Squirrel Class (Year 5) 2024 - 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the class page for Squirrel Class.

Here you will find all of the exciting and wonderful things that your child will be learning during their time in Year 5. If you have any questions, please use Class Dojo or speak to a member of our team at drop off/ pick up.

Thank you. 

Mr Edwards and Mrs Kelsall

Spring 1

Our English text for Spring 1 is The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a gripping mystery featuring the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend Dr. Watson. The story revolves around the legend of a supernatural hound that haunts the Baskerville family in the desolate moors of Devonshire. When Sir Charles Baskerville dies under mysterious circumstances, his heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, seeks Holmes' help. Holmes and Watson investigate the case, uncovering a sinister plot involving a scheming relative who uses the legend of the spectral hound to conceal his own murderous intentions. Combining Gothic atmosphere with Holmes' sharp deductive reasoning, the tale concludes with the villain's exposure and the Baskerville curse being debunked as mere superstition.

 The children will complete two pieces of writing during this unit: 

Cliffhanger Narrative

Report

Neil Gaiman has created a chilling and dark retelling of the story of Hansel and Gretel. New details are added to the story, a war has brought hard times on the family, the parents feel that the only choice is to lose the children in the forest. The children will be using PREDICT, RETRIEVAL, EXPLANATION and SUMMARISING skills. 

We will be using our different VIPERS skills: Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise to

improve our understanding of what we read.

'Reading for Pleasure' has great amounts of benefits for your child. In Year 5, we ensure your child has time to read for pleasure and we set time aside to read our class book. 

Benefits of 'reading for pleasure':

Inspires imagination and creativity.

Enrinches cultural awareness and understanding. 

Increases empathy and improves relationships with others.

Lifts well-being levels and improves mood.

Improves progress in vocabulary, spelllings and even maths.

Encourages children to take a screen break.

Read with your child every day even if it is just 2 minutes- this can make all the difference. 
Record in their reading diaries to ensure that your child is receiving their stamp for their book from the vending machine, or reading buddy. 

You could ask your child about what they think might happen next in the story, how do they think the character is feeling, who is the author and what do they do. 

During Spring 1, we will be really focusing on applying our multiplication and division knowledge before moving onto the second unit linked to Fractions.This

Times Tables knowledge is so important! It is used in all areas of maths, especially fractions/ decimals/ percentages which forms a large part of new learning within the Y5 Maths curriculum. If your child can rapidly recall them, this will support them when solving challenging maths fluency and problem solving questions. 

Children will have ongoing access to their TT Rockstars logins at home.Please ensure that your child is practising them at home as it is very beneficial for their learning.

If you have misplaced your child's login, please drop me a message on Class Dojo and I will resend for you.

This half term in Science, we will be Animals Including Humans.

Pupils will draw a timeline to indicate stages in the growth and development of humans. They will learn about the changes experienced in puberty.

Pupils will work scientifically by researching the gestation periods of other animals and comparing them with humans; by finding out and recording the length and mass of a baby as it grows.

In Geography, pupils will develop a comprehensive understanding of oceans and their significance. They will learn to describe the water cycle, explain how oceans support human activities and regulate the Earth's climate, and identify the Great Barrier Reef and its benefits. Students will explore the impact of human activities on oceans and discuss actions to support ocean health. Additionally, they will assess data collection methods for marine fieldwork and practice collecting data using tally charts, photographs, and sketch maps, while learning to safely navigate the fieldwork environment. By achieving these objectives, pupils will appreciate the ecological importance of oceans and the need for responsible stewardship.

Your child will have a music lesson each week where they will learn to explore their musical abilities.

During Spring 1, the children will be exploring looping and remixing. The children will achieve the following:

• Perform a looped body percussion rhythm; keeping in time with their group.

• Use loops to create a whole piece of music, ensuring that the different aspects of music work together.

• Play the first section of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ with accuracy.

• Choose a suitable fragment of music and be able to play it along to the backbeat.

• Perform a piece with some structure and two different loops.

Your child will have 2 P.E lessons each week. Please see the uniform timetable below for the days where PE kit or Forest School kit will be needed. This half term we will be playing tag rugby and gymnastics.

 Mondays- Each Monday, your child will be given 10 spellings to learn over the course of the week. They will complete a spelling test each Friday, and, if they receive a mark of 10/10,  they will get Dojo points. They will have opportunities to learn their spellings each morning in class, however, extra practice at home is essential.

FAMILY MATHS CHALLENGE: Every week there is a new challenge to complete in the Family Maths Challenge Booklets. Each challenge will earn a star on the reward wheel. If children help their siblings or other family members with their homework, they can receive an extra star for that too! It's a great opportunity to get involved with your child's Maths learning. 

Every day- Your child should read as often as possible when not in school and this should be logged in Reading Records. 

Other useful links:

Please see below links to useful websites for your child to use when they are at home. I will be adding to the list throughout the course of the year so please make sure you check for updated links.

Oxford Owl - Linked to our phonics Read, Write Inc programme https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/free-ebooks/   

Story Nory - A range of stories by classic authors as well as poems musicals and fairytales. https://www.storynory.com/archives/classic-authors 

Story Berries- Read along with audio clips. https://www.storyberries.com

Monkey Pen-  Free downloadable children’s books in PDF format. https://monkeypen.com/pages/free-childrens-books

Free Children’s Stories-  https://www.freechildrenstories.com

Keeping Safe Online-  www.esafety.gov.au/kids 

Topmarks- A great way for children to practise many of their maths skills https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=16&AgeGroup=3

Newsround is a very good outlet for your child to watch each day to gain a wider understanding of what is happening not only in our country, but the rest of the world. We will be watching newsround every afternoon in class.