Return to Classes

Year 5

Mrs Barker (Class Teacher)

Mrs Chan, Mrs Ebbs, Mrs Lorek and Miss S Sweeney (Support Staff)

Summer 2025

Welcome back after the Easter break.  I hope you have all had a restful time and are ready for a busy term ahead.

In English, we have started a unit based on The Hobbit.  The children will be building up to write a lost tale in the style of Tolkein.  Later this term, we will been learning a topic based on fantasy stories by author and illustrator Shaun Tan.   Upcoming genres for the rest of the summer term include explanations and poetry.

In Maths, Year 5 began the term with a focus on statistics. We have been looking at different types of tables and graphs, interpreting their data. We have now moved on to shape and have been learning about angles.  The children will be looking to broaden their knowledge on their features, find missing angles in right angles, along straight lines and around a point. 

In Science, the children are beginning to learn about animals including humans focusing on the life cycle of a human from fertilisation to old age.  After half term, we will move on to focus on living things, their habitats and lifecycles.

Year 5 have started the summer term studying History and learning about some of the key monarchs over the past thousand years.  We will be learning about some key moments influenced by those monarchs and how their role has changed. After half term, we will be studying Geography and they will be exploring our local river, The River Lea. The children will build on their previous learning about rivers.

Our key question for our RE this half term is ‘What is the best way for a Sikh to show commitment to God?’ and in PSHE we will be talking about relationships and in particular focusing on relationships online. We have been lucky to have a workshops this term with Mr Singh from the Sikh Education Service who has supported our learning in RE. 

Spring 2025

Welcome back after the Christmas break.  I have been so impressed with how well Year 5 have returned to school. They are displaying a great attitude towards their learning. 

In English, we have been focusing on a type of story called a circular narrative, this is where a part of the story is then repeated at the end, starting the story all over again. We have been using the story ‘The Promise’ and its figurative language to write a similar tale. During the rest of term, we will be studying a range of genres, including: persuasion, instructions and the poetry of Walter de la Mare.

In Maths, we are currently focusing on formal written methods for multiplication and division.  During the rest of term, we will be studying fractions; decimals and percentages; perimeter and area; statistics.

Ancient Greece and its influence on modern society is our History topic. We will be looking at areas such as how their society was organised and how the Ancient Greeks contributed to world knowledge. Next half term, we will be studying mountains in Geography, where we will be looking at areas such as how mountains are formed, contour lines and climate.

In Art, we are looking at a style of print making called monotypes. We have studied how they are created, looked at famous pieces by Kevork Mourad and replicated parts of his work and style by visual note taking in our sketchbooks. Next half term, in Design and Technology we will be looking at Chinese inventions, in particular we will be constructing kites. 

In PSHE this half term, we will be thinking about our dreams and goals – considering what we may want to do in the future and how to achieve that goal.  After half term, we will be looking at the unit called ‘Healthy Me’.

We are all very excited, as later this term we have our class residential!

Autumn 2024

Year 5 have made an amazing start to the new academic year. Everyone has settled so well to the new rules and changes in routines, and I cannot wait to share what we have been learning.

In English, Year 5 have been busy look at mystery and suspenseful writing. We have been inspired by the texts The Watertower and Boy in the Tower and to create our own suspense story. We are also using Boy in the Tower for our Guided Reading this term. In our next writing unit we will be moving on to recounts where we will use our knowledge from our History lessons to write a recount of the life of William the Conqueror. We have been learning about William the Conqueror and will be investigating his significance and that of our local castle in Berkhamsted.

In Maths we have been building on our previous knowledge of place value and learning about place value up to a million. As we move through the term we will be learning and building on previous knowledge of addition and subtraction, multiplication and division together with fractions. I have been really impressed with the work that I have seen!

The children have enjoyed the first couple of Science lessons. We are learning about the properties and changes of material. One of our first lessons was planning an investigation to test if materials were soluble or insoluble. Our young scientists made predictions, talked through what makes a fair test, completed the experiment and discussed our conclusions.

In Art, we are learning about the Art of Georgia O’Keefe. This artist is best known for her paintings of flowers and desert landscapes using a range of media. This term in RE, we are answering the question ‘How far would a Sikh go for his/her religion?’ In order to answer this enquiry question, the children will be finding out about Sikh rules and beliefs. Next half term, we are really excited to be working on maps in Geography and will be building bridges in Design and Technology.

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