A little information to help you about your child being in Year 5… Year 5 parent talk A little information to help you about your child being in Year 5…

The New Curriculum The Y5 curriculum is a continuation from Y4. The expectations have been stepped up. Children have to “catch up” on things that were not previously in the curriculum.

Our Topics Astronomical (Autumn 1) The Terrible Tudors (Autumn 2) Groovy Greeks (Spring) London Calling (Summer)

Take Home Task We want to give you a choice of what you could do with our new topic! You can choose to do… for example Make a space model Find out about recent spacecraft missions and new planet or star discoveries. Draw/paint a space picture

Enrichment Autumn term Space Dome visit (8th September) – £10.00 Tudor life at Singleton Open Air Museum (2nd November) – approx. £20.00

Your help required… SPACE SMOOTHIES Can you bring in fruit, juices or milk, a smoothie presentation glass (plastic) and decorations! These will be required for approx. the first or second week in October.

Enrichment Spring – Greek myths and a day in the life of an ancient Greek child -Rainbow Theatre Company

Enrichment Summer We are currently investigating a trip to London to see a show and some London attractions.

Homework Literacy (spelling) and maths every week. Learn spellings, look up definitions in a dictionary or use the words in sentences to explain. Children will have a ‘choice’ homework menu to pick activities from. They can complete more than 1 but may need to repeat to secure their learning.

Autumn Maths Homework The priority for the autumn term for Year 5 is for all the children to learn their times tables up to 12x. Points to remember: Pressure is generally counterproductive. Some children can memorise these facts by heart….many can not! (It is exactly the same with adults). Learning a whole set of tables on one night is not a good idea. We encourage pupils to learn a couple of facts each night and embed. Research shows that learning your tables by rote as your key method is not very effective for many pupils. Pupils respond to a variety of methods and not all methods work for all children.    You do not need fancy software or expensive equipment, the children just need basic regular work on their tables - little and often – learning the facts that they don’t know not the facts that they do.  

Maths activities can be completed in homework books Maths activities can be completed in homework books. Work your way through 3x, 4x, 6x, 9x etc. Able pupils who have completed and had all times tables signed off by the teacher should then spend their time learning other number facts including: Squares of integers (5² = 25) (8² = 64) (13² = 169) (90 x 90 = 8100) Cubes of integers to 10 (2³ = 8) (5³ = 125) (9³ = 729) Prime numbers to 20 (year 5) and up to 100 (year 6) off by heart Pick a different activity each week (until you are secure) – tick off the activities you have completed on the sheet.

Children should be able to count their tables on the tips of their fingers BUT what we don’t want are children who keep having to count on their fingers all the time. So the next stage is learning the multiplication facts out of order e.g. 8 x 4 = ? 3 x 4 =? 12 x 4 = ? The third stage is learning division facts e.g. Question “Fifty six?” Answer “Seven eights / eight sevens” ALSO being able to answer the following: e.g. Question “63 divided by 9” Answer “7” We will be having times tables tests every Friday to monitor progress and the children will have time every day in class to practice their multiplication and division facts too. However, we do appreciate all the time they spend at home practising with you and we hope the information is helpful in moving them forward on their maths journey.

Reading Regular reading but it should be fun… not a chore! Reading not just a story – digital media, newspapers, magazines, audio books, listening to someone else, etc! Library and book corner books can be changed independently. Daily reading will be taking place in guided reading. Parent helpers – anybody willing to come in for 20 minutes to hear children read, very much appreciated. Our guided reading sessions are first thing 8.50-9.10am.

How can you help…? Look in the curriculum information booklet and maths Autumn homework information sheet stapled into their homework book Read regularly and record in pupil diary Times tables (up to x12) need to be secure as quick recall of the facts

A reminder about P.E. Children should have kits at ALL times Appropriate kit for outside in cold weather Clearly named Tape for covering earrings P.E. days are Tuesday and Thursday

Fruit & Drink Children who want a snack mid-morning need to bring in either a piece of fruit or a vegetable. Only water in water bottles please.

Do you want to help? We would love helpers to come in and read with children from Year 5! A letter was sent home at the end of last term asking for volunteers. If you can help, please, PLEASE let us know! THANK YOU 

Parent class representatives Are you… Approachable? Supportive? Proactive? Sociable ? Available? Can you… Engage and involve parents in class related activities? Organise social events for parents? Listen and represent the views of other parents in an unbiased way? Liaise effectively with the class teacher on a regular basis? Be a champion for your child’s class PLEASE VOLUNTEER TODAY IF YOU ARE INTERESTED!

Thank you Any questions? Please speak to your child’s teacher if you have any concerns at all. We will always arrange a suitable time to speak to you. Catching us at the end of the day is better!