Spring Term

Wow! What a busy first half term we have had! The children returned to school after Christmas with enthusiasm and a real drive to hit the ground running. We kick started the term with a visit from Thomas Kitching and the Young’uns with whom we learnt about Luton’s heritage and wrote a song together. Please keep an eye out on Twitter and the school website where their final piece of music will be posted. Have a look at all the wonderful things that we have been getting up to in our classes.

English

In English this term, Year 5 have been learning how to write an effective action scene. Our model text is based on the book, Beowulf, by Michael Morpurgo. Within this unit, we have focused on specific writing features that we can use to make our own action scene writing. Some of the features we have focused on are:

• Repeated ED verbs– “they wrestled, yanked, heaved and lunged.”
• Sentences of three (to move the action forward)- “He tore his teeth into blood-stained hair and, with a splintering crack of a bone, ripped flesh from the creatures side.”
• Adverbials of action– “As he turned for more prey…” “held him fast by the arm.”
• Prepositions to introduce the action– “Up from his lair and through the shadows..”
• Carefully place adjectives– “ like a crazed animal” “ Grendel’s hideous skull”
• Long and short sentences – “He aimed. Fired.” “And so, finally, splattered and stained with blood, our hero stood, and at his feet, a gruesome carcass lay.”

We have learnt the meaning of new words found in our model text. These include: carcass, splintering, lair, moorland, thirsting, frenzied, seized, gnashing, inferno, thrashing

At the end of this unit the children will write their own action scenes. We are looking forward to seeing their creations!

 

Maths

In maths, children are currently on the topic of multiplication and division. They have worked incredibly hard to understand long multiplication using the area model and column method. They began by multiplying numbers by a single digit and gradually moved on to multiplying 4-digit numbers by double digits. The children were very thorough and worked methodically to solve calculations. Over the next few days, they will learn to solve long division using the bus stop method. Children will be supported with a range of concrete and pictorial representations to aid their understanding. Have a look at some of the fantastic work below.

 

PSHE

Within the Jigsaw lessons, children are working together to identify some of their dreams and goals for the future. They began by creating a dream jar- filling it with all their hopes for the future. Over the next few weeks, children will be exploring different professions and looking closely at different roles and responsibilities people have. They will understand the importance of different jobs and how they contribute to society. They will also be researching careers they are interested in and identifying the steps required to achieve those. Have a look at some of their dreams and goals below.

 

 

 

Reading- The Promise

The children have thoroughly enjoyed our reading comprehension lessons this half term. We have been studying the picture book called “The Promise.” The children have been building on their ability to have discussions and debates; justifying their thoughts with evidence from the text. They have learnt to empathise with character through the use of dramatical techniques like role play, hot seating, conscience alley, role on the wall and writing in role. The children have discussed the many themes and key messages that the author has tried to convey. They have looked at how language informs illustrations and how they illustrations change throughout the story, as well as the impact this has on the reader.

 

Topic- The Monarchy

This term we will be studying the monarchy. The children have enjoyed learning about the many different monarchs that have led our country since Alfred the Great. We have learnt how to plot key events on a timeline as well as learnt what the order of succession means. We have looked at some key figures and the impact they had during their reign, including: Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. The children will also be planning King Charles’ coronation! Have a look at some of the beautiful art work that children made for our class displays! Do you recognise any of these royal objects?

Computing 

In Computing, Linden, Beech and Hawthorn Class have been exploring what is meant by E-safety to gain a greater understanding of the impact that sharing digital content can have. Each class created digital comic strips to highlight how to stay safe online- take a look at the examples below:

We have also spent time identifying the advantages and disadvantages of altering an image digitally as well as the purposes and reasons for doing this. The children used a fun program on Purple Mash called 2Paint A Picture to manipulate their images. You can see some great examples again below: