Class Five

Welcome to Class Five

We are pleased to welcome you to the Class 5 page. The main need-to-know information can be found here including up to date information about the curriculum your child will be taught, as the year progresses.

If you have a query, you can email at admin.grange@schools.sefton.gov.uk where your email will be forwarded to the appropriate staff member.

Your teaching team this year will be:

Teachers – Miss Wright, Mr Acs & Miss Fawcett

Teaching Assistant – Miss Fawcett & Miss Doyle

This Year’s Topic

During the year we will be covering a range of exciting History and Geography topics. In Autumn One, we will be learning all about the Anglo Saxons. We will discover who they were and where they came from. Using a range of historical artefacts we will discover how they use to live and what impact they had on Britain.

In Autumn Two we will start our Liverpool local study. This topic will look at Liverpool’s geographical location and how that impacts Liverpool as a city. We will explore the physical changes over time to the Liverpool docks and how it has supported Liverpool trade over the year.

During Spring One, we will be focusing on North America. We will compare North America with our home region. We will study the different geographical features of North America and expand our geographical vocabulary. Comparisons between North America and our own region.

The Spring two topic is Vikings. Here we will pick up from the end of the Anglo Saxon topic. We will study how the Vikings invade England and how they began to settle in the country. We will continue to develop our chronological understanding and investigate how England changed due to the Vikings. We will discover how the Viking period ended and what followed.

In Summer, we will return to the Liverpool local study where will focus more on the historical significance of Liverpool. We will also look at how Liverpool has changed over time. This topic will also include a study of the slave trade and its implications.

Finally in the final Summer term, we will return to North America. We will focus on the geographical knowledge and understanding of the water cycle, biomes, rivers and mountains. We will use a range of geographical resources which will intern develop the children as geographers.

English

In the first part of the Autumn term, we will focus on transcription skills. The children will review and develop their understanding of grammar, punctuation and spelling. We will also practise and develop their cursive handwriting. These skills will be essential for the entire year. After this first half term, we can focus on a range of high quality text and learn to write for a range of different purposes: to inform, entertain, persuade and discuss.

In the second Autumn term we will read and discuss Beowulf which is a classic tale that links well to our history topics. This exciting story will allow the children to write poetry, descriptive settings, stories and non-fiction CVs.

Following in the Spring term we will study Shakespeare’s Macbeth. We will be following a BBC version through a series of short films. The children will be able to write character descriptions, recounts of key events in the story and create a balanced argument.

In the second Spring term the class will read ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ which is a very popular book with the whole class. During this book study we will write poetry, narratives and amusing instructions. This will be a very entertaining unit!

The first Summer term brings an award-winning book: The Nowhere Emporium which will provoke some very imaginative and descriptive writing alongside some non-fiction writing in the form of biographies.

Finally, the year will end with an outstanding book called ‘Holes’. This is always a particular favourite with the children and guaranteed to stimulate some excellent written work and increased the children’s love of story. During this half term we will be writing narratives, reports and persuasive leaflets.

Throughout the year, the children will be exposed to these high quality texts alongside many class novels. They will also read three times a week in small groups and whole class settings. They will carry out a range of activities on these texts in order to develop their comprehension skills. We will teach them a variety of strategies that will help them unlock unseen texts and develop their understanding when reading independently.

Maths

Class Five’s will learn a selection of different mathematical topics each term.

Autumn: Place Value, Multiplication, Division, and Fractions

Spring: Addition, Subtraction, Fractions, Decimals, Percentages and negative numbers

Summer: Shape, Measure (converting units), Perimeter, Area, Statistics, Position, Direction and volume

All of these topics will be taught using a range of strategies and resources to aid their understanding and support each and every child. Practical resources that support children’s learning (especially in Maths) are at hand in every lesson.

Alongside the daily Maths’ lesson, the class has a weekly Arithmetic lesson and a SSM lesson (Shape, Space and Measure). In these sessions the children review prior knowledge and focus on some of the more challenging aspects of the subject. This often involves problem solving.

Science

Class Five’s Science topics are both exciting and varied. The children will learn about each topic and develop their knowledge but they will also learn a range of scientific skills through working scientifically on these different topics.

The first topic is Earth and Space. In this topic the children will use a range of resources to discover more about their world and the space around it.

In Autumn Two, we will be studying ‘forces’. This topic will include lots of practical activities to help the children understand how forces effects us and how it can be used to help us in our daily lives.

In Spring term it is all about material. Firstly, we will explore ‘materials and their properties’. This topic will provide the children with the much needed knowledge for the second topic of ‘changes of materials’. Here we will explore reversible and irreversible change.

In Summer One we will cover ‘living things in their habitats’ . In tis topic we will look closely at a range of living things and the habitat in which they live. We will explore why they live their and how they are suited for their environment.

Finally in Summer Two, we will look at ‘animals inc. humans’. During this topic we will explore animal development including gestation and growth. This topic links with our Summer PSHCE topic.

PE

This term, children will take part in a range of sports and fitness activities including swimming, fitness, netball, gymnastics, yoga, cricket, handball, hockey, dance and athletics. All lessons will contain both warm-ups and cool downs and the children will be taught about the importance of exercise and the safe ways to train.

This term children will need their swimming kits on Thursday and their outdoor PE kits on Wednesday. The outdoor PE kit includes a tracksuit, Grange red t-shirt and trainers.

Computing

At the start of this school year the children will be learning about ‘Network’ and how they help us to share information. Throughout this entire topic, safety on the internet is imbedded. This is also the key message throughout the year

Music

Children will continue their musicianship of learning to play the violin by a specialised tutor. They will consolidate their use of accurate music vocabulary whilst appraising many pieces of music from the ABRSM 100 list. They will also explore several units on composition and attempt to compose and play their own music throughout the year.

Art

In Art, Class Five will study some fantastic artist and artistic styles. The 3 main artists studied throughout the year are Van Gogh, Banksy and George Seurat. The children will develop their drawing and painting skills whilst learning about these famous artists and creating work which has been inspired by these people. One drawing skill in particular will be the ability to draw in 3-dimenions.

The children will be encouraged to use their sketch books to develop creative ideas based on the work they have been exposed to. We will be learning to work with textiles and developing our skills in collage work.

RE

In Autumn term we will we exploring and considering the big question: Why do some people believe God exists? In this topic the children will learn about different peoples’ beliefs and how they chose to worship.

PSHCE

Our first Autumn unit will be ‘Healthy and happy friendships’ in which the children will consider what makes a good friend, how they can be a good friend and how to resolve conflict with friends.

In Autumn Two, we will look at similarities and differences between people. We will develop tolerance and respect for others through a range of activities.

Spanish

Children will still continue their learning of the foreign language ‘Spanish’. They will work on creating longer and more accurate pieces of spoken and written Spanish.

During the year they will cover various topics which they will begin to build into conversations as well as continued focus on Spanish phonics.

They will be developing their vocabulary around pets, dates within the year, the weather, various habitats, the Olympics and clothing. This vocabulary will build on their prior learning.

Homework

Homework in Class 5 is checked daily. We appreciate the support as parents/carers you give your child to motivate them to complete their homework but we are also encouraging the children to take greater responsibility themselves as we prepare them for high school.

Spelling – Children will be given spellings on a Friday to which they will have a week to practise them before their test the following Friday. We will be using the ‘Look, cover, say, write, check’ sheets but children can also access their weekly spellings on Spelling Shed (see link below) and complete other spelling activities that they will be shown in class. We will have a spelling lesson on a Monday where we will go over important rules for their spellings.

Reading – We ask that children read each night that they are in school (ideally to an adult) and that reading records are signed.

Times Tables – As the children’s multiplication and division knowledge is absolutely crucial to many aspects of the Y5 Maths curriculum, we still encourage the children to log onto TT Rockstars at least 3 times a week for a minimum of 10 minutes.

At the Grange we believe that it is crucial to work in partnership with parents and carers. There is an expectation that you will support us by ensuring that your child completes the tasks we set as homework.

Obviously the level of engagement will depend on your child’s age but we expect you take an active part in all aspects of homework and, where necessary, indicate that you have monitored the completion of it (e.g signing the Home/School Reading Record Book.) The routines of reading every day, learning spellings and multiplication tables etc. can be great fun and very reading for all concerned. best results are achieved when homework is not done at the last minute but has a fixed time in a child’s established routine. Short, sharp periods of activity are preferable to prolonged periods of study where concentration can be lost.

Effective learning and consolidation of learning cannot happen in an environment with lots of distractions (e.g. television etc.) Please give some thought to where your child works at home.

Here you will find helpful educational resources to help with your child’s learning at home.

Discovery Education – Espresso

TT Rockstars

Spelling Shed