Welcome to Year 5

The teachers in Year 5 are Miss Grainger (Class 7), Mrs Manton (Class 8 and Year Leader) and Mrs Hagger (Class 9).

We also have teaching assistants who will be working in the year group - Mrs Togwell, Miss Bentliff and Mrs Kundi.

Homework

During the week we will set two pieces of homework - maths and spellings. All will be set on Google Classroom. The maths homework will be on a rotation of times tables activities, Mymaths and a task to consolidate or extend the work that they have been doing in class. The children will be asked to learn a list of spellings and to complete an activity.  We also request that your children read for at least 10 minutes each day and that at times, they are listened to by an adult who then can ask them questions about what they have read. A reading task will be set each week.  Every half-term the children will be given a topic based project to be complete over an extended period.

The homework will all be set on a Thursday and then due back in on the following Tuesday. As we are trying to develop the independence of the children it will be their responsibility to complete their work on time. 

PE

During the Autumn term, PE days will mostly be on Tuesdays and Fridays. We ask children bring their kit to school on a Monday and take home on a Friday. Therefore, if the PE day changes for any reason, they will still have their kits.

Friday 14th January

The children have worked very hard this week and have enjoyed a variety of activities. In English, they wrote fantastic information texts about the long-tailed field mouse and all remembered lots of key information from their time at Stubbington. In maths, they have been challenged during their unit on time.

On Thursday, year 5 enjoyed learning about friction in the hall where they were allowed to slide around in their socks and shoes to compare the amount of friction created from each surface. 

Their week ended with the 'Big Schools' Birdwatch 2022'. The children spent some time outside (see photos below) in different parts of the school being very quiet in the hope to see lots of different varieties of birds, which they did! They then plotted their findings on graphs. 

Friday 7th January

It has been great to see so many children back in school this week and it has been lovely to hear about their exciting Christmas breaks.

The children have returned to school with their great attitude to learning and have immersed themselves in our new topics - please see the new termly topic web for more information on these.

We have been learning to tell the time, both on an analogue clock and digital clocks, started to write our non-fiction text about gravity and identified what a slum is and where they are around the world.

On Wednesday, the children enjoyed their first swimming lesson and it was fantastic to see their efforts in the pool.

Wednesday 15th December

The children have worked very well on their free writes this week in English. They have concluded the measurement unit in maths and the history topic of The Benin Kingdom. It was great to see the topic homework with the children choosing how to present their research on the chosen Oba.

Today, we enjoyed our Christmas lunch in our class bubbles - see photos below.

The children are looking forward to watching the video Panto tomorrow and participating in different activities for the adapted Christmas Fair!

Friday 26th November

The children have settled back into school after their Stubbington trip. They are enjoying their new narrative unit based on the story 'Children of the Benin Kingdom' and have started the new maths unit of fractions. The children were introduced to the new science topic: Forces and identified ways to show the different forces acting. In computing, the children learnt how to create bar graphs and pie charts using sets of data and during PE this afternoon, they are practising their throwing and catching skills!

Stubbington

Day 1

We were all excited to arrive at Stubbington and get to our bedrooms. We had time to unpack before meeting for an introductory talk led by the Stubbington Study Centre staff.  We then had our lunch before doing a tour of the grounds. After that we got our warmer clothes on (although the weather has been very mild today) and went down to the seashore. When we were by the sea we collected all sorts of shells and we were told lots of information about them all. We could see the Isle of Wight and Osborne House which is where Queen Victoria lived. On the way back we had time to search for shark teeth - they are fossilised shark's teeth which are black and very sharp. We found at least five because it was low tide so we had time to hunt for them. When we got back we had our break time and played on the adventure playground, played football with Mr Hunt (who scored an amazing goal!) or just relaxed with our friends. For dinner we had a selection of food to choose from - there is so much to eat! After that we all went to different areas to take part in activities in our house groups. We had time in our classes to write postcards home and we now have a wildlife presentation. Later some of us will go the hide to see badgers and foxes whilst some of us will play games inside before we have supper and settle to bed. 

Day 2

This morning we woke up ready for our delicious cooked breakfast which was a great way to start our busy day. After breakfast we had the first of our room inspections - it's amazing how tidy the bedrooms are when there are house points to be gained! Points are given for how tidy our clothes are in the wardrobes, how tidy the floor is, how well our beds are made (note this for when they get home - they are very good at it!). Points are also given for how well each room settles to sleep at night. 

After room inspections the classes each did different activities which are rotated. Today these included:

Orienteering where we learnt how to read a compass and navigate our way around the site. 

Mapping where we had to use a map to solve clues which were hidden around the site

Tracking where we had to look for signs of animals for instance evidence of badgers or rabbits. 

Two of our groups set up their mammal hotels. This involved thinking about what a small mammal would like if they were to spend a night in our hotel. We used hay for bedding and warmth, food and a piece of apple for moisture. We then hid our mammal hotels in the grounds and are feeling really excited to see what is there in the morning before releasing any of our visitors back in the same place we found them. 

We also used equipment to build dens and we had to work together as a team. The aim was to build a den which would keep the whole team dry when they sheltered inside. Once we had finished building our den, we hid inside whilst a cup of water was thrown at the outside to test how successful our shelter was at keeping us dry. 

There was great excitement today when we all had our first visit to the tuck shop. 

Tonight we are hearing all about the work of a wildlife photographer before another group sets off to the Hide to see badgers and foxes. The rest of us will have showers, play games, chat with our friends and then have lights out at 9.00. 

Everyone here is being amazing and embracing their time away.  We are seeing fantastic examples of teamwork, responsibility and independence. 

There are so many activities still for us to look forward to. 

Check here again tomorrow to find out about our day.

Day 3

We rotated some of the activities from yesterday today. 

Earthquake - class 8 experienced "Earthquake" which involved a lot of teamwork in order to move around an obstacle course with equipment. 

Small mammal hotels - class 8 and 7 opened their small mammal hotels. Between us we opened 12 hotels which had guests. They were voles or long tailed field mice. 

Class 7 and 9 did Eggstreme Challenge which involved solving lots of puzzles in small teams to earn tokens, They then used their tokens to buy materials to wrap eggs in. These were then catapulted through the air and the winning teams had the furthest throw with their egg still in tact. 

Class 9 have set up their mammal hotels for tomorrow. 

We have included a picture of each class - however, these only include the 75% of the group who we currently have permission for displaying their photo on our school webpage (these are taken from the permissions you have set up on Arbor). Please be assured that all children are having a great experience and are being looked after really well. We are seeing amazing teamwork, responsibility and independence. They really are a fantastic group of children!

I have completed a flying visit to SSC to see the children and staff at the centre this evening. It was fantastic to see all the children and I was delighted to be able to chat with them about their week so far as they were tucking into their evening meal. The children raved about the activities that they have completed and the amount that they were enjoying the week. A particular highlight seems to have been seeing both foxes and badgers while visiting the hide - apparently one group saw an amazing 8 badgers and 4 foxes during one session earlier in the week. The children also took great delight in telling me about catching mice and voles in their small mammal hotels! 

The children are happy, safe and secure and having an amazing time - parents please try not to worry about them while they are away - they are busy thoroughly enjoying themselves. Rest assured the staff who are with your children would make contact if the children were having any issues. Please also understand that uploading photos is not a straight forward process while at Stubbington and the staff who are with them are primarily focused on looking after the children and making the experience as fabulous as possible over the course of the week.

I am sure that you are all looking forward to hearing much more from the children when they return on Friday. Mr Dawson 17/11/21

Day 4

We started our day with another delicious cooked breakfast before room inspection. Our scores are getting even better as the week progresses. 

Class 9 opened their small mammal hotels and they had 5 guests (3 voles, 1 long tailed field mouse and 1 yellow neck mouse). This afternoon they had their turn at Earthquake which was very popular! You'll need to ask them all about Lava Leap when they get home and what they had to do as they made their way around the course - it wasn't easy and really tested their teamwork skills. 

Class 7 also had a go at Earthquake today - it really brought out different skills in individuals: we saw amazing examples of leadership, teamwork, listening to each other and helping/encouraging each other to succeed even when things got tough. 

Class 7 and 8 completed their orienteering activity this afternoon. They learnt compass skills and made their way around the grounds finding the letters for their course. 

Class 8 did the Eggstreme challenge today - working together to solve challenges to protect their egg.

We are excited for our evening activity in the grounds tonight which involves all the staff dressing up and the children solving a mystery - ask them about it tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning we will have our final activity, followed by lunch before we set off home. They are likely to be covered in lots and lots of stamps as part of our morning game. 

We have all had an amazing week and I hope you are ready for them to tell you all about it at the weekend. Staff and children will all be ready for a quiet weekend!

Isolation work

If you are self-isolating, there will be work on Google Classroom.