Year Five
Welcome to Buzzard & Magpie
Class 2023 - 24
Welcome to our Year 5 class page. We will updating our class stories every week to share with you the engaging work we are completing in year five.
This year, our staff consist of:
Magpie Class - Mrs Ward, Mrs Wilkinson (1:1),
Buzzard Class - Miss Randell, Mrs McBride (who will work across both Y5 classes)
We will also have the following teachers working with us over the year:
Music Specialist- Mrs Heap (autumn 2, spring 2, summer 2)
PE Specialist- Mr Williams (autumn 1, spring 1, summer 1)
Useful Class Information
Drop off and pick-up
The school gates will open at 8.45am for registration at 8.55am. We expect for children to be in the classroom, ready for learning by 8.55am. Pick-up time is 3.15pm. If you would like your child to walk home independently, please pick up a form from the office which allows you to give permission for this to happen.
P.E
P.E will be taught this half-term by Mr Williams which will be on Mondays. Please ensure that children come to school dressed in their PE kit. We will aim to be outside, weather dependent, so please make sure that your child is suitable dressed.
Reading
Oxford Reading Buddy
We are delighted to tell you that our school uses Oxford Reading Buddy. This is a digital reading service to support children’s reading development at home and at school. It contains hundreds of digital books and book-quizzes all matched to each child’s reading ability. Please log in to Oxford Reading Buddy. Your child has their password in the back of their home-school learning journal. If you don’t have a tablet or PC at home the service works on smartphone as well. For more information go to this address and choose Parent Support: https://support.oxfordreadingbuddy.com/
Your child will also be given a physical copy of a book. This can be looked through when completing their quiz.
In year 5, children should be reading at home five times over a week. We also read every day in school between 8.45-9.05am. This is where children are able to read their book, complete a quiz and change their book once they’ve completed it.
Teachers keep track of individual scores and move on and/or support where necessary. When children complete a quiz, it gives teachers an analysis in how pupils have performed in certain areas such as finding information, making connections and using inference or understanding vocabulary. Teachers can then support appropriately.
The scheme goes up to level 20 which is aimed at Y6 greater depth readers.
Homework
Spellings and homework will be set on Fridays and will be due in the following Thursday. It is important that pupils complete their weekly tasks along with reading and practising their spellings on a daily basis.
Water bottles/snacks
Children are encouraged to drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep well hydrated. We ask that each child brings to school a named water bottle and a healthy snack (fruit or veg) each day to school (Fridays are for a small treat). Please remember that we are a nut-free school.
Communication
If you need to communicate anything to staff, please contact us (through email or telephone) via the school office. Alternatively, you may be able to speak with a member of the team during pick-up time.
Best wishes,
The Year 5 Team
Summer First Half-Term
This half-term, our unit of work will be based on the explorer Shackleton. We will be looking at his historic adventure and how this has had an impact on polar exploration. Our new unit will be launched by activities which encourage pupils to work as a team. They will also be completing a Shackleton activity booklet to start their engagement with this topic.
Communication, Language and Literacy
In CLL, we will be using two books: 'Shackleton's Journey' by William Grill and 'Trapped by the Ice' by Michael McCurdy. Using these books, we will be looking into Shackleton's life, including him as a leader. We will use our prediction, inference and research skills to understand life during these times and consider the impact of Shackleton, and the rest of his crew's, choices.
During our unit, we will focus on journalistic features and newspaper reports. For our create piece, we will be writing and publishing a newspaper report which will be displayed for parents during a 'pop-up' exhibition (more details to follow!)
Maths
The key areas being taught over this half-term will include:
- Perimeter and area
- Statistics
- Shape
PSHE -
Jigsaw
This half-term, children will study the unit, 'Relationships'. The objectives are:
Faiths and Beliefs
For this unit, we will be looking at Islam. Pupils will explore these three main questions:
- What is a mosque and why is it important?
- Why are festivals celebrated and what do they mean?
- What are the Articles of Faith?