Year 5 Curriculum Information
Term: Spring term 24
Home Learning:
Maths home learning is set on Monday and must be completed by Thursday. Writing tasks are alternated weekly. One week there will be a paper task in the CGP grammar book and the following week the task will be uploaded on to Google Classroom. A writing task is set on a Thursday and should be completed and either uploaded to Google Classroom by the following Monday, or handed in to the teacher if the task was in the grammar book that week.
Children focus on learning their rapid recall target, please also encourage your child to use their Times Tables Rockstars logins to practise at home. Children will also be sent home a review of each chapter we complete in maths, to consolidate their learning, with parental support.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables - Great way to practise rapid recall targets!
Please encourage your child to read at home every night – research shows that children who read for pleasure are more likely to succeed in all areas of the curriculum.
PE
Y5M have PE on a Tuesday and Wednesday and Y5O have PE on Tuesday and Thursday. Please make sure your child has the correct PE kit and that this is labelled with their name.
Spring 2: Coach will be teaching football this term and teacher led lessons will focus on dance: street art.
RE:
Throughout the year, OLM focuses on different elements of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Each term we look at a different value and discuss what each one means:
Autumn 1 - Care of Creation
Autumn 2 - Preferential Option for the Poor
Spring 1 - Solidarity and Peace
Spring 2 - Community and Participation
Summer 1 - Dignity of Workers
Summer 2 - Human Dignity
We follow the ‘Come and See’ scheme of work. Each topic usually lasts for four weeks. We begin by exploring what each topic means to us before moving on to how it relates to religion and the gospels. During the year we also learn about other faiths. At OLM we focus on Judaism and Islam. This is a brilliant way to teach respect for our community as a whole, regardless of cultures and beliefs. Our topics for the autumn term are: ourselves, life choices and hope.
English
We will begin the term with a biography unit where we look at the scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock. We will then move onto the epic tale of Beowulf where children will be creating their own mythical beasts and heroes and the adventures they go on. Following that we will be reading the book Skellig by David Almond – winner of the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year.
Spring 2: we will finish our work on Skellig followed by a study of the polar expedition of Shackleton. The book which children will follow is Shackleton's Journey by William Grill. For the second half of the half term, we will look at a book of poetry called Dark Sky Park.
Reading:
Destination Reader is the approach to teaching reading which we take in key stage 2. It involves three sessions per week incorporating whole class modelling of reading strategies prior to the children applying these skills through partner work and independent reading. Teachers and children will use a range of strategies to aid comprehension and encourage the teaching of reading with meaning and to support reading with pleasure. We are currently reading Wild Boy by Lloyd Jones.
Maths:
Children should now be confident in all their times tables (up to the 12 times table). Children should be able to answer related questions quickly and fluently. Please practise these at home with your child on a daily basis.
Maths No Problem will be used throughout Year 5 and the children will be continuing to use Rapid Recall to develop and consolidate mental maths skills.
Most Maths No Problem chapters include problem solving activities where children will be consolidating and extending their use and understanding of bar modelling method. All children will be expected to complete reasoning challenges related to the topic of study.
Rapid Recall will be given out weekly. Rapid Recall is very important to practise mental maths skills.
MyMaths home learning tasks will be set online every Monday.
We will be covering the following topic areas this term:
- Fractions - including dividing and multiplying fractions by whole numbers.
- Decimals - reading and writing decimal numbers. This is followed by comparing decimal numbers to find out which is greater, and which and smaller.
- Percentages - this chapter begins with comparing quantities and exposing percentage as an amount out of 100. The chapter finishes by having pupils convert fractions to hundredths, both by expanding fractions and by simplifying them.
- Geometry - this chapter explores angles: measuring angles, the investigation of angles on a line/point and drawing angles, before moving onto using angles as a descriptor for common shapes.
Science:
Spring 1: The children will be learning about forces. What we will cover:
- explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object
- identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces
- recognise that some mechanisms including levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect
Spring 2: The children will learn about living things and their habitats.
- Classifying living things, Life cycles of mammals,
- describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird
describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals
Computing:
This term we will be looking at a Data and Information topic - 'Flat-file databases'
E-safety
The popularity of social networking sites is growing. It is important for children to know how to protect themselves and behave responsibly when they are part of an online community.
Children must use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; recognise acceptable and unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact.
How to make ourselves SMART online:
- SAFE - keep safe, do not give out personal information
- MEET - don't meet someone you have met/spoken to online
- ACCEPTING - don't accept messages from people you don't know
- RELIABLE - information may not always be true
- TELL - tell your parent/carer if something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried
A useful website for e-safety: http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/
History and Geography
Spring 1: This half term we will be studying Migration in geography and the Lady of Mercians in history. Children will be taught about:
- Identifying Contrasts and themes: Comment on impact and legacy, start to suggest reasons for connections over time and across places and cultures. Sequence and structure complex subjects and themes.
- Using Sources: Select, organise and use information from more than one source to construct an informed response and/or opinion. Explain the usefulness and reliability of different sources. Start to develop perspective and judgment by explaining how historical ‘facts’ are often interpreted to support opinions.
- Chronological Understanding: Use precise dates and explain why some are significant
- Questioning: Ask and answer historically valid questions (eg about significance, or the basis of people’s opinions)
Spring 2: We will then follow this with a closer look at Norse culture around the same time period.
Art/DT
Spring 1: This half term the children will learn about bridges and structures as their DT topic.
Spring 2: During the second half of the term, the children will focus on the use of contrasting colours through the artist Yinka Shonibare.
Music
Spring 1: 'Musical Theatre' with a focus on singing and playing instruments for the song 'This is Me' (The Greatest Showman Ensemble) chosen for its strong lyrics for the school's Neuro Diversity and Spirituality celebration. All music lessons cover aspects of singing, composing, performing, listening and appraising.
Spring 2: Building on Spring 1 where pupils learned about the interrelated dimensions of music, we will continue with Musical Theatre with a focus on its history and development. This provides an opportunity for children to create a musical theatre scene of their own where they take on the role of a member of the musical theatre's creative team. All music lessons cover aspects of singing, composing, performing, listening and appraising.