Dear Parents/Carers,

Today brings a conclusion to the first full week (at least for the children) of Year 5.

In Literacy, we began our unit on Dreamtime Stories. We read about the creative powers of the Rainbow Serpent; Tiddalick, a greedy frog who has consumed all of the water and who does not release it until another creature makes him laugh; and ‘The Lazy Koala,’ a tale that emphasises the benefits of working as a team, and the issues that can be caused when an element of this teamwork breaks down. After showing a good level of comprehension when reading these stories, the children will create their own characters next week, beginning with a focus on expanded noun phrases and working towards a plan for their own version of a Dreamtime story.

The topic of Place Value continued throughout the week in Maths, with children getting to grips with 6-digit numbers up to 1 million. They have also been finding 10/100/1,000 more or less than a number, with the added challenge of crossing over into numbers of different digits (eg 1,000 less than 1,878 would be 878, so we have started with a 4-digit number and finished with a 3-digit number). Next week will see us building on this, with a focus on mathematical skills such as partitioning, comparing and ordering larger 6-digit numbers.

There has also been the usual wide range of activities in the afternoons. The children learnt how to play the popular game of ‘Danish Longball’ in PE – a game made up of several aspects of athletics, cricket and football – and extended their range of long passing in hockey. There was a lesson on identifying planets in Science, and the children successfully completed their draft tessellations on Powerpoint as part of their ‘We Are Artists’ unit in Computing.

We finished the week with another interesting discussion in PSHE, this week talking about our rights and responsibilities, and linking these into the subject of free speech and freedom of expression. The children came up with some great ideas about when it is, and when it may not be, best to express yourself in a certain way.

To finish, just a reminder that TTRS and Spelling Shed homework has been set and is due in next Thursday (19th September). We will also be looking to receive their planners, with a record of any reading they have done alongside a signature from yourselves.

Well done to the children for their hard work this week, and congratulations to those who, after a week of training, are now officially Active Leaders. We look forward to seeing them develop their leadership skills through their running of games and sporting activities on the playground over the course of the year.

Have a great weekend,

The Y5 Team