Summer 1

Our History based theme this half term is called, ‘What’s revolutionary about the industrial revolution?’ The children will start this unit of work by thinking about what they already know about the Victorians and the Industrial Revolution. They will then start the unit by investigating who the Victorians were and will draw on knowledge they learnt previously in Year 2. The children will then learn what the Industrial Revolution was, what steam trains are and what changes they made to our world, how the demand for coal changed during this period, how iron was made and at this point the children will learn about the history of Ironbridge in preparation for our residential trip. Next, the children will learn about the living conditions during this period in history and what life was like for children working in factories. Finally, the children will learn about famous inventors and inventions before answering our overarching question, ‘What’s revolutionary about the industrial revolution?’.

English

In English this half term, the children will be looking at the twisted fairy tale, ‘The Sleeper and The Spindle' by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell.

The children will explore and discuss fairy tales and how this fairy tale subverts the genre. They will create a number of varied written outcomes using the text as a starting point including narratives, dialogue, character descriptions, setting descriptions (estate agents’ adverts), and diary entries before using the ideas and authorial devices identified within the text to plan, draft, edit and publish their own subverted fairy tale using the idea of The Queen and the Glass Coffin to write a sequel.

Maths

In Maths, We will continue the unit, ‘Transformations’ where the children will learn to identify, describe and represent the position of a shape following a reflection or translation, using the appropriate language, and know that the shape has not changed. We will then start our next unit ‘Fractions and Percentages’ in this unit the children will begin by adding and subtracting fractions. They will then move onto multiplying fractions completing the unit by looking at percentages and solving problems.

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 asking the question: What might it mean to live well?

This will lead onto many other questions such as:

What does it mean for a worldview to be embodied?

What might it mean to ‘live well’?

What might it mean to live well if you are following Sanatan Dharma?

What might it mean to live well if you have a Sikh worldview?

How might the Middle Way help Buddhists to live well?

How are the Hadith and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad inspiring for living for those with Muslim worldviews?

Why is prayer so important in religious worldviews?

Do non-religious people ever pray?

What are the sources of morality for those with Humanist worldviews?

PSHE

In PSHE our new topic will be, ‘Relationships’. During this topic the children will: learn how to keep building their self-esteem, recognise when an online community feels unsafe or uncomfortable, understand there are rights and responsibilities in an online community or

social network, learn there are rights and responsibilities when playing a game online, learn to recognise when they are spending too

much time using devices (screen time) and finally recognise and resist pressures to

use technology in ways that may be risky

or may cause harm to themselves or others.

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.

Art
 

In Art lessons, the children will be preparing for their making their own clay tile. They will begin this unit by learning about William Morris and his influence on the Victorian era. They will make observations about his artwork using key vocabulary. The children will then learn the history of tile making and learn the technique of printing using objects as well as using coloured glazes. They will also discover how this process was popular in the Art Nouveau period (1890-1910).  After this, they will recap primary and secondary, warm and cold, complementary and contrasting colours. Using this knowledge, they will explore different colours to create a desired effect using only the primary colours. Finally, the children will design their tiles ready for making their own tiles.

    PE

This half term, the children will be learning the skills to support them to play tennis in their Tuesday PE lesson. 

For their second PE session, on Friday, the children will be orienteering. Children should come to school wearing a white T shirt, black shorts/joggers, school sweatshirt or cardigan and trainers on these days.

This half term, Y5 will also be taking part in Forest School. This will be each Thursday afternoon. Please see below for further details regarding appropriate clothing.

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