Year 5
Welcome to our Year 5 page!
We are so glad that you are joining us in our learning adventure this year.
On this page you will find everything you need to know about what we have done and achieved, what we are currently doing and where our journey is taking us next.
We have two amazing classes in Year 5. Our classes are:
- Robins (Y5) whose class teacher is Miss Clarkson
- Swifts (Y5) whose class teacher is Mrs Pountain
Learning is also supported by our school's Teaching Assistants.
ROBINS
SWIFTS
Key Information
Homework
Spellings and homework will normally be assigned on a Monday, with homework books being sent home on a Wednesday, and will need to be completed by the following Monday. Spellings will then be tested on the Monday and homework will also be marked together on that day. All work that needs completing will be listed in the Pupil Record book, which will come home with a reading book, and will also be posted below on Mondays.
Reading
We all know the importance of reading and the knowledge and joy it brings. All pupils will come home with a school reading book and will be listened to in class - please note that your child will come home with a colour banded reading book as we have exciting new books in school. Any opportunity to read to an adult at home will be valued and talking about the book will truly help engagement and key comprehension skills.
Labels
Labels are very important in every piece of clothing to enable us to distinguish any lost or found clothing. Please could you help us to help the Y5 pupils to keep all that belongs to them in this way.
PE
This term we are thrilled to be going swimming! Swifts will go swimming on a Friday in Autumn 1 and Robins will be going swimming in Autumn 2.
For Autumn 2, these are the PE days:
Wednesday - Swifts
Thursday - Robins
Friday - Swifts Key PE day; Robins Swimming day
Music
This year all of Year 5 will be learning the amazing skill of playing an instrument. When the specialist teacher believes they are ready, instruments will come home on a Thursday and will then need to be brought in every Thursday for lessons.
Dates for your diary
We have many exciting events taking place this year, so here are important events taking place in the Autumn Term (this will be updated if any new events occur):
Monday 9th September - Welcome to Y5 Meeting
This is a meeting where parents will hear more detail about what is happening this year and how to get involved in Y5 learning.
Monday 7th October - Learning Engagement Session at 3pm
This is a new and exciting initiative at St Leonard's. We would love any parents to come and join us in school for Y5 to share their learning with you. There will also be biscuits!
Friday 27th September - Swifts Led Worship
Swifts will be leading worship in church. Any parents of Swifts class who are able to attend are welcomed and appreciated.
Friday 11th October - Robins Led Worship
Robins will be leading worship in church. Any parents of Robins class who are able to attend are welcomed and appreciated.
Thursday 28th November -Panto!
All of KS2 will be attending Jack and the Beanstalk at the Empire Theatre, Blackburn for the morning - oh yes we are!
Year Group Trips
We have planned great experiences for our year group that we are sure they will gain much from.
Autumn
As mentioned above, all of KS2 will be attending Jack and the Beanstalk at the Empire Theatre, Blackburn for the morning.
Spring
Dr Diane Davies, a genuine archaeologist, is visiting us and sharing some of the artefacts that she has dug and the amazing knowledge she has! On the same day we will be immersed in the world of the Maya Civilisation through engaging activities that will also include...chocolate.
Summer
We are fortunate enough to have booked two workshops at Brockholes Nature Reserve. One workshop is Map Reading (including 3D map making) and the other is Orienteering.
Year 5 Class Timetables
Timetables are created for each half term and ensure that we provide the coverage and time allocation for each subject.
We adhere to these timetables unless there is an exciting reason not to such as a trip or visitor.
Year 5 Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Overviews are written as a whole school to ensure that all pupils gain the breadth and depth of knowldgew which the National Curriculum requires.
Homework for the Week
Week 9
GPS Book - p15
Maths Book - Workout 9
Spellings - Words ending in -ent and -ence:
innocence
decent
frequent
emergent
confidence
competence
transparent
eloquence
violent
intelligence
What have we been doing in class this week?
Friday 15th November
Year 5 have worked incredibly hard this week. We completed our poetry unit, named 'The Moon,' where each pupil produced a wonderful and creative poem, using abstract phrases, which were a delight to read! Following the theme of this celestial body we delved deeper into our knowledge of the lunar month and how we can identify a lunar eclipse. We have been so interested in this topic that some pupils are going to visit Blackburn Cathedral's Moon exhibit with our families.
Our musical skills are developing well - our music teacher is very impressed! We are very much looking forward to the performance where you can all listen to the progress we have made. In addition to this, we are doing very well at learning our numbers, days and months in French. Next week we will begin to write the date in our books.
Friday 8th November
It has been a wonderful week in Year 5 and it was so lovely for us, as Year 5 staff, to have the opportunity to meet with you in Parents Evening on Thursday – thank you for your attendance and support. Our highlight this week was working with The Woodland Trust to plant trees in Swindells Forest, we planted over 70 all by ourselves. This was such an amazing opportunity for us and it was so lovely to see everyone working so hard to create a better future. This future has become increasingly important as we continue to read ‘When The Sky Falls,’ our class novel, where we have spent some time reflecting on the war and destruction.
French has been exciting for us as we have been learning the days and moths of the year. Writing the date in French is going to be fun especially when we get to write our birth date – Bravo! We have also enjoyed starting our new Science learning, where we are now keeping a closer eye on the moon to spot what phase we are in.
Friday 1st November
This week has seen both our return to school and the beginning of some new learning journeys. We were all excited to begin learning about Earth and Space! We considered the size, distance and order of planets this week, which caused some mind-stretching questions to be asked. We cannot wait to continue this learning journey and literally see where it takes us! Another area for enthusiasm was the start of our new class novel, 'When The Sky Falls,' which is set in the war and follows the life experiences of a young boy called Joseph. We are all intrigued to know how the gorilla, on the front cover, features in a book that is based on a true story.
P.E saw Robins start their swimming lessons and Swifts begin with Key PE - both classes fully engaged with their learning, responded enthusiastically and represented school well - it was a joy to be part of. Looking ahead to next week, we are looking forward to learning more about The Song of Hiawatha and negative numbers in context. Not only that but we are beginning to learn more about our planet in Geography. We cannot wait!
Friday 18th October
We have most certainly had an exciting and busy week! One of the highlights of the week has been our making of biscuits in RE. The biscuits, known as hamantaschen, are made and eaten during the festival of Purim as a reminder of how God used Esther to save His people. They were delicious! So much so that many of us wanted the recipe and they are now going to be tasted by those on school dinners in the near future.
Computing has been another highlight where we have learnt about systems, search engines and computers. This study made great connections with our mathematical work on negative numbers and made us very curious to see how the world wide web actually works. More creativity was unleashed as we made our Christmas card designs - we hope you liked them when they came home this week! We are all ready for our rest and are looking forward to the next steps in our Year 5 learning upon our return.
Friday 11th October
Year 5 have had another exciting week! It began with our Learning Engagement session on Monday where the children enjoyed sharing the work they were most proud of with their visitors. Part of this excitement was connected to the fact that we had finished our novel - Holes! What a climactic end! We have also been enjoying a new book in English based on the real daredevil adventure of Annie Edison Taylor. The story of this 62 year old lady, who travelled on the Niagra Falls in a barrel, has been both exciting and unbelievable. Our classes have enjoyed mapping her story and using different grammatical devices to write recounts of her tale.
In Maths, we have been learning about negative numbers, their purpose and practical application. We have also completed our Autumn 1 Rapid Recall booklets where we have all made significant progress and have been excited to see the difference in our mathematical thinking skills. Next week, our focus will be on developing our computer skills - this will be an amazing journey for us all.
Friday 4th October
This week has provided Year 5 with many and varied experiences. Both classes were very excited to be given the opportunity to take their wind instruments home, we have already heard stories of the exciting adventures they have had at home with them! PSHE is teaching us amazing First Aid skills, St John’s Ambulance training is a fantastic resource and we are learning much from there.
We delved deeper into the world of the Vikings and found out much about their invasions and raids – we were in total shock that they had chosen to steal from Churches. However, in Art we are thinking about our homes and our environment and created images that reflect this.
We cannot wait until next week.
Friday 27th September
Robins and Swifts have had an exciting learning journey this week. We were all thrilled to begin finding out who the Vikings were and where they came from but, we were completely shocked to find out that their helmets did not have horns! Science introduced us to an incredible woman named Maria Sibylla Merian who is respected both as a scientist and as an artist. It is because of her that we know more about insects and butterflies. Look at the detailed and impressive drawing of this species:
Our Guided Reading text, Holes, has taken us on an emotional roller-coaster! We have been worried about the survival of two endearing characters in the book and have been relieved when we have seen signs of hope. Where will it take us next?
Friday 13th September
I think the Robins and Swifts would all agree that one of the highlights of this week was recieving our wind instruments! Everyone learnt how to breathe correctly and how to make a sound through their mouthpiece - in a few weeks time they will be bringiing them home to practice wonderful melodies. Art allowed us to look at buildings, and how to draw them. When the classes bring an image of their home in next week, we will be replicating it with pencil! RE took us to the Old Testament where we considered the actions and significance of the women in the life of Moses, whilst History surprised us all when we learnt that the names of places in our local area were linked to the Anglo-Saxons.
In Maths, we concluded our unit on Place Value and began looking at angles and turns. In English we have learnt more about the 'to be' verbs and the rules we need to use when dealing with the past, present and future. Holes has taken us further into the world of Stanley Yelnats where we now know why he believes everything is the fault of his great great grandfather!
Friday 6th September
What a wonderful week we have had in Y5 this week! It has been so good to see everyone back in school and so enthusiastic about our learning!
In maths we have been looking at how to measure area in the most efficient way and also looking at the value of numbers, including those that are decimal fractions. In English we have learnt about collective, partitive and abstract nouns - we had fun learning all of the different names for groups of animals! We are also thrilled to be reading Holes - what an interesting start to the book, with intriguing hints to unusual events that have happened which we are yet to find out about...
RE has got us thinking about women who are famous, including Taylor Swift and Marie Curie. We have looked at why they are famous which led in to us thinking of why women in the Bible might be famous. History has seen us reflecting on chronology, linking to our prior learning of the Roman Empire and our new learning - Anglo Saxons and Scots! We are looking forward to all that is yet to come.