19/04/24

This week has been full of exciting topics and learning to get back to after the Easter holidays. In maths, we have started learning about shapes, finding the perimeter of regular shapes and learnt what a rectinilinear shape is. We have started our topic about William Shakespeare and have learnt about who he is other than just a famous writer. We used our learning in history about Shakespeare to then try and write a biography about his early life. 

On Wednesday, we had a visit from two traffic officers. They talked to us about their jobs, what they do day to day and the importance of being safe if a car breaks down. We got to look at lots of pictures of different incidences and even use the officers' radio to ask questions to someone in the control room! We enjoyed looking at the car and the different features it has. Some of the students were even inspired to become traffic officers themselves! 

   

22/3/24

This week has been a busy one! We started the week in English writing our hot writes, we wrote a poem in our chosen style based on a climate change picture that we used as inspiration. We have also started our 'Come dine with me' DT project. We were given three 'hero' ingredients for a starter, main course and dessert. We got to taste some different flavours such as salty popcorn, bitter dark chocolate and sweet apples to try and investigate what flavours complemented each other. We then researched different recipes to try and make at home. 

On Thursday we had our year 5 and 6 trip to Lower Moor farm. We learnt how to use a map and how animals need to adapt to their surroundings to survive. We had the opportunity to observe a range of small animals from our pond dipping and using binoculars to find different birds. We learnt about the importance of putting animals back where we found them and looking after their habitats. 

      

        

8/3/24 

World book day (or week!) 

This week we have been celebrating world book day all throughout the week with lots of fun activities. On Monday and Tuesday afternoon, year 5 worked as a team to help make all different parts to decorate our classroom door based on our class book 'Swimming against the storm'. The door looks amazing and everyone had a part to play in the final result. We have also completed some competitive world book day quizzes and saw everyone's home-made hats in our world book day assembly. Year 5 has also had 3 different teachers come into class to read a story during our class swaps. Everyone has made a great effort and hopefully will continue the enthusiasm for reading.

We have also had several netball lessons in year 5 and this week students were starting to play mini-matches to bring all their skills together. We have started practising for the Easter service in church which is only 2 weeks away! 

              

 

1/3/24 

This week in kites we have moved onto decimals and percentages in maths, today year 5 had the challenge of having a range of decimal cards up to 3 decimal places and had to get into order from smallest to greatest... but without talking! We split into 2 groups and had an easier round and a harder round, tables 1,2,and 3 won both rounds with their great teamwork! In English we have started our poetry topic and have started by analysising three different types of poems, lots of students enjoyed the 'Clevor Trevor' poem as they could act it out as a performance poem. 

For two afternoons we have had time to finish off our collages based on a chosen climate zone. They all look amazing and everyone has put so much effort into them. 

           

 

23/02/24

This week we have been finishing off our fractions topic in maths, learning how to multiply fractions by an integer and how to find a fraction of a whole number. This term in English we are going to learn about poetry, we wrote our cold writes and looked at different examples of poems including a clever one written negativly about refugees, until you read it backwards and it is actually a postive message about protecting refugees. In PSHE we started our 'healthy me' topic and learnt a lot of shocking information about the effects of smoking, we had lots of long discussions in class sharing our opinions. 

In art we have started making collages based on landscapes and climates that we have learnt about in geography. We spent all afternoon sketching and starting to make progress filing in our collages with card, paper, fabric and anything else students wanted to bring in! We used the outside area to place paper on different area to make textured patterns that could then be cut up and used for our collages. 

       

26/1/24 

The highlight of this week has definitely been the Hardenhuish year 7 taster day on Thursday. Kites got to spend all day at secondary school having a taste of what life as a year 7 will be like. We split into two groups and had a go at some science experiments, some art/DT, some rock climbing in PE and got to spend some time talking to some old By Brook students about their experiences of secondary school so far. Many of Kites enjoyed the lunch that Harden had to offer and got to take home some goodies from their art/DT lessons. 

On Wednesday we had another interesting lesson from up and under. This week we spent one of our sessions learning about sugar and how much sugar some of our favourite snacks and drinks included. Many students were shocked at the results and realised how important it is to keep track of how much sugar we have in a day. 

 

19/01/24 

This week we have been busy in maths learning how to use long multiplication, multiplying up to 4-digit numbers by 2 digits. We have looked at some word problems and tried to spot the mistakes in calculations to help our understanding of the long multiplication method. We also looked at the 'area' method for multiplication, which year 5 has referred to as the 'marmite' method. Some of them loved it, some of them not so much!

We had another session from up and under. This week we learnt more basketball skills and then had a session inside about how our hearts work, how to keep them healthy and how strong they are.  WE have started to finish off our CAM toys in DT made from paper and card. Some students have started to make their toys move successfully! 

12/1/24 

Happy new Year! 

Hope you all had an amazing Christmas break and had a chance to relax! It was nice to see Kites back at school and everyone has been amazing this week. All the students have tried their best in all their subjects and year 5 has produced some amazing work. This week we have started looking at biographies in English. We identified some common features in biographies by reading about some famous role models. We have also started to tackle long multiplication in maths. This is a very hard task for some, but everyone is really giving it their best effort. We have started getting more into our DT from before Christmas, looking at CAM toys and starting to build some prototypes. We are also lucky enough this term to have up and under spending a whole morning with us, we learnt some basketball skills as well as thinking about our screen time and how this can affect our mental and physical health. 

 

8.12.23

This week we have continued our learning of fractions, learning how to add mixed numbers and understanding how to convert a fraction to make a sum easier. We watched year 3 and 4 in their dress rehearsal, which we all enjoyed! We completed another English whole school hot write based on the 2012 John Leiws advert, year 5 wrote about the snowmans journey and enjoyed writing about a Christmas theme. In history, we finished off our WW2 learning, and we have started to plan our final pieces, a two-page spread in books that represents our learning since September. Students were given the flexibility to present it how they wanted, so I look forward to seeing how they turn out next week! 

Today, year 5 had their first forest school session with Mr Summers. Some students made bug hotels, small forts and even roasted a marshmallow around the fire!   

    

 

1.12.23

Year 5 has been busy this week learning about how to write a successful speech in English. We completed our hot writes and everyone wrote such powerful, persuasive speeches as if they were the UK government writing to persuade British people to ration their food in WW2. In history, we have looked at WW2 propaganda and had a hunt around the classroom looking at all the different posters, trying to figure out what they meant and how they were used to persuade people. 

We finished this week off with a very cold Santa run! Everyone gave their best effort and had fun running around the school fields. We have also started our reverse advent today where each student will be picked at random to bring in an item of food for a local food bank. 

  

24.11.23 

Kites have been really busy these past couple of weeks! We had an anti-bullying week in which we took part in lots of anti-bullying lessons and activities that involved the whole school. Kites had lots of discussions and debates in class which allowed us to think hard about different points of view on how to approach/prevent bullying. The whole school made bees to symbolise our anti-bullying value of 'Be kind, Be brave, Value everyone'. Years 5 and 6 used sewing skills to make them, and they look great! These will go on display in the main school corridor.  

In science, we have been learning about space with Mrs Boyd and have got involved with lots of practical activities, such as putting fruits in order of size to show the difference between planets. In maths, we have started our fractions unit. Although fractions may not be everyone's favourite, everyone has got stuck in and shown great effort in trying to learn this tricky part of maths. Years 5 and 6 have also had a couple of lessons with a French teacher from Sheldon school. He has taught us how to pronounce letters, say our names. Next week we are starting to learn about French food! 

   

 

3.11.23 

Year 5 have come back after half-term and got straight on with lots of fun activities. We have used watercolours in art to paint our sketches inspired by the artist LS Lowry. These have turned out amazing and everyone put so much effort into getting the colours right. Although it might seem early to think about Christmas, we have also started practising for our Christmas carol service! 

On Thursday year 5 spent most of their day preparing for and presenting their science boards at the science fair, with year 6. All the groups put so much effort into their boards and worked well as a team to present these to the rest of the school and answer all of their questions. Well done to group 5 for being voted first place for year 5 by staff and governors!  

    

End of term

Year 5 have been really busy during the last couple weeks of term. We have tackled some really tricky maths and started to get to grips on multiples and factors, we will be using lots of these skills next term when we start to investigate cube, square and prime numbers. Year 5 also produced some amazing hot write pieces based on character descriptions, we booked at a short video from The lion the witch and the wardrobe and students had to write a description of the character during the WW2 air raids. All of their hot write really displayed how much they had learnt and they put so much effort into them! 

Year 5 have also been incredibly busy with making their science fair boards, they look amazing and there has been so much great team work. Photos will be uploaded the first week back to school! 

 

Reminders for next term: 

Year 5 will now have PE on a Monday and Friday so please make sure they are in PE kit for these days. School photos are on the first Tuesday back to school (31st). 

Please make sure reading records are filled in and signed ready to be brought in for Friday. It is important not only to practise reading each day but this also contributes to their house points. Children can fill them out themselves and only has to be signed once by a parent each week. 

 

6.10.23 

This week has been fun! We have had so many exciting activities and trips this week, and it has made the time fly by. On Wednesday year 5 and 6 visited the REME museum. We got to look at a variety of objects from WWII and even try on some of the clothes. We then got to explore the museum. Some of our favourite sections included the weapons and being able to explore the wooden replica of a WWII tank! 

On Thursday morning we had a great time with Mrs Boyd investigating how different fruits, vegetables and plants can make certain dyes. Everyone was amazed at the outcome and even the smell of some of the mixtures (some much nicer than others!). In the afternoon  we then visited church for our harvest service. Everyone did so well singing and speaking so confidently with the sunflower-inspired poems they had written. Thank you to all that showed up and I hope you enjoyed the service. It has been a really busy week and I hope everyone has a restful weekend. 

   

15.9.23 

This week we have been able to get stuck in with all of our subjects! Year 5 have really enjoyed starting their history topic where we started comparing life in the 1930s to life today. Mrs Boyd has also started introducing us to our science topic which we have really enjoyed. We have done lots of group work in English to add to our working walls which is really helping with improving our writing. Every Wednesday we have also been practising Harvest songs with Miss Davies ready for our harvest service in October. 

Next week we will be looking at the causes and start of WWII, if anyone has any artefacts or photos they would like to bring in please feel free. 

8.9.23 

What a lovely, busy and very hot start to the week! 

Year 5 have settled in really well and have got used to all the routines and responsibilities that come with being in upper key stage 2. We spent some of this week recapping some of the key values of By Brook and discussed how these are important to making our school special. We have also spent some time decorating our new classroom by adding leaves to our tree with goals for this term, and sketching some Kites. We have got stuck in straight away with some maths focusing on place value to 100,000, everyone enjoyed this and done so well! 

Just a reminder this term year 5 will have gymnastics on a Monday and yoga on a Tuesday so please could they come in PE kits for these days. Reading records will be collected on a Friday.