5 Beethoven

Ms Richardson is the class teacher in 5 Schubert.

 

 

We have had a wonderful half term in year 5. We started the half term with an exciting trip to the science museum! We loved exploring the Wonderlab and were absolutely blown away by the rocket workshops. This linked to our study in science, when we embarked on an exciting exploration of the solar system. We studied the planets, learned about the Big Bang theory, and explored the different phases of the moon. Our students were captivated by these cosmic subjects, expanding their understanding of the universe and fuelling their curiosity. In Mathematics, we have dived into the world of numbers, mastering the skills of area, perimeter. Building upon this foundation, we then explored our second unit on fractions, where we learned how to multiply fractions by integers and find fractions of amounts. In our History lessons, we embarked on a captivating journey through time to study the Industrial Revolution. Our young historians examined the impact of this significant period on society and gained valuable insights into the advancements that shaped the world we live in today. Geography opened up a world of exploration as we focused on the beautiful country of New Zealand; from its stunning landscapes to its rich cultural traditions, our students gained a comprehensive understanding of the nation's unique heritage and geographical features.

In addition to our learning inside the classroom, we also had the opportunity to take part in ‘Mind, Body and Spirit’ week, helping us to stay healthy and focus on the importance of doing so. Alongside this, we celebrated our Shakespeare Day with enthusiasm, immersing ourselves in a vibrant workshop and admiring the fantastic costumes. Additionally, our weekly drama sessions with the primary Shakespeare have been leading up to our upcoming performance of Julius Caesar, aligning with our English focus for this half term. We can’t wait for our performance with the Primary Shakespeare Company after half term!

 

 

 

This half term, in English, we started non-fiction writing in which we have drawn upon our knowledge from curriculum lessons this half term and last. These have included an explanation text on the life-cycle of a butterfly, a biography on Napoleon Bonaparte and a booklet advertising East Anglia. In maths we have now mastered adding, subtracting, converting and ordering fractions and have recently moved onto multiplication and division in which we have been multiplying 2, 3 and 4-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers using the area model and formal written method. In geography we moved away from last half terms study of the UK and we have been exploring Australia, developing our understanding of biomes, population and settlements across the country. In science, we have been learning about forces and the importance of gravity and air resistance, using our knowledge to conduct an experiment on the relationship between surface area and air resistance. Our historical adventure has moved on from the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Revolution to the transatlantic slave trade, building on our prior knowledge of colonialism. We have also continued our bi-weekly creative writing lessons looking at stories such as ‘Suri’s Wall’ which focuses on themes such as hope, the power of imagination and unity – tying into our TRUE values. Finally, we have also been fortunate enough to take part in the Primary Shakespeare Festival Project this year; we recently attended a storytelling performance of Julius Caesar which introduced everyone to the story of the play before we start preparing for our performance in the summer term.

 

 

 

 

At the start of half term we began our new Science topic of Living Things and Their Habitats’ and recently visited to Kew Gardens – where we honed our scientific skills by examining a variety of plant specimens and how they pollinate both under the microscope and throughout the gardens and glasshouses.  We have built on this in the classroom by conducting our own experiment of growing broad beans in different conditions and making observations at regular time intervals whilst also comparing the life cycles of different species.  In geography, we have learnt about three different regions of the UK – East Anglia, the Midlands and Yorkshire.  We have used geographic information – such as relief maps – to compare the topography of these different regions and a range of historical sources to understand how the physical and human features have changed over time.  For history, we used historical records of the French Revolution to understand how France was transformed from a monarchy to a republic, looking specifically at the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Our fictional English text of The Snow Spider has provided a descriptive and moving context for a travel journal, a myth, a comparative text (between the series and the novel) and an interview with the author.  We channelled our writing flair through an illustrated novel ‘The Stranger, covering key themes including family and belonging and we applied our Real Life Maths skills in calculating how much it would cost to travel using a non-electric car to way up whether it’s worth the purchase of an electric car in the long run. In addition to this, we celebrated ‘International Day of Education’ by looking at the importance of education and how it differs in schools across the world.

 

 

 

 

It’s fair to say it’s been a jammed packed 7 weeks in Year 5, full of exciting learning and wonderful enrichment opportunities. In English, we took all of the knowledge learnt in curriculum lessons and turned these into wonderful Non-Fiction texts. We were particularly impressed with fabulous explanation texts on what made Baghdad 900AD such a successful empire and enticing and engaging fact files about Otzi the Iceman, discovered due to glacial melt around 5000 years ago. We have since moved on to study The Early British Empire, learning about global trades routes that led to our subsequent power across the globe. This was contextualised with a marvellous Real Life Maths lesson, where children worked as the owner of ship, to fill it with as many goods as possible from each continent.

We went on a fantastic trip to the National Portrait Gallery where we took part in a portrait workshop, using our sketching skills to recreate some of the paintings. We also used printing to create portraits of our peers. In addition to this, we took part in a DT workshop to recreate Sir Walter Raleigh’s ship using only wooden sticks and elastic bands.

We ended the term with a riveting performance of ‘Bah Humbug’, a remake of Scrooge’s Christmas Carol, where children acted and sang beautifully to end our term with a festive bang. We hope you all a wonderfully restful holidays and are looking forward to another term of learning in the New Year.

 

 

This half term, Year 5 have loved reading ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S Lewis.. We have developed our narrative storytelling, characterisation and technical English skills by drafting numerous genres of writing – such as a diary entry, third person narrative recount and a newspaper report. In Maths, we have learnt to order and compare numbers up to 1,000,000 and solve place value word problems and reasoning questions. For Real Life Maths, we used our map skills to chart a trans-continental voyage similar to Captain James Cook around the world and use the map’s scale to convert centimetres into kilometres. For history, we have learnt about the Golden Age of Baghdad in 900 CE and its impact on modern society – including our number system, algebra and alchemy.  In Science, we have been learning about the human body, in particular the changes that occur between birth and old age and the milestones that occur across the stages. During our PSHE day, we discussed what it means to be a refugee and how this differs to being a migrant. Following this, we also discussed the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child and learnt that as a citizen of this country, we have rights and responsibilities and understood how these may affect our day to day lives. Finally, in our RE day, we started our study of Buddhism by exploring the story of its origins in present-day Nepal, by Siddhartha Gautama before discussing the 5 Buddhist morals. Finally, we have had some fantastic trips this half term, including a visit to the Children’s Bookshow at Bloomsbury Theatre to see the award winning Ele Fountain. Alongside this, we’ve also visited the fantastic Design Museum (linking with our design technology week in which we used our textiles knowledge to sew bags), the Courtauld Gallery and explored the local Buddhist Vihara.

 

 

 

 

We have had a very eventful and exciting summer term in year 5, with a range of trips, performances and themed weeks. Earlier on in this half term we embarked on an adventure to the Royal Greenwich Observatory to explore the solar system in the world famous planetarium. We also took a visit to the National Gallery which linked in with our art lessons where we have been taking part in the ‘Take One Picture’ project. Our summer performance of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” was definitely one to remember and we thoroughly enjoyed showcasing our talents.

In Maths, we have been focusing on simplifying fractions, finding fractions of amounts, converting fractions to decimals and percentages and become proficient with rounding decimals to integers and one decimal place. In History, we have expanded our knowledge from the Industrial Revolution to the reign of Queen Victoria, which brought significant changes. We examined primary sources like photographs, newspaper articles and posters to understand the impact of urbanisation on the poor and the harsh realities of life in workhouses after the implementation of the Poor Law of 1834. We also learned about the individuals who thrived during the era of Britain's industrial advancements, with the pinnacle being Prince Albert's Great Exhibition of 1851. In Geography, we have completed a local study on Chiswick, finding out about how Chiswick has changed over time and the history of Southfield Primary School and other schools in the area. In Science, we explored topics ranging from space to meteorology. We learned about the different layers of the atmosphere and their crucial role in supporting life on Earth. This included studying the Ozone Layer and how it protects us from the Sun's harmful UV rays. We also gained knowledge about the six air masses that influence weather patterns in the UK and how thunder and lightning occur.

Overall, we have had a fantastic year full of new learning experiences and exciting adventures. We can now look forward to a well-deserved summer break before starting Year 6 in September.

 

 

We have had a wonderful half term in year 5. To begin the half term, as part of our Religious Education topic on Hinduism, we had the incredible opportunity to visit the BAPs Hindu Temple. The students immersed themselves in the rich culture and traditions, gaining a deeper understanding of this fascinating religion. In Mathematics, we dived into the world of numbers, mastering the skills of long multiplication and short division. Building upon this foundation, we then explored our second unit on fractions, where we learned how to multiply fractions by integers and find fractions of amounts. In our History lessons, we embarked on a captivating journey through time to study the Industrial Revolution. Our young historians examined the impact of this significant period on society and gained valuable insights into the advancements that shaped the world we live in today. Geography opened up a world of exploration as we focused on the beautiful country of New Zealand; from its stunning landscapes to its rich cultural traditions, our students gained a comprehensive understanding of the nation's unique heritage and geographical features. In our Science lessons, we embarked on an exciting exploration of the solar system. We studied the planets, learned about the Big Bang theory, and explored the different phases of the moon. Our students were captivated by these cosmic subjects, expanding their understanding of the universe and fueling their curiosity.

In addition to our learning inside the classroom, we also had the opportunity to host a King's Coronation party, accompanied by an engaging workshop that brought the regal experience to life. Alongside this, we celebrated our Shakespeare Day with enthusiasm, immersing ourselves in a vibrant workshop and admiring the fantastic costumes. Additionally, our weekly drama sessions with the primary Shakespeare have been leading up to our upcoming performance of Twelfth Night, aligning with our English focus for this half term. We also had the joyous opportunity to host a King's Coronation party, accompanied by an engaging workshop that brought the regal experience to life.

 

 

 This half term, in English, we started non-fiction writing in which we have drawn upon our knowledge from curriculum lessons this half term and last. These have included an explanation text on the life-cycle of a butterfly, a biography on Napoleon Bonaparte and a booklet advertising East Anglia. In maths we have now mastered adding, subtracting, converting and ordering fractions and have recently moved onto multiplication and division in which we have been multiplying 2, 3 and 4- digit numbers by 2-digit numbers using the area model and formal written method. In geography we moved away from last half terms study of the UK and we have been exploring Australia, developing our understanding of biomes, population and settlements across the country. In science, we have been learning about forces and the importance of gravity and air resistance, using our knowledge to conduct an experiment on the relationship between surface area and air resistance. Our historical adventure has moved on from the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Revolution to the transatlantic slave trade, building on our prior knowledge of colonialism. We have also continued our bi-weekly creative writing lessons looking at stories such as ‘Wisp’ which focuses on themes such as hope, the power of imagination and empathy – tying into our TRUE values. Finally, we have also been fortunate enough to enjoy Forest school this half term. This has allowed us to practise creating fires, and utilising them to make popcorn, mint tea and dough balls.

 

 

 

  At the start of the New Year and Spring Term, we began our new Science topic of ‘Living Things and Their Habitats’ with a recent visit to Kew Gardens – where we honed our scientific skills by examining a variety of plant specimens and how they pollinate both under the microscope and throughout the gardens and glasshouses. We have built on this in the classroom by conducting our own experiment of growing broad beans in different conditions and making observations at regular time intervals whilst also comparing the life cycles of different species. In geography, we have learnt about three different regions of the UK – East Anglia, the Midlands and Yorkshire. We have used geographic information – such as relief maps – to compare the topography of these different regions and a range of historical sources to understand how the physical and human features have changed over time. For history, we used historical records of the French Revolution to understand how France was transformed from a monarchy to a republic, looking specifically at the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Our fictional English text of Tom’s Midnight Garden has provided a descriptive and moving context for poetry, a characterisation narrative, a dairy entry and setting description. In maths, we have been looking at fractions and learning how to convert between mixed numbers and improper fractions before understanding how to order, add and subtract them. We channelled our writing flair through an illustrated novel on the emotive topics of environmentalism and belonging in ‘The House Held up By Trees’ and we applied our Real Life Maths skills in calculating how much it would cost to travel using a non-electric car to way up whether it’s worth the purchase of an electric car in the long run.

 

 

 

It’s fair to say it’s been a jammed packed 7 weeks in Year 5, full of exciting learning and wonderful enrichment opportunities. In English, we took all of the knowledge learnt in curriculum lessons and turned these into wonderful Non-Fiction texts. We were particularly impressed with fabulous explanation texts on what made Baghdad 900AD such a successful empire and enticing and engaging fact files about Otzi the Iceman, discovered due to glacial melt around 5000 years ago. We have since moved on to study The Early British Empire, learning about global trades routes that led to our subsequent power across the globe. This was contextualised with a marvellous Real Life Maths lesson, where children worked as the owner of ship, to fill it with as many goods as possible from each continent.

Both classes got wonderful feedback on their class assemblies, where they re-enacted their own interpretation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, having enjoyed reading it so much last half term. 

We have also been blessed with a number of exciting trips half term. At the Science Museum, children built on the knowledge of materials, looking at how inventions have shaped history. Particular attention was given to the clockmaker’s workshop, where the children saw the watch worn by Edmund Hillary during his famous ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. We were also treated to a duo of performances from the Royal Shakespeare Company, where the children were taken through 13 different plays, learning about the nuances and contexts behind each one.

We ended the term with a riveting performance of ‘Bah Humbug’, a remake of Scrooge’s Christmas Carol, where children acted and sang beautifully to end our term with a festive bang. We hope you all a wonderfully restful holidays and are looking forward to another term of learning in the New Year.

 

 

 

 

This half term Year 5 have loved reading ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S Lewis.. We have developed our narrative storytelling, characterisation and technical English skills by drafting numerous genres of writing – such as a diary entry, third person narrative recount, newspaper report and a letter. Our understanding of the novel was recently brought to life when we visited the Gillian Lynne theatre to see the live performance. Although it was a late one, the children thought it worth staying up for.

 In Maths, we have learnt to order and compare numbers up to 1,000,000 and solve place value word problems and reasoning questions. For Real Life Maths, we used our map skills to chart a trans-continental voyage similar to Captain James Cook around the world and use the map’s scale to convert centimetres into kilometres. We have also scaled the dizzy heights of the Himalayan Mountains, converting feet to meters and compared the size of each mountain. 

In Geography, we have been developing our core spacial knowledge and skills – such as navigating around the world using latitudinal and longitudinal co-ordinates and interpreting relief maps.  For history, we have learnt about the Golden Age of Baghdad in 900 CE and its impact on modern society – including our number system, algebra and alchemy. 

In Science, we have been learning about the human body, in particular the changes that occur between birth and old age and the milestones that occur across the stages. We then compared the growth stages of different species and drawn graphs to identify patterns in the data collected.

During our PSHE day, we discussed what it means to be a refugee and how this differs to being a migrant. Following this, we also discussed the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child and learnt that as a citizen of this country, we have rights and responsibilities and understood how these may affect our day to day lives. Finally, in our RE day, we started our study of Buddhism by exploring the story of its origins in present-day Nepal, by Siddhartha Gautama before discussing the 5 Buddhist morals.

 

 

 

 

In our final half-term, we have scaled the dizzying, fictional, Parisian heights of Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell, where we have enjoyed the charming tale of Charles and Sophie Maxim – on their heart-warming quest to search for Sophie’s long-lost mother after she was discovered floating in a cello case in the English Channel as a baby.  In Maths, we have mastered long multiplication, explored the divisional depths of short division and navigated through a multitude of fraught, fractional calculations – such as converting mixed numbers into improper fractions and vice-versa, finding equivalent fractions and comparing fractions through equal numerators and different denominators.  We have also added and subtracted fractions with mixed numbers and improper fractions – exploring different methods and demonstrating our understanding through mastery and reasoning questions.

Our historical studies have built on our prior knowledge of the Industrial Revolution into the reign of Queen Victoria, which heralded significant change.  We studied a variety of primary sources – from photographs to coroner reports and posters – to uncover the impact of urbanisation on the poor and the grim realities of life in a workhouse after the Poor Law of 1834.  We also learnt about those who prospered in an age where Britain pioneered industrial change, culminating in Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition of 1851.  In Science, we have ventured from space to meteorology.  We have learnt about the different layers of the atmosphere and how vital it is to life on Earth – including learning about the Ozone Layer and how it protects us from the Sun’s UV rays at an atomic level.  We can also now identify the six air masses the affect the UK weather – although this probably won’t help us predict our seemingly temperamental and changeable weather on these shores!

 

 

 

 

Our first half of the Summer Term has been actioned-packed!  In Forest School, we have learnt key survival skills by whittling wood, constructing fires and bases, making nettle tea and even toasting marshmallows!  A flagship experience in Year 5 involved channelling our ‘inner-thespian’ with the Primary Shakespeare Company and learning about the grisly, treacherous tale of ‘Macbeth.’  Our classes rehearsed throughout the term and brought Shakespeare’s centuries old play to life in-front of our parents and guardians on a professional stage with lighting and sound effects!

 In English, we have explored the archaic language of Macbeth and written an eye-witness account of the opening battle scene.  We have also penned a twisted, macabre letter from Macbeth to Lady Macbeth with ominous tidings and recreated a historical newspaper capturing all the deceit and treachery. 

In Maths, we have learnt how use a protractor and calculate the angles on a straight line, around a point and within various polygons.  In history, we have learnt about how the industrial revolution has shaped all our lives and in geography, we have learnt about location, language and customs of New Zealand.  Our astronomical Science studies led us to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, where we experienced an immersive Planetarium show and we learnt about the orbital patterns of the Earth and Moon in relation to the Sun.  For our art studies, we ventured to the National Gallery, where we studied Claude-Joseph Vernet’s ‘A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas’ and learnt that we own all the paintings in the gallery (although, we’re not allowed to take them out!).

 

 

 

Upon our return from half term, we dived straight into the excitement and high-octane energy of two themed school weeks – the Reading Festival and Science Week. Throughout the Reading Festival, the children had the opportunity to hone their poetic wordsmithery with the spoken word poet, Christian Foley. Various activities, such as pocket book making, buddy reading with other year groups and a remote talk with Michael Rosen culminated in World Book Day fancy dress!
For Science Week, our lab coats and scientific apparatus were donned and intricately setup to measure and assess the growth of spring onions and create other-worldly clay models of creatures that could survive the cold, hostile environment on Mars. The children travelled through our solar system in an immersive inflatable dome with stunning light projections and were guided on star constellation spotting and navigating using the North Star. We also learnt about how scientists have uncovered a link between a shark’s length and their age – which led to pupils measuring each other’s height and collating their data on a bar chart in ascending age order, to assess whether this correlation may be applied to humans.
For non-fiction English, the children have written several knowledgeable and academically diverse texts – from explaining the life cycle of a butterfly (which links to the prior half term’s topic of living things), to an instruction text on carrying out the spring onion experiment. In Maths, we have mastered the calculation of perimeter, area and converting various units of measurement, volume and capacity. We have also explored the precision of geometric angles and applied our reasoning skills to various perplexing logic and word problems.
Our historical adventure has moved on from the rise and fall of Napoleon and the French Revolution to the harrowing history of the transatlantic slave trade, building on our prior knowledge of colonialism and its legacy. Our geographic focus has shifted from the UK to Australia, where we are developing our understanding of how other countries and climates contrast and compare.

 

 

At the start of the New Year and Spring Term, we begun our new Science topic of Living Things and Their Habitats’ with a visit to Kew Gardens – where we honed our scientific skills by examining a variety of plant specimens and how they pollinate both under the microscope and throughout the gardens and glasshouses.  We have built on this in the classroom by conducting our own experiment OF growing broad beans in different conditions and making observations at regular time intervals whilst also comparing the life cycles of different species.  In geography, we have learnt about three different regions of the UK – East Anglia, the Midlands and Yorkshire.  We have used geographic information – such as relief maps – to compare the topography of these different regions and a range of historical sources to understand how the physical and human features have changed over time.  For history, we trawled through the historical records of the French Revolution and understand how France was transformed from a monarchy to a republic.  We put on the first year-group’s history exhibition, showcasing our learning of the French estate system; the grizzly exhibition of Louis XVI and Mary Antoinette; the rise and fall of Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar and Waterloo.  We even constructed and displayed our own Bastilles, guillotines, Arc de Triomphe models and Napoleon Andy Warhol-style pop art!  Our fictional English text of Tom’s Midnight Garden has provided a descriptive and moving context for poetry, a characterisation narrative, a dairy entry and setting description.  We channelled our writing flair through a brand new illustrated novel on the emotive topics of environmentalism and pollution in ‘The Last Seaweed Pie’ and we applied our Real Life Maths skills in calculating travel times and tube routes on the London Underground System.

 

 

During the second Autumn half term in Year 5, we honed our orienteering skills and scaled up our mountains of knowledge throughout geography week.  This included navigating around the school using maps and compasses to solve cryptic clues, learning about climate zones around the world and building our own contour models.  In Real Life Maths, we learnt about Philias Fogg’s fictional trip around the world and we calculated our own modern-day journey taking into account departure and arrival times across different time zones around the world.  Our non-fiction texts in English included redrafting our own version of Sir Edmund Hillary’s biography and constructing our very own instruction text on how to make Victoria Sponge cupcakes, which we made on our Early British Empire history-themed day.  For our historical re-enactment day, we all dressed up in dated outfits and took part in an interactive drama workshop, which uncovered the age of exploration of notable historical figures, such as Sir Walter Raleigh.  Our dramatic talents were also on show through our re-telling of our Autumn one fictional English novel of Why the Wales Came by Michael Morpurgo in our class assembly.  Our commitment to developing our thespian flair was given a festive twist by re-enacting the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge in Bah Humbug.  Merry Christmas to one and all.     

 

 

 

Year 5 have had a fantastic start to the new school year!

Through reading the novel ‘Why the Whales Came’ by Michael Morpurgo, we  have developed our narrative storytelling, characterisation and technical English skills by drafting numerous genres of writing – such as a diary entry, first person narrative recount and a newspaper report. 

In Maths, we have learnt to order and compare numbers up to 1,000,000 and solve place value word problems and reasoning questions with decimal numbers.  For Real Life Maths, we used our map skills to chart a trans-continental voyage similar to Captain James Cook around the world and use the map’s scale to convert centimetres into kilometres. 

In Geography, we have been developing our core spacial knowledge and skills – such as navigating around the world using latitudinal and longitudinal co-ordinates and interpreting relief maps. 

For History, we have learnt about the golden age of Baghdad in 900 CE and its impact on modern society – including our number system, algebra and alchemy. 

In Science, we have compared the growth stages of different species and drawn graphs to identify patterns in the data collected.

 

Below are links to our Welcome meeting and current curriculum overviews.

 Autumn 1 Curriculum Overview 

Autumn 2 Curriculum Overview

Spring 1 Curriculum Overview

Spring 2 Curriculum Overview

Summer 1 Curriculum Overview

 End of Year 5 Expectations

Welcome Meeting