Welcome to Year 5 – Ruby Class!

Summer Term – South America

Writing
This term, we will be using Colin Thompson's 'The Paperbag Prince' as a stimulus for our writing in class. This book highlights the importance of conservation and our social responsibility towards the environment with impressively detailed illustrations. By focusing on the use of appropriate modal verbs, cohesive devices and emotive language, this book will aid the children in creating pieces of persuasive writing and information leaflets on a contemporary and relevant issue.

Reading
In Guided Reading, we will be continuing our environmental theme by reading and discussing 'The Last Wild' by Pier Torday. This fictional text is set in a world where animals no longer exist – that is, until "troubled child" Kester discovers a band of talking pigeons... This text, in conjunction with the Paperbag Prince, will help the children to analyse the features that help an author persuade the reader to their way of thinking, and how this can be achieved subtly and subliminally without necessarily putting forward explicit arguments.

Maths
Our focus in the Summer term will be on percentages and their fraction and decimal equivalents, before moving on to complete work of a more statistical and geometric nature. During these units, we will also continue to "flashback" to previous areas; consolidating our knowledge of multiplication, division, addition and subtraction, and how to approach multistep worded and reasoning problems.

Topic
Our Geography topic this term centres around South America. Throughout the term, the children will be looking at the geographical features, focusing on mountains, rivers, and the coastline of South America and then exploring the North West's physical features. We will also look at the water cycle and explain its purpose in the Earth's ecosystem and how it supports life. Then we will investigate the different vegetation types found in Brazil's North Region and to finish the unit we will do a comparative study between the North West and Brazil's North Region.

Science
Throughout this term's Science, we will be looking at living things and their habitats. The children will learn about the differences between sexual and asexual reproduction in plants and will compare and contrast the lifecycles of different animals across the classifications of mammals, birds, insects, fish and amphibians. They will be dissecting flowers to discover the different male and female parts and study the reproductive methods of fruits and vegetables such as potatoes. Ultimately, the children will research their favourite animal and will prepare a presentation about its key attributes, how it reproduces and its life cycle.

RE
Where did the world come from? In RE this term, we will be considering different people's beliefs about the origins of the world, the universe and existence itself. We will look at various religious and non-religious accounts and those that cross over (e.g. religious scientists). The children, after following this philosophical line of enquiry and research, will develop their own opinions and debate this ages-old question in class.

Creative
In Art, we will be using inspiration of historical monuments and modern installations, children plan by researching and drawing, a sculpture to fit a design brief. They investigate scale, the display environment and possibilities for viewer interaction with their piece.
This term in DT, we will discover the farm to fork process, understand the key welfare issues for rearing cattle. Compare the nutritional value of existing sauces and develop a healthier recipe.
In the second part of the term, we will be testing and analyse various types of bridge to determine their strength and stability. Explore material properties and sources, before marking, sawing and assembling a wooden truss bridge.

Computing
In Computing, the children will be able to explain what a word processing tool is for, be able to add and edit images to a document, know how to use word wrap with images and text and change the text within a document. They will then design and write a letter using a template found on Word.

PE
This term, the children will be learning athletics and cricket on a Tuesday with Mr Bentham and striking/catching and fitness on a Monday. We shall also be taking part in Town Sports.

Music
This term, the children will be continuing to learn how to play brass instruments and to read musical notation by a music teacher on Wednesday afternoons.

Click here to access Ruby's Purple Mash display board