Dear Parents and Carers,

How are we halfway through Term 4 already? Time is flying by, and we are certainly using it wisely in Year 5!

We spent our Literacy lessons planning, and then writing up, our own sequels to the previously mentioned Jeremy Strong story, focusing on the journey faced by Ramona as she headed down the opposite side of the mountain in search of her true love, Luke. The children included a nice range of figurative language, speech and, most importantly, a non-fairy tale style ending to their pieces. Next week we move on to studying the features of  autobiographies and biographies, starting with a couple of texts about Jeremy Strong himself and another author, the popular Anthony Horowitz.

Maths has brought us to the conclusion of our unit second unit on fractions. We have revised some useful methods on how to find the fractions of amounts, had a go at using fractions to find the whole (for example, 1/3 of ? =5) and looked at other ways in which we can apply our fractions skills. Decimals and percentages will be our next focus, starting with a look at different numbers of decimal places as well as understanding tenths and hundredths. The children will also be learning about how fractions and decimals can be equivalent to each other.

Our Science lesson focused on babies and their journey from being an infant to becoming a child. Next week we will be having the mentioned puberty and adolescence talk with the children – please let us know if you did not receive the email referring to this. You may wish to have a chat with your child(ren) and answer any questions they may have before our session, which will be next Wednesday (19th March).

Our other afternoon sessions have also captured the children’s interest. Topic was mainly geography-focused, with the children plotting the countries and cities of the Mayan era onto maps, and there was a good discussion on how to handle money appropriately when carrying out any online transactions. On the subject of staying safe online, the children are now closer to finishing their internet safety web pages as part of their ‘We are Web Developers’ unit in Computing.

Next Friday (21st March) we will be making healthy muffins as part of our DT lessons. The children have chosen their groups and have decided on which ingredient(s) they would like to put in their muffin. Hopefully you have received the email with more details – please ask us if you are unsure of anything.

Only one other thing to note for next week: 5TA have now completed their swimming lessons for this school year. Class 5RF/JM have their first swimming lesson next Wednesday. This will be a lesson based around life saving, so please ensure that your child has their pyjamas as well as their usual swimming kit.

Have a fun weekend,

The Y5 Team