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We are a dedicated and hard working team at Finlay and all our staff contribute to the children’s learning and well-being, offering many activities to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but also to enrich the children’s cultural capital and develop our school SMILE values. 

The adults working in our class are: Miss Kerry Davies, Mrs Leanne Levi and Mrs Claire Drew.

 

If you need advice on any information below, get in touch by calling us on 01452 530310 or email: Kerry.davies@finlay.gloucs.sch.uk

 

What are we learning about in the Autumn Term? 

 

Our theme for the Autumn Term is The Crystal Maze. We will be looking at the Ancient Civilisations of Ancient Maya, The Incas and The Aztecs. We will be exploring what life was like during these eras as well as looking at ancient artefacts and sites. We will be exploring Machu Picchu and The Inca Trail, and Chichen Itza as a Mayan Civilisation. We will be exploring what these Ancient Wonders tell us about life during these civilisations. We will also be learning more about the history of chocolate, and the part that these civilisations play in that history.  We will be writing an explanatory text in Literacy explaining the process from bean to bar. 

This theme is rich in historical knowledge, and will see the children building on the prior knowledge as well as making links with other learning throughout Year 5, including The Rainforest and Deforestation, as well as key religious beliefs which link to those of The Vikings. 

In Science, we will be learning about states of matter, including reversible and irreversible changes as well as dissolving and filtering. We will include some DT and cooking using chocolate into this unit of work. We will also be exploring the topic of Space. We will be describing the movement of Earth and other planets in relation to the sun, as well as understanding how the earth’s movement effects day and night. 

In RE, we are exploring two big questions from the Gloucester Agreed Syllabus: ‘What does it mean if Christians believe God is holy and loving?’ and ‘What does it mean to be a Muslim in Britain today?’
In PE, we will be developing the skills required to play football and netball, which we will then apply to mini invasion games, as well as developing our practical skills in gymnastics. 

In Jigsaw/PSHE and RSE, we will be learning about ‘Being Me in My World’ and ‘Celebrating Difference’.

 

 

What are we learning about in the Spring Term?

 

Our theme for the Spring Term is ‘I’m in Year 5, Get Me Out of Here’ – a Geography based theme linked to the Rainforest. During this theme, the children will be building on their knowledge of the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, as well as locating places in North and South America, with a focus on the human and physical geographical features. The children will also develop their understanding of deforestation and the impact this has on indigenous people, animals and their habitat.

 

In Art and DT, the children will be creating a textured collage of the Amazon Rainforest, as well as creating realistic sketches of wildlife, with a focus on shade and tone.

 

Our learning in Science will see us develop our understanding of physics and biology, with a particular focus on forces and magnets, building on the learning from Year 3, as well as living things, their habitats and plants. The children will: explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object; identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces and recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and fears, allow a small force to have a greater force.

During the ‘living things and their habitat’ unit of work, children will: describe the differences in life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird; describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals and name, locate and describe the main parts of the reproductive system of plants: stigma, stamen, petal, sepal, pollen and ovary.

 

 

In RE, we will be exploring another two big questions from the Gloucester Agreed Syllabus, this time answering: ‘Why do Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah?’ And ‘Why is the Torah so important to Jewish people?’

 

In PE, we will be developing our practical skills in

 

In Jigsaw/PSHE and RSE, we will be learning about ‘Dreams and Goals’ and ‘Healthy Me’.

 

Home Learning 
Please see a copy of our home learning activity sheet for the Autumn Term (The Crystal Maze) and Spring Term (I’m in Year 5, Get Me Out of Here). These grids includes a range of activities for children to complete at home. Evidence of these home learning tasks can be uploaded to Seesaw or completed in home learning books.

The children should also access Times Tables Rockstars and Spelling Shed at least three times a week using their individual log ins.

 

They also are required to read their reading book to an adult at least three times a week, and record this in their reading logs. 
 

Home Learning – The Crystal Maze

 

Home Learning – I’m in Year 5, Get Me Out of Here

 

Useful links

 

Year 5 - useful links for learning from home

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Times Table Rockstars: 

Children will need their username and password to login from home. https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student 

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Pobble 365: Can access different days on the calendar.

Download the pdf option. This gives you an image which then has a story starter, questions and sentence level work. http://www.pobble365.com/

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Scholastic: 5+ days of reading texts and activities.

Reading levels of the texts can be changed. There are also comprehension/follow up questions for the articles provided. There are options to print the quizzes off too. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-6-12.html

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Wild about reading! 

If you have a library membership you can borrow ebooks and emagazines for free: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libraries/ebooks-eaudiobooks-and-emagazines/

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Oxford owl free SATs worksheets:

 https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/school-year/free-sats-skills-worksheets

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A year 6 site with a range of information and questions – great for revision purposes!

 http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/children_sats.htm

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A KS2 site with both Maths and English based quizzes which are marked as you go along.

 http://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/maths/

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BBC Bitesize has a host of materials for KS2

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn

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Spanish! Learn languages for free.

https://www.duolingo.com   

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Educational online games

 https://toytheater.com/

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Big History Project

 https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home

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Digital enterprise award scheme you can complete online

 https://idea.org.uk   

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Blockly - Learn all about computer programming.

https://blockly.games 

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Learn all about computer programming. Scratch

 https://scratch.mit.edu/explore/projects/games/

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More Useful Sites

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers 

 

https://www.mathematicsmastery.org/free-resources

 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games