Week commencing 7th April 2025!

Our final week of the spring term has come around very quickly! This week  we have enjoyed finishing off our persuasive letters to the Prime Minister, finishing our PSHE unit around jobs and careers and summarising all that we have learnt about Climate Change. 

We ended our short week, with a rather exciting Easter Egg hunt around the school grounds, which was a great activity to finish the term! Wishing you all a safe and fun-filled Easter break, I look forward to welcoming you all back for the last term of Year 5. 

Week commencing 24th March 2025!

In PSHE this week, we put all of our learning into practise, with some role play! We have been discussing our likes, dislikes, strengths and weakness and exploring qualifications that link to different job types. For our lesson this week, we had a go at attending an interview, where we were answering questions in the hope to be appointed! The children did an amazing job and it was brilliant hearing them speak so professionally and passionately about themselves. 

In science, we were investigating whether the size of an animal impacts the gestational period and trying to find out if there is a relationship between the two. Do you think there might be?

Week commencing 17th March!

We have had a busy week this week and finished off with our Climate Change enrichment day. To begin our day, we went outside and freshened up the flower beds outside Year 6 - we dug out all of the weeds and we planted some wildflowers in the plant pots. We can't wait to see them grow and attract lots of insects!

We also did some litter picking on the playground, which some of us are going to make a regular thing, alongside the eco council. In the afternoon, we then used recyclable resources to make 'something new out of something old' and we had some amazing and really creative ideas!

Week commencing 3rd March 2025!

This week, we continued our War Poetry unit in English and created our own poems, based on Flanders Fields.  We looked at metaphorical language, similes, personification and rhyme when planning our ideas. The children wrote some phenomenal poems - plenty of proud cards were handed out and our Golden Writing wall is full of work! An amazing job, Year 5, well done! 

Week commencing 24th February 2025!

Our first week back is complete and the children returned, eager to begin a new half term. We have started our new geography topic on climate change and considered how changes to our local environment may have a negative impact on our planet.

In English, we started looking at War Poetry and to help us understand life in the war, spent some time exploring what it would have been like for the soldiers in the trenches. We had some great pieces of writing from this. Next week, we will begin writing our own war poems, based on Flanders Field. 

Week commencing 10th February 2025!

We were in for a treat this week, as on Tuesday, we were invited to watch a performance of 'Sister Act' by pupils at Grays Convent. The children (and adults) had a fabulous time and were very grateful to be asked to go and watch! We also had a very important online e- safety workshop from the 2 Johns, which followed on nicely from what we learnt earlier on in Year 5, at the Walk Online Roadshow. There is always so much new information to learn from! 

Week commencing 3rd February 2025!

On Monday, we started our last English unit of the half term, based on our guided reading book, 'War Horse'. We wrote some superb letters as Ted Narracott, apologising to his son, Albert, for his irrational behaviour and used emotive language to convey his regret. In our history lessons, we had great fun learning all about Roman gladiators and how they would fight huge animals, such as tigers and bulls, for fun! They even trained to learn how to die dramatically!

Week commencing 27th January 2025!

This week we had our trip to Colchester Castle, which we had been looking forward to all half-term! We had an amazing day and Year 5 made us so proud, showing off all of their Roman knowledge that they had learnt in the last few weeks! We had a tour underneath the castle, of the Roman vaults and learnt that they used to be full of sand, which in fact provided the castle and temple with strong foundations. We also had great fun building a Roman temple!

Week commencing 20th January 2025!

Yet another exciting week in our class! We read the story of Macbeth for our English unit, which the children really got into and thoroughly enjoyed! They wrote a monologue for the very first time, detailing Macbeth's dilemma over whether or not he should kill King Duncan. 

We finished our week with a fantastic multicultural day - we were very lucky, as we had some wonderful food brought in from a variety of cultures, that we enjoyed across the year group. Children shared some cultural items that they were excited to speak about and we enjoyed listening to them sharing so proudly!  

Week commencing 13th January 2025!

In Maths this week we have been looking at shape and angles. We have been using our estimation skills to have a sensible guess at the size of an angle, before using the protractor to measure and get an accurate answer. The children have worked really hard to use the protractors accurately!

In our history lessons, we looked at the expansion of the Roman Empire and how this was due to the success of their army. We then researched the qualities required to be a Roman soldier and created a job advert that could be used to recruit. We had some really amazing posters! 

Week commencing 6th January 2025!

Welcome back to another term of Year Five! We have had a really great first week and have already learnt lots of new information. In Maths, we learnt how to apply BIDMAS for the correct order of operations; we had never looked at this before but from the work produced you would never know! 

In history, we have started our 'Roman' topic and looked at some of the reasons why they wanted to invade Britain - for our materials, to capture slaves, for power and revenge! We are all really looking forward to our trip to Colchester Castle at the end of the month!

Week commencing 16th December 2024!

5NW have had a busy and exciting final week of term! 

Within our English lessons this week, we wrote some amazing descriptions based on a Christmas television advert - some really powerful language was used and they were rather enjoyable to read!

We had our Christmas disco, our class party, Santa dash and finished the week of with our Christmas raffle bonanza assembly! We could not believe how many prizes there were! Wow!

Wishing you all a safe and restful break! 

Week commencing 9th December 2024!

Yet another busy week for us, this week. On Wednesday we had our Christmas jumper day and our Christmas dinner, which lots of us enjoyed! On Friday, we had our annual walk to the church, whereby we sang lots of wonderful Christmas songs and heard readings from a number of children. 

Time for a rest now, before our final and extra busy last week of term, next week!

Week commencing 2nd December 2024!

Everybody has worked extremely hard this week during assessment week - showcasing all that we have learnt this half term. In English we have written an emotive letter, as The Alchemist, seeking forgiveness. The children have produced some fantastic writing and lots of proud cards have been handed out!

In Science, we investigated the viscosity of different liquids - which means how well they flow, based on their thickness. We tested syrup, water and oil - which one do you think was the most viscous?

Week commencing 25th November 2024!

In Maths this week, we have continued looking at fractions and used our prior learning to add and subtract fractions with different denominators. We also began to look at fraction, decimal and percentage equivalents.

In Science, we had great fun investigating which brand of kitchen towel is the most absorbent - ask us, if you'd like to know!

Week commencing 18th November 2024!

Wow! What a busy week! Monday, we had a visit from Urban Strides and had an amazing afternoon of dancing. Wednesday, we were invited to join the Walk Online Roadshow at the Civic hall, whereby we learnt lots about online safety from Essex Police and 'The 2 Johns.' On Thursday, we took part in an online careers workshop, learning about different job roles and possible opportunities for the future and on Friday, we had our American enrichment day, which was a lot of fun! 

We had a very red, blue and white classroom on Friday, as everyone wore the colours of America. In the morning, each group chose an American state to research and created a giant mood board to reflect their choice - we had Ohio, New York, Florida, to name a few. We followed on with some junk modelling, recreating some famous American landmarks and these looked superb, across both classes! We finished our busy week making some American pancakes and the best bit was eating them! Yummy!

Week commencing 11th November 2024!

Another busy week in Year 5! The children worked very hard to write their own legends of Robin Hood, which they really enjoyed - we had some great versions! 

In Geography, we recapped lines of longitude and latitude and used our co-ordinate skills to locate states within America! We then looked at a variety of landmarks across the USA and how they are linked to economical growth, we also started to compare with the UK.

Friday afternoon we had some really exciting news! Dance group, Urban Strides, are visiting our school on Monday and we get to take part in a dance workshop with them! We are so excited and we have a super jam-packed week next week! Are you ready?! 

Week commencing 4th November 2024!

What a wonderful first week back, and a busy one too! This week, we introduced our new geography topic of America, which the children in Year 5 have been extremely enthusiastic about. We have mainly focussed on North America and started to make comparisons between there and the UK. We are very much looking forward to our enrichment day in a couple of weeks!

In our English lessons, we are looking at the legend, Robin Hood. We began to consider the impact of Robin's actions on the rich and the poor, finishing off writing a diary entry in role as a poor person, after receiving the money stolen by Robin Hood from the riches. We look forward to retelling the entire legend, next week!

Week commencing 14th October 2024!

Our final week of term has been a busy one! We have written some superb pieces of writing within our English lessons, based on the picture book - 'Island.' The children have written so creatively, including some great 'show don't tell' description, whilst incorporating dialogue into the narrative.

On Thursday, we had a visit from Essex Fire Safety, whereby we were reminded how to keep safe over the half term when celebrating Halloween and firework night. 

Everyone has worked so hard over the past seven weeks, what an amazing start to Year 5! Wishing everybody a safe and restful half term. 

Week commencing 7th October 2024!

This week, Year 5 had our school trip to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. We had a fantastic day and were kept very busy! We were very lucky to watch a showing of 'We are Guardians' in the planetarium there which was very exciting and we all thoroughly enjoyed it - we learnt lots too! Later on in the day, we also visited the observatory itself and were able to have a look through a telescope. In the area outside of that building, we found the Prime Meridian and enjoyed looking at the time zones across the world!

In history, we had great fun exploring some historical sources, including an old style map representing the British Empire. We worked really effectively in groups to reach some conclusions and prepare for our written work, whereby we wrote a balanced discussion based on reasons for and against the empire.

Week commencing 30th September 2024!

In history this week, we used all of the information that we had learnt over the last couple of weeks to write a comparative piece about Queen Anne and Queen Victoria, and how the compared as members of the monarchy.

In Science this week, we continued our topic of the solar system and we learnt about the phases of the moon. We learnt that there are 8 phases and the reason that the moon's appearance changes is because as the moon orbits the Earth, different parts of the moon are illuminated at different times. We had great fun at the end of our lesson, using Oreo biscuits to represent the moon's phases!

Week commencing 23rd September 2024!

We have had a really exciting week this week - we started by having our new school photos taken! We cannot wait to see them, everyone was looking extremely smart!

In English, we started our Harry Potter writing unit and we have had some absolutely fantastic pieces of writing! We have been working hard on creating suspense, by showing not telling and the character and setting descriptions that have been produced have blown me away - such impressive vocabulary!

In PSHE, we looked at discrimination. We discussed the importance of all individuals being treated equally but also fairly, depending on individual scenarios. We looked at a great image to represent this.

Week commencing 16th September 2024!

Within our English lessons this week, we had great fun writing diary entries in role as Bradley and Jeff, who are characters from our guided reading book, 'There's a boy in the girls' bathroom.' It was great to see the contrast in the style of writing between the two characters!

We also got into role during out history lesson and after learning lots about the Act of Union, debated whether or not this was a good thing. We also recapped our knowledge of Great Britain, The UK and The British Isles, within this lesson, creating some cross-curricular learning!

Week commencing 9th September 2024!

This week in History, we learnt about King John and the Magna Carta. We wrote in role, as a baron, explaining the many mistakes that King John made and why we were left with no choice but to force him into signing the Magna Carta. The children in 5NW really got into this and we had some amazing pieces of writing!

In French, we continued learning the names of classroom objects and even played a game of snap to test our knowledge! Why not ask us to share some of what we have learnt?

Week commencing 2nd September 2024!

Welcome back.. as Year 5!

We have had an amazing first week back at school and already learnt lots of new and e exciting things. In our first history lesson, we worked in groups to place kings and queens of the past on a timeline and had a debate to decide whether or not King John should have signed the Magna Carter.

In Science, we made our own mnemonics to remember the order of the planets and completed an information hunt before creating planet fact files.

I have been absolutely blown away with the level of writing within our English lessons this week and it has been really difficult to choose for our Golden Writing wall!