Year 5

Over the past few weeks in Year 5 we have been busy preparing for our end of term assessments. We have been working very hard on past paper questions. As well as this though we have been studying our new topic of Allotment, we have looked at farming around the world and where different fruits and vegetables come from. Within Science we have been exploring light and sound and the differences between the two.

Week ending 12/05/2017

In Year 5 this week we have been doing some African drumming, which we have enjoyed. In English we have written speeches to inspire a sports team and next week we will be performing the. In maths we have been looking at graphs and how to draw our own versions. During our topic we have been looking at how Haydock has changed over time and we dug out some old photographs from the school and looked at how different school life was back in the 1940’s in St James.

Week ending 28/04/2017

Over the past couple of weeks in Year 5 we have been working very hard with our maths work. We have been looking at multiplying and dividing fractions and it’s certainly hurting our brains. In English we have been writing a holiday brochure to advertise Haydock and this has linked into our new topic of Time Travelers. We have looked at changes over time in a range of different areas such as transport.

Week ending 17/03/2017

In Year 5 over the past few weeks we have been doing lots of exciting and interesting work. In maths we have been finishing off our work on prime numbers, did you know that 2 is the only even prime number? We have now started to look back at work on fractions. In English we have been writing a film narrative based on Frankenweenie we have edited and redrafted this work. In our topic work we have been looking at designing our own theme park and then using this to price up the cost of a new roller coaster. On Thursday we went on an exciting trip to the Story Barn in Liverpool. We met lots of fun and interesting characters who took us on an adventure through the park and into lots of different stories.

Week ending 03/03/2017

In Year 5 over the past few weeks we have been focusing on a film narrative in English. As a class we have studied the film in detail and begun to look at the feelings and emotions of the characters. In maths we have been looking at cubed and squared numbers, we have used all of our skills we have learnt over the course of the year to help us with this. During our topic work we have looked at what a victory is and what it means to different people. The children enjoyed an exciting Mardi Gras day on Tuesday. They made masks and tasted pancakes as well as coming in dressed up in their favorite book character.

Week ending 10/02/2017

In Year 5 we have had an exciting couple of weeks. We went to Jodrell Bank observatory to learn all about the exciting work they do there plus we took part in a number of workshops. Next we took part in the Winter Warmer conducted by Active Hope. We took part in a number of team building games that culminated in us making a den in Delemere forest. We have also been working very hard within lessons on 3D shapes and a piece of descriptive writing about the Iron Man.

Week ending 27/01/2017

In Year 5 we have been focusing on angles in maths. We have been looking at measuring angles and finding some missing angles. In English we have been writing our own poems using a range of similes and metaphors and some of us even included rhyming couplets. In our topic work we have been looking at the life of Neil Armstrong and we have taken a closer look at his great achievement of landing on the moon. We have also been treated to a visit from the St Helens Chamber. We played an enterprise game as a class and one group will now go and represent the school against a host of other schools.

Week ending 13/01/2017

In Year 5 we have been exploring space. We have looked at the position of the planets in relation to the run and we have also been exploring what these planets are like. In science Year 5 have been looking at the bones and muscles of the human body. We linked our topic work with English and wrote a letter to Tim Peake, we asked him all about his recent mission and hope to hear back from him.

Week ending 30/09/2016

In Year 5 over the past few few weeks we have been exploring all about Ancient Egypt. We have looked at famous Pharaohs and even how they mummified bodies. As a class we explored Egyptian food and tasted a range of these. In English we have written some fantastic alternative endings to the Tear Thief. Maths has been all about column addition and subtraction and we even priced up the cost of our own classroom.

Week ending 08/07/2016

This week we joined with the whole school in celebrating ‘Cultural Week’. Year 5 took part in exciting cross-curricular lessons based around the United States of America (USA). We focused on two particular iconic figures who were born in the USA. We based our lessons around the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps and the artist Alexander Calder – the creator of mobile sculpture.

In Literacy, we researched the amazing life story of Phelps using a variety of different sources. Accessing video footage, interviews, newspaper articles and books, we went on to compile our own versions of a Michael Phelps biography. This amazing athlete also became the inspiration for our wire sculpture creations which were based on Calder’s art. After learning more about his work and the techniques he used, we made our own designs. We came up with some great pieces of ‘modernism’ art. These included: Olympic Rings; swimmers performing various strokes and evening swimming goggles!

In maths, we used our themed lessons to investigate time zones. We looked at the various cities that Michael Phelps has travelled to, and competed in, and used a time zone map to work out the time differences that he would have encountered. Some children also progressed to writing their own ‘Time Zone Maths Problems’ – this left Mrs Dixon with the challenging task of getting to work on her own maths skills! To finish the week, we worked with a (sadly pretend) budget of £5000 to plan our very own trip to Rio for this summer’s Olympic Games. Working with a partner, we selected flights, insurance, accommodation, and excursions. We all managed to come in under budget…just! Well done Year 5.

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Week ending 01/07/2016

We have continued to read our class novel, Oranges in no man’s land. This week we have written diary entries from an alternative character’s point of view. We chose to write about the thoughts, emotions and fears that we imagined the militiaman might have experienced when he encountered Ayesha at the checkpoint. As a class, we created success criteria and used this to help us make sure our writing contained some great features. The result was some really impressive writing!

Our creative learning this week has been based around our space topic. We have investigated what really happens to cause day and night. We began the week using a concept cartoon to establish our prior understanding. After taking part in a playground activity in which we took it in turns to form a circle for the sun and a smaller circle for earth, we demonstrated how the earth turns slowly on its axis. After conducting further research, we wrote an explanation text to describe this process. To consolidate our understanding through music, and have a bit of fun at the same time, we finished the week by writing and performing ‘Day and Night’ raps in small groups – they were really good!

In maths, we have focused on lots of arithmetic and mental maths strategies this week. We have also taken part in a fun subtraction and place value investigation. After rolling a dice twelve times, we chose where we should place the digit in a subtraction calculation. The aim was to try and get as close as possible to our target figure of 400,000. We played the activity ten times and found that our attempts became closer with each effort as our understanding of place value improved. To make us think even further, we were asked to ‘Prove It’ and explain how we had managed to improve our attempts. We really enjoyed this task!

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Week ending 24/06/2016

We have started a new class novel entitled ‘Oranges in no man’s land’ – written by Elizabeth Laird. Before beginning to read this book we made predictions from our examinations of the front and back cover. After reading the first two chapters, we returned to our predictions and discussed what we had now discovered. To help us engage with this text, set during the Lebanese Civil War, we participated in freeze frame role play to allow us to explore the characters emotions. To finish the week we began to explore the author’s use of language using the Point, Evidence and Analysis technique. We can’t wait to continue with this story next week!

This week has seen the start of our new Science topic – Animals including Humans. We have been specifically looking at the human life cycle. To do this, we have designed and labelled a human time line – detailing all the stages of human development. We have discussed the things we can do now that we couldn’t do when we were younger and looked ahead to the changes that will occur as we develop. We have also compared the gestation periods for different mammals and analysed these alongside the life expectancy for each mammal. We were then able to look for patterns and come to conclusions from our investigations.

In maths, we have been looking at problem solving and utilising the RUCSAC technique to support us. Also, we have been consolidating our understanding of long multiplication, division and fractions. Some of us even progressed to using our multiplication skills to solve a mystery! Progressing from novice, to beginner to expert detective, we solved multiplication clues to identify the location, weapon and suspect involved in this crime. We had great fun whilst learning lots!

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Week ending 10/06/2016

Year 5 may have just enjoyed a relaxing half term, but it’s back to hard work as usual this week.

Within our English work the children have continued explored a digital text called, The Clock Tower. The children have responded to the text in a variety of ways and have enjoyed writing in first person.

Mathematics work has continued to focus on improving arithmetic strategies and as usual the children have been working extremely well. We have also focused on solving problems involving measures conversions.

Creative learning has seen a change of topic as we are now exploring Space through our topic, Stargazers. The children have been researching interesting facts about the planets, including their size.

A big well done to all of the children who completed their project homework over the half term. They are all fantastic!

Week ending 20/05/2016

It’s been a busy few weeks in Year 5 as all the children continue to work hard! Even with the half term looming, Year 5 show no signs of slowing down.

Within our English work the children have continued to explore texts from David Wiesner. We have particularly enjoyed ‘Tuesday’, a picture books that tells the story of unusual happenings on a peculiar Tuesday evening. The children have written a newspaper report, a first person recount and they have also written a review of the book.

Mathematics work has continued to focus on improving arithmetic strategies and the children have been working extremely well. We have also been gaining confidence with fractions decimals and percentages and we are now able to solve a range of mathematical problems involving these concepts.

We have continued to explore the Tudors within our creative learning and the children have enjoyed discovering just how gruesome the Tudors were. Tudor crimes and punishments have been researched and the children enjoyed working collaboratively to produce posters and presentations. The children have also used a range of collage materials to prepare a portrait of Henry VIII. They also had much fun animating their portrait using the ‘Chatterpics’ app.

St James’ CE
Primary School

"Learn, Laugh and Live
with the love of God"

Welcome to Year 5

Have a look at our Year 5 Blog to see read of the wonderful things we have been doing during 2018-19

Have a look at our Year 5 Blog to see read of the wonderful things we have been doing

Week ending 30/06/2017

Week ending 12/05/2017

Week ending 28/04/2017

Week ending 17/03/2017

Week ending 03/03/2017

Week ending 10/02/2017

Week ending 27/01/2017

Week ending 13/01/2017

Week ending 30/09/2016

Week ending 08/07/2016

Week ending 01/07/2016

Week ending 24/06/2016

Week ending 10/06/2016

Week ending 20/05/2016