Spring 2

Our driver subject this half term is History and our main enquiry is to ask: ‘Were Tudor and Elizabethan Times all banquets and fun?’ The children will start this unit of work by thinking about what they already know about the Elizabethan Times and what they would like to find out.  Firstly, the children will learn the fundamentals of the Tudor/Elizabethan era- who they were, how they all relate to one another and the key events during this period. After this, the children will then learn why Elizabeth visited Kenilworth Castle and they will explore a map of the castle to see what changes were made in preparation for her visit. Next, the children will explore how England changed during Tudor times (focusing on religion and English culture) and will compare the lives of a rich and poor Tudor. Before visiting Mary Arden’s Farm (where they will see a Tudor house), the children will learn what a Tudor home would have been like if they did not live at Kenilworth Castle. Finally, the children will learn about Mary Queen of Scots and the Spanish Armada. They will then use this knowledge to compare this period in history to others- were they more or less safe than other times in the past? To conclude, the children will explore the notion of this period being considered a ‘Golden Age’ and will gather all their learning to decide whether the overarching question of this topic should be changed, ‘Were Tudor and Elizabethan Times all banquets and fun?’

English

In English this half term, the children will be looking at the play, ‘The Tempest’ by William Shakespeare. They will be analysing different versions of the play but their learning will mainly be based on the version by Helen Street (Real Reads) as it reflects the depth and power of the original story, and retains vocabulary used by Shakespeare. Due to the Shakespearean language the children will be exposed to, we will be spending time in reading lessons unpicking the meaning and putting the vocabulary in context. The children will be involved in a range of drama activities throughout this unit and will have time to re-enact different scenes. Using The Tempest as the stimulus, the children’s writing outcomes will be as follows: a biography of William Shakespeare and King Henry VIII, a diary entry, a setting description of the storm and a playscript or performance poem.

Maths

In Maths, we will be moving onto a unit of work relating to angles. We will learn that angles are measured in degrees, how to estimate and compare acute, obtuse and reflex angles, we will also draw given angles and measure them and finally the children will identify different types of angles. We will then start our next unit, ‘Fractions, Decimals and Percentages’. During this unit the children will learn to:  add and subtract fractions with the same denominator and denominators that are multiples of the same number, multiply proper fractions and mixed numbers by whole numbers, solve problems involving multiplication and division, recognise the per cent symbol (%) and understand that per cent relates to ‘number of parts per hundred’ and finally write percentages as a fraction and as a decimal.

Science

Our new unit is called, ‘The Earth and Beyond’. The children will: describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system, describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth, describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies and use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky. The children will also have a fantastic opportunity being a part of Space Camp 2025, where they will launch their home-made rockets, land a space drone, park the moon buggy on the moon pad, fix the leak of a broken rocket, make their own rockets, make their own constellation scopes and find out lots of facts about Space and famous astronauts. 

RE

In RE, we will be asking the question: How have religion and history been entwined in this area?

This will lead onto many other questions such as:

How can we find out about worldviews in the past?

What are the religious roots of Coventry and Warwickshire?

What might Shakespeare’s worldview have been?

Can Shakespeare’s worldview be seen in his plays?

What happens when two similar worldviews collide?

What was George Eliot’s worldview?

Can we see George Eliot’s worldview in her writings?

Is Coventry really a city of reconciliation?

How and why have other faith communities thrived in this area?

What is the evidence of worldviews past and present in our local area and how do we find it?

PSHE

In PSHE this half term the children will consider many aspects linked to the unit, ‘Healthy Me’.  The children will learn the health risks of smoking and some of the risks with misusing alcohol, including anti-social behaviour, and how it affects the liver and heart. They will also learn and put into practice basic emergency aid procedures (including recovery position). Next, they will understand how the media, social media and celebrity culture promotes certain body types. After this, they will describe the different roles food can play in people’s lives and can explain how people can develop eating problems (disorders) relating to body image pressures. Finally, the children will know what makes a healthy lifestyle including healthy eating and the choices they need to make to be healthy and happy.

Computing

This half term the children’s new unit is called, ‘Game Creator’. The children will: plan their own game, design their game environment, design the game quest to make it a playable game, share their finished game and evaluate their own and peers’ games to help improve their design for the future.

Art

In Art, the children will be learning how to draw a person. Firstly, they will recap sketching a face, which they learnt in previous years and then they will learn the skills to draw a whole body. They will look at how to draw people in general sitting, standing, slumping and consider body outline using various media and styles (continual lines/ink/charcoal/pen etc) Once the children have mastered these skills they will then consider texture and tone and how to create different effects to portray clothing and skin. They will then create their own masterpiece of King Henry Vlll.

    PE

This half term the children’s PE lessons will be fitness and hockey.

Useful Links to Practise Key Skills

English:

Your child has an individual log-in for Spelling Frame. They can play spelling games based on lists of words. Encourage your child to complete the segment cards first as this teaches them the specific spelling patterns.

Times Table Rock Stars - your child has an individual log in for this.

Your child has a log in for this. I have set some mini assessments (these are SATs style questions at a Year 5 level) these questions will get them used to SATs style questions and this is a very good way to practise these skills.

This is another great resource. Your child has a log in for this. I have set some mini assessment for your child to complete. These again, are SATs style questions, but at a Year 5 level. 

Oxford Owl- provides access to free e-books (you have to create a free account to view them) 

Use these links to find an interesting image. What do you think is happening? Can you describe what is happening in your exercise book? Can you write a story about it?

On the Pobble 365 website, there is a different image everyday for you to use. If you click on 'Pick a Day' in the right hand corner of the Pobble 365 website you can select an image from any day. 

This blogger has compiled a list of children's authors with great books to read, each author has a few reading based activities on their website. 

Audible has lots of free audiobooks for children while you're learning at home.

KS2 Bitesize English is a fantastic resources to revise SPAG, different types of text and reading.

Maths:

This website has lots of age appropriate maths resources and they have produced home learning packs for each year group with helpful videos and activities for each day of home learning. 

This website has lots of interactive Maths games. 

This website groups games together well and you can search by subject.

This is a story based maths game which your child can log into with their TT Rock stars log ins.

Other Subjects:

This is a fantastic website with lots of videos, interactive activities and printable resources around all the subjects as well as current events. Great for exploring if you want some extra material in your home learning. Children you can watch the '60 Seconds News' following this link (the same as we watch in class!). 

Once clicking this link, choose 'Espresso' from the drop down log-in menu in the top right hand corner. You have been given, in the front of your exercise books, a username and password for this website. 

With this link you can take a virtual tour around the British Museum, London. 

This website has lots of activities you can do in the garden, as well a lots of information about animals and plants for research tasks.

Find out information and take quizzes using this link.

These games are the first steps of computer programming, they are very engaging for children. 

This is a typing game for children.

Joe Wicks 'The Body Coach' has a series of 5 minute videos aimed at children. He is also running a 30 minute PE session every morning at 9:00 on his YouTube channel (The Body Coach).

This website has fun movement videos for children