Class 5

English: This half term the context for all our English work will be Shakespeare’s Richard III. It will culminate in a class performance of a version of the play.

Humanities: Linked to our Richard III topic, we are studying the Plantagenet dynasty and the impact of the wars of the Roses as well as the many discrepancies between the known historical facts about Richard and Shakespeare’s version. Due to SATs preparation which has to move up a notch in this half term, the year 5 children are spending their humanities afternoon with Mrs Read.

Science: Year 5 will also be joining the Y5 from Class 4 on Friday morning to have an outdoor science/Forest School session this half term led by Jane Steed. There will be a focus on Habitats, using our grounds for hands on learning.

Year 6 have a science, maths and English revision focus for the first weeks but around that we will squeeze in as many other subjects as possible- particularly sport and P.E.

PE: Unfortunately Mrs O’Malley, the French teacher is away for the rest of this term recovering from a planned operation. This means the class will have an additional sports lesson with Premier sport on Tuesday afternoons. Games on Fridays will focus on athletics whilst my PE will be cricket and rounders.

Art: In art, as well as completing the Rousseau unit, it seems pertinent to look at some of the portraits of Richard III so that will be our starting point.

The half term will end with our visit to Kentwell Hall for the ‘Through the Ages’ living history. Costume details will be sent home soon (we want everyone to dress up to really enjoy the experience) but if anyone struggles with organising a costume please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Mrs Taylor for advice.

English: This half term the class will finish their science fiction novellas and the stories will be used to present the Class 5 assembly. For the rest of the term the context for our writing will be Shakespeare’s history play Richard 111 and we will explore some of the ‘inaccuracies’ demonstrating how Shakespeare may have played with the facts. Spelling will focus on some of common rules and I will be teaching ways of remembering them. Although there will continue to be spellings to learn, the focus is very much how the rule can work to help remember the spelling. In grammar we are looking at sentence structure, the passive voice, subjunctive and the various verb forms as well as subordinating and coordinating conjunctions.  Although the Year 6 need to be able to recall the technical vocabulary for their tests, it is also important they know how the grammatical conventions affect the style of their writing, throughout the grammar taught will be applied in writing. 

Maths: We will focus on embedding the number and algebra already introduced. A continuing necessity has to be to learn times tables as committing them to memory is the single most effective way of improving mathematical performance. For those children who are not yet fluent in their recall of multiplication, facts homework will focus on learning them (lots are already great - but the practice is useful).  We will also work on measure, conversions between units, time and the properties of both 2 D and 3D shape.

Science: We will be exploring light followed by some investigations into the topics introduced in previous years - especially Year 5. The list includes forces and resistance, solution and suspension as well as insulation, condensation and evaporation.

Art/DT: In art, Africa week will inspire some sculptured heads, an opportunity to hone the skills used in the Modigliani heads. Following this we will be looking at the collages of Henri Rousseau (We ran out of time last half term) but applying perspective to the work rather than Rousseau’s naive style.

Humanities: Because of the organisation of the timetable to aid the Year 6 for this half term, Mr Portas, whose sons were both pupils here at Aldborough, will be planning and delivering Humanities. He will be teaching Islam as part of the RE programme of study.

French: This will continue on Tuesdays but until SATs Class 5 will lose their music session in order that PE can continue. We appreciate this loss will be a blow but rest assured we will focus on more music post May.  Any parents who might like to support the class, if they have any spare time and would be interested, then please let me know it would be lovely to hear from you.

ENGLISH: In Class 5 the children will be looking at the genre of Science Fiction; writing a novel set on a planet in a galaxy far, far away. Incidentally, and to help our background knowledge, we will be revising our understanding of the solar system using information books as well as exploring the creation story from the Bible and other cultures. As well as creating a story, we will be using and applying a range of punctuation for effect as well as working on National Curriculum grammar.

MATHS: We will be revising number facts and proceeding to work on sequences, including those with negative numbers, fractions, data and co-ordinates as well as conversions between different units of measure.

HUMANITIES: Geography is our focus and the class will be studying the course of the river Mississippi creating a 3 D model of the three stages and studying the wildlife and demography of the river. Art will start with masks in the style of Modigliani and then proceed to looking at the naïve art of Henri Rousseau, using his inspirational jungle pictures to create the landscape of the planet at the centre of our own science fiction novels.

SCIENCE: We are going to study the heart, keeping fit and healthy and then light and finally electric circuits. There will be some SAT test practice questions included in the timetable to familiarise the year 6 with the format for the formal tests in May. That should keep us all very busy.

English: This half term, having performed Macbeth at the Playhouse, we will begin a new unit of work based on the poem The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. Characterisation will be explored  with children writing their own version of the tragic tale describing the night setting using a range of writing techniques.

Maths: We will be moving from fractions, decimals and percentages to ratio and proportion and then moving into geometry. Maths investigations will have a focus on algebra. Accurate recall of times tables will continue to be a focus with regular opportunities to use these facts.

Humanities: We are looking at the history of crime and punishment- not too gory- but this theme fits in beautifully with work on The Highwaymen. The periods of history we will consider are, the Middle Ages, the Tudor period, Regency and Victorian ending with WW1 so that gives great chronology too.

Art/DT: The pantomime will dominate drama and creating a backdrop as well as the advent calendar should keep us busy in art.

Science: This will be focussed on the human body initially and then, linked to light at Christmas, we will move on to the symbols used to create electrical circuits.

English: The context for work will be Macbeth as the class are performing at the Shakespeare School Festival in November. As a result we will be using drama for writing and lots of the grammar and spelling work will be based on Macbeth. Writing arguments, short stories, newspaper articles and letters will give the children ample opportunity to become immersed in the play.  As a break from Shakespeare, the children will share, for group reading, War Horse, Private Peaceful and Kensuke’s Kingdom- all titles by Michael Morpurgo.

Maths: Following the national curriculum for year 6 maths, with support for year 5, the term will begin with arithmetic but there will be opportunities for problem solving and investigations too. Using familiar patterns in mathematics and learning how to explain outcomes algebraically will also be part of the first half of the autumn term work.

Science: Adaptation and classification will be the initial unit of work; Mrs Cuthill will lead science in the autumn term.

Humanities: To begin the year the topic will be history and the class will study Scotland and the Scottish wars of independence. Later in the term, the topic will focus on key figures and events from the middle ages, particularly the Magna Carta, King Richard and King John.

Art: As well as mask making, faces of the weird sisters from, guess what? Macbeth, we will be looking at the print making of the Japanese artist Hokusai. Later in the term, to coincide with a major exhibition at Tate Modern, we will be studying the work of Modigliani.

Music: We will be studying The firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky, exploring how composers use rhythm, tempo and dynamics to create variations on a theme and use these ideas to compose our own fanfare.  We will work as a class to choreograph a response to the finale music and have opportunities to perform to other classes in the school.

All the children will be lucky enough to continue French with Mrs O’Malley and music with         Mrs Cuthill. On Friday for games we have a specialist Karate teacher for the year 6 in the autumn first half term, as the pool at Aylsham High School is out of action due to refurbishment; the year 5 will be having football with Mr Barnard. Tuesday P.E will be led by a specialist gymnast this term.

I think you’ll agree-an action packed beginning to the school year 2017-2018 here in class 5.