Summer 1:

Welcome back!  I hope that everyone enjoyed the Easter break.  In Indigo Class we are excited to begin our new topic of ‘Amazon Adventure’.  This topic has links to English, Maths, Geography, Science, Art and Design Technology.  We will be:

• Learning about the Geography of the Amazon Basin and the Amazon Rainforest;
• Studying plants, animals and minibeasts in our local area and around the world;
• Creating pieces of artwork based on nature and experimenting with colour;
• Designing and making a textile product for an explorer;
• Writing and holding a debate about deforestation.

Within this topic the children will be introduced to and using subject specific vocabulary.  I would be extremely grateful if you could discuss the following words with your child at home and see if they can tell you what they mean and if they can have a go at spelling them!

‘Deforestation’   ‘Rainforest’   ‘Biomes’  ‘Vegetation’  ‘Coniferous’   ‘Deciduous’   ‘Life Cycle’  ‘Pollination’  ‘Incubation’   ‘Germination’   ‘Seed Dispersal’

On the other side of this letter is the children’s creative homework sheet.  Please encourage your child to have a look at the ideas that are given and choose one that they would like to complete.  The children will be continuing with their times tables booklet homework which will go home on a Friday and will need to be returned the following Wednesday.  I would also appreciate it if you could continue to encourage your child to read daily and record what they have read in their diaries.  Most children read a huge amount at home last half term and it would be great to see this continue.

The children will have their PE lessons on a Monday and a Wednesday this half term.  Kit will therefore need to be in school on these days or unfortunately your child will not be able to take part.

Spring 2:

Welcome back!  It’s lovely to see the children after the break and great to see that they are ready for the next half term at school.  Our topic this half term is ‘Inventors and Inventions’ and links to English, Maths, History, Science and Design Technology.  We will be:

• looking at famous inventors and what they invented;
• investigating forces, including friction, gravity and air resistance;
• designing, making and evaluating motorised vehicles;
• learning about the ‘Islamic Golden Age’ and what was invented during this time and
• writing magazine articles and stories about inventions

Within this topic the children will be introduced to and using subject specific vocabulary.  I would be extremely grateful if you could discuss the following words with your child at home and see if they can tell you what they mean and if they can have a go at spelling them!

‘Inventions’   ‘Engineering’   ‘Mechanical’  ‘Friction’  ‘Gravity’   ‘Air Resistance’   ‘Force Meter’  ‘Inventor’  ‘Lever’   ‘Pulley’   ‘Water Resistance’

Please encourage your child to have a look at the ideas that are given and choose one that they would like to complete.  The children will be continuing with their times tables booklet homework which will go home on a Friday and will need to be returned the following Wednesday.  I would also appreciate it if you could continue to encourage your child to read daily and record what they have read in their diaries.  Most children read a huge amount at home last half term and it would be great to see this continue.

The children will have their PE lessons on a Monday and a Thursday this half term.  Kit will therefore need to be in school on these days or your child will not be able to take part.  Thursday’s lesson will be an outdoor cricket session taught by a cricket coach.  Children are therefore encouraged to bring warm, outdoor sportswear, such as tracksuit bottoms / leggings and sweatshirts.

Finally if you have any questions or would like a chat I will be available before or after school Monday to Friday, alternatively please feel free to give me a ring.

Spring 1:

Welcome back!  It’s great to see the children after the Christmas break and good to see that they are ready for the Spring Term at school.  Our topic this half term is ‘Earthlings’ and links to English, Maths, Science, Music, Art and Computing.  Some of the activities and learning that will be taking place include: looking at the different planets, the sun, the moon and investigating the movements of the sun throughout the day; a visit from a mobile planetarium where the children will get to experience being in space; composing music for the film ‘E.T.’; logging planet data onto spreadsheets; creating planet art and writing Science Fiction stories!

Below are some of the subject specific words that the class will be introduced to this half term.  I would be extremely grateful if you could discuss this vocabulary with your child at home, see if they can tell you what the words mean and also see if they can have a go at spelling them!

‘Sphere’   ‘Rotate’   ‘Solar System’  ‘Orbit’  ‘Conditions’  ‘Atmosphere’  ‘Temperature’   ‘Compose’   ‘Melody’   ‘Rhythmic’  ‘Simulation’  ‘Variables’

The children have been given a creative homework sheet.  Please encourage your child to have a look at the ideas that are given and choose one that they would like to complete.  The children will be continuing with their times tables booklet homework which will go home on a Friday and will need to be returned the following Wednesday.  I would also appreciate it if you could continue to encourage your child to read daily and record what they have read in their diaries.

The children will have their PE lessons on a Monday and Thursday this half term (on Thursdays we have a cricket coach in school!).  Kit will therefore need to be in school on these days or your child will not be able to take part.

Autumn 2:

Welcome back!  It’s lovely to see the children after the break and great to see that they are ready for the next half term at school.  Our topic this half term is ‘A Kingdom United’ and links to English, Maths, Geography, History, PE, Music and Computing.  We will be looking at the countries and counties which are a part of Great Britain and the UK and locating them on maps.  We will also be using I pads to research these countries and counties in more detail as well as making presentations about them. We will be making persuasive videos and delivering presentations to ‘Dragon’s Den’ about local tourist attractions.

We will be learning about the Anglo Saxons and the influence that they had over our country.  We will be learning the National Anthem and composing our own school anthems as well as learning a traditional dance from England.

The children will additionally be continuing our Science topic from last half term, however the focus will now be upon irreversible changes.  Within this topic the children will be introduced to and using subject specific vocabulary.  I would be extremely grateful if you could discuss the words on the newsletter with your child at home and see if they can tell you what they mean and have a go at spelling them!

Autumn 1:

Welcome to Indigo Class!  It’s great to see all of the children back after the summer break and good to see that Indigo Class is ready for a new school year at Willow Lane.  The Year 5 team this year consists of Mrs. Nichols and Mrs. Powell.  Everyone is settling in well and we are excited for this half term’s topic

As part of our food topic we have lots of fun activities planned.  Our topic links to English, Maths, Science, Geography, Art and Computing.  We will be looking at where in the world different foods come from and locating them on maps and globes.  We will also be using I pads to research these foods and countries in more detail.  We will be carrying out lots of scientific experiments looking at reversible and irreversible changes with food and working as teams to create apparatus to help us to do this.  We will be reading the book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and as part of this we will be designing and making food to share with you at our ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’!  We will be writing about what we have learnt on the school blog and finally we will be creating ‘pop art’ style food art which will include images of all of our favourite foods!  Within this topic the children will be introduced to and using subject specific vocabulary.

Please encourage your child to have a look at the creative homework ideas that are given and choose one that they would like to complete.  We look forward to sharing with the rest of the school what the children produce!  I would also appreciate it if you could encourage your child to read daily and record what they have read in their diaries.