Welcome   to   Year 5!

If you have any questions, please email your teachers on your class email address:

5Silverbirch@uptonjun.dorset.sch.uk (Miss Verran)

5Pine@uptonjun.dorset.sch.uk  (Miss Morgan)

5Oak@uptonjun.dorset.sch.uk  (Mrs Ramsden)

SUMMER TERM 🌞

Some of you may be on the countdown to summer, but we have a long term ahead of us and lots of exciting things to learn including the following:

Literacy

We will read our final novel of the year, Cogheart by Peter Bunzl.  This is an exciting adventure story set in Victorian England, with a twist.  It is a world of extraordinary inventions, notorious criminals and high-flying exploits.  We will follow Lily and Robert as they try to uncover secrets that will change their lives forever...

Humanities

Our investigation into all things Greek will conclude and we will then explore mountains.  This will include mountains in the UK and Europe, features and formations, the weather and the effects of tourism.

Design Technology

A complete contrast to our baking topic, this term we will be investigating electrical systems, specifically, children will design an alarm system that could be used in a museum to protect an ancient artefact!  Children will not only develop their knowledge of electronic circuits but they will also utilise their computer programming skills in order to program their control system using Crumble.

Wishing all our children and their families a fantastic Easter break 🍫🌻🌼🌺🌞

Whilst you are enjoying your Easter treats, please save the packaging - we may be able to use it in next term's sculpture topic...

Friday 1st April 2022

We have been so lucky to have another visitor to Year 5 today, this time it was local artist Caz Scott.   Last term we used Caz's paintings of local landscapes as the basis for our own paintings using texture so we were very excited that Caz came to visit.  She spent some time in each class talking about her work and inspiration along with looking at all our paintings and giving some fantastic feedback and tips.  We loved having the opportunity to ask her questions and see one of her paintings in its very early stages.

Wednesday 23rd March 2022

Today we had a visit from Jon Sweet, Dorset and South Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service's Education Officer.  Jon provided some follow-up information to our previous fire safety work and helped us to explore further fire safety issues and hazards.

Jon has asked that children assess the safety of their own homes and has also encouraged everyone to come up with an evacuation route and meeting point at home just in case.

Here is the link for children carrying out their own home safety check.  Each form returned (with parental permission) will be entered into a prize draw for a £50 book voucher for the school and a VIP trip to a fire station for the child.  We would love for as many children as possible to complete the form.

https://forms.office.com/r/bT6AF39cTT

Friday 18th March 2022

It's been another busy week in Year 5 - most notably:

In Maths we have been developing our fraction knowledge with subtraction.

In our Literacy lessons we have delved further into The Nowhere Emporium and worked on techniques to build suspense and tension.

In Science we designed, made and tested parachutes for our Forces topic.

All this was topped off with our second baking lesson, today was biscuits and we were delighted to be joined by Maggie from series 12 of The Great British Bake Off.  Maggie took part in a Q&A with the year group and then assisted each class with their baking.  We are very much hoping that she will join us again for our final products at the end of term.

Friday 11th March 2022

Today was our first baking session - bread rolls. 

Despite some issues with the baking trays being bigger than the ovens, everyone had a chance to combine ingredients, knead the dough and shape into rolls.  The staff room certainly smelt delicious and the finished rolls looked good enough to eat!  We hope our children and families enjoy their rolls and we look forward to hearing how they tasted on Monday.

Many of the children said they would like to bake some more so here is the recipe - enjoy.

Spring 2

Our new term is in full swing and what a busy time it has already been...

In Literacy we completed our work on the tragic lyrical poem, 'The Highwayman', by writing our own alternative ending.  Some children decided to have Bess and The Highwayman reunited, whilst others chose to continue the tragic theme with accidental deaths and mistaken gun shots!

We have now started our new text 'The Nowhere Emporium' - a magical, adventure novel full of mystery and intrigue.

In Maths we are continuing our work on Fractions, exploring how to add multiple fractions together of different denominators.

Our Science topic is Forces and we have already investigated gravity, mass and weight and in Geography we have started to explore Eastern Europe.

Everyone seems to have been very enthusiastic on a Monday morning - in PE we are now swimming.  These lessons are going well and something to look forward to each week.

Having completed our landscapes exploring texture in Art we have now started our DT topic.  In the first week of term we tasted a variety of biscuits, which was a great way to end the week.  In the following weeks, we will be baking bread rolls and biscuits in preparation for Easter themed biscuits at the end of term.

wb 7th February 2022

This week is Children's Mental Health Week.  Every morning we will have a positive thought of the day to discuss, along with a daily dance / yoga activity with a message to support the children.

On Friday we will wrap up the week by 'wearing a scarf to school'.  SCARF is our new PSHE program and we will be wearing a scarf to represent Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship.

In addition to Children's Mental Health Week, this week we will also be celebrating Safer Internet Day.  This is an annual event celebrated around the world.  It is the opportunity to celebrate all that is great about the Internet along with discussing ways that we can stay safe.  This year's theme is 'All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online.'

SID will be launched with an assembly on Monday, on Tuesday all classes will watch an introductory video leading onto a number of activities throughout the next fortnight including; a quiz, writing an email to an alien with top tips for being safe online, giving advice to gaming users in different scenarios and designing a gaming guide character.

Wb 17th January

This week we are looking forward to getting a bit more involved with our Viking topic with a workshop and carousel of activities on Thursday and Friday.

Natalie, our workshop leader has set you a challenge:

Happy New Year!

This half term we are looking forward to studying the text 'Beowulf' which will link to our History topic of the Vikings.  In Art we will be developing our painting techniques by adding texture and in Science we will be investigating materials.

Friday 12th November 2021

This week seems to have been especially busy for the children and staff of Year 5, however the teachers have enjoyed speaking to many parents during Tuesday and Thursday evenings and our busy week was topped off with quite a different day today.

Firstly, it was Maths Rock Star day - throughout the day children took part in a variety of activities, including creating posters representing their ages and making an alternative times table square or completing a number maze.

In addition to all these maths activities, we also started our new DT topic - sewing and took part in a computational thinking challenge.

After such a busy few days everyone deserves a fun and restful weekend.

Friday 5th November 2021

What a fantastic day we had at Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium 👨‍🚀 🚀 👩‍🚀 🛸

Children had the opportunity to explore the whole centre, experience the planetarium show and even program robots - culminating in a robot disco!! 

More details and photos on our individual class pages.

Monday 11th October 2021

To assist us with our writing, we took a walk to Upton rec this morning.  All the children regularly visit the rec, but this was a chance to focus on what we experience whilst we are in nature using the five senses.  Children focused really hard on picking out the individual senses and noticed things that they might not usually.  We then used everything we had gathered to write expended noun phrases about the visit.  These ideas will then be used for our practice write, describing our experiences and applying the grammar skills we have been learning.  Hopefully this first hand experience of being outside and thinking closely about the senses will help children when they complete their final piece of writing based on a short film we have been watching called The Ridge.

Friday 8th October 2021

This afternoon we were lucky enough to have a visit from two members of the police service: PCO Sam and Police Officer Lee.  They spoke to Year 5 and Year 6 about what their work entails and certain laws that could directly effect children including rules about e-scooters.  Children also learnt about different types of police uniform and equipment and when these might be required.  Some children even got to try on some hats and accessories, which they enjoyed - Mrs Rickeard wasn't so lucky though, unfortunately she got put in handcuffs!  After some fantastic questioning from the children, we all went outside to see a police car and experience the flashing lights and siren close up.  Children loved this opportunity - but it was very loud!

Wednesday 6th October 2021 - Fire Safety Visit

Today Year 5 were lucky enough to have Gill from the Fire Service in to speak to them. 

Children completed their fire safety training; learning about the fire triangle and the four main categories of fire.  After this, they were ready to be Fire Investigation Officers!  Children watched videos and listened to testimonies to make decisions about how the fire was detected, how occupants of the house escaped and if anyone was hurt and importantly used the evidence to decide on the probable cause of the fire.

Everyone definitely learnt a lot and children have been asked to do the following:

- check fire alarms at home: they should be tested every week

- plan with their families an escape plan in the event of a fire

- learn their postcode in case they ever needed to call 999 and give their location

Meet the Teacher and Curriculum Overview

Please find below the presentation from the 'Meet the Teacher' evening and our current curriculum overview.

National Curriculum Spelling List Years 5/6