Dear Parents/Carers,

The end of the third week is upon us, and the children are becoming more used to their new routines and settling in nicely.

We continued – and completed – our Dreamtime Stories in Literacy this week. We began with some practise of using expanded noun phrases, which involved turning a noun (for example, ‘the koala’ or ‘a kangaroo’) into something much more descriptive and exciting (such as ‘the cute, cuddly koala hugged the tree’ or ‘a bouncy, fearless kangaroo jumped over the grass’). From here, the children created their own ‘Top Trump’ cards complete with illustrations and adjectives, with the latter being rated out of ten by their classmates. The finished stories were very good, with titles including ‘The Quiet Koala,’ ‘The Kangaroo’s Shelter’ and ‘The Courageous Kangaroo,’ with the children remembering to use their expanded noun phrases and adjectives well. Next week, we move on to a setting description, where we will develop our descriptive vocabulary by thinking about our senses as well as some adventurous adverbs.

Maths saw the continuation of Place Value, most notably the comparing and ordering of numbers up to 100,000 and 1,000,000. There has also been an emphasis on reading questions carefully and finding the key details within the question – are you being asked for the greatest or smallest number? Do these numbers need to be placed into ascending or descending order? More on Place Value next week before changing our focus to methods of addition and subtraction.

The afternoons have seen the children practise their shooting in hockey (despite today’s hailstorm) and discussing the terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘waste hierarchy’ in PSHE. Elsewhere, we studied several jobs and industries within Australia and compared them to those we have here in the UK, and practised some classic 1950s hand jiving in our Dance session at the beginning of the week.

The children may have also mentioned that they have completed their Christmas card designs for this year. As usual, the order forms will follow in the coming months.

Earlier today, the children were given the chance to ask questions about secondary school during a brief visit from Mrs Bowers, Headteacher at MECE, which we hope they found useful as they (and you) begin to think about potential destinations for secondary school.

To finish, it has been great to see so many Year 5 children involved with the range of clubs (sports and otherwise) that we offer here at SCPS. If your child is interested in any of these, their class teacher can direct them to the adult they need to speak to about joining up.

Enjoy your weekend,

The Y5 Team