Blog

Friday 31st March

What a busy half term we have had! A visit to Dartmoor, Bikeability, building bridges, testing zipwires, learning about the legacy of the British Empire, reading about life in Victorian London and finished off today with a dance performance to our friends in Reception! We have packed a lot into a short space of time. Well done to every single one of you! You have been enthusiastic, curious, hard working and supportive of each other. Enjoy a well deserved holiday with your family!

Next term starts on Tuesday 18th April. In geography we will be learning all about national parks. If you visit one, here or abroad, during the holidays why not send your teacher a few photos?

Please see our updated home learning section on the Year 5 page. This contains our guidance on home learning along with links to all of the electronic platforms that the children are able to access to support them. 

We wish you all a happy, safe and restful Easter holiday. We look forward to hearing about all your adventures!

The Year 5 Team

Friday 24th March

This term in science we have been learning all about forces. Can you use our schema to share your understanding with your family.

Today, we investigated the force of friction with the help of a very special visitor. The all action Gus very bravely volunteered to test 5 different zip lines, made from 5 different materials. We discovered that the rougher the material the greater the friction and, as a result the slower the zipline! We also discussed the importance of repeating measurements to ensure greater accuracy.

Bikeability Group 3 starts on Monday 27th March and finishes on Friday 31st March. Children participating are allowed to wear their own clothes all week so they are warm, dry and comfortable whilst cycling. Please also ensure that your child has their bike and helmet in school all week.

New maths home learning has been set today and is accessible via the website mymaths. We still also encourage children to regularly practise their multiplication tables using Time Table Rock Stars.

Have a great weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 17th March

This week saw Year 5 brave the elements and enjoy a thoroughly memorable trip to Dartmoor. We discussed the geology of Dartmoor, with it's 'skeleton' of granite and observed some of the exposed tors. We learnt how bronze age people settled on Dartmoor and visited the ruins of some of their homes. We then hiked to the source of the River Bovey, situated on Shapley Common. We followed the river downstream, identifying features such as: waterfalls, plunge pools, meanders, tributaries and confluences. We stopped to carry out fieldwork to measure the breadth and depth of the river at different points and to measure the speed of the flow. We noticed that different parts of the river had very different depths and rates of flow despite being very close together. 

We also had a huge amount of fun with our friends out in the fresh air! We returned back to school with lots of stories to tell: from bouncing on the floating grass, to getting stuck in the mud, to helping rescue Bovey the injured sheep. As always, the children were polite, curious and brilliantly behaved. Well done Year 5!

Today, we celebrated Comic Relief in school and spent some time reflecting on the important work of this charity by listening to George's story.

If you would like to participate in the Comic Relief Lego Competition all of the details are here.

Next week's spellings are: thorough, twelfth, variety, vegetable, vehicle and yacht

Bikeability Group 2 starts on Monday 20th March and finishes on Friday 24th March. Children participating are allowed to wear their own clothes all week so they are warm, dry and comfortable whilst cycling. Please also ensure that your child has their bike and helmet in school all week.

Have a great weekend

The Year 5 Team 

Friday 10th March

This week we enjoyed celebrating World Book Day. In Year 5 we took part in activities related to the books: Goldfish Boy, Where's Wally and Holes. 

We also enjoyed decorating our classroom doors as a book cover and trying to figure out which famous book character had 'been to dinner' each day in assembly. Can you remember the five characters? Can you think of your own clues to describe a famous book character that could come to dinner at your house?

Next week is a busy week with trips to Dartmoor and Bikeability Group 1 starting. Letters have been sent via the parent mail app but if you require any further information please contact your class teacher.

Next week's spellings are: Sufficient, suggest, symbol, system, temperature

The Year 5 Team

Friday 3rd March

This week, the fire service joined us in school. They discussed what their role is in keeping people safe within the community and some of the simple things that you can do at home to prevent fires from starting. The children were all given an activity sheet and bookmark, highlighting some of their key learning, to take home. As always, the children were wonderful; they participated enthusiastically and asking some excellent questions. It was particularly pleasing to hear so many children link this subject back to their learning about bush fires in Australia, which formed part of our learning on climate change last year. Well done Year 5!

This week has also seen the Year 6 children receive their secondary school places. As many Year 5 families are currently considering secondary school places, we thought it would be helpful to share where the current Year 6 children will be heading next year. Children in Year 6 have accepted places at the following schools:

St. Lukes

St. James

St. Peters

ISCA

West Exe

Clyst Vale

Cranbrooke education campus

Matford

Avanti

Colyton grammar

Torquay boys grammar

Torquay girls grammar

On Monday next week, we will be celebrating World Book Day and children are invited to come to school dressed as a character from a book. 

The following week will see our re-arranged trip to Dartmoor go ahead. Your child will attend on either Monday 13th or Thursday 16th. Letters have been sent confirming the details but if you have any issues regarding this trip please speak to your child's class teacher. Thank you to the parents that have volunteered to support this trip. We are in need of one more parent to help us on Monday 13th. If you would be willing to help please contact Mr Smith.

Bikeability will start on the 14th March and run over 3 weeks. If you have signed your child up a letter will be sent next week confirming the dates your child will participate. There are still a limited number of places available. Please contact Mr Smith if you would like one of these places.

Next week's spellings are: Shoulder, Signature, Sincere, Soldier and Stomach

Have a fantastic weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 24th February 2023

Welcome back! We have another action-packed term of learning ahead of us. Below you will find our learning web for this term, detailing all aspects of the curriculum. You will also find schema for our new learning in history, science and RE. We use schema to help us to remember more of our learning.

This term is also full of exciting extra curricular opportunities and below are some important dates for your diary:

1. Monday 6th March - World Book Day. Children are encouraged to dress as a book character. A letter with full details will be sent.
2. Monday 13th and Thursday 16th March - Dartmoor Trip. Please see the letter sent earlier in the week for full details, including which date your child will attend.
3. Weeks starting 13th/20th/27th March - Bikeability. If you would like your child to participate please complete the online form sent out earlier in the week. The closing date for registration is 28th Feb.

If you would like any further information about these events please speak to your child's class teacher.

This week, we have enjoyed finding out about all types of cracking contraptions created by Wallace and Gromit. This has inspired us to create our inventions which we will be writing about next week. For some of these machines our learning, this week, on gravity and air resistance might come in handy. For others, we might use our learning in DT, where we tested the strength of different arch and beam bridges.

We have also enjoyed reading Street Child, a historical novel, set in 1860s London. This novel was inspired by the recounts of children living at the time to Dr. Thomas Barnardo. Click here to watch the video of Thomas Barnardo's story again.

Next week's spellings are: restaurant, rhyme, rhythm, sacrifice and secretary.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 10th February

A big thank you to all of the adults that attended our year group assembly yesterday. It was wonderful to have so many people join us. The children were absolutely fantastic, whether dancing, singing, rapping, asking questions or narrating. We hope that you enjoyed the show and that you discovered one or two new things about the subject of climate change! We rounded off the term today by reflecting on how climate change is affecting the dreams and goals of different people around the world and how we can make a positive difference. We have all produced a climate change pledge outlining the small steps that we will take in the battle against climate change.

This week, we also took part in a very interesting walk around Exeter Quay. On this fieldtrip we linked our learning on climate change to the local area. We looked at the different flood prevention infrastructure in place along the river and discussed why this is necessary. 

We hope that you and your families have a lovely, relaxing half term break.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 3rd February

We have enjoyed another busy and exciting week of learning in Year 5. In English we have looked at the picture book Flood, which links to our learning on climate change. It is a story of a family forced to moved from their home due to extreme weather. We have planned and began to write or own versions of the story to accompany the pictures. We have focused on powerful language to describe a setting and create atmosphere.

In maths, we have enjoyed learning about fractions. Can you use the language in red to answer the true or false questions?

Remember, one of the most helpful tools in understanding fractions is being able to confidently multiply and divide. Keep using Times Table Rockstars to practise your skills in these areas.

Next week, we are inviting parents into school to share the learning. We will start at 2.15pm in the studio. Parents should enter via the front of school with doors opening at 2pm. Next week, we are also taking a walk down to the River Exe on Wednesday afternoon. This is to undertake some fieldwork on the Exe flood defences in order to link our learning on climate change to the local area. Children should make sure that they have a suitable coat for this walk.

Next week's spellings are: persuade, physical, prejudice, privilege, profession and programme.

Have a fantastic weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 27th January

We have enjoyed another fantastic, busy week of learning in Year 5. Today we welcomed a special visitor to our year group assembly. Eva spoke to us about sustainability and how, by taking small steps, we can all make a difference.

Which of these ideas can you take part in?

This week, in science, we have been learning about the phases of the Moon. We learnt that the Moon is not a light source and what we can see is light from the Sun being reflected off the Moon. Click on the picture below to view the different phases of the Moon. Can you see if you can spot the Moon each day over the next week and observe how it changes?

Next week's spellings are: neighbour, nuisance, occupy, occur, opportunity and parliament.

Parents and carers, please note that our Year 5 Sharing the Learning Assembly is on Thursday 9th February at 2.15pm. You should hopefully have all received an email containing full details of the event. If you haven't received the message or would like any further information please speak to your child's class teacher.

Have a wonderful weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 20th January

This week we have continued to learn more about climate change, focusing much closer to home by learning about the increasing risk of flooding at Starcross and other parts of the Exe Estuary. We discussed how people could prepare for this risk and developed our own flood action plan. In art, we have been exploring the work of Alexis Rockman and in particular his painting entitled the tree of extinction. Use the picture below to share your learning with your families. What is extinction? Why has the artist chosen these animals? Which British animals are in danger of extinction?

In maths, we have been learning the compact method of division. If you would like to practise or to share your learning at home please use this video to help you.

This week's spelling words are: leisure, lightning, marvellous, mischievous, muscle and necessary

Have a fantastic weekend

The Year 5 Team

Friday 13th January

This week we have continued to explore the impact humans are having on our planet. In English we have looked at the information text 'Are humans damaging the atmosphere'. We identified the key features that the author used to make it both interesting and informative. In geography we explored the impact of global warming on the small town of Kinglake in Australia. Can you explain to your family why Olivia can no longer afford to insure her house?

What do the images below tell us about the impact of climate change on Kinglake and why Olivia cannot insure her home?

On Thursday 9th February we will be inviting parents into school to share some of our learning about climate change. Further details will follow in due course but we hope that your parents are able to join us. The performance will start at 2.15pm and finish in time for children to leave as usual at 3pm. If you would like to practise our song at home the video can be found here.

This week's spellings are: immediate, immediately, individual, interfere, interrupt and language.

If you would like to practise your column multiplication at home use this video to help you. It recaps our key learning but you might want to skip to 4:20 to watch the modelled method.

Have a fantastic weekend

The Year 5 Team

Monday 9th January 

Happy New Year and welcome back to a new school term. It has been a pleasure to hear about all of the exciting adventures people have had over the Christmas holidays.

As we start a new term, we are also beginning new units of learning in all areas of the curriculum. For full details please see the spring 1 learning web (located in the learning webs tab of the Y5 page). To support children to retain and understand a greater amount of knowledge we also use schema in RE, geography and science. These are attached below. Why not challenge your child to explain their new learning to you using these schema?

The school also uses the accelerated reader programme to support children's reading. Children are encouraged to complete a short online quiz after finishing an AR book to support their comprehension skills. These can be completed in school or at home using this link: https://ukhosted115.renlearn.co.uk/2151481/default.aspx 

This term, PE lessons for Stoats and Otters will be on Wednesday and Friday. PE for Polecats will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. If your child is in Polecats you should have received a letter informing you about swimming. If you need any further information about this please speak to Mr Nixon.

This week's spelling words are: government, guarantee, harass, hindrance, identity.

As always we are here to support all of your wonderful children. If there is any further information you require please don't hesitate to contact your child's class teacher. We look forward to another fantastic term of learning.

Best wishes

The Year 5 Team

Friday 9th December 

Christmas has started to arrive this week in Year 5! Our tree has gone up and is beautifully decorated with some of the hand-made decorations left from last week's Christmas Fair. In English, we have started to create our own festive themed poems. As part of this learning, we have looked at three different versions of the Christmas story: an animated version of the traditional telling; the narrative poem Bethlehem by Carol Anne Duffy and a Fox's Tale, the Christmas story re-told from an animal's perspective. Can you share you favourite with your family?

In maths, we have continued our learning on fractions by looking at improper fractions and mixed numbers. Can you explain these terms to your family? We have learnt how to convert fractions to mixed numbers, how to find the common denominator of a pair of fractions and then add them together. Can you explain how to add 3/4 to 5/8?

There are lots of exciting things happening next week and there are a few dates for your diaries below:

Tuesday 13th December - last swimming lesson for Stoats Group 2

Wednesday 14th December - Christmas jumper day

Monday 19th December - Y5 Christmas Party

Tuesday 20th December - KS2 church service (11.15am at St Leonard's Church).

There are no new spellings this week as we will be consolidating our understanding of this term's words.

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 5 Team

Friday 2nd December

This week we have finished our writing unit themed around the Secrets of Stonehenge. The children have finished and published their own versions of the text, focused around the secrets of St Leonard's. These texts are both informative and entertaining, with the children using paragraphs, side bars and bold titles to organise the text. Within the text, modal verbs and adverbs have been used to show degrees of possibility. These wonderful creations are now on display in the Year 5 corridor.

In maths, we have began learning about fractions. We started by recapping key learning from Year 4 including the definition of a fraction and how to recognise common equivalent fractions. Can you share your learning with your families? Use these words to help you: denominator, numerator, equivalent, improper fraction, mixed number.

This week our student council, supported by many other volunteers, have also been creating a wide range of beautiful Christmas decorations. These will all be available to buy at tomorrow's Christmas Fair. We hope to see you there!

Next week's spellings are: existence, explanation, familiar, foreign, forty, frequently

We hope that you all enjoy a relaxing weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 18th November

This week we have participated in National Anti-Bullying Week. We started the week celebrating the fact that every person is unique by wearing odd socks. Throughout the week, we have participated in a range of learning activities exploring what bullying is (several times on purpose) and what to do if you encounter it at any point (report it to a trusted adult). We discussed the role of bystanders and upstanders. Can you explain each word to your families? We finished the week by coming together as a year group to reflect on our learning. We agreed that bullying is never acceptable and that we are all responsible for ensuring that it stays out of our school community.

Today was also a great celebration, with the children looking fabulous in their own clothes. Thank you for all of your generous donations, which will be used to support the work of Children in Need. 

There was further excitement, with the launch of the school World Cup sweepstake! Which team will your class be supporting during the tournament?

As always, the children in Year 5 have also been working extremely hard on their learning this week. In English, we have been writing all about the mysterious secrets of St Leonard's...Watch out for the finished product next week. In maths children have continued their learning on multiplication and division, focusing on the key skill of multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. If you would like to see how this is taught in school please view the video lessons here (multiplication) and here (division). In science we have investigated electrical conductors and insulators and in art we have learnt about the work of architects and designed our own buildings. What a busy week! Well done children - you are all amazing!

Next week's spellings are: equip, equipped, equipment, especially, exaggerate and excellent.

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 5 Team

Monday 14th November

We celebrated the start of anti-bullying week by wearing odd socks to school. This fun event helped to illustrate that we are all unique and we should embrace and celebrate these differences. Can you identify the person from the socks?

Friday 11^th November

Today we joined the whole school in pausing to reflect on the sacrifices made by others on Armistice Day.

Yesterday, we also reflected on others who can help us as we enjoyed a visit to school by one of our local police officers, PC Unsworth. He shared advice on how to deal with unfamiliar or challenging situations outside of school, such as being lost whilst in the city centre. This is one of many ways in which children in Year 5 are being supported to become confident and independent young people.

In class, we have also been participating in some exciting new learning. We have began learning French this term, with the children initially revising some of their previous learning on numbers before moving on to basic greetings. Can you share any French with your families? In art, we have also enjoyed learning the exciting new skill of mono printing. We had a wonderful time turning our observational drawings of houses into abstract prints. The results were fantastic!

On Monday next week children are encouraging to wear bright and colourful odd socks as we celebrate anti-bullying week. On Friday next week we will also celebrate Children In Need Day and children are invited to wear their own clothes to school. A suggested donation of £1 per child will go to the Children In Need appeal. Many thanks for your support with both of these events.

Next week’s spellings are: determined, develop, dictionary, disastrous, embarrass and environment

Have a fantastic and restful weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 4th November 

We have had a wonderful first week back in school. This week we have started to explore our new core text 'The Secrets of Stonehenge', which explains how Stonehenge was built. We worked together in groups to act out this process and followed this up with a piece of instructional writing.

Can you use the pictures above to help you to explain to your family how Stonehenge was built?

Use these words to help you: bluestones, Wales, raft, sarsen stones, levered, dressed, lintel stones.

We have also started an exciting new history topic all about the Maya civilisation. We started by learning that the Maya were based in Central America. Can you use the schema below to discuss what you already know about the Maya?

The spellings for next week are: convenience, correspond, criticise, curiosity, definite, desperate.

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 5 Team

Tuesday 1st November 2022

Welcome back to school! It has been a pleasure to see everyone again and hear all about your exciting holidays!

Please view our new learning web for full details of the Year 5 curriculum this term.

This week's spelling words are: communicate, community, competition, conscience, conscious and controversy.

All classes have PE with Mr Doku tomorrow. Swimming for Group 2 in Stoats class will start next Tuesday. 

Friday 21st October

A huge well done to everyone in Year 5 for a fantastic first half term of learning. We have learnt so much and now all deserve a well earned rest.

The last week has been just as fun as busy as the rest. Finishing Kensuke's Kingdom was a real highlight. Can you share a summary of the story with your family? Why do you think Kensuke made the decision he did at the end? 

We have also taken a virtual tour of Exeter Cathedral, which you can do again here, and reflected on how the design of a cathedral reflects Christian ideas of God. Inspired by the stained glass windows, we produced some wonderful works of art. 

We also finished our unit of learning on rivers by learning about flooding in Bangladesh. We used maps to explore the reasons why the country is so prone to flooding. Why not try using Google Maps to share this with your families. This learning was linked to our science as we were challenged to clean dirty water following an imagined flood. We used magnetism, filtration and sieving to separate the mixture.

Enjoy a good rest and spend time with your families over the next week. Please continue to read as much as you can. If you are looking for something to do why not do some research on our next topic: the Maya civilisation. We look forward to seeing you when school reopens on Tuesday 1st November and hearing about all of your adventures.

Stay safe and have fun!

The Year 5 Team

Friday 14th October

This week in maths we have been focusing on addition and subtraction strategies. Being able to use column addition and column subtraction with numbers up to 5 digits is a key mathematical skill. Why not show your understanding by demonstrating the method to your families. Parents can click here to view the online addition and subtraction lessons to see how the method is taught in school.

In other maths news, Year 5 have been doing brilliantly in the trust wide Times Tables Rock Stars battle that is currently ongoing. St Leonard's are topping the overall leaderboard but we are still slightly behind Year 6. If you get ten minutes over the weekend try to login and add some points to the Year 5 total!

In English we have been looking at using conjunctions to join ideas together. Can you share your learning with your families? Use these words to help you:

Clause

Subject

Verb

Simple sentence

Complex sentence

co-ordinating conjunction (fanboys)

Sub-ordinating conjunctions (isawawubub)

Next week's orange spellings are: awkward, bargain, bruise, category, cemetery and committee. Can you learn how to spell them and find out which each one means?

Well done on another fantastic week of learning Year 5!

Friday 7th October

We have enjoyed another fantastic, busy week of learning in Year 5. From finishing our stories inspired by Kensuke's Kingdom, to investigating the solubility of materials, to understanding the water cycle, we have had an action packed week!

What can you tell your families about the following words?

Soluble

Solution

Solvent

Solute

Evaporation

Condensation

Transpiration

Precipitation

Use the schemas below to support your conversations about your learning.

This morning we also had time for a wonderful Year 5 assembly, celebrating all of the achievements across the year group this week. We watched the story Ish by Peter Reynolds and reflected how important it is to support and encourage others when learning.

Next week's spelling words are: average, available, apparent, attached, ancient and appreciate. Can you find out what each word means? Can you think of an interesting sentence to use each word in?

Finally, a big well done to all of the children who have been reading every day at home and remembering to fill in their reading journal each day. Practising like this supports you to make excellent progress with your reading. Completing your reading journal helps your teacher to better support you too. Remember that you can quiz on your AR book at home using this link.

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 5 Team

Friday 30th September

This week we have been reflecting on the process of learning. We watched an animated version of The Dot by Peter Reynolds and discussed how learning new things could often be challenging. Inspired by the character of Vashti, in the story, we identified that asking for help, persevering and practise were all important ways to support learning.

The children have been working very hard in school. Additional practise at home can also help to support your child's learning. We recommend that children read for around 15 minutes every day at home. Your child should have an AR reading book, which allows them to practise their reading at the appropriate level of challenge. We encourage the children to complete quizs on these books when the complete them. The library is open every lunchtime for the children to do this. Children can also access the quizs at home using the link below. 

https://ukhosted115.renlearn.co.uk/2151481/default.aspx

To support children to develop and then retain knowledge the school uses schema for science, humanities and RE. You may wish to use the schema to discuss your child's learning in these areas with them.

Finally, the school has a progressive spelling scheme where the children are taught different spelling patterns. Additionally to this, the National Curriculum also requires children to learn a list of exception or challenging words. These spellings are known as the Year 5/6 statutory spellings. In school we call them orange words and we focus on learning 6 words every week. This is done in school but it will of course support your child to practise these spellings at home too. Next week's words are: accommodate, accompany, according, achieve, aggressive and amateur.

If you have any questions regarding your child's learning please don't hesitate to contact your child's class teacher.

Wishing you a relaxing and restful weekend.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 23rd September

Year 5 have enjoyed a fantastic start to the year, taking part in the hugely enjoyable Five Fest at the end of last week. During Five Fest the children took part in a range of outdoor activities including canoeing, raft-building, cooking on a camp fire, a treasure hunt and making a natural spinning decoration. The children participated in all of these activities with great enthusiasm, independence and, at times, bravery. Every one of the children modelled our school value of friendship, encouraging and supporting each other to try new things. What a super start to Year 5!

We would like to say a big thank you to all of the parents that supported Five Fest.

The Year 5 Team

Friday 15th July 

As we are nearing the end of term, we have discussed with the children how we can 'be the best we can be' until we break up. The children have come up with their own answers.

In Maths, we have come to the end of our unit on 'Properties of Shape' and next week we will be starting 'Position and Direction'. In English, we are all deep into writing our own adventure for Varjak Paw where we are including atmospheric writing, dialogue and now prepositions. We will be working hard on having a finished piece next week.

Next Tuesday we have a visiting planetarium (space dome) for year 5s in the hall. Every class will have an hour in it.

On Wednesday we will be watching the year 6 dress rehearsal for their end of year play.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 8th July

It's been another jam-packed week in year 5 with our learning and transition day. The parent meet and greet will take place on Wednesday 20th July between 3:15 - 4:30 pm. 

In English we are finally drafting and writing box one of our own chapter to Varjak Paw concentrating on an atmospheric setting. We have moved onto shaped in Maths with a quick recap of triangles and quadrilaterals, next week we will be calculating lengths and angles as well as looking at regular and irregular polygons.

As usual, lots of questions have been raised in Science as we discussed why we have moon phases and why the moon causes tides. In Geography we looked at the South West and did some map work by identifying towns, cities and rivers.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 1st July

Another busy, busy week in school!  Luckily even the rain could not stop us! The children all had tremendous fun at sports day this week.  Thank you for coming to help encourage your children and for creating such a supportive atmosphere.  

In English we are busy boxing up and planning our new chapter to the Varjak Paw book. Varjak will be going on a completely new adventure in a new location where he will learn a new skill. In Maths, protractors and rulers were out with drawing and measuring angles. Many leaflets were produced in pairs on national parks in Geography. The children enjoyed this collaborative work on the chromebooks.  In Science we learnt about why the Earth is 'round', why there is an equatorial bulge and the potato radius. Please feel free to ask them about it!

May we take this opportunity to remind children with long hair that it should be tied back and that school uniform should be worn. Thank you for your support with this.

Have a lovely weekend!

Year 5 team

Friday 24th June

Hopefully the children have all enjoyed their bikeability experience. Our 2 week disruption to the year 5s has come to an end and normal service resumes next week!

We were very fortunate and had the author 'David Solomons' come in to talk to KS2 about all things writing-related. There was opportunity for a Q and A session at the end. The children waited patiently for their signed copies of their books.

In DT, the children have been practising making their pop-ups with cereal boxes. We came to the conclusion that it's not a bad idea to practise cutting to avoid wasting precious material. Thank you for sending in the boxes. In RE we discussed humanism and christianity, referring back to the creation story and sinful man originating in the garden of Eden. As usual, lots of discussion was generated. 

Enjoy the school fair and have a lovely weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 17th June

Phew! It's been a scorching end to this week!  The children have been accustomed to the NFER tests and have built on their resilience and resolve.  Another round of testing done and dusted. A huge well done to all the children.  In DT, the children are still in the midst of planning their pop up books. Could we ask them to bring in one or two cereal boxes so that they can practise making their pop-up, levers and sliders? 

In literacy, we have spent time on our show, not tell skills and described a few emotions in class by examining facial and body expressions along with how our voices might sound.  In Geography, we discussed why national parks are important to us. We tried to compare it with a special object we have and how we need to preserve it for future generation and how we would do that.  In Science we designed a task to look at the planets' relative distance to the sun out in the playground. Feel free to ask them about 365 days, 24 hours and a month!

Next week bikeability continues and this time it is Stoats' turn + the other half of Polecats. Disruption to classes continue. We are also fortunate enough to have an author visit KS2 on Thursday morning.

Have a lovely weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 10th June

We have had a fabulous return to school this week.  In English we have started reading Varjak Paw and looked at atmospheric writing. We are actively encouraging all the children to use the skills learnt this year in their writing. In DT the children have started to design their own pop up book, which must include a slider, pivot and pop up. In Geography, the unit of work this 1/2 term is on national parks. Earth and space are our topics for Science and many questions have been generated already!

For the next two weeks there will be some disruption to our normal timetable due to the rescheduled bikeability.  Week commencing June 13th is scheduled for Otters and some of Polecats. Week commencing June 20th will be Stoats and the other half of Polecats' turn. A letter has already gone home with the children so please do check their bags. Bikes can be parked in the MUGA near the year 6 and children should come into school in their own, comfortable clothes. They should be dressed for all weather eventualities so waterproofs are also recommended.

Finally, on Thursday 16th June class photos will be taking place. Those children on bikeability will have their photo taken first so please make sure they are in school uniform.

Thank you for your support. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Year 5 team 

Friday 27th May

Well the sunshine certainly came out for our platinum jubilee celebration this afternoon out on the field. We were treated to song, dance, poetry and music from the Salvation Army. 

Year 5s completed some art inspired by Jackson Pollock and sang their hearts out to Rise up and Serve.

We've had a very busy half term and the children have worked really hard. We hope you all have a restful half term break. 

A reminder that there is no school on Monday 6th June. It is teacher training day on the 7th June so we will see the children back on Wednesday 8th June.

Year 5 team

Friday 20th May

Another busy week of learning. We immersed ourselves in the short animation of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' and created a wanted poster for the villain. We started to look at character and setting description. In Maths we are coming to the end of our decimal unit. In RE, we talked about Christian Aid and the work that they do and tried to link it to Christian beliefs. Thank you for all the slices of bread for Science. We are eagerly waiting to see the mould grow.

Next week we have a full timetable. On Tuesday at 11am, we will visit Exeter School as the English Touring Opera are visiting. This will be a one hour performance and we will be back for lunch.

On Thursday and Friday, we will be celebrating the Queen's platinum jubilee. Fun activities have been planned and we will round up the week with all the children from each year group doing a performance out on the field. Further information has been sent via the school app. Let's hope for sunshine and great weather next Friday.

Have a good weekend!

Year 5 team

Friday 13th May

Year 5 were incredibly understanding this week during the Year 6 SATS. They were very accommodating with all the changes that happened with their own timetable so thank you very much from us!

Learning-wise, we are coming to the end of our final write up of our Cracking Contraptions. Some are fine-tuning their diagrams and we look forward to reading them all. In Maths, we are still knee deep in decimals and the children have been problem solving this week. In RE we have discussed prayer in Christianity and why people prayer and what it means to them. We finished this lesson with the children writing their own modern day prayer.

Finally, year 5s were lucky to have the fire service in on Wednesday delivering a fire safety talk. We hope they returned home with some important information that they should always retain.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 6th May

We have been blessed with the fantastic sunshine this week while we went on our walk around Exeter Quay, looking at the Custom House, Wharfinger's house and various warehouses. We also took the opportunity to look at the bridges to tie in with our bridges unit in D & T last term. The children enjoyed the trip and managed to complete a few sketches along the way.

Next week is SATS week for our year 6s. The children have been reminded of this. As a result, PE for Stoats only will move to Monday morning. An app message has been sent.

On Wednesday we have the Fire Service coming in to deliver a talk to our year 5s.

Have a great weekend,

Year 5 team

Friday 29th April

Year 5 have returned back to school rejuvenated after their Easter break and have immersed themselves straight into learning. They have been busy writing introductions on their cracking contraptions and learning about fractions, decimals and percentages. In art they have started mind-mapping themselves so that they can create their own coat of arms. 

Next week, each class will be walking down to the quay during school hours as part of their history learning.

We will stop and have a snack on our walk and we will be back in school for lunchtime.

Otters: Tuesday

Stoats: Thursday

Polecats: Friday

Have a great bank holiday weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 8th April

Thank you all for your valuable time at parents' evening. We hope you found the meeting useful.  

It's been all about poetry this week as the children have been busy writing and presenting their final version based on the book 'I am Cat'.  They have been enthusiastic and have worked hard! Well done year 5!

Thank you for all your support this half term.

We look forward to seeing the children, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, on Monday 25th April.

Happy Easter!

Year 5 team

Friday 1st April

What a busy week in year 5! We want to congratulate the children on their resilience and how they have dealt with the cancellation of Bikeability this week. A new two week slot has been arranged for the summer term. Details to follow.

We have been busy reading a poem called 'I am Cat' and they children have explored figurative language with this text. They have begun drafting and editing their own poems with titles such as 'I am Car, I am Fish'. They have been thoroughly engaged in writing their poems and it has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm! 

Thought-provoking questions have been asked by children on the Shabbat within Judaism and on the Falklands War in History.

Next week is our final week before Easter. Parents' evening will take place on Tuesday and Thursday. If you have not made an appointment yet, please do contact your class teacher to see if we can make alternative arrangements. We look forward to meeting with you.

Have a great weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 25th March

We have had another busy week of learning in year 5.  As part of the immersion into their new literacy book 'Cracking Contraptions', the children split into small groups and prepared a 'Dragon's Den' style presentation where they had to sell the 'Bully Proof Vest' to the rest of the class. There were some impressive Dragons and potential entrepreneurs.

In Science, we took out experiment outside this week and tested friction with a teddy bear attached to a coat hanger and we used different material for the zipline. We had fishing line, wool, string and cord.  We predicted which material we thought would be the fastest and which would the slowest. There was pertinent discussion from the children beforehand where they made connections with everyday examples of friction including, riding a bike, F1 racing, skiing and simply rubbing their palms together. 

In RE we explored the Ten Commandments in Judaism and then wrote about our own ten commandments, rules we live by in class, in school, at home and in wider society. Finally we ended by discussing what life would be like without rules.

Bikeability is due to start on Monday. There will be some disruption to the normal timetable depending on when the sessions take place. A reminder that bikes should be brought in on Monday and placed in the MUGA. Children should come appropriately dressed for the outdoors and they may like to bring a change of clothes in case of inclement weather.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 18th March

It has been a 'testing week' in year 5. The children have been working very hard in their NFER tests this week and we are very proud of how they have conducted themselves in class.  They have had great fun dressing up and raising money for Comic Relief. Thank you for your continued support.

In DT there has been evidence of some fantastic team work in building spaghetti truss bridges and testing them out. In Science we tested water resistance with two long plastic tubes and a whole lot of water!

Have a lovely weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 11th March

Year 5 have been working very hard this week finishing their non-chronological report on 'Are humans damaging their lifestyle.  They continue to be immersed in all things fraction-related. We have also been discussing what some Jewish beliefs are in RE and we have started learning about bridges in DT.

Orders of non-fiction books have been placed from our class budget after consulting with the children on what types of books they would like to have in class. We cannot wait to add these books to our class libraries. 

A reminder that next Friday 18th March is Comic Relief Day. Children can come dressed in their own clothes. Donations to Comic Relief can be made directly to the class teacher or on via the school's Just Giving page.

Thank you for your support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 4th March

Thank you so much for all your support with World Book Day! We have had a fantastic day celebrating all things book related and it's been truly wonderful seeing all the children dressed up and participating in different activities.

We hope the children have lots to tell you when they return home and long may their reading continue!

On a side note, if you haven't yet booked a place on the Bikeability course being held, weeks commencing 28th March and 4th April, there is still some availability.

Please visit the Year 5 section, via the link below, to view the letters named 'Bikeability - Parents Level 2' &  'FAQ & Yr 5 - Bikeability 2022' . Please sign up using the online link in the 'Bikeability 2022' letter.

https://www.stleonards.devon.sch.uk/parent-letters/

Have a great weekend,

Year 5 team

Monday 28th February

Welcome back after half term!

Friday 4th March is World Book Day at St. Leonard's. Please read the PDF below for further information.

Year 5 team

Friday 18th February

A huge well done to all the children in year 5 for their informative assembly.  We are very proud of all the work they have done this half term on climate change. Thank you very much to all the parents who came to the assembly. 

Have a wonderful half term and we look forward to seeing the children back on Monday 28th February.

Year 5 team 

Friday 11th February

Preparations are in full swing for our year 5 assembly. A gentle reminder that it will place on Friday 18th February at 2:15pm. The children are really looking forward to showcasing some of their work from this half term.

Have a great weekend,

Year 5 team.

Friday 28th January

The children have been working tirelessly on their writing for our wordless book 'Flood' by Villa Alvaro.  You will have a chance to admire and appreciate their work as it will be displayed at the year 5 assembly. May we take this opportunity to remind you that the assembly will be on Friday 18th February at 2:15pm. Please mark it in your diaries!

We've been lucky enough to have 3 coaches from Exeter City come in on Fridays for PE. One lesson is based in the classroom (so far they have measured their heart rate and worked out how their heart rate increases depending on the exertion) and one lesson is outside. This will continue until the February half term.

For any children isolating at home, please do look at the year 5 page and click on the yellow star for remote learning. If you have any problems, please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher(s).

Have a great weekend.

Year 5 team

Friday 21st January

Hello,

There has been some fantastic learning this week! In literacy, the children have learnt to use dialogue to show the feelings of a character as well as use the appropriate punctuation. Armed with this knowledge they are continuing to write their own version to our wordless book 'Flood'. 
Our focus on climate change has meant that in art the children have learnt about endangered animals and they have started to sketch them, thinking about their own 'Tree of Extinction'. 
The children are currently using schemas within RE, Geography and Science to support them in linking and articulating their learning- these schemas are attached below and your child should be able to talk you through how they use these.

Have a great weekend,

Year 5 team

Friday 14th January 

This half term, Year 5 are exploring the question ‘How is climate change affecting the world?’. The children have started the art unit by looking at an American artist called Alexis Rockman. They discussed the message behind his paintings before focusing on a piece of art called ’Tree of Extinction'. We then had a go at drawing our own trees of extinction.

January 5th 2022 – Welcome Back!

Happy New Year from Year 5! We hope you have all had a very enjoyable Christmas and we are really looking forward to inviting the children back to continue with their learning. This half term, we are going to be exploring the topic of ‘Climate Change’. In Geography, we will be looking at how climate change is affecting the world. In Art, we will be studying artists who are trying to raise awareness of climate change and using this to inspire our own artwork. In Literacy, we will be studying two books. The first is a narrative called ‘Flood’ and the second is a non-fiction text called ‘Are Humans Damaging the Atmosphere’. We will then use this knowledge to host a Year 5 Assembly on Climate Change (more details to follow). If you would like to find out more about all of the learning we will be doing this half term, please take a look at our Spring 1 Learning Web below.

Best wishes, 

The Year 5 Team

Merry Christmas from Year 5! 

As we near the end of term, the Year 5 team would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The children have worked so hard this term and we are all really impressed with how they have approached their learning and their start to Upper Key Stage Two. It has been a very busy, but exciting, couple of weeks. Last week, the children visited Exeter Mosque where they watched an afternoon prayer, heard the Imam chant a prayer and watched how a prayer cleans in the wudu (all things we have been learning about in school this half term). 

This week, we have been getting into the festive spirit and have been busy with a range of Christmas activities. This has included: making Christmas cards for the Salvation Army; attending our Christmas Service at St Leonard’s Church and listening to the Salvation Army Band in Wednesday’s Singing Assembly. On Thursday, it is Christmas Jumper Day and our Christmas Lunch (here is a link to our Just Giving Page https://christmas.savethechildren.org.uk/fundraising/cjd210014760).  Followed by our Year 5 Christmas Party on Friday! Please remember to bring in a bag of party clothes, a nut-free snack (e.g. packet of crisps, biscuit) and a game, if your child would like to bring one in.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support this term and we look forward to welcoming the children back in the new year. The Year 5 Team. 

Year 5 had a fun Art Morning this week. The children were learning about how to build up layers of colour. We discussed what we meant by 'colour' and how colour is really important in art. We talked about how the choices of colour and the relationships between colours has a huge influence on how a piece or art or design looks and feels and the emotions it provokes. The children looked at colour wheels to understand the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary colours. We then looked at artists who use lots of colour in their prints (such as Henri Mattise) and other artists such as Margaret Taylor Burroughs, who use layers to build colour. The children used their polystyrene printing blocks, that they designed last week, to create their Mayan repeated patterns using acrylic paint. Here are some photos of our amazing designs! Well done Year 5. 

In Year 5 Literacy, we have been studying the non-fiction text ‘The Secrets of Stonehenge’. This has inspired us to write our very own book … ‘The Secrets of School'.  Here are some of our final pieces. 

Mayan Prints

This half term in History, Year 5 are studying the Mayans. The Mayans were famous for their amazing repeated patterns. In Art, we have been exploring making our very own repeated patterns which have been inspired by the Mayan prints we have studied. This week, we had a go at designing our very own patterns onto plain paper and then producing a simple print. Next week, we will begin to use polystyrene printing blocks to create repeated Mayan patterns. Here are some photos of our designs.

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle! 

Year 5 have been busy composting the school’s fruit and veg waste in order to improve our school’s green footprint! We are looking forward to using our compost in the Spring term! 

In Year 5, we have been fully immersing ourselves within 'The Secrets of Stonehenge' (our new Literacy book) and creating our very own 'Stoathenge',  'Polehenge' and 'Otterhenge'. See our wonderful creations in the pictures above. 

Friday 5th November - Return to School 

We have had a great return to school this week. The children have started our new historical topic on the Mayans. In Literacy, we started reading our new book ‘The Secrets of Stonehenge’. The children have been enjoying finding artefacts around the school to write about. In Maths, the children have been learning about ‘statistics’ and interpreting information from line graphs. If you would like to support your child from home with their learning in school, please go to the ‘Home Learning’ tab to find out how you can do this.

We are continuing to learn about the properties of materials in Science this half term and we will using our scientific knowledge to give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic. 

In Art, we have started our new unit on printing! At the end of the term, we are going to be designing and making our very own Mayan patterns. This week, we have been exploring what a pattern is and researching lots of different patterns in order to help us with our designs.

If you would like more information on the learning we are doing in Year 5 this half term,  please go to the ‘Our Learning’ tab and look for the ‘Year 5 Learning Web – Autumn 2’ PDF.

Well done to all of the children who have continued to read, practise their spellings and complete their Maths home learning. If you have any problems regarding this, please let your child’s class teacher know.  

Thank you very much for your support. 

The Year 5 Team

We have had another exciting week in Year 5 - making soup on an open fire! In Design and Technology this half term, we have been enjoying designing and making our own class seasonal soup. Each child took it in turns to peel and cut the vegetables. Once we had finished preparing, we went outside to cook the soup on an open fire. We firstly fried the onions in oil and then added the rest of the ingredients to a large soup pot with vegetable stock. We brought the soup to a boil and then allowed it to simmer over lunchtime (some of us stayed by the fire over lunch to stir the ingredients). Once the vegetables were soft, we shared it amongst the class and added coriander if we wanted to. We all thoroughly enjoyed evaluating our mugs of warm soup sitting around the open fire, despite the rain. Well done Year 5 on a very tasty vegetable soup! 

Year 5 were lucky enough to visit Budleigh Salterton Beach to continue investigating rivers. Apart from the fantastic weather, our outside learning environment inspired great learning and creative art application. We played 'River Bingo' focusing on lots of words we knew, what we had heard of and ones that were brand new, as one activity. Another activity involved seeing how rivers are transporters of both good and bad things into the sea. What can we do about this? Finally, we released our inner creative side by designing and painting pebbles. 

What a brilliant day!

Science Morning

Year 5 spent a morning learning about 'reversible' and irreversible' materials. This involved sorting different materials and discussion within their groups.

The children experimented with bicarbonate of soda and vinegar producing an explosion which they thoroughly enjoyed. They also investigated what would happen when a candle was lit, was this 'reversible' or irreversible'?

Based on the book 'After the Fall', we annotated a paper airplane with our fears and threw them away!

Hi and welcome to Year 5!

Year 5 have had a fantastic first 2 weeks in school. The teachers have been really impressed by the children’s attitude to learning and enthusiasm for the start of term and it has been wonderful welcoming them all back into class.

In school, we have been enjoying our new class book ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’. Year 5 have been writing stories which have involved being stranded on desert islands and using atlases to map Michael’s sailing journey across the world.

This half term, we are going to be focusing on our geography skills and investigating the question ‘What is a river?’. Now is a brilliant time to go exploring local rivers and wildlife if you can! However, Year 5 will also be having a trip towards the end of half term to a local river. Full details on this will be provided in the next couple of weeks.

In Design and Technology, the children have started to explore seasonal products in preparation for the designing and making of their own seasonal soup for a family autumnal walk.

Notices

Reading Record Book

This week, your child will be bringing home a purple Reading Record Book alongside their in-school reading book (AR book). This book is for you and your child to record their daily reading. Please can you encourage your child to read for at least 15 minutes every day and to record the number of pages read in these books. If your child finishes a book, they will be able to complete a ‘AR Quiz’ in school and select a new book for the following day. We love books in Year 5, so if you also happen to be reading another book at home, we would love to hear about this too. There is a full list of ‘recommended books’ for Year 5, which you can find under the ‘Useful Resources’ section of the Year 5 class page. There are also further links to learning that you can do at home if you would wish to.

PE Kits

Year 5 have PE on a Wednesday with Mr Doku and a Friday with their class teacher. We would recommend that your child brings in their PE kit on a Monday and leaves it in school until Friday afternoon to ensure they have their PE kit in school when needed.

Thank you very much for all your support and we are really excited about the year ahead!

The Year 5 Team