Welcome to Year 5!

To contact the year leader please email: 

heatherlands.office@coastalpartnership.co.uk

Please phone the office if you have an urgent message or enquiry.

The Heatherlands Way

PE days: Tuesday (outdoor) & Friday (indoor)  - Children to come into school dressed in PE kits.

Over the next couple of weeks, our writing lessons will take an exciting turn as we delve into the world of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his legendary expedition aboard the Endurance.  To help prepare us for this, we had a wonderful workshop with Sir Ernest Shackleton (Mr Arrowsmith), who shared captivating insights about the challenges faced during that historic journey. 

The children were eager to listen, and they were motivated by Mr Arrowsmith’s vivid recounting of his experiences, from moments of despair to the warmth of the crew's camaraderie.

In our upcoming writing activities, the pupils will create fictional interviews between Shackleton's crew members and curious interviewers. By tapping into the knowledge gained during our workshop, I am confident that Year 5 will produce some amazing pieces that reflect the adventurous spirit of the Endurance expedition. 

He even bought the snow with him!!! 

The children have enjoyed learning more about the planets and our solar system in science today. 

Here is a useful video you may wish to explore at home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w36yxLgwUOc

Our Year 5 class had a wonderful visit to the Winchester Science Museum, and it was an engaging experience for everyone involved.

From the moment we arrived, the children eagerly explored the various exhibits that sparked their curiosity.

A highlight of the day was the Destination Space workshop, where the pupils learned about light refraction. Wearing special light refraction glasses, they observed the fascinating phenomenon of light revealing a spectrum of colours, akin to a rainbow.

After the workshop, the children had ample time to explore the different science exhibits, which featured numerous hands-on practical activities. These experiences allowed them to engage with science in a fun and meaningful way.

Additionally, our visit included a tour of the planetarium, where the children were taken on a journey through the galaxy. They were captivated by the star constellations and the vastness of space.

Thank you to all the parents for your contributions towards this educational trip. It was a memorable day filled with learning and discovery that the children will surely remember.

Year 5 have had a great first half term.

They have read Kensuke's kingdom and enjoyed finding out about Michael and Kensuke's time spent on the island.

They ended their topic by writing balanced arguments in English and used lots of persuasive language, fronted adverbials and multi clause sentences.

In topic, we have learnt about Brazil and the rights of the Awa tribe, who live in the Amazon rainforest- we have also looked at Brazil in general and the 6 different biomes in Brazil.

In Science, we have looked at the reproduction of plants and how new plants are either clones of their parents or reproduce via pollination. We completed a plant dissection to find plant reproductive parts.

For Maths, we have been solving problems involving addition and subtraction.

This month we will be starting our next topic, which involves learning about earth and space. I am excited to take the children to Winchester Science Museum- thank you so much for all of contributions for this- we could not run the trip without this.  

Key questions to ask me!

What is a subordinate clause?

Can you tell me about Brazil?

How do plants reproduce?

In art, we have created art that shares on environmental message. We studied the artists Andy Goldsworthy, Hannah Hoch and Benjamin Von Wong. 

What does it mean to be a ‘Humanist’?

We welcomed Barry, a retired Doctor and Humanist, to Year 5 this week in order to learn more about this non-religious worldview. He spoke to the children about his experiences and emphasised the freedom one has in choosing and following their own ideals, faiths and beliefs (correlating with our British values).

In our RE ‘Humanism’ topic this half term, the children have covered:

-The 'Golden Rule': treating others how they would like to be treated.

-We have spoken about influential figures such as Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin and discussed how Humanists may be inspired by them (due to their research, morals, legacy and kindness to others and nature).

-How it is a non-religious world view - no God, no religious text to advise

-Also looked into Humanist Professor Alice Roberts and discussed her impact and support of Humanists UK.

-The Humanist perspective is that… It is our good choices that can make us better people, who are then able make our society a better place!

-Harming no living thing - comparison with religious teachings - same morals when it comes to RESPECT. 

-Correlation between Humanist values and the idea 'role model' and our 'Heatherlands values': respect, resilience, motivation, aspiration and independence.

Today, we had an exciting virtual workshop with Primary Futures- about careers in the sky, 

We discussed all of the jobs that could happen at the airport and the skills needed to have those jobs. 

We met two people, Harry and Craig and had to ask them yes/ no questions in order to guess their jobs. Harry was an air traffic control engineer. He is responsible for looking after all of the computer systems for air traffic control across the UK and Scotland. We discussed the things that he liked about his job and how he went through university to train for it. Craig was a Pilot training captain- meaning he trains other pilots. He got into this job by joining the Royal Navy. We got to watch a video of his son using a flight simulator that he uses to train other pilots. 

We also completed a quiz and learnt there are 200,000 people working in aviation across 144 UK airports

Next week in art, we will be creating art with an environmental message such as ‘stop destroying the rainforest’ or ‘don't drop litter’.

For this, children will be creating a collage and we would like for them to bring in anything from home that could support them. This includes things like, clean plastic recycling, empty orange nets/ similar, interesting fonts and lettering that they come across on packaging and any images or colourful things that they could stick on to their collage.

We will be starting this outcome on Monday and will finish this on Thursday.

On the 15th of October, we had an exciting virtual assembly with the NSPCC! During our time together, we had some important conversations about how to keep ourselves safe in different situations and what to look out for if we ever feel unsafe.

One of the things we talked about was worries. We compared them to bricks in a bag that can weigh us down. But guess what? Sharing those worries can really help take the bricks out of our bag! We shared lots of worries that children might face, like friendship issues at school or that nagging feeling of not being liked, and even some home worries like family arguments.

We reminded everyone how important it is to chat with safe adults, whether that’s our parents, family members, or teachers at school, as this can help to remove the 'worries from the bag'. To cap it all off, we shared the Childline number and watched a fab video that showed what happens if you feel worried and want to talk to someone over the phone rather than face to face. Overall, it was a brilliant opportunity for everyone to realise that sharing worries can lighten the load, and we’re all in this together!