What does a good week look like?

As we always say, we put ‘happy children’ at the top of all our lists.

We hope we have achieved that this week – there has been a nice lively atmosphere, and lots of work has been completed.

The start of the week in literacy saw them recreate their Greek flatbread instructions from memory.  Not easy to do when you’ve had the weekend to forget all about it.  But with a bit of prompting, we ended up with some competent instructions, from which you could have had a good go at reproducing Friday’s wonderful creations.  The focus was on appropriate time words – first, then, next, after that, and numbered lists, plus decent adjectives and a proper introduction and conclusion.  We got there.

We have moved on now to work on Greek myths, starting with the story of Prometheus and Pandora.  I think we were all a little shocked by how vindictive Zeus had a tendency to be, especially when we compared him with some of the more benevolent and kindly gods that we had been discussing in RE.  Quite some contrast.  Of course the story ended with Pandora opening the box…someone came out with the analogy of Harry Potter’s dementors when the ills of the world were released.  More myths with different morals next week, leading up to a writing task involving re-telling the ending to a story.

Maths has seen a focus on division this week, and a renewed look at problem-solving.  This is going to be a school-wide priority over the next few months – helping children figure out what a question or problem or situation actually involves.  The maths behind it is usually relatively easy, but deciding which maths to do to solve the problem is not.

PSHE has continued with a look at economic well-being.  This week it was about budgeting.  Science continues with the study of forces.

RE this week focused on the theme of freedom.  The central part of this was an analysis of Nina Simone’s jazz classic I wish I knew (how it would feel to be free).  The children were asked to rewrite some lines to refocus the lyrics (from civil rights) towards religious freedom.  Interesting, and a very engaging way to tackle the issues.  Lots of discussion.

PE saw some very enthusiastic basketball this afternoon out in the last (for a while) of the freezing temperatures.

Computing this term is all about cryptography (not cryptocurrency as several have asked!).  We will be looking at semaphore, morse code, and various kinds of cypher.  The main messages are about communications – keeping communications secret and secure – and using cryptography for protection of passwords and credit cards.

Have a great weekend.  Quite a number from Year Five are out at Young Voices on Monday – good luck to them.

Finally thank you for all the volunteers for Greek Day – we now have enough parental support.

Y5 Team