers by 10, 100 and 1000.
- The value of digits in both whole and decimal numbers.
Following place value, as we enter the last few weeks of the first autumn half-term, the children will begin their study of addition and subtraction. This will include a focus on handling larger numbers than they have in previous years while adopting the formal methods of addition and subtraction.
The areas covered in this second topic of the half-term will be:
- Mental addition and subtraction.
- Formal written methods of addition and subtraction.
- Inverse operations and commutative law.
- Addition and subtraction of decimal numbers.
- Solving word problems.
Maths Leagues
Dear Parents / Carers,
Welcome back to our wonderful Year 5 and 6 classes! We’re so excited about this year and we’re sure it’s going to be the best year ever.
On a Friday morning, we will be doing Maths League – essentially, it’s a sheet of maths questions that cover the fundamental skills in the maths curriculum. What we find is that if a child is doing well in Maths League, then they are doing well in the maths curriculum (in terms of both their understanding and their accuracy). Once your child has done their sheet, we’ll mark it and go through it with them. And then we’ll send it home. Children will normally bring their sheet back on a Friday afternoon (expect the first one on Friday 12th September), but sometimes it might be a Monday or Tuesday. If you are looking to help your child with their maths (AND PLEASE DON’T FEEL ANY PRESSURE TO DO THIS), then you could always practice similar types of questions to the ones they got wrong, in preparation for next Friday. That way, they should hopefully see their scores improve.
If you do want to help your child, then little and often seems to work best. Just practicing one or two types of question each day, maybe for only a few minutes, helps the brain retain the knowledge of how to solve the problem. We will of course also be doing this at school as well.
If you have any questions about any of this, or how we solve individual types of questions, then please do get in touch.
Many thanks for any help you can give to your child. It really does make a difference.
Miss Fernyhough, Mr Gude, Mrs MacLeod and Mrs Barton-Wilkes
This half-term's history topic will be based on The Vikings. The book cover shown above is the text that children will be studying in English to support their learning in this topic. To begin with, children will discuss the use of historical evidence and learn the difference between primary and secondary sources. Using these sources, the children will then embark on learning about this famous historical period.
This half-term's Viking topic will include the study of:
- The difference between primary and secondary sources.
- Where the Vikings belongs on a historical timeline.
- Yggdrasil
- The Viking Empire.
- Viking Longhouses and Longships.
- The Viking way of life
- Viking Gods
This half-term's art sequence will be based on the American artist Kimmy Cantrell - famous for his belief that: "Imperfections tell stories that are far more compelling that perfection."
During this topic, the children will experiment with different colours, textures, asymmetry and shape. Following this, pupils will then have the opportunity to create their own masks in the style of Kimmy Cantrell, with a Viking twist!
Our science sequence in upper key-stage 2 this autumn half term will be Light.
This will include building on previously learned scientific knowledge and understanding, while carrying out practical investigations. The children will understand how light travels in straight lines, the composition of light, how we can control light and how we see, including the structure of the eye.
Additionally, pupils will be asking themselves about 'fair testing' as they carry out light related investigations.
Religious Education (R.E.)
Our RE topic this first autumn half-term is the study of Islam.
Children will learn to identify and explain Muslim beliefs about God, the Prophet
and the Holy Qur’an. They will be able to describe ways in which Muslims practice Islam and the celebrations that are important to them.
Personal Social Health Mental Economic
PSHME (Personal, Social, Health, Mental, Economic) is colloquially known as 'Team Grove' here at the Grove School.
This half-term's learning will include the following aspects:
- How to plan a healthy meal.
- How to maintain good dental health.
- How to benefit from and stay safe in the sun.
- How to respect that habits can be both healthy and unhealthy.
- How to recognise early signs of physical or mental ill health.
Year 5 Residential - Group Photos.
Year 5 Residential - Day 2.