Author: Mr Freeman

The class have really settled in to life as Year 5 pupils this week. As we begin new areas of learning, we’ve made sure to talk about how our Christian values may help us become even better learners and citizens.

Here are our Christian values and KS2 definitions:

In our circle time this week, we reflected on, and discussed, the following statement:

I know that it’s OK for me to make mistakes and learn from them

The children came up with some really good links between making mistakes and our Christian values.

Making mistakes can help us learn more and persevere.

If we do something wrong, it’s important to show forgiveness to ourselves and other people.

Making mistakes can help us be courageous, like Lilian is in our class novel because she lost her grandad’s Egyptian vase and is now trying to get it back.

Help at home:

This half-term, we are focussing on one of the Christian values – perseverance. Talk to your  child about what this means and how we can show perseverance in different ways at school and at home.

Speaking of perseverance…

Just take a look at how many fantastic reading records Year 5 have brought back in week one! The fact file task has been well and truly completed to a high standard – great work.

If your child has not yet been able to read at home or complete their reading record task, please remind them to do so. The deadline is Friday each week.

‘My thoughts are that rules keep us safe because without them, children wouldn’t have direction and wouldn’t know what is right and wrong.’

I understand your point of view, but what do you think about mine? Sometimes rules need to be broken in order to stay safe.

We then discussed how we can show the rules are being followed in school. We’ve made sure, during morning and afternoon registers, that we are replying respectfully and politely when called upon. We’re also working well in teams with our table caddies to keep them tidy and ready to learn.

There’s been a slight change to our 3,2,1, Stop. We are looking for children to respond to this with silent voices, positive body language and focus on the speaker. We do not require children to have empty hands anymore as children may feel more comfortable and focussed whilst holding something. We’ve discussed in class how to do this effectively and all children have responded well.

Hello and welcome to Year 5!

After a busy Summer, our children (and teachers) have returned to school and are settling in, ready for a fantastic year. It was great to hear such happy and healthy memories from the children, and it was nice for them to ask about my holidays, too.

It feels like we have restarted exactly where the class left me in Year 3 – determination, hard-work and resilient learners keen to be the best version of themselves. I’m really pleased with how everyone has adapted to changes, as transitioning between classes can be overwhelming.

We can’t wait to really get stuck in to our learning (especially our new history topic involving Ancient Egypt). The children have shown excitement and have even brought in lots of books for others to read during our book club.

In our first history lesson, we recapped our knowledge of British and world history, using timelines to plot time periods. The children worked well with this, completing the task either independently or as a group.

Help at home:

Talk to your children about our learning from this week.

What have they enjoyed so far?

What are they looking forward to learning more about?

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to another great year!

Take care,

Mr Freeman

Year 5 reports have been sent out to parents/carers today. I’d like to start by saying how proud I am of all the children this year. It’s been a pleasure to teach all the children and they should be really proud of themselves. I feel privileged to have played a small part in their continued development, both with their academic learning and their journey in being happy, healthy and successful human beings.

Please, if you have any comments, questions or concerns, contact me – I’m always happy to help.

Thanks, parents and carers, for your continued and fantastic support of your children at home – it really does make a difference.

Take care

Mr Freeman

 

Year 5 are coming to the end of their RSE learning block. We’ve had some really positive and mature conversations about growing older, puberty and changes to expect in our lives.

“I’ve really enjoyed learning RSE. I really like the Ask-It Basket because it lets me write questions that I don’t like saying out loud.” – anonymous

“RSE is important because everyone will go through changes and I’ve learnt how to deal with them.” – anonymous

“I feel safe in school if anything were to happen unexpectedly. I have lots of trusted adults I can turn to like my teacher.”

Help at home: 

Please keep allowing your child to talk about this learning. They may have further/ongoing questions as they transition into high school, so keep an open-book policy at home. Children struggle to talk about this learning as it makes them feel uncomfortable and strange, so please encourage a happy, healthy and safe talking environment.

To help us get into the World Cup spirit, Year 5 took part in a writing workshop this week. Our goal was simple: to imagine the final penalty to win the World Cup was down to us. One chance, one opportunity. We wanted to create suspense and tension by describing the final moments before taking the penalty. The pupils enjoyed and engaged with this writing really well. When we had finished, the children used table partners to check, edit and improve their writing further. We then wrote up final pieces in books (examples below). Although the children didn’t have much time to write this piece, the pieces themselves are superb! We’re really pleased with how they read and we now understand what it might feel like to be in that situation for the players!

Here are just three examples, but well done to everyone in Year 5!

Emily M

Beau

Isla

This week, Year 5 have begun learning about relationships and sex education (RSE). Our first session (and circle time) was about the following learning objective: I know that ingredients for a happy and healthy relationship.

We began the session with some class rules. Rules are important because they help keep us happy, healthy and safe. The children now understand fully how to act and respond in our RSE lessons. Here area few of our rules:

• We will talk to someone we trust if we feel there’s a need to get help.
• We can use the ask-it basket box to ask questions .
• It’s not OK to ask personal questions of each other or the teacher.
• We will be kind and supportive of each other, listening and not interrupting.
• We will respect different opinions, situations and backgrounds.

We then discussed our thoughts and feelings around learning RSE.  All feelings shared were absolutely normal and ok to feel. Some children may feel nervous, whilst others may be curious to learn more – whatever feelings we have are accepted and we’ll all fully respect each other.

Finally, we introduced the Ask-it Basket. The basket is a safe space for pupils to write down any questions, worries or concerns during our RSE learning. These will be checked after each section by the teacher and acted on accordingly. We’ll keep our questions anonymous as to not break any of our rules above. Once checked, if the teacher feels any questions may be appropriate to relay to the whole class, they may be discussed and learnt about together.

Help at home: 

Please give your child opportunities at home to talk about their learning and to bring up any questions or concerns they may have. This can be a difficult and confusing part of life for children to learn about, so support both at home, and in school, is vital.

As part of our Staying Safe themed week, Years 5 and 6 have been learning about staying safe within our school grounds. This half-term, it’s the turn of our younger children to experience Forest School. When speaking to Sarah and observing some of the younger children outdoors, we noticed that they might benefit from some guidance on staying safe.

So, off we went to Forest School to take some pictures of the activities available and any potential risks to educate the younger children about. We returned to make posters on staying safe whilst outdoors (examples below). Here at St James’, it is all of our responsibilities to keep our school a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe. With that in mind, we decided to visit our younger pupils to show them our posters. The conversations between children were fantastic and the younger pupils loved learning more about staying safe outdoors!

 

This week, Year 5 have been learning all about deforestation impacts on the Amazon Rainforest. To do this, we’ve used an advert by Greenpeace UK called ‘There’s An Orangutan In My Bedroom. There is also a book for this story by James Sellick. Here’s a link to the video if you wish to watch it at home together:

there’s a rang tan in my bedroom – YouTube

In this advert, we find a confused yet inquisitive orangutan in a girl’s bedroom. It seems to be messing up her living space and becomes very annoyed seeing a chocolate bar and some shampoo containing palm oil. After initial anger, the girl becomes invested in why the orangutan is in her room. She learns that the orangutan has nowhere else to go as there are humans in the Amazon, destroying it’s home. The girl feels sympathetic and motivated to then help the orangutan with this issue. Finally, she calls for anyone watching to join the fight against deforestation and for us to be wary and mindful of the items we’re buying for our homes.

The learning from Year 5 around this issue has been fantastic. For example, we began by thinking about how the girl’s emotions change through the video and why this may be (shown below).

Then, we decided to do some acting of our own. The children split into groups and had some time to plan out their recreation of the advert. They then performed to the rest of the class, and all acts were absolutely brilliant! After lots of positive and constructive feedback, we created some reflective statements to use when performing.

When performing, it is vital to look up at the audience.

When performing, it is vital to share speaking parts equally.

When performing, it is vital to project your voice and use actions.

We were so proud of our performances, so we decided to take it one step further – to perform to the whole school in Friday’s collective worship! Year 5 were absolutely fantastic and had clearly taken their feedback on board. Here are some pictures of the performance!

Help at home: 

Watch the video at home together. Is there anything you could do to support the prevention of deforestation? Next time you go to the supermarket, are there options that don’t contain palm oil? Maybe a healthier alternative over a chocolate bar, too?

Perhaps you could explore James Sellick’s book on this issue – There’s a Rang-Tan in my bedroom.

This week, Year 5 were investigate the following enquiry question:

Which substances dissolve in water?

In science, we follow a three-step process: to plan; to do (and observe); and to evaluate.

In our planning process, we had to thing about which variables are going to stay the same (controlled) and which variables are going to change (independent).

Controlled variables (stay the same):

• amount of water
• amount of substance in each cup
• amount of stirs per substance
• temperature of water
• time limit

Independent variables (change)

• type of substance

Once we were all prepared, we made some predictions. The substances being tested were: salt, sugar, sand, rice, coffee, flour.

I don’t think rice will dissolve because we cook rice with hot water and it doesn’t disappear – Ethan

I think sugar is soluble because people drink tea which can have sugar in – Isla

Coffee is soluble because loads of adults drink it – Vinnie

Then it was time to conduct our experiment. The children worked really well in small groups and stayed safe throughout. Once finished, we discussed our findings and evaluated our results. Here is an example of our class evaluation:

Help at home

Maybe investigate one of our further suggestions at home?