Welcome To Year Five Mrs Cairns & Mr Ayres

What Year Five is all about… Promoting confidence, aspiration and determination. Developing independence and becoming a more mature member of the school community. Being role models for the rest of the school. Getting emotionally and educationally prepared for the future. Having a fantastic year at Preston Hedge’s with lots of opportunities to learn, be creative and have fun.

Our Curriculum Encourages an independence in learning. Helps to develop an awareness of the world around them, and their place within it. Ensures that key skills are learned within an interesting, relevant context. Allows creativity, fun and achievement.

Over the Year we will explore many different topics as part of our Curriculum. Some of the many things we include are; Shakespeare – A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth PE –Athletics Earth and Space Sikhism - Gurdwara Climate Change Africa Forces Ancient Egypt Modern Britain Citizenship

English and Maths Groupings are very flexible! However, all pupils will cover all Year 5 elements. With a big focus on reading, we will continue with the reading journals to allow the children to explore a classical text. Homework – is given out on a Friday and is always available on the Preston Hedge’s Website. Every week, there shall be a Maths homework and either a SPaG or reading journal homework on a 3 week basis (2 reading, 1 SPaG).

Our Classic Reading We introduced our classic reading texts last year- throughout key stage 2- in order to help the children to engage in texts they may not have read to further their knowledge of language. This was to help them with the challenges they face when answering questions in the new style comprehension tests. The classic text we are reading is Friend or Foe by Michael Morpurgo, which is a moving tale about a young boy’s evacuation from London. In addition to their homework in class, we look at the chapter in more depth and discuss the characters actions, emotions and how the writer has conveyed these to the reader. Then we answer some questions upon the text and explore the language even further.

Reading Journals When your child has reading homework, they should be bringing home both the reading journal and the classic read book. Here, they need to read the whole chapter and write a summary of what happened in it on the left hand page for that week. On the right, they need to write definitions of words they did not know. This is to be signed by you and brought back in for the following Friday.

Spellings Currently, your child should bring home 10 seen spellings, every Friday, from the year 5/6 common exception words. These spellings form part of the SPaG test in both year 5 and 6. Looking forward, once we have completed the common exception words, we shall have 1 week where the children investigate the spelling rule. Then on the following week, they will receive 5 seen spellings and will be tested on these plus 5 unseen spellings as well.

How Can I Help My Child? Encourage all types of reading and discuss their opinions with them. Make sure they tell you why they think something! SPaG – correct them if their grammar is not quite right! Encourage them to get involved in real maths: how much is the basket of shopping? What change will they receive? Measure things out on a scale and convert to an equivalent measure Look at timetables and plan a journey Support them with their times tables – try the hit the button website. Encourage your child to practise their handwriting by focussing on consistent joins and letter sizes.

Finally….. We’re always here. Feel free to contact us about anything at all. Even if you just want a catch up!