"Do everything in love” 1 Corinthians 16:14

 

Learning to love, loving to learn

Welcome to Year 5

Happy New Year! 

Our staff

Mrs Haslam is our class teacher and Mrs Skitt will be supporting our learning.

The following information tells you a little more about the coming term in Year 5 and your child's learning. However, if you have any queries or questions please don't hesitate to contact us.

sara.haslam@st-marys.halton.sch.uk

General information

• Please tie back long hair.
• Please have a bottle of water at school every day. This can be refilled as necessary.
• Please bring a small school bag, reading book and homework record every day (if relevant to your child).
• Please return your homework on or before Wednesday for marking. Homework will be sent out on a Friday.
• All school uniform needs to be named but particularly jumpers and cardigans.
• A full PE kit should be in school at all times, consisting of black shorts, white t-shirts and trainers. Jogging bottoms/leggings can be added as the weather gets colder.
•  

PE is timetabled for Thursday during Spring 1. We will be swimming on Wednesday, leaving school at 9.10. Please ensure children have a swimming costume and towel in a separate bag. 

 

Spring First Half term 2025

 

Our Christian Values

During the first Spring half term, our school value is Respect.

1 Peter 2:17 says, “Show proper respect to everyone: Love the family of believers, fear God, honour the King.”

 

Love of reading

We are continuing to read our class novel, 'The Boy at the Back of the Class' by Onjali Q Rauf.

English

Our weekly routine will include learning writing skills, spelling and grammar, handwriting and guided reading sessions. Daily reading at home continues to be essential and we would ask that you question your child regularly on the book they are reading to develop a deeper understanding of a range of texts, to develop new vocabulary and strengthen writing skills.

Writing

During the first half of the spring term, we are exploring 'Arthur and the Golden Rope' by Joe Todd-Stanton to develop our writing skills. We will further develop figurative and descriptive writing skills to help us write in the style of a myth.  

Reading

Our Guided Reading text this half term is 'Odd and the Frost Giants' by Neil Gaiman. This compliments our writing text as it features Norse Mythology.

 

Spelling

We will continue to use Pathways to Spell as part of our English lessons to develop spelling strategies and learn spelling rules, as well as the essential Y5/6 words.

Maths

As mathematicians, the children will learn through concrete experiences moving onto pictorial and abstract methods as their confidence builds. They will also be expected to use their learning to reason about maths and solve problems. 

During the Spring term we will focus on Multiplication and Division. We then have a big focus on fractions, comparing and converting fractions, adding and subtracting then moving on to multiplying. The term finishes with a focus on decimals and percentages.

Science

As scientists, we aim to develop our knowledge and understanding, scientific skills and measuring and recording abilities. During the Spring term we will be investigating Materials and their properties. This will include learning about properties such as hardness, thermal conductivity, materials that are soluble and those that are not, and investigating mixtures.

History

As historians, we will learn about the Ancient Greeks, exploring the significance of landscape on society, innovation in government and cultural development.

RE

For RE we will continue to use the Questful RE planning. This half term we will focus on Jesus, and why Christians believe Jesus was a great teacher.

The aim of this unit is to:

• emphasise Jesus’ skills as a great teacher.
• consider carefully the messages of the parables and how they impact on the lives of practising Christians.

We will explore through these key questions:

• Why did Jesus tell this story?
• What can we learn from this story?
• How does this story help us to understand Christian beliefs?
• How does this story impact on the lives of believers?

PE

Our PE will concentrate on Leadership in an Outdoor Adventure topic, as well as continuing to progress our swimming skills.

Art and DT

Our Art this term focuses on the Art of the Anatomy. This will allow us to further develop our skills in drawing and sculpture. OUr DT topic this term will focus on frame structures by designing kites.

PHSE

In PHSE, we will follow the Heartsmart scheme. The focus is 'Too much selfie isn't healthy!' which will enable us to understand that there are many different ways we can show love for others and ways to avoid being lonely. We will start to understand the purpose and role of groups such as charities. We will also focus on what to share online. 

Music

As musicians, we will be using Charanga to explore different music genres and new terminology. We will learn that if we play three or more pitches together, we can create chords in music and that they provide the basis for accompaniment in music. We will learn how to use chords in compositions, and that we can create music that is really interesting.

MFL

As linguists, we will learn how to read, write and say phrases about our town and telling the time. We will continue to find out about grammatical gender to write nouns & adjectives accurately and extend our range of spoken questions and answers. 

 

Computing

For the first half term we will learn about video editing and managing online information.

Homework

Homework will be sent out on Friday to be returned on or before the following Wednesday.  We expect each piece to take about 30 minutes.  Please come and see us if there are any difficulties or write a note on the piece of work. It is important to complete each piece as they will either build on taught skills or pre teach skills ready for the following week.