Welcome to Buzzard & Magpie

Class  2025 - 26

Welcome to our Year 5 class page.  We will updating our class stories regularly to share with you the engaging work we are completing in year five.

This year, our staff consist of:

Buzzard Class - Miss Yetton, Mrs Reading

Magpie Class - Mrs Ward, Mrs Lang and Mrs Reading

We will also have the following teachers working with us over the year:

PE Specialist- Mr Williams (autumn 1, spring 1, summer 1)

Music Specialist- Mrs Heap (autumn 2, spring 2, summer 2)

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 Monday. 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 suitably dressed. 

Magpie Class will also have swimming this half-term, more details to follow!

Forest School (2nd half-term) 

We are extremely lucky to have forest school back on the timetable.

Magpie Dates are: Wednesday 5th November, Wednesday 12th November and Wednesday 19th November.  

Buzzard Dates are:  Wednesday 26th November, Wednesday 3rd December, Wednesday 10th December. 

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 8.45-9.15am. 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

Homework will be set on a Friday, this could be maths, CLL or topic, and needs to be returned the following Thursday. 

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 

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/  

Hello Year 5!

We are missing you in school today and I know some of you were looking forward to the art day so we will save this for when you return back to the classroom. Myself and Miss Yetton have been busy finding some activities for you to complete, if you want, before your return to school. You can select which ones and we hope you have some fun engaging with them. 

First of all, we must share with you that our theme for this half-term is 'Space'. Therefore you'll notice a bit of a space theme with some of our activities. 

Year 5 Menu of Activities...

Starters: All About You!

• Five interesting facts about yourself.  

We'd love to know more about you, please include five interesting facts about yourself. You can present this in any way which you wish. As teachers, we are also going to complete this task before the end of the day, so look out for our work. 

• Create a bookmark    

We do lots of reading in year 5 and a bookmark is always useful. This activity involves you creating your own bookmark which you can use in the classroom. 

Main Course: Space!

• Research your favourite planet.  

Choose one of the planets in the solar system. Find out about it. Here are some examples:

What size is it?

What distance from the sun is it?

How old is it?

How many moons does it have?

What colours is it? 

Plus any more interesting facts about it. The most difficult decision is which one to pick. If Mrs Ward completed this task, I'd be researching Mars and Miss Yetton would pick Jupiter. 

• Plan a saying for remembering the order of the planets: 

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. 

Mrs Ward uses: 

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Names

Miss Yetton uses: 

Many Vile Earthlings Munch Jam Sandwiches Under Newspaper

• Be a Space Explorer!

Explore space by using these two fantastic websites:

• https://www.nasa.gov/specials/kidsclub/games/clubhouse/ NASA kids club 
• https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/play/  space place explore Earth and Space

Activities include:

• Exploring the world of an astronaut
• Find out who is on the International Space Station (ISS) right now
• Interact with games on the Space Station. 

P.S There's a fun Mars' rover activity on the second website (Miss Yetton has had a lot of fun playing this!)

Dessert: Back to Basics!

It's Reading Time!

• Read your favourite book and if you want, write a review on it. 

Miss Yetton's favourite children's book.  

Mrs Ward's favourite children's book. 

It's Maths Time!

Complete some of these maths activities, it will refresh your maths knowledge. 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Autumn Term 1

This term, our topic title is: Mission to Mars

Communication, Language and Literacy

In CLL, we will be using the book, 'Curiosity: A Story of a Mars Rover' by Markus Motum. This book will help us to Discover the incredible story of the search for life on Mars, told from the unique perspective of Curiosity, the Mars Rover sent to explore the red planet. Markus Motum's stylish illustrations and diagrams reveal how a robot travelled 350,000,000 miles to explore a planet where no human has ever been. 

STEM

Our science work will be Earth and Space. Pupils will build on their knowledge of the solar system; be able to explain day and night and finally explain how the moon changes shape. 

Our computing unit will see pupils creating a 3D Maze on the theme of Curiosity or Perseverance exploring the red planet. 

Maths

The key areas being taught over this term will include:

• Place Value (including rounding)
• Addition and Subtraction

Children will also have 2 minute quick fire times table checks on a daily basis. 

PSHE - 

Jigsaw

This half-term, children will study the unit, 'Being Me in the World'. This unit focuses on helping students understand and appreciate their place in their community and the wider world. Through a series of six lessons, students explore their rights and responsibilities, develop positive citizenship, and reflect on how their actions affect others, both locally and globally.

Faiths and Beliefs

For this unit, we will be Learning about Christianity: What does it mean if God is holy and loving. 

They will learn about why Christians believe God is holy and loving; how God is worshiped and of some important Christian texts which they use to support their faith.