Welcome to Year 5 Monday Ms Lamb Tuesday

Welcome to Year 5!

Monday - Ms Lamb Tuesday to Friday – Mrs Pettifer Miss Morris will be supporting the class this year.

In Year 5 we have developed an exciting programme of study where we follow a creative approach to teaching. We have tried to link up our subjects in order to make learning more meaningful. In order to bring learning to life we have also arranged creative and exciting, 'WOW days’ to bring the topic to life.

Autumn 1 – Greece is the word! This is a fantastic day where the children will be able to dress up and they will be taken back in time through role-play, songs and stories. They will take part in a variety of activities, such as pressing oil from olives to make clay oil lamps; jewellery making; mosaics and even using herbs to cure various ailments. Wow day: History off the page ‘Life in Ancient Greek days’ Date: Tuesday 22 nd October 2019

Autumn 2 – Extreme Earth Wow day: Lost in the Rainforest! During this half term, we will be exploring the similarities and differences between different ecosystems and developing the children’s place knowledge. Forest School every Wednesday afternoon.

Spring 1: Stars and Stripes Wow day: Space Dome In science, we will be looking at space and exploration. In our topic, we will be comparing the Mayan civilisation with our own.

Spring 2: Our world and beyond Wow day: The Great Year 5 French Market We will be continuing our exciting space topic and our class will be hosting the famous French Market!

Summer 1 –The Globe Wow day: A visit to the Globe Theatre. In this half term, we will be looking at our world as a whole, focussing on the climate zones and the 9 biomes. We will also be studying The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

Summer 2: Changes Wow day: Year 5 Garden tea party where we can show off how we have changed our cakes! KS 2 production!

The Learning Dip

Handwriting • • We will continue to focus on handwriting this year. • ‘Letter join’ meets the requirements for handwriting stated in the new 2014 National Curriculum framework document. • Please use the website to support your child in forming their letters accurately. A letter will be sent out to all parents following this meeting. • • Cursive writing helps children write quickly. • Cursive writing also helps with spelling as you develop a muscle memory of the movements of each word. ’ As a school we have purchased the ‘Letter join’ handwriting scheme. Children who write quickly generally get more words on the paper and produce better quality content.

Behaviour and rewards In Class 5 we encourage and reward good choices and effort through positive behaviour strategies e. g. : * Table of the Week * Whole class reward * Raffle tickets * Awesome factor * Wow wall * Weekly certificates in assembly If children need to be reminded about their behaviour they may be given: * 1. A verbal warning * 2. A second warning * 3. 5 minutes ‘Playtime payback’ in classroom with the teacher. This is in line with our Behaviour policy at Stone C of E School.

Homework • Homework will be parent mailed out on a Thursday Evening and will be due back the following Wednesday. • Each week you will be emailed an information sheet that will explain what the children will need to do for homework that week. • The children will have one homework book. • Homework will follow on from what we have been learning about in class or revisit areas in order to consolidate learning.

*In Year 5 they will receive an English/Topic task and a Maths task each week. Examples of the English task could include: - a written task - presentation to prepare/poem to learn etc. *They will also be given a Maths task which will relate to what we have been learning about in class or an online Sumdog or Times. Table Rockstars task. *Please encourage your children to get into a good routine to complete their homework independently and at the same standard as their classwork.

*Children in Years 5 are expected to read at least 3 times a week to an adult as part of their homework routine. *Each week the children need to find a minimum one exciting new word in the book they are reading. *This should be recorded in Reading Records. *Comprehension is just as important as fluency and we encourage you to ask your children questions about what they are reading. *In Year 5 we will continue to listen to your child read aloud either as part of a small group session or in a whole class guided reading session.

• As a class, we will visit our school library once a week on a Wednesday. In this time, the teachers and teaching assistants will be supporting the children in selecting appropriate books. • Please continue to read aloud to your child even if they are fluent readers. Read books that are above their usual reading level in order to develop their vocabulary and discuss more complex themes. The classics are fantastic for this e. g. Black Beauty, The Railway Children, Tom’s midnight garden, the Wolves of Willoughby Chase

How to help your child choose great literature • Visit your local library or bookshop. Chat to the librarians or book sellers about great new books for your child to read. • We will be sending out a recommended book list on parentmail, which has excellent books suitable for year 5. Here are some super websites to guide you in helping your child to choose great literature: • www. love 4 reading. com • www. whonextguide. co. uk – simply type in your library card number to make use of this site.

Parent volunteers • We would love your support in listening to children read regularly during the school day. Please see the office staff if you are able to support us with this. • If you are able to help with forest school in Autumn 2, please let me know.

-In order for every child to feel valued and to improve their speaking and listening skills, there will be a display dedicated to them for a week. - They will need to make a poster telling the other children anything about themselves (e. g. if they have siblings, their hobbies, where they come from; other languages spoken, if they have pets, etc. ). -They can include photos or drawings.

• Once a week (on a Friday) one child will be chosen to complete our special Homework project where they have the chance to tell the class all about themselves and their family. • If your child has been chosen to complete this project they will not need to complete the usual written home learning task for that week but will need to learn their spelling words and times tables.

PE in Class 5 Ms Lamb will be taking Class 5 swimming at Stoke Mandeville Pool every Monday in the Autumn and Spring term. Mrs Pettifer will be taking PE on a Tuesday morning. Please make sure that the children have the correct kit at school on these days.

• In order for your child to understand what their next steps are, they will be given a target sheet which will be stuck into the back of their English and Maths books. • Over the next few weeks we will be getting to know your children and setting a target for them to work on. Once they have achieved this target we will then work on the next target. • At the September Parents’ evening you will receive a copy of their personal targets and ways to help your child achieve them.

In order to reach the ‘Age Related Expectations’ at the end of the year your child will need to have achieved all of the key targets.

We will be sending out a copy of the key targets, for Writing, Reading and Maths this year, with all the information covered in this meeting in a Parentmail tomorrow so that you have a clear idea of the expectations for the core subjects and what key objectives your child will need to achieve in order to reach Age related expectations.