Welcome to Year 5 

Miss Fowler and Mrs Parfitt

Summer 2

Our theme this half term is called, ‘Why should the rainforests matter to all of us?’ and is Geography based. In Geography lessons, the children will begin the unit by developing their overall understanding of what rainforests are and where they’re located, recognising the significance of latitude, longitude, the Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle in the location of rainforests. With this good overarching understanding, they will then move to focus on the Daintree Rainforest in Australia. They will name and locate Australia and the Daintree Rainforest before exploring its structure in more depth and becoming familiar with its different layers and water sources within it. The children will then spend time learning about the plants, animals and indigenous people who inhabit the rainforest before identifying some of the risks these inhabitants now face as a result of climate change and human impact. They will explain why we should all be concerned about the risks to the Daintree and other rainforests before identifying ways in which we can protect them.

English

In English we will be reading The Explorer by Katherine Rundell. We will start the unit by learning about some key information about the Amazon rainforest to support the children with accessing the text. We will then be spending some time learning any unfamiliar vocabulary and explaining the meaning of the words in context. After this we will focus on the following reading skills: predicting, retrieving and recording information, summarising and using clues in the text to infer meaning. Over the half term the children will use this story as their stimulus for the following writing outcomes: newspaper report, non-chronological report, instructions and a balanced argument.

Maths

In Maths our first new unit will be, ‘Converting units of measure’ where the children will learn to convert between different units of metric measure (for example, kilometre and metre; centimetre and metre; centimetre and millimetre; gram and kilogram). Next, we will start the unit called, ‘Calculating with whole numbers and decimals’. The children will: use all four operations to solve problems involving measure (for example length, mass, volume, money) using decimal notation, including scaling; solve problems involving number up to three decimal places; multiply numbers up to 4 digits by a one- or two-digit number using a formal written method, including long multiplication for two-digit numbers and finally multiply and divide whole numbers and those involving decimals by 10, 100 and 1000. The children’s final Maths unit will be, ‘2-D and 3-D shape’. During this unit the children will: distinguish between regular and irregular polygons based on reasoning about equal sides and angles, use the properties of rectangles to deduce related facts and find missing lengths and angles and finally identify 3-D shapes, including cubes and other cuboids, from 2-D representations.

Science

Our Science unit this half term is called, ‘Reproduction in Plants and Animals’. The children will be answering the following enquiry questions: How do flowering plants reproduce? Are all flowers the same? Do all plants reproduce by producing seeds? How do amphibians and insects reproduce? How do mammals and birds reproduce? How does the human life cycle compare with that of other mammals?

RE

In RE, we will be focusing on Christianity and will be exploring this enquiry question:  What is the best way for a Christian to show commitment to God?

PSHE

This half term in school we will be teaching our PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) unit of work called Changing Me. Part of this unit covers how the body develops as we enter puberty and it also covers sex education at an age appropriate level. In this unit in Year 5 the children revisit self-esteem, self-image and body image. They learn that we all have perceptions about ourselves and others, and these may be right or wrong. They also reflect on how social media and the media can promote unhelpful comparison and how to manage this. Puberty is revisited in further detail, explaining bodily changes in males and females. Sexual intercourse is explained in slightly more detail than in the previous year. Children are encouraged to ask questions and seek clarification about anything they don’t understand. Further details about pregnancy are introduced including some facts about the development of the foetus and some simple explanation about alternative ways of conception, e.g. IVF. Children learn that having a baby is a personal choice. Reasons why people choose to be in a romantic relationship and choose to have a baby are also explored. Children look at what becoming a teenager means for them with an increase in freedom, rights and responsibilities. They also consider the perceptions that surround teenagers and reflect whether they are always accurate, e.g. teenagers are always moody; all teenagers have a boyfriend/ girlfriend, etc.

Computing

Our new unit will be, ‘Spreadsheets’. The children will: create a formula in a spreadsheet to convert m to cm, learn to use the ‘how many’ tool, use a spreadsheet to work out the area and perimeter of rectangles, create simple formulae that use different variables and finally use a spreadsheet to model a real-life situation and come up with solutions.

Design and Technology

In Design and Technology, the children will be making soup. Firstly, the children will explore a real-life context for designing and making a soup, pulling together everything they already know about soups.  Following on from this, the children will complete sensory evaluations of a range of bought soups using taught sensory vocabulary. The children will then explore what is meant by seasonal foods (referring to our school allotment and what we have planted). They will consider the benefits of consuming seasonal foods. Afterwards, they will research what food is available in each season in the UK, learning that climate conditions affect when, and where food is produced. Next, using their knowledge of seasonal foods, the children will make a class vegetable soup using vegetables which are currently in season (hopefully using some from our allotment!). They will practise a range of cooking techniques such as peeling, grating, chopping and slicing vegetables safely and hygienically. After this, they will try the soup and evaluate it. In the next lesson, the will use their knowledge about seasonal foods, their tasting evaluations and skills they have developed to create their own design criteria for their own soup and plan it.  Using their designs, the children, in their groups, will prepare and cook their own soup.

    PE

This half term, the children's PE lessons will be athletics and cricket. The children will need to come dressed in the following on PE days (Tuesday and Wednesday):

• School sweatshirt or cardigan
• White T-Shirt
• Black tracksuit bottoms/shorts 
• Clean training shoes

Useful Links to Practise Key Skills

English:

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

Your child has an individual log-in for this website. They can play spelling games based on lists of words. 

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. 

Maths Mastery have produced lots of fantastic free resources for children to use at home.

This website has lots of interactive Maths games. 

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

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

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