What a great start...

WOW, we’re already at the end of our second week! Year 5 have really impressed me with the way they have settled well into class and are already working really hard. Many of them have earned themselves lots of minificates and house points already because of their great attitude, focused learning, effort and great work. Swimming has also got off to a great start and Year 5 have made all the teachers very proud of how they have represented themselves at Palatine Leisure Centre with their new swimming teachers.

Home learning - I’m also really pleased to see those children who are already reading regularly at home and collecting their bookmark stickers, completing quizzes and earning our minificates and golden tickets for reading (Please ask your child about these rewards). At the end of this half term we will pick out our golden ticket winners and reward our reading champions. Please make sure your child is reading regularly at home to ensure they make good progress in this area. Remember Year 5, good readers = good writers!

Our work this week:

In English we have begun looking at free verse poems and have been discussing and identifying the poetic techniques such as personification, alliteration, similes and metaphors, that the poets have used.

In maths we have been working on place value of 5-digit numbers and have been comparing and ordering them. The children have also been working on mental and more formal calculations of addition and subtraction.

In RE we have begun our work on Creation and have reflected on the beautiful world we live in. The children have considered the answers to important questions around this topic and are beginning to compare their answers. In RE we’ve also reflected on our school-wide focus - to be ‘learned’ and ‘wise’. In class we’ve discussed this week how wise we can be in the choices we make, even when those around us don’t.

Our topic this half term in science is Animals Including Humans and we have begun by looking at the human timeline, noting the main developments that occur through a human’s lifetime. We have also looked at the length of gestation in humans and have compared this to other animals.

In geography we are going to be investigating our local area. The children have already located Blackpool on a variety of maps using atlases and we have also been using the 8 points of the compass to locate places on a map.

Please look at the Curriculum overview map on the Year 5 page to see all the topics the children will be studying this half term.

This week the children have brought home their homework which is to be completed and handed in by Wednesday ready to be marked as a class. Please see the post about homework expectation and a reminder of this week’s homework on the Homework tab of the Year 5 area of this website.

The award winners we celebrate this week:

Maths award - Well done Mya for her 100% accurate score on our timed times tables test. She completed 144 questions in just 3 minutes and 5 seconds. Fantastic!

Golden Award - Reuben has really impressed me with his excellent attitude, enthusiasm and hard work. He has proved himself an excellent role model already and shown impeccable behaviour. You’ve made wise choices, well done Reuben!

Swimming starts next Tuesday

This morning a swimming teacher from Palatine came to meet the children and talk through what they need to know. Swimming will be on Tuesdays (please see letter you received home today) and the children will be accompanied to the pool by Mrs McCooey and Miss Evans. The children will need to come in their school PE kit for the day and will need with them their swimming kit in a separate bag to their school bag. Girls will need a one-piece swimsuit and boys will need swimming trunks (please see photo of acceptable type as baggy swim shorts are not allowed), a towel, swim hat for all girls and boys who have a longer hair style or fringe, and goggles if you return the signed goggles letter. The children will not need shampoo or shower gel as they will only have time to rinse and get dressed quickly ready to return to school. Please can the health forms given out today be returned before Friday so the information can be uploaded for the swimming teachers ready for Tuesday’s lesson. If your child has asthma, inhalers will be taken to the pool by the teachers so please make sure your child has an up to date inhaler in school as soon as possible.

On PE and swimming days earrings will need to be left at home to avoid losing them as children are not allowed to swim or do PE with them in. 

Thank you. 

Well done Year 5!

Well done Year 5, you’ve worked hard all year and we’re very proud of you all! I hope you all have a lovely Summer and we’ll see you in September as you begin your last year of your journey through Our Lady’s.

Here are just a few photos of some of the things Year 5 have achieved over the last half term…

In Computing the children programmed a microbit to make to make a game in which players have to guide a wand along a course without making contact. Making contact will add one to the player’s score and the player with the lowest score wins! The children had fun making the game and just as much fun playing them!

At the beginning of this month, the other half of Year 5 took part in Bikeability bicycle training. We’re pleased that the children worked hard over the two days training and they passed their Level 1 and 2 Bikeability. Well done!

This week we were lucky to have a visit from Father Jim who came to class to talk to the children about the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. He brought his scaled model of the rocket that took the astronauts to Space which was really impressive and the children were so fascinated that we watched the live footage from 50 years ago of that really special moment. The next day Luke brought in his Grandpa’s newspaper from that day.

Year 5 have had a great year swimming and have all achieved certificates for their amazing progress. Well done also to Alana, Archie, Ella, Holly, Liam, Matthew, Olivia and Reece who represented the school at the Schools’ swimming gala - they did extremely well and we were very proud of them!

Our Reading Champions…I’ve been really impressed with the amount of reading that has been done this year and it’s been great to be able to give out so many reading bookmarks that have been completed and certificates given out. However, most impressive is the progress that all the children who have read regularly this year have made. Well done!

Well done to Holly and Sadie who were our Golden ticket winners this half term for regular reading at home!

Summer Term 2

The children have had a great first week back and they have hit the ground running and are working hard knowing that Year 6 is now only around the corner.

This week…

In English the children have been working on writing their own non-chronological reports. The unit links to the work we did last half term on stories from other cultures so they have researched about dragons and they are writing a dragon field guide for dragon spotters.

In maths the children have been working on reflection of shapes with Mrs Parker and the rest of the week they have been adding money and finding change using mental strategies.

In RE the children have been looking at the Sacrament of Reconciliation and are writing a guide for younger children to use when they make their first reconciliation.

Our topic on the Maya civilisation in history wasn’t quite finished from last half term so this week the children were looking at Maya writing and comparing it to our own. Once completed, we turned our attention to our new geography topic which is Latitude and Longitude. For this last half term this unit will be looking at learning and developing different geographical skills within the context of the continents of North and South America.

This week we have had daily spelling Bee competitions. It was pleasing to see how enthusiastic all the children were to take part and we all congratulate Jessica and Holly who were our Spelling Bee winners - they go forward to take part in our KS2 Spelling Bee on Monday. Good luck girls!

On Thursday Year 5 got the opportunity to spend the day at St Mary’s for a taster day and they all had a great time. They learnt about and took part in different activities based around the idea of Fair Trade. The children were a real credit to themselves and the rest of the school, and we were very proud of them.

Upcoming dates for your diary:

26th June Shakespeare Festival on the school field from 4.30pm - 6pm. We and our partner Associate Schools will be setting up stalls to share their talents including performances at various times. There will also be games, stalls and refreshments organised by our PTFA. All welcome and funds raised will go back into school.

2nd & 3rd July Bikeability for our 2nd group of riders.

5th July Sports Day!

Reading achievements

As always at the end of each half term, we like to celebrate our readers. Our reading champions this half term are…

We also celebrated our Golden ticket winners…The children earn golden tickets for reading regularly at home and then we draw two names from the pot at the end of each half term. Well done to Alana and Riley who were our golden ticket winners for this half term. Keep up the great reading Year 5! Remember, there you read, the more you know!

River challenge result

Firstly I want to congratulate Ellie, Holly, Mitchell and Zuzanna, who are the winners of our River challenge. Over the past few months the children have been working in groups to gain points for their team by successfully completing daily tasks that were linked to our behaviour and homework policy. The winning team raced ahead by behaving exceptionally and working together to make sure they read consistently each night at home. As a reward, the children will go next week to Ascent trampoline park for the afternoon.

Well done Ellie, Holly, Mitchell and Zuzanna!

This week we have been learning about…

English - the children have planned their new adventure story for the main character Mai-ling and have begun to write their new story from another culture(Chinese). 

Maths - they’ve continued to practise working with fractions (multiplying fractions with whole numbers) and with Mrs Parker the children have been translating shapes.

RE - the children have read the parable of The Lost Son. They have discussed the meaning behind this parable and have reflected on the actions and feelings of the Father and the Son and have considered what they can learn from this story.

Science - last week the children undertook an investigation to find the best thermal insulators, to decide on the best materials for the inside of a lunch box. This week they have experimented with different materials to find the best electrical conductors to use in a circuit for floodlights at a football club.

PE - the children are having tennis lessons with a specialist coach this half term. Miss Slater tells me that they are doing really well and the coach has been very impressed with the skills they’ve shown already. Perhaps we’ve got some budding tennis players that may one day play at Wimbledon!

ICT - they’ve continued to program using Scratch to create geometric shapes inspired by Islamic art. 

Take a look at our display of the children’s Greek pottery, depicting Greek warfare, and Greek sculptures inspired by the work of Alberto Giacometti. The children’s sculptures are of Ancient Greek Olympic sports.

Summer term

It has been a great start to the Summer term this week. The rest over Easter and the wonderful sunshine has enabled the children to come back refreshed and ready to learn.

On Tuesday, in addition to their usual swimming lesson, in the afternoon the children also had a great dance workshop with dance teacher Sarah-Jane. As we were studying Rivers last term, the theme of the dance activities was Rivers and the children did a great job working individually, in pairs and as a group to create a piece of movement. Take a look at the photos of some of their work…

These are the other things we’ve been doing this week…

In English we have begun looking at stories from China and have been identifying the Chinese customs and attitudes. We have particularly focused on the story of The Dragon Slayer and the children’s work will lead up to writing a new adventure for Mai-Ling, the central character.

In Maths the children have continued to focus on mixed numbers and fractions and have been working on changing mixed numbers to improper fractions and vice versa.

In Science the children have started our new topic of Properties and Changes of Materials. In our first lesson the children explored through a mind map what they know already and then went on to compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, transparency and response to magnets by sorting and classifying materials according to their properties.

In computing, we looked at examples of geometric Islamic art and then had a go at programming using Scratch to create some Islamic-style art.

Year 5 achievements...

Here we are again at the end of another term! It has been a busy one and the children have continued to work very hard in all Curriculum areas. I’m particularly pleased with the achievements of many of the children in their reading - all showed great improvements in their reading assessments and many now have new ZPD numbers. I’m also pleased that more children are reading much more regularly at home and this is definitely having a positive effect on their achievement. Please ask your child about their ZPD numbers and continue to encourage them to read regularly at home - completing Bedrock at home at least twice a week will also improve this further. Well done to our reading champions this half term are…

Our Golden ticket winners for reading this half term are Bethany and Layla. Well done girls!

Year 5 are sculptors…

This term the children have produced sculptural forms in response to the work of Alberto Giacometti. To link in with our Ancient Greek topic from last half term, the theme of their sculptures is Ancient Greek Olympic sports.

The children used dowling to make the figure and then applied mod rock and painted them. We hope to get these on display very soon!

Making the sculpture with dowling...

...Applying modrock...

And painting...

Our Lenten promise fulfilled…

Thank you Year 5 for all your contributions to Barnardos charity as part of our class Lenten promise. Barnardos supports and encourages disadvantaged children to achieve success in their lives.

Thank you so much for all your continued support and we wish you all a wonderful Easter.

Our Good Friday Reflection

Thank you to all parents and family who were able to join us for Year 5's liturgy about the Crucifixion of Jesus this morning. We were very proud of you Year 5, well done!

Our Lenten book challenge complete!

This afternoon the children all celebrated finishing their Lenten book challenge. We sat in groups and enjoyed chatting about the book we had read. It really was lovely to have the time to discuss the book we had read and share that together. Well done Year 5, I’m so proud of all of you. As you can see from the photographs some children read their chosen book and then went on to read others.

This week in Year 5...

We’ve continued to study Romeo and Juliet in class. Using active approaches the children have acted out the banquet scene and have role played the parts of Romeo and Juliet when they first met. The children have then written diary entries in first person from the point of view of either Romeo or Juliet.

In maths we have continued to work on written multiplication and division methods and we are now using these methods to help us find fractions of numbers.

In Science the children have been investigating further some of the stages within the human lifecycle. They have looked at how the baby develops within the womb during the 9 months of gestation. Using anatomically accurate models of a foetus, the children were able to weigh and measure the length of a developing baby at 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks. This week we also had a visit from the school nurse, who came to talk to the children about the changes that occur during puberty. I was very impressed with how mature the children approached the subject and the sensible questions that they asked.

In art we have continued to work on our Giacometti (and Greek) inspired sculptures. The children have been busy adding mod-rock to their wooden sculptures and we’re hoping that they’ll be ready to paint soon.

In geography we have continued to investigate rivers and we have been looking at the key features of a river system.

In ICT the children have been using Inkscape to create simple tessellations, experimenting with different shapes and colour.

In Spanish we have been learning the names for different shapes and have followed instructions of positioning and direction to place this shapes to make a picture.

In RE we have continued to look at the beatitudes and have investigated Saints who have lived them out. We also looked at ways that we can live these out in our own lives. It was also an opportunity to reflect on the Lenten promises that we have made. Can I remind everyone of our class Lenten promise…

I would be very grateful if each member of Year 5 could donate one piece of unwanted clothing before the end of term so that we can fulfil our collective Lenten promise. We have chosen Barnardo's as our charity as it links in with "Street Child" that many of the children have chosen as their Lenten reading challenge. Thomas Barnardo first set up Barnardo's during the Victorian period when he met a street child called Jim Jarvis who the novel is based upon. Thank you so much for your support. 

Our week...

In English this week we have been exploring Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet further. We’ve pushed the tables back in the classroom and using rehearsal room approaches we’ve got inside the characters’ shoes to act out and explore the underlying tensions between the two divided households of Capulet and Montague.

In Maths we’ve been adding and subtracting decimal numbers using mental and written methods and have also been revising the key concepts we’ve studied over the last few weeks. Some children also spent the day yesterday at St Nicholas Primary working with a maths consultant on maths problem solving activities with other children from other schools. The highlight, they tell me, was working on algebra!

In Science we have turned our focus to the human life cycle and have been looking at the key stages and looking at a general overview of the key developments that happen at each stage. We will look at each of these stages in more detail over the coming weeks. We will also be visited in school, in a few weeks time, by the school nurse who will talk to the children about puberty and the changes that the children will go through.

We’ve also continued our work on rivers in geography, researching and locating the longest rivers in the British Isles including the location of their source and the river mouth. In RE we’ve looked at how beliefs have shaped the life of Saint Josephine Bakhita. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

This week I’ve been so pleased to see so many of Year 5 increasing the amount that they are reading at home. I’m amazed at how many children have already finished their Lenten challenge book and are now onto their second or third book. Great work Year 5 keep this up and don’t forget to get your diary signed and record your minutes! It’s not only helping us with the 200,000,000 minutes challenge that school have signed up to, but also to earn points for our River challenge!

Working as a team!

Just an update on our River challenge. The photo shows the progress each team are making. We discussed in class how working as a team together will help us achieve better and push forward to gain the points. I’m pleased to see how some teams are ensuring that they are all making an effort to do their best in class but also making sure they are reading each night and getting their diaries signed.

School have signed up to the 200 million minutes reading challenge and so the children also need to be noting down how many minutes they are reading each evening and adding that on to the total they read in school. There will be extra points for the River Challenge teams for each reading book they finish from our Lenten book challenge. I was amazed at the number of children who had finished their first book already today and also so proud of those children who chose to sit and read during our wet play and wet lunchtime today. Keep up the great work Year 5 and don’t forget to note down how many minutes you have read!

World Book Day

Firstly, thank you to everyone for making such a fantastic effort with your World Book Day costumes - you all looked amazing! 

The children shared their favourite books and made some bunting to display in our reading corner to show how much we value reading in our class. The children had to think about their favourite character, write a synopsis of their book and say why they recommend it to others.

We were also challenged to have our story time in another part of the school today. Our chosen story that I’m reading to Year 5 is Wonder by RJ Palacio and so today we read our story on the stairwell as the children listened to how Auggie, the main character, felt about the tour of his new school.

Year 5 also chose their book for the reading challenge for Lent. They will bring this book home and I encourage them to read this one but also try and read one of the others before the last week of term. When they have finished their book, they will get a bonus golden ticket and points for their River Challenge team in addition to the usual reading rewards we have in class. In the last week before we break up, we will share our thoughts about the books and discuss what we liked and disliked about them in our Book club celebration.

Our Lenten promises and reading challenge

Today marks the start of Lent and this morning we all went to church to receive the ashes. In class we have been looking at the qualities of being a follower of Jesus and have looked at the Beatitudes and other teachings of Jesus. Based on these teachings, Year 5 have made special Lenten promises which we have displayed in class to remind us to keep them…

We have also made a class Lenten promise that we can do together to show our love for others during Lent…

I would be very grateful if each member of Year 5 could donate one piece of unwanted clothing before the end of term so that we can fulfil our collective Lenten promise. We have chosen Barnardo's as our charity as it links in with "Street Child" that many of the children have chosen as their Lenten reading challenge (see below). Thomas Barnardo first set up Barnardo's during the Victorian period when he met a street child called Jim Jarvis who the novel is based upon. Thank you so much for your support. 

Lenten Reading challenge

Year 5 also came up with a great idea for a reading challenge for Lent. We've decided to form a book club and so by the end of term, alongside our normal reading, we - Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs Hodgkiss and all of Year 5 - will read one of three books. The three books we have chosen to read from are: Street Child, The Secret Garden and The Demon Headmaster. In the last week before we break up, we will share our thoughts about the books and discuss what we liked and disliked about them. I'm so pleased with the enthusiasm the children showed - I wouldn't be surprised if they read all three! The book your child has chosen will come home with them tomorrow on World Book Day.

Please encourage your child to read their chosen book so that at the end of term they are able to take part in our book club celebration. Thank you!

Off to a great start and the week ahead

We’re now more than half way through the year now and Year 5 have got this half term off to a good start.

We’ve dived straight into our work… We’ve been focusing on mental multiplication and division methods in maths, writing and editing instructions in English and using ancient artefacts (Ancient Greek pottery) to find out about the past in history. In Science the children have been comparing gestation periods of different mammals. In RE the children have been exploring what Jesus meant by love in the New Commandment by looking at St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians 13. They then used this to look at how Saint Damien made decisions in his life to look after the lepers on the island of Molokai which were informed by his beliefs and values. We’ve also carried on with our work on Alberto Giacometti and have begun to make our own sculptures (Ancient Greek inspired!). Take a look…

Year 5 have also now begun their new challenge: The River Challenge (we will be investigating rivers in geography this half term). Children have picked their teams and they can collect points as a team by: good behaviour, effort in their work at school, reading at home, going on Bedrock (remember this should be completed three times a week to get the full benefit), handing in completed homework on time, completing quizzes for finished books… Please encourage your child to do their best to earn points for their team and particularly by reading at home regularly and get their diary signed. Reading really is the key to your child’s learning and they should aim to read at least 20 minutes daily at home.

Next week we have a busy week ahead…

Ash Wednesday signifies the start of Lent. We will be going to church to receive the ashes and we will be thinking about the Lenten promises that we will make that will bring us closer to Jesus. As well as making our own personal lenten promise, we will also think about some that we can do as a class to challenge ourselves to do something extra. Please look out for these next week.

World Book Day - Thursday 7th March As you are already aware, the children have been asked to come dressed as their favourite book character on Thursday and I also ask that they bring their favourite book with them too - some of our work that day will be based around this. Today all children have come home with some bunting of a book cover and they are asked to prepare it based on the book character that they are dressing up as ready for display in school. This needs to be completed and handed in by World Book Day. The older children have been asked to draw the character they are dressing up as and then do some writing about the following: What is the name of the character you are dressing up as? Which book is the character from? What is the book about ? Write a synopsis Why do you recommend this book? I look forward to seeing everyone dressed up as their favourite book character and sharing their favourite books.

Year 5 achieve

Today we sadly had to say goodbye to our little chicks. It’s been lovely having the chicks in class, seeing them develop over the last two weeks from hatching. We couldn’t believe how much they grew in such a short time. The chicks have now all gone to be re-homed on free-range farms.

Our Mount Olympus challenge came to an end at the start of this week and our winners were awarded with a team-building trip to Stanley Park to take part in four activities: orienteering, mole hole, crate stacking and a gladiator challenge. Well done to the winning teams! The children had a great day…

Year 5 have now begun their next challenge and have already begun collecting points for it. They haven’t yet chosen their teams and the theme of the challenge will not be unveiled till have to half term but Year 5 can collect points in advance over half term by: going on Bedrock (remember this should be completed at three times a week to get the full benefit), reading and getting their diaries signed and then on return to school, completing quizzes for finished books. Let’s see how many points you can gain from now till we come back to school!

Here are our Year 5 reading champions who have completed their reading bookmarks this half term. It’s lovely to see so many of you reading regularly and some children have now completed their fifth reading bookmark during Year 5 already. Well done!

Each time the children have read three times they are also able to collect golden tickets which are then placed in our golden box. At the end of each half term we pick two winners from the box to award them for their reading. Our two golden ticket winners this half term were Zuzanna and Holly. Well done girls!

All of Year 5 were also awarded in our special Golden assembly for the progress they have made in swimming. It’s lovely to see how far they have all come. Well done Year 5!

Great work this half term Year 5! Hope you all have a lovely half term!

Six little chicks

As part of our Science topic on living things and their habitats, Year 5 welcomed ten eggs to our classroom through the Living Eggs programme. The ten eggs were kept in an incubator and by Tuesday the first egg hatched and by Wednesday we had six little chicks, 4 male and 2 female. The children have been looking after the chicks and weighing them to help them understand the life cycle of a chicken better. The chicks will stay in school till Friday when they will go back to the farm they came from to be rehomed. The six chicks have all been named after Greek Gods (Ancient Greeks is our topic this half term) - Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Hercules, Athena and Aphrodite. Take a look at the photos…

Poseidon

Athena

Zeus

Zeus

Hercules

Poseidon

Apollo

Aphrodite

Athena

Zeus

Spring term off to a good start...

It’s been a busy start to our Spring term and the children have been working hard…

Much of the work the children have been doing has linked in with our history topic of the Ancient Greeks. The children have been investigating who the Ancient Greek people were, when they lived and where and how they were able to establish their empire. They have learnt how the political system worked in Ancient Greece, investigated the legacy of Athenian Democracy and compared it with the political systems we have today. The children also compared and contrasted the modern day Olympics with the Ancient Greek events. In art, the children have been looking at the work of Alberto Giacometti (a sculptor) who is famous for his long thin sculptures such as “The Walking man”. The children will be making their own sculptures using his style but with the theme of the Greek Olympics. In English, many of the children have been looking at Greek myths and they have written their own story about Pandora’s Box. The children have been working hard to include their writing targets. 

In computing the children have been learning more about communicating information securely through an introduction to cryptography (the science of keeping communication and information secret). They have investigated early methods of communicating over distances such as semaphore, communicating with red and yellow flags, and Morse code, dots and dashes. They have also learnt about two early ciphers. The children have really enjoyed using code and have been successful in encrypting and decrypting coded messages to each other.

On Tuesday 5th February we celebrated Safer Internet Day. The aim of the day is to help build children’s awareness of using the Internet safely. Year 5 took part in activities, which helped the children understand the concepts of ‘consent’and ‘permission’ when they are online. They were able to identify the differentcontexts in which they may need to give or receive permission, explore theconsequences of doing so and understand the importance of choice andrespect online. For further information, parents/carers can download resources at https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers

 Last week Mrs Ormerod and I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon as part of our work as the Lead Associate school with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Accompanying us we had Ella and Alana, two of our Shakespeare Ambassadors, who had been chosen by the RSC to go to Stratford to set up the first RSC’s Youth Advisory Board. The girls were amazing throughout the three days they spent with the RSC and other ambassadors from other Lead Associate Schools - they fully embraced the opportunity and provided a great voice for the children of Blackpool and Wyre. Ella and Alana are in the process of typing up their own blog about their three days in Stratford which will include photos so please watch this space…