Excellent 2020!
We had such a great start to term 3! It was lovely to be back in class and the children were showing us how much of year 5 learning they remembered and were very much on target with their attitudes and conduct - thank you Year 5 for such a great return to school.
We have started our new book for this term - Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The children are completely on board with the murder, blood and treachery, they have loved it! We also have so much interest in Shakespeare and lots of acting and drama skills coming out. It's really amazing to see how excited they are and how it fuels the maturity of the class and writing.
We have our Macbeth acting workshop on Thursday 16th (this week) so expect lots more acting and talk of characters to come up! There are lots of child friendly versions of Macbeth if you want to watch or read these together at home.
In maths we started with Addition and Subtraction, we pushed ourselves hard by applying our skills to working with statistics and also perimeter calculations. It was tough but we all had smiles on and there was a very buzzy atmosphere. It is hard to be pushed out of the comfort and the children were working on this skill too. Next week multiplication, we move on to multiplication by two digits in the expanded method first.
Spellings for this week are attached.
Once again, it was a great start to term 3 and we can't wait for another fab week.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
A Flying Start to 2020!
Happy New Year!
Mrs Popel and Miss Cripps have both had a great morning back in year 5 today!
It certainly looks like 2020 is going to be a good year.
PE
PE has changed to a Monday and Friday for both classes.
Monday is outdoor adventures, which means mud and being on the field. So please make sure old shoes, trainers etc and PE kit that can get muddy. Also please think about warmth and wet weather.
We will warn you if we are going to do anything that might need a whole change of clothes!
Friday is indoor so normal school uniform PE kit.
Reading at Home
Home reading tracking will start again on Monday next week, so make sure you have those 3 signatures to say you have heard your child read, thank you. It is the one thing that makes a real difference to children's learning at this stage so please try to find the time.
Otherwise it's all back to normal!
Please do let us know any concerns, or positives that come up,
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Christmas afternoon
We had planned that Thursday afternoon from 2.15pm we would be outside by the fire sharing hot chocolate, marshmallows and stories - however the weather forecast looks awful. So we have decided to move back inside!
We will still have marshmallows and hot chocolate! We look forward to seeing you then, Rhino's are in Rhino class and Elephants in Elephant class room.
Thank you
Year 5 Teachers
Counting Down
The count down to Christmas is on this week with Elf Shelf, Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper day! We have managed to fit in lots of learning around our Christmas activities.
This week in maths we did fractions, helped by Smarties. The children were really engaged in find the the fractions of colours in the tubes and then explored the changes and number patterns if you ate a one! It was great fun but we also un-did lots of fractions fear and misconceptions. This supported our fractions work all week.
In writing we have been exploring clauses and positioning them within sentences. We brought this work together this week by writing a Viking Saga opening and then the first steps of the story. The children worked hard to bring atmosphere and to thinking of the context of the Viking saga.
Another busy week to come, but lots of fun too.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Viking Day
Viking day was fantastic!
We really hope the children enjoyed it, they looked fab in their costumes and everyone joined in and had a try at everything.
We made our stew, the children all chopped the vegetables using the sharp knives, then had a go at cooking on the hobs. We made Viking flat bread and curd cheese. The bread was cooked in the pizza oven and we ate our feast round the camp fire listening to Viking Sagas.
It was a great day full of experiences.
Busy, but amazing week!
All the Year 5 teachers and TA are a little bit exhausted, but we are very happy!
This week we let creativity and construction go wild, with our Viking day preparations.
Using scrap from the Scrap Store we have created Viking shields and weapons. The children have used hack saws and the glue guns. We didn't have any cuts or burns and no cut tables or damage. It was really worrying as adults, but amazing for the children, we had to be so trusting and let the children have a go. They did themselves proud, they grew in confidence and worked in teams to get the cutting done. It was fab!
It was also very very messy. Big thank you to our cleaners who had a lot to deal with this week.
We also made Viking style curd cheese on Friday afternoon, which generated great questions and recaps on science, maths and history knowledge as well as discussions of sustainability, health eating and choices. The 3D printer has been out all week, making Viking replica brooches. These were given out on Friday and can be painted with nail varnish, acrylic or a sharpie style permanent marker. The you can add a safety pin and attach to the costumes or school uniform on Monday.
Monday 2nd December is Viking day. Dressing up in Viking style if the children want to and bring in any homemade shields and weapons. We do have some costume bits in school if you don't have anything at home. If children don't want to dress up its fine, they can wear their brooch or just be themselves. We will be making a Viking meal, cooking flatbread in the pizza oven, cooking on the outside fire, doing Viking war chants, having a mock battle and we have Kevin Potter (ex BC parent) coming into talk about being an archaeologist and bringing some Viking and Anglo Saxon artefacts - thank you Kevin!
We are really excited and hope it is going to be a memorable day! We actually don't think the children will forget the mess the polystyrene made for a long time, it was hilarious!
Otherwise we have completed assessment tests and all the normal!
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
A fantastic assembly by Rhino Class this week!
A really good showcase of how much we have been learning through our Viking and Anglo-Saxon topic work. We have covered not only the history but art, music, dance, computing all through this one topic, not to mention our writing and reading too. It's so nice to share with you, I think you will agree Loki the Joker is very catchy!!
Well done Rhinos!
This we week we have our termly rising star assessments starting and we continue to write based our class book The 1000 Year Old Boy. Otherwise we think it's a normal week, which will be nice!
Don't forget Viking Day on the 2nd December - dressing up if we would like too. We will be outside cooking, making and have an Archaeologist coming in to talk to us about careers as well as share artefacts and details about their work locally.
Spelling for this week are attached and please can we nag about reading at home 3 times, yellow reading records are checked on Mondays. Please just sign to say you have heard your child read - thank you.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
It was lovely to see so many of you at parents evening this week, if you missed making an appointment then let us know and we find a time to catch up about how your child/ren have settled into Year 5.
Again a very busy week, with Mrs Popel and Miss Cripps on a Maths course, road training for Rhinos and the church trip for Elephants. The church walk to Christ Church in Downend was lovely and both classes really enjoyed it. Thank you to Helen and the church for making us so welcome and answering all our questions about her faith and what happens in a church. The children were so well behaved and asked really excellent questions. Thank you to both classes for their support with our walks and road training, it makes a huge difference to have helpers and makes going out and about into the community so much easier.
The children all looked great on Children in Need day and we had a great time doing our whole school dance in the hall at assembly.
Coming up we are looking at division in maths and moving on to embedded clauses in our writing. Spellings are always included here for those who might forget their spelling books.
We do need to have a nag about home reading, sorry, but year 5 classes were really low again this week. Please listen to your child/ren read at home 3 times a week and record in the yellow reading record. We collect these on a Monday so please make sure the children have it. It can be a quick signature to say you have heard them read but its still a really important skill to build. Thank you.
Reminder: we have Viking day on Monday 2nd December, Christmas Crafts on Thursday 19th December and it it Rhino Class assembly on Friday this week.
Thanks again for your support,
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Week 2
A busy week for both year 5 classes with trips to the church as a part of our RE big question for this term and our crossing the road training starting. Thank you so much to our parent helpers we are so grateful for your support.
We have sent home a letter about Viking day on Monday 2nd December - we would love it if the children dressed up in Viking costumes - we will be doing lots of activities in the day and it should be lots of fun!
We look forward to seeing you all at parents evening and please contact us if you need an appointment.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
PE Update
We have had to swap - not too bad but we are now:
Wednesday - OUTDOOR
Friday - INDOOR
Thanks Year 5 Team
Term 2, Week 1
Welcome back we hope you all had a lovely half term and are ready for a busy term ahead!
PE
PE changes as we no longer have the coach or the swimming pool.
Our days are now:
Wednesday: Indoor PE
Friday: outdoor PE
Please make sure you are in PE kit on the those days and check the website for details of the schools PE kit if you are not sure.
Spellings & Reading
These came home today for a test on Friday. We are revising plurals so this isn't new learning and recapping on the year 3 and 4 spelling lists. Reading, please read at least 3 times a week with your child, a quick note in the yellow book is enough to tell us you have listened to a reader.
Parents Evening
Sign up sheets are on the door in each class, please contact the office if you can't use this way of signing up.
Other Key Dates
This tends to be a really busy term with lots going on and we will try to keep you as up to date as we can! As always please do let us know if you need anything.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Week 7
Wow, how is it week 7, a long term but it has just flown by and only four days until half term (no school for the children on Friday)
It was assessment test this week, with our normal Rising Star assessments. The children all coped really well with the changes and showed lots of resilience when making lots of mistakes. We love a FAIL (first attempt in learning) in year 5 and have spent lots of time talking about testing techniques and how to manage time, which is so positive. We spend time going over the answers as well so it has been a great learning experience.
Next week we are covering shape in maths and doing some joint class fun maths and learning more about Viking Longships for our writing.
Spelling test will take place on Thursday and we will still monitor reading books on Monday.
Then it will be half term, I know the children will be rest for a rest, they have been working really hard in class so they certainly deserve it.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Week 6
Another busy week has flown by!
We all felt the pressure of the weather with the constant rain! However, it gave us the perfect chance to explain the word "dreary" from the poem we have been looking at, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. We all enjoyed the poem and specially the Simpsons version ;-) The children have worked really hard in their writing based on the poem and are gathering more skills every time we write - we are really impressed with their effort and commitment to their writing. More work on the Raven in the coming week.
Maths - we have been looking at telling the time. This is a really key skill and one you can support at home by getting your child to tell the time via a range of different devices. This really helps time work in school. Mobile phones and tablet devices all have a range of different clock settings so you can use these to help as we need to be able to tell and convert time in a range of ways.
It's is getting near to half term and we have noticed the children are getting a bit more tired and this tends to lead to a few more disagreements and things seeming more overwhelming. We are here to help the children with this and please let us know if your child needs a bit more support during the next two weeks.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde, Mrs Popel
Week 5
This week seems to have flow by so quickly!
We have been covering decimals in maths with lots of ordering and comparing to 3 decimal places and then finished off with rounding decimals again to 3 places. This took a bit of practise and we were in the purple zone especially with the Prove it questions this week.
The children all showed great resilience and use of our Emerald learning powers.
In our writing we have been working on description using a range of features such as expanded noun phrases. We have been so impressed by the children's attitude to their writing. They have worked really hard and have produced some fantastic pieces. They are listening carefully and trying to use new ideas in their work all the time. We are really proud of all of them. Well Done Year 5, you are going to be an amazing group of writers!
Homework - can we just remind everyone that homework is Reading at least 3 times a week. Please record in the yellow reading record. These are collected in on a Monday for stamping and stickers, then Mrs Daniel produces our % of readers. We have been getting higher each week but we are still not all reading at home. Please do make time for this, it makes a huge difference in learning. Spellings - these come home on a Friday and are tested the next Friday. If your child forgets they are here on the website. TTRS and MyMaths these are both optional to use online, the children love TTRS (times table rockstars). MyMaths is more classroom style learning tasks but gives your child a chance to repeat something we have learnt in class if they are not sure or want to build a bit more confidence.
As always please do come and chat to use about any problems or to tell us good things! The children are all working so hard and we are really proud of year 5.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Week 4
We were so lucky with the weather for our trip to St Fagans this week, we managed to dodge the rain! The workshop was great and the children really impressed us with their questions and their knowledge of history from the Roman times (covered in year 4). They really conducted themselves well.
In class we have been recapping on Addition and Subtraction and working hard on our maths language and explanations. We move on to decimals in week 5.
In our writing we have been looking at expanded noun phrases for description and trying to add a preposition to expand the phrase further. For example, Under dusty brown soil. We will continue with this in week 5 writing setting descriptions for the Chinese Gardens from our book How to Live Forever. The children are listening carefully in our writing lessons and their writing is moving on in style already.
Class hamster, Mo the Syrian hamster moved with Miss Cripps from Year 2. She is currently living in Elephants as Miss Cripps is a bit protective of her! She will be ready to go on home visits from this weekend. If you would like to have Mo please sign up at Elephant Class. She comes with a bag of sawdust, food, treats and her ball. She can be handled and is a very busy hamster who loves chewing and climbing about her cage.
As always please let us know any problems or concerns and we can't believe we are half way through the first term already!
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Week 3
We have all really settled in our routines now in year 5.
Please note that we are all finding the mornings really busy, teachers too so we are aware. We are doing a few short lessons one after the other and it is feels quick! We will get used to it and it is nice to get us going and into our learning but please do let the children know that we are all still finding it a rush so not to worry if they are too!
Elephants enjoyed the walk to the library this week, it is a lovely library and really well stocked so a good way to read all the latest books without the cost. Thank you to Mrs Hyde for arranging this one for us, it was lovely.
MyMaths - letters with user names and passwords have gone home and there are maths activities if your child wants to do them. We don't set this as homework but its there if needed. We have matched to what we have been doing in class so if a bit more practise is needed or your child said it was tricky or hard they can have another look at home.
Reading at home
We ask for reading at home 3 times a week please. Just sign quickly in the yellow book and both classes check the books on Monday. Children can read books from school, home, library, magazines, ebooks etc it all counts please just sign in the yellow books. Thank you.
Next week - we have our trip on Thursday. Please send children with a packed lunch, drinks and clothing to match the weather. The site has a lot of outdoor areas and we will be moving around so we can see as much as possible. We are not going to the shop on site so no money is needed. Thank you to those who have paid, we have to cover any non-payment from our class budget so please do contribute. Thank you as well to the volunteers to come on the day.
We are really looking forward to another great week. Please let us know any problems or if you need any information.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Week 2 Round Up
Another great week in Year 5!
The timetable is starting to swing into full gear and the children have done a great job and getting fully into life as a Year 5. Both classes are stacking up the class points quickly, which is a great start to the year.
We have completed our first week of English, our book is How to Live Forever by Colin Thompson. It's a picture book with lovely illustrations and we have been discussing if we would want to live forever. We have also been learning modal verbs - turns out we knew them all the time but didn't know they had a special name! Modal verbs are words such as should, would, might, may, ought and we have used them in our writing this week. Next week will be be trying to persuade Peter to read the book in a letter.
In maths we have been looking at comparing and ordering numbers up to 1 million, we have been excellent at this and enjoyed looking at houses and car prices to test our knowledge. We then moved on to a quick refresh on negative numbers. Next week rounding to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, 10 000, 100 000 and Roman Numerals.
We have smashed Times Tables Rock Stars - especially Elephants who showed they were up for a challenge and have done us proud!! Keep going, we need to win the local school battle!
A reminder that homework is spellings, times table rockstars and reading at least 3 times a week. Book changing and stamping is on Monday's in both classes. Spellings will be on the website each week in case they don't make it home.
It was great to see you at meet the teacher but remember we are here for you anytime, just let us know and we can organise times to meet, we are here to help.
Elephants are walking to the library on Wednesday pm, Rhinos really enjoyed their trip and loved learning about the category system.
We are looking forward to another fab week!
Miss Cripps, Mrs Popel and Mrs Hyde.
Week 1 - Done!
Year 5 have smashed it this week, with a great start to the year.
All the Year 5 teachers think we are on for the best year ever! As teachers we went off to the weekend with smiles and spring in our steps, we hope the children did too.
Overview of the Year
The overview the year is attached, this shows you the books, topics and areas we are going to be covering this year.
Spellings, Times Table Rockstars and Reading
The spellings came home on Friday in the red spellings book, in case they don't make it home we will add to them to the web page each week so that there is a plan b.
TTRS, user names and passwords went home for Elephants and Rhinos (will go home on Monday due to a printer issue). We have not "set" the tables but ask the children to let us know if they find all 12 x a bit much. Most importantly we have a TTRS battle with Blackhorse Primary School. So please encourage playing as much as possible, as we would LOVE to win!
Reading - please read 3 times a week at home, its a quick sign in the book and can be done anywhere. It would be good to start the year with 100% of Year 5 reading. We did put a note in the front of the yellow reading books with ideas to support.
Meet the Teacher
This is on Wednesday this week at 3.30 until 4.30. We will be in class rooms to meet you and just chat about Year 5 or just to say hello! It's very informal and just a chance to see the classroom and us if you need to. Again we are here to help and to support the children and you so please come to us any time you need to and don't worry about contacting us. All the Year 5 teachers are working parents so if you are too then we know it can be tricky to see us, please drop a note or call in and we will find away.
Letters and Trips
This week there were letters for:
We won't always remember to put letters on the web page but the flu one is important so just wanted to let you know in case any did not make it home as we all got back in the swing of school life.
As above it was a brilliant start to the year and we are looking forward to Monday and getting into our full time table. Say thank you to the children for making us all feel calm and settled this week, we have had a lovely week - long may it continue!
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde, Mrs Popel
Great Start to 2019 - 2020!
We have had an amazing morning in Year 5 today! It was lovely to see all the children again and make such a positive start to the year.
We have organised our swimming and PE timetable so for Term 1:
Monday - Swimming
Thursday - PE outdoor
Please remember that children wear their outdoor PE kit to school, it should be the school uniform PE kit and please ensure proper footware. If you need more information about the uniform please check the main website..
Trip - We have also organised our first school trip, it is to St Fagans in Wales and we will be visiting the Celtic Warrior section and having a workshop to link with our topic for term 1 and 2 - the Anglo Saxons. The date of this will be Thursday 26th September information will be via parent mail/school email system.
It was a great start the year this morning and we can't wait for tomorrow!
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Welcome to Year 5
We hope you are enjoying the summer holidays!
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel have been into school and we can now say the classrooms are looking ready for welcoming our new Year 5's back in September.
If you are starting to get bored, remember it never hurts to do some reading or a bit of maths work to keep your brain active. There are so many free games for maths, spelling apps and reading is everywhere!
We can't wait to see you in September and we are all looking forward to our school year together.
Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel
Year 5 Elephants and Rhino teachers.