Admirals (Year 5)

Welcome to Year 5

Our class is called Admirals. We are taught by Miss Pott and are supported by Miss Hunt

PE Days

Admiral class will be taught PE on a Tuesday and a Thursday. Children will need to wear their PE kit to school on Tuesday. They will not need uniform to change into. Please ensure your child has the correct kit so they can participate successfully. 

Library Slot

Your child will get an opportunity to visit the school library on Wednesday afternoons. Here they will have the chance to borrow a book that they are interested in: a book they will read for pleasure. If they wish to take a book home, this will need to be returned on a Wednesday ready to change.

Home Learning

Reading

In years five and six, children may choose to read independently at home. This should be for at least ten minutes and should be recorded in their reading record daily. Your child's reading record must be handed in every Friday. At Margaret Wix our children are all aiming to be 'Reading Champions' at the end of each term.

It is important that you talk to your child about what they have read; you will find some question stems that could be used to support such conversations on our reading star above. Here you will also find a list of recommended texts for Year 5 that are suitably challenging.

Maths Magicians

There are a number of key mathematical facts that children should know and remember. These are, of course, taught in school but it is essential that children practise them at home too. You can find out which facts your child is currently working on by checking their maths record book. This is also where you should record their daily practice. Children's maths record books should be brought to school every day. Children will be quizzed on their maths facts every Friday. As they progress through the different stages of facts, children have the opportunity to earn rewards and work towards becoming Maths Magicians!

Times tables 

Times Tables (and the associated division facts) are a vital part of mathematical knowledge and understanding. It is crucial that your child practises these skills at home by logging onto the Times Table Rockstars website daily, for at least ten minutes. Additionally, there are opportunities to practise maths skills in day-to-day life, such as when measuring ingredients for cooking, or counting change at the shops. You will find this resource on the maths star, which may help you to structure mathematical conversations.

Spelling

In school, we will teach the children spelling patterns and rules. At home, we would like the focus to be on  learning and practising the Year 5/6 National Curriculum words (you can find these by clicking on the spelling star at the top of the page.)

English and Maths 

Each week, your child will receive a grid of homework for maths and English that will focus on revisiting current learning, tracking back to learning completed the week before and then jumping forward to the learning they will be covering in the week ahead. Please be aware that this homework should only take them a maximum of 20 minutes and won't include any new learning. If your child needs any support with their homework, please do let me know by finding me on the door or writing a note in their homework book. Not only will this homework be a great way to consolidate any prior and current learning but will support your child in becoming more independent and will inevitably help to prepare them for homework in secondary school.

Handwriting

In order to support your child with their handwriting, please use letter join - https://www.letterjoin.co.uk/. For more information on how to log on at home, with your child, head to the handwriting star. 
 

Homework this week: complete maths magicians, give me ten and homework books by Wednesday. See the maths star for how to support your child at home with this.

Spring 2 update

This half term has continued to provide Admirals with challenges and opportunities to flourish! The children have, once again, impressed with how adaptable and resilient they can be. They continue to work extremely hard to consolidate their number fluency, improve their vocabulary and sentence structures and grow in their curiosity and problem solving skills. As always, we have also taken part in some fantastic extra-curricular activities. We took part in International Women’s day; immersed ourselves in a Now Press Play Greek workshop; took part in two workshops centred around well-being; and had all VR workshop, which immersed us in the solar system and outer space.

This term, Admirals have enjoyed exploring a range of texts and completing a variety of genres of writing. The first text we focused on was Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho Yen. A graphic novel about Ade, who is a just an ordinary boy with an ordinary life. He loves living at top of a tower block and he loves his life, but one day a building falls randomly near his home, an incredibly stable building. Luckily, no one is hurt, but the buildings keep falling with no reason whatsoever. We were gripped from the beginning and loved the mystery as it unfolded in the story. We wrote many different pieces based on the story including diary entries; newspaper articles; first person recounts, description and, to conclude, our own mystery stories.

After this, we enjoyed everything that Book Week had to offer: we read a wonderful text, ‘The Promise’ that touched upon the idea of sustainability. The children were extremely mature in their discussions and it provided us with the opportunity to write our own narratives with a sustainable message at the heart of the story. We ensured that we used different sentence structures, ambitious vocabulary, speech and a range of descriptive language.

We’ve continued to work hard in maths this half term, tackling a range of topics. We began our learning with fractions. Although we found this tricky, we continued to persevere and quickly realised they are not as challenging as we once thought. We worked hard to find equivalents; add and subtract fractions; convert between mixed numbers and improper fractions and solve fractions of amounts questions. Once we had fully mastered fractions, we moved onto to area where we practised our multiplication skills and then onto to converting measures and volume.

In science, we loved learning all about space – a firm favourite in the year 5 curriculum.  We delved into the cosmos and learnt all about the different planets. We explored how they orbited the sun and learnt all about their features. We then looked at the phases of the moon and learnt to understand that moonlight is sunlight reflecting off the Moon’s surface. After, explored how day and night occurs and then looked at some influential people and astronauts that have shaped our understanding of the solar system.

 Our geography topic this term has seen us explore the physical and human importance of a biome that covers one-fifth of the world’s land surface – the mountain! The study of mountains enabled us to comprehend key concepts of physical geography such as plate tectonics and the formation of different rock types, as well as erosion and geological deep time. We created informative videos about how fold mountain ranges form and got to grips of how fossils have been found on the summit of Mount Everest.

In computing, this half term, we have learned about flat-file databases. We first created paper databases before moving to online databases. We learned about records and fields and how to sort data and search within a database. Finally, we found out how databases are used in real life.

In Design and Technology, we have been exploring the use of electronic items and have been exploring the components needed to complete a full circuit of electricity. We then created our own moving mechanisms (doodlers) which we used to draw across the page.

In Art, we have used our prior knowledge and experience to explore a range of drawing processes. We were required to select and place textures to create a collagraph plate, applying our understanding of different materials. We then tested these as different patterns for an astronaut’s space suit.

In PE, Admirals class have tackled tennis with ease. They have developed their control with the racket and ball l and practised their skills in a real game set up. The children have really impressed me with their self-belief in their swimming lessons. I was particularly pleased with their determination during their sponsored swim! Well done Admirals and thank you for any sponsorship money raised! 

In RE, this half term, we have been investigating and evaluating the key question: How significant is it for Christians to believe God intended Jesus to die? We are learnt to to question whether God intended Jesus to be crucified or whether Jesus’ crucifixion was the consequence of events during Holy Week. We began our sequence by thinking about our plan and whether we have a specific purpose in life. We then transferred this thinking to Jesus and explored different clues in scriptures that suggested Jesus was aware of his purpose on Earth. We completed our learning by thinking about influential figures in the world who seemed to have a clear purpose, path or destiny in life.

Our PSHE lessons have been focused on the topic ‘Healthy Me’. We have learned about the risks and effects of smoking and alcohol on our bodies. I was extremely impressed with the considered discussion and thoughtfulness surrounding these mature themes. The children enjoyed learning and putting into practice basic emergency aid procedures – we even used our own Anni to practise on. In addition, we have had some extremely thoughtful discussions about body image. We learnt how important it is to show kindness when talking to or about others. We looked at celebrity pictures that have been altered by the media and the effects these could have on young children today.

As you can see, Admirals have had a full on half term and have continued to show just how resilient they can be. They have shown kindness, demonstrated self-belief and worked hard to reach their full potential. As always, thank you for your continued support too. I hope that everyone has a restful and enjoyable break and has some cheeky chocolate too!

How can you support your child at home with preparation for Year 6?

Since we are fast approaching year 6, I am becoming increasingly aware of the need to prepare the children for this. Please look at the list below, which outlines non-negotiables for your child’s learning. These are key skills that MUST be rehearsed and practised at home.  

1)   Times tables – these feed into every aspect to maths learning and are a crucial skill in everyday life. Please practise times tables every day on times table rockstars website or the below link. 

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check 

2)   Telling the time – in the age of the digital clock, we are becoming more and more aware that our children cannot tell the time on an analogue watch. Ask your child what the time is at every opportunity e.g: It’s dinner time, what time is it? How long is it until your bedtime? What time is it now? Etc. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=telling+time

3)   The use of four operations (addition, multiplication, subtraction and division). These methods should be practised and rehearsed daily. Use this website to guide you on the sorts of questions. 

https://myminimaths.co.uk/year-6-arithmetic-practice-papers/ 

 

4)   Reading – please encourage your child to read every day and/or read with them. This is so vital in ensuring your children are exposed to a variety of different text types as well as ambitious vocabulary.  

Your children practise these skills daily in morning work and daily fluency sessions, however we need your support to ensure your children reach their full potential. Please come and talk to me if you would like any support with this; my door is always open.  

Thank you so much for all of your support,  

Miss Pott  

 Spring 1 update

What a fantastic half term we have had in Admirals class! The children have proven, once again, that they have embraced our Margaret Wix values and are continuously working hard to live by these powers in school.

They have shown resilience when tackling hard maths challenges; self-belief when striving to reach their goals; curiosity in abundance when asking thought-provoking questions across the curriculum; and kindness whilst supporting their friends during new challenges like swimming.

This term has seen so many fantastic opportunities for our class including: taking part in an Ancient Greek Workshop; exploring our mental health through a retune session; and experimenting with oil pastels in an art workshop.

In English, this term, we began by looking at the text ‘The Boy in the Tower’ by Polly Ho-Yen. A story of triffid-like plants are consuming and collapsing buildings and their deadly spores are preventing the emergency services performing a search and rescue. This book provided us with some great opportunities to practise writing with a mystery theme. We wrote diary entries, news reports, notes and speeches. The children used some fantastic, ambitious vocabulary to write their own mystery stories. We experimented using a range of sentence lengths to build tension and atmosphere.

In maths, we have worked hard to tackle short division. Although we found this challenging at first, we all persevered and have mastered it. Admirals are now able to express remainders as fractions, decimals and decide which remainder would be most appropriate in different contexts. We have also worked hard on representing fractions pictorially, creating equivalent fractions and adding and multiplying them too!

In science, we delved into our incredible solar system in our space topic. We have learnt how to describe the movement of the Earth and other planets, relative to the sun in the solar system. We are now able to discuss the movement of the moon relative to the Earth and created moving models to showcase this understanding. We also learnt how the Sun, Earth and Moon are approximate spherical bodies.

History, this term, has been centred around the Ancient Greeks. We were studying the key question, The Trojan horse: historical fact, legend or myth? In order to answer this question we first learnt about the story. We practised our drama skills to act out the key events and then retold the story  using a comic book strip. Next, we explored different sources and investigated how reliable or unreliable they were. We designed Greek pots and used these to create our own reliable piece of evidence. To end our unit, we had to think deeply about our enquiry question and decided whether the Trojan Horse story was in fact a myth, legend or historical fact.

In computing, we practised numerous skills relating to vector drawing. We learnt how to manipulate shapes, zoom, duplicate, copy and paste, rotate and layer in order to produce a range of fun, complex vector drawings.

In Art. We focussed on the skill of craft and design. We delved into architecture and learnt skills revolving around sketching buildings and houses. We drew our own sustainable houses and made a monoprint of a small area using ink and rollers. We then studied the work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and used his house designs to create our own.

In PE, the children have enjoyed swimming lessons, improving both their technique and stamina. The swimming teachers have been very impressed with the effort and determination to succeed shown in every lesson. I have been particularly impressed with the determination and perseverance shown by all the children! Well done Admirals.

 Our PSHE lessons have been focused on our dreams and goals. We started our topic by thinking about our long term goals. We discussed that these needed to be realistic and that we would need to work hard to achieve them. As a class, we thought of the logical steps we needed to take in order to reach our potential. We then looked at a range of jobs and salaries and discussed which job profession we felt contributed most to society. We then had to fill out our own job applications for our dream job. As well as our discrete learning in PSHE, we took part in NSPCC number day and Children’s Well-being week!

I hope you have a restful and well-deserved break over the half term, Admirals.  Well done for all of your hard work and I look forward to seeing you in a week! Thank you parents and carers for your continued support in helping your children to reach their full potential – it really is a team effort!

Miss Pott

Autumn 2 update 

Year 5 have had a productive second half to the Autumn Term. This term has been full of lots of opportunities to grow as little people and learn about the importance of being kind and resilient. As a class, we took part in Anti-Bullying week as well as World Kindness day. During these weeks, we spent time focusing on our mental well-being and creating strategies of how we can help ourselves and others if we feel we are struggling. We have been lucky enough to take part in some wonderful cross-curricular activities too. We created out own puppets; visited Tring Museum; took part in Now Press Play virtual lessons; watched a pantomime at Townsend and performed in the Christmas concert.

In maths, we have consolidated our understanding of place value and we are able to regroup more flexibly to solve calculations. We moved on to tackle mental strategies for multiplication, addition and subtraction. We explored which methods were most efficient for calculations and which methods would not be the best suited. Mental calculations are a great way to estimate answers but also can save us a great deal of time. We then applied our learning to formal written addition and subtraction. With this, we spotted mistakes, solved missing number calculations and investigated word problems; these tested our understanding and provided an opportunity to show case our understanding.

We have been busy in English, this term, and have written some excellent, extended pieces of writing. It was so great to showcase some of our learning during wondrous writing week and we hope you enjoyed it too! The children first studied the story, ‘Stone Girl Bone Girl.’ We practised lots of different techniques in order to be successful in our formal tone to inform including: multi clause sentences, precise language, subheadings. We then moved on to look at the fantastic book Drongology. We practised to write for a number of different purposes and audiences including writing diary entries, reports, descriptions and captions. To showcase our acquired skill and knowledge, we designed our own dragon and wrote non-chronological reports. We used sub headings to inform the reader including information about habitat, diet, forms of attack, appearance and personality.

In science, we delved into the world of ‘Properties of materials.’ In each lesson, we acquired more knowledge by planning and carrying out investigations. We tested which materials were insoluble and soluble. We investigated which materials were reversible by heating and filtering and we even managed to separate an abundance of materials using magnets, scissors, blue tac and cello tape (that really was a challenge). Later in the unit, we explored reversible and irreversible changes. We made our own pop rockets and watched them explode when a new material was formed: carbon dioxide. The children have loved the hands on side to learning and demonstrated such curiosity whilst investigating the properties of different materials.

 In Geography, this half term, we have learned about volcanoes. The children have learnt all about the locations of volcanoes in the world, the make-up of volcanoes, how they are formed and much more. Our focus was on Iceland, which is where are inquiry started. We looked deeply at Hiemay: an archipelago towards the south of Iceland. We studied the physical and human features of Heimaey and then compared these to St Albans (where our school is). We then moved onto learn about the climate of Hiemaey and looked closely at how eruptions, that have occurred there, have affected the lives of the inhabitants.

Computing lessons have focused on video editing this half term. We began by looking at filming techniques including camera angles and types of shot before using a storyboard to plan a video of our own. We then filmed our videos in groups. The children showed that they were adept at using technology to create their videos.

In PE, we mastered tag rugby skills. We began our learning by playing a variety of games to practise dodging and attacking. We then put this into practice in a whole class game. The children have worked hard to play well in different teams each week and have really challenged themselves even when it has been a little chilly! We are so looking forward to going swimming next term! Please remember your swimming kit each week!

For our PSHE lessons, we learnt all about tolerance and the importance of celebrating difference. We looked at children with different cultures from our own. We held mature discussions about sensitive topics such as Hate Crimes and Black History. We learnt that groups of people are discriminated against because of perceived different and discussed how we could overcome these conflicts. I was so impressed with how mature all the children were in talking about these subjects and expressing their views to others.

In art this term, year 5 have been working on 3D form. They designed their own Mayan death masks, which the children were very proud of as they used a variety of techniques to attach the 3D elements to their mask. The children focused on creating a symmetrical pattern in their designs. They took inspiration from photos of Mayan artwork and then used their own imagination and ideas to create their own personalised masks.

In DT, this term, year 5 have been reviewing their skirt plans for Wix the mannequin and have started to select fabric choices and have begun to start sewing their sections together. All the children's panels will be sewn together to create a new skirt for Wix and we hope you enjoying the new addition to the front foyer. The children applied their prior learning of sewing techniques and had to justify why they chose certain fabrics and stitches and explain why they were best fit for the purpose. The children finally evaluated their own pieces of work which they are all very proud of.

As the term draws to a close, I am reminded of just how much we have achieved as a team and as the very special Margaret Wix family! The Christmas spirit has definitely taken over and our elf on the shelf has really caused some mischief. He has hung from our hot air balloon, stolen our class book and even made a sponge cake. It has been so lovely to see the school filled with Christmas cheer! We wore Christmas jumpers, ate Christmas lunch, decorated the tree, took part in the Christmas music concert and watched the panto too!

I hope you have a restful and well-deserved break Admirals. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, if you are celebrating! Well done for all of your hard work and I look forward to seeing you again in January! Parents and carers, thank you for your continuous support in helping your children to reach their full potential!

Miss Pott :) 

Autumn 1 Update

Admirals have had an excellent, productive first half term back to school. They have settled back into their routines and have shown me just what enthusiastic, reflective learners they are! This half term has been packed full of learning and lots of amazing opportunities.

This half term, in English, we have been enjoying a range of fantastic, high quality texts, including How to be a Wilderness Explorer. The children’s excitement and enthusiasm towards creating our own World Explorer Texts has been such a joy to watch! From the moment we opened the pages of the non-fiction book, the children were hooked. They showed just how curious they were as we explored each page by asking questions in abundance about the wilderness locations.

The book has some amazing illustrations but most importantly, it is littered with ambitious vocabulary that the children have been able to soak up in every lesson. Through the weeks, we have practised grammatical structures including, multi clause sentences, cause and effect adverbials, propositional phrases and many more. Through each lesson, we have built upon our prior learning and then had the chance to create our own wilderness guides as a group.

In maths, we have tackled the hugely important unit on place value. The children have ordered numbers, placed them on number lines, predicted mystery numbers and rounded them too! The children have persevered when faced with new learning and challenges and have demonstrated our new learning skills brilliantly! We moved onto exploring negative numbers. We learnt about where we would find them in a real life context, how to add and subtract negative numbers and how to read different intervals in scales. More recently, we have been learning how to divide and multiply by 10, 100 and 1,000. The children used speaking frames to support their understanding of the number growing larger or smaller and exactly how the digits move through the place value columns.

History, this term, has been centred on the Maya Civilisation. We explored how the Maya lived and how this is different from how they may live today. We learnt all about the occupations they carry out and the different types of food and drink they ate. We travelled back in time to look at famous sketches of the different pyramids and temples and wrote diary entries, writing as if we had been an exploring the famous ‘Lost Jungle Cities.’ Following this we learnt exactly what each of the impressive structures was used for. These included sacrifice sites, bathing pools and columns to observe the stars and phases of the moon. We finished our unit by paying the infamous Pok-A-Tok game and drank chilli hot chocolate! What fun!

 In computing, we have been learning about electronic systems and sharing information. We studied how these complex systems work and where we would find them in the outside world. We created teddy bears with different complex systems inside of them and studied important systems like pelican and puffin crossings. We then looked at sharing information effectively and created our own PowerPoints on our favourite zoo animal practising viral skills in communication. 

In PE, the children developed their netball skills and practised working as a team. Their attacking and defending skills have progressed and Mr Tate has been impressed with their sportsmanship. The children have also been practising their skills in hockey and now have great control over the ball.

In science, we have studied living things and their habitats. We found out how living things are sorted by observable characteristics and that scientists all over the world observe their and ask questions to find out about these species. We looked particularly and Jane Goodall and David Attenborough. We also learnt all about pollination and how pollinators are so vital for our environment to flourish and produce fruit and vegetables for us to eat.

In art, Mrs Campbell-Pugh has taught the children how to cut lino to create positive and negative prints in the image of dragon scales. We then experimented with mixed colours on our rollers and what it would look like if we overlapped the prints. We then used oil pastels to create our eyes. We also started Christmas a little early this year with some festive artwork which we will be revealing after half term. In DT, we explored designing a new skirt for Wix the school mannequin. We will be creating a whole class piece by putting together all our pieces. Our sewing has taken us longer to start so we will be finishing this off after the half term break and we can not wait to share this with you.

In RE, we learnt all about commitment. We looked at the key question, ‘How Far Would a Sikh Go For His/Her Religion.’ We looked at some of their core beliefs and then discussed which we thought Sikhs would find hardest to commit to. We practised our oracy skills in our discussions and had to express our opinions clearly and confidently.

In PSHE, we began our first topic ‘Being Me in My World.’ We explored our hopes and dreams for the upcoming term and moved on to learn all about children’s rights. We explored every bodies rights to be safe, have access to clean water, a safe place to live and the right to learn. We thought about our rights at school and how we can all show responsibility by upholding these rights. Additionally, we celebrated Hello Yellow Day and learnt just how important it is to care for ourselves and others. We wrote positive affirmations, played a mental-health bingo game and designed bunting to support others in keeping positive. 

Your children have worked so hard this half term and have lived by our Margaret Wix values. I hope you enjoy a restful break Admirals and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Miss Pott