Year 5 and 6
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Welcome to Term 4, this term’s topic continues over Terms 4 and 5 and is the study of Crime and Punishment. The learning opportunities that take place over these terms are both rich and varied. Focusing on Term 4, here is the outline of the main aspects of the learning.
Maths (inc assessment and recovery curriculum)
- multiplication, division and problem solving with numbers that include decimal notation
- solve problems involving the calculation and conversion of units of measure, using decimal notation up to 3 decimal places where appropriate
- use, read, write and convert between standard units, converting measurements of length, mass, volume and time from a smaller unit of measure to a larger unit, and vice versa, using decimal notation (to up to 3 decimal places – Year 6)
(Year 5)
- solve problems involving converting between units of time
(Year 6)
- use simple formulae
- generate and describe linear number sequences
- express missing number problems algebraically
- find pairs of numbers that satisfy an equation with 2 unknowns
- enumerate possibilities of combinations of 2 variables
English (inc assessment and recovery curriculum)
Using the story Holes by Louis Sachar we will be exploring a range of genres to produce big writes and develop reading skills. Written in 1998 Holes centres on an unlucky teenage boy named Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention centre in a desert in Texas, after being falsely accused of theft. The plot explores the history of the area and how the actions of several characters in the past have affected Stanley’s life in the present. These interconnecting stories touch on themes such as racism, homelessness and illiteracy.
(See Medium Term Plan for overview of other subjects)
We will post up examples of the fantastic work that the pupils complete when we get back to school.
Home Learning Term 5 – Animals and their habitats
In Lily Class and Sunflower Class so far this term we have been thinking about animals and their habitats.
Lily Class have produced leaflets for conservation parks and speeches about protecting the environment. Within both of these pieces of writing we have thought about different tones and voices within writing and speaking and how they might affect the reader or listener.
Sunflower Class were zoo directors of a wildlife park which ethos was to conserve the existence of rare and endangered species of animals around the world. We created signs for the visitors to find out about the animals including interesting facts. Did you know that Adult African elephants can eat 150kg or more of foliage, grass, small branches and fruit in one day and also drink 135 litres of water?!
Year 5 have then composed stories set in jungle settings a bit like jungle book. We have included detailed descriptions of setting, problems for our characters to resolve and conclusions that attempted to link back to the beginning of the story.
In science, Lily Class have looked at how animals have adapted to their environments and even used what we found out to imagine our own creatures that might adapt to a wide range of environments or even to conditions on other planets. We have also investigated the sun and how it creates energy and how wind turbines generate electricity for us.
Sunflower Class learned about the Himalayan balsam and the squirting cucumber, revealing in super slow motion how these two incredible plants spread their seeds using high pressure mechanisms. In our ‘dancing competition’, we judged which animal was the best dancer by watching videos of a grizzly bear, a mudskipper, a spider dancing for his life, the shape-shifting ballerina dance of a bird of paradise or the waggle dance of bees.
Lilies have also been doing lots of work on translation, reflection and decimals during maths using a wide range of websites at first but now specifically focusing on whiterosemaths.com.
Today we have also started a cross curricular project to combine a wide range of skills in creating a board game to play with our families.
Sunflowers practiced calculating the perimeter, area and volume of animal enclosures including calculating the area for different shapes like triangles and parallelograms. The challenge in Maths was to calculate cost of glass for water tanks or the fencing of enclosures. Now we are learning about decimals and fractions with the help from White Rose Maths.
For our topic work, Sunflower Class has enjoyed reading an extract from ‘The Hobbit’ by J. R. R. Tolkien and watched a video about tiger cubs to retrieve facts and make interferences. We also carried out interviews with different family members and used direct and indirect speech to show their opinions about the value courage.
Further, we had a look at the religion of Islam, as on the 24th April their religious tradition of Ramadan started. Then we compared Islam to other religions like Christianity or Hinduism.
We are currently learning new words through ‘Word of the Day’ like plethora, devoured, dwindle or relinquish and are trying to use these in sentences of our own.
We are incredibly proud of all the work that has been completed in Year 5 and are looking forward to welcoming you back into school when it is safe!
Year 5 Term 4 – China
In Term 4 we are studying china and building Chinese dragons from recycled materials. Before doing so we looked at Chinese Dragon dances and the Dragons they use in them. Once our Dragons are finished we are going to make up our very own Dragon dance and record it. Photos to follow!
In literacy we have been learning about many different aspects of Chinese culture from animals and landmarks to cities and food. We are going to present this as a non-chronological report. In science week our focus is birds and we are going to compare the birdlife of China to the birdlife of Kent and look for similarities and differences.
In science we have been looking at Giant Pandas and their habitats and the problems they face, along with other examples of Chinese wildlife. We have then started to research the life cycle of plants and are starting to focus on the ‘Miracle Plant’ of bamboo and its various uses.