After a well-deserved Easter break, the children have returned to school happy, healthy and well-rested. Here is a quick preview of Year 5 learning over the next five weeks!
Writing:
The children are currently working on how to punctuate speech correctly. This will lead nicely into writing our own short narratives with some character conversation. So far, we’ve look at punctuating speech with the reporting clause at the beginning, and at the end, of a sentence. Here’s some examples below:
“I really wish one of these paper planes would work properly,” Jack muttered.
Jack muttered, “I really wish one of these paper planes would work properly.”
Reading:
We’ve been reading a novel called The Explorer by Katherine Rundell – a story of four children lost in the Amazon Rainforest following a plane crash. So far, we’ve met Fred, Con, Lila and Max. We’ve realised that these characters (and the pilot) were the only ones on the six seater plane as it went down. In our reading lessons, we’ve been inferring more about our characters through the way they speak to each other and their actions. Fred is an older child who is inquisitive and looks after others. Con is witty and can come across as rude with her sarcastic tone. Lila is quiet and cares for her little brother, Max. Max is very young and doesn’t communicate much, but he is afraid of the situation they are in.
Maths:
We’ve started looking at calculating the volume of 3D shapes (cubes and cuboids). The volume is how much space a 3D shape occupies, in terms of it’s length, width and height. To calculate volume, we need to multiply:
length x width x height
Topic:
We are geographers this half term and we’ll be diving deeper into the Amazon Rainforest in South America. As we learn, we’ll look at similarities and differences of the Amazon compared to the UK.
Here are a few facts we’ve already learnt:
- Did you know the UK would fit inside Brazil approximately 35 times? (scale)
- There are 8 biomes that span across Earth.
- Tundra is the coldest biome
- A desert is hottest, driest biome.
- A tropical rainforest (like the Amazon) is the hottest, wettest biome.
- The UK falls within a temperate forest biome.
Science:
We are learning about chemistry this half term, looking at reversible and irreversible changes. So far, Year 5 have planned our experiment ready for next week; Which substances dissolve in water?
If our substance does dissolve, it is known as soluble and the outcome would be called a solution.
If our substance does not dissolve, it is known as insoluble and the outcome would be called a mixture.
Help at home:
Please talk with your child about our current learning.
- What are they particularly enjoying so far?
- Is there anything you can do at home together to support if they are struggling?
- How about an experiment of your own, or further reading about the Amazon Rainforest?