Our Autumn 1 Journey
Curriculum and Home learning webs
English
In Year 5 English, we have been exploring the inspiring picture book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. Through this fascinating true story, we learnt about Philippe Petit, the courageous French high-wire artist, and discovered more about his life, his incredible ambition and his daring walk between the Twin Towers in New York in 1974.
Alongside our reading, we have been developing our understanding of grammar, focusing on securing our knowledge of adverbs and learning how to use parenthesis and relative clauses effectively to add detail and information to our writing. We have explored how these grammatical features can make our sentences more interesting, precise and engaging for the reader. We then applied our learning through a range of purposeful writing opportunities. We wrote two recounts of Philippe Petit's extraordinary walk, experimenting with descriptive language and carefully chosen vocabulary to recreate the excitement, suspense and danger of this remarkable event. We also produced non-chronological reports about world-famous buildings, researching fascinating facts and organising information into clear sections using an appropriate formal style.
Throughout the unit, we have worked hard to broaden our vocabulary, improve our sentence construction and develop our ability to write for different purposes and audiences.
Maths
In Year 5 Maths, we have been developing our understanding of number and strengthening our calculation skills. We began by exploring place value, focusing on reading, writing, ordering and comparing numbers up to 1,000,000. We used our knowledge of the value of each digit to partition numbers, identify patterns and explain our mathematical reasoning.
y5 place value knowledge organiser.pdf
We then moved on to addition and subtraction, developing our confidence in calculating mentally and using the formal column method to solve increasingly challenging calculations. We have focused on choosing efficient strategies, checking our answers and explaining our methods clearly.
y5 addition and subtraction ko.pdf
More recently, we have explored squared numbers and prime numbers, learning how to recognise their properties and identify examples.
Science
I wonder if I can feel forces...
Do items with more mass fall to the ground faster or slower than those with less mass?
This week, we explored mass and gravity! We investigated whether objects with more mass fall faster or slower than objects with less mass. We learned that mass stays the same everywhere, but weight can change depending on gravity.
Which size parachute will help an object fall safely to the ground?
At the beginning of the lesson, we learnt about air resistance and how it acts in the opposite direction to gravity. Then, we worked in small groups to plan and investigate the question: 'Which size parachute will help an object fall safely to the ground? We talked together, as a class, about how to make it a fair test – like testing from the same height, using the same weight, and using the same materials. We made our different sized (small, medium and large) parachutes and carried out our investigation.
We really enjoyed working as a team and seeing what happened. We learned how important it is to make a test fair and how small changes can affect the results.
Which type of shoes make the most friction?
Today we worked in small groups and used a Newton metre to measure the friction on different shoes. We learned that the higher the reading on the Newton metre, the more friction there is acting on the shoe. We also talked about how to make our test fair and followed a clear method. After that, we recorded our results in a table for 4–5 different shoes.
0 front cover and knowledge organiser.pdf
Topic
In Year 5 Geography, we have been exploring the world around us, beginning with our local area. We investigated how our local area has changed over time, using our geographical knowledge to identify differences between the past and present. We then explored the amenities available within our community and considered how these services meet the needs of local residents.
Building on this knowledge, we developed our map skills by locating famous buildings around the world and identifying the countries and cities in which they can be found. We explored how buildings can become important landmarks, attracting visitors from across the globe and reflecting the history, culture and identity of a place.
To bring our learning to life, we took on the role of a tourism board for a country of our choice. We researched a famous city and an iconic building, gathering interesting facts and information to promote our chosen destination. This exciting, drama-inspired activity allowed us to develop our research, presentation and geographical skills while persuading others to visit our chosen country!
RE
I wonder why some people believe in God and some people not?
Values
Our value for this half term is Respect.
Our famous influential person is...