Summer Term 2017

Week commencing 3.7.17

   Even though we are closing in on the end of the year and everyone is extremely tired and practically running on empty, the children have managed to write some awesome pieces of work about Legoland, from 'Thank you' letters to the company to allowing us to have so much fun, to an adventure story about getting lost in a world of Lego meeting dangerous Lego animals and dinosaurs!!

It was also Sports Day this week, year 5 did a fantastic job supporting KS1 during their Sports Day on Thursday, showing what absolutely fantastic sports leaders they are. In addition to this they also took part in their own Sports Day on Friday - competing in events such as: obstacle race, 400m race, standing long jump and many many more. The effort and determination showed by all was superb and they were a real credit to the school in front of a huge crowd of parents. Well done Year 5!

Finally, some sad news...after 2 and a half years of teaching this class, this is going to be my last couple of weeks with them as they are now going to experience a new teacher (Mrs Minucci) in year 6. I will be extremely sad to not be teaching them as they have been truly brilliant during my time with them and I sincerely hope they continue to be amazing next year and fly through their SATs like I know they will! Keep going Team!!!

Week commencing 26.6.17

   The most obvious highlight to this week was the reward/writing inspiration trip to Legoland. The coach left school at 7:30am and we did not return until 9pm but what a fantastic time we had and the children showed unbelievable behaviour throughout! There were scary rides, gentle rides and as myself and Mr Clay found out, absolutely soaking wety rides!!! Well done to all the children who battled their fears and managed to go on (and enjoy) several rides, even the 'rollercoaster' at the end!

A big thank you to all the governers and other members of staff that came with us and supported us on the trip and a huge thank you to parents that donated via our cake sale, non-uniform day and disco to enable us to go on such a fantastic trip! 

Week commening 19.6.17   

   We have had a busy week this week, not only have we reviewed our knowledge of Addition and Subtraction (which showed we have all retained or extended our knowledge) we have written a wonderful rhyming poem about Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

   In the middle of the week, we were lucky to have reception come visit for an afternoon, year 5 worked in small groups with reception children and taught them all about BeeBots. Firstly, we introduced reception to an iPad app about BeeBots, we then got the BeeBots out and tried to complete several mazes initially with support but then independently. After this the groups made butterfly lollipops for the summer fayre and then finally wrote a couple of sentences all about their afternoon with year 5.

   On Friday, we had our annual summer fayre, year 5 sold 'smoothie coolers' and made a fantastic £47, we also created a game where children had to pop balloons in order to find and win a prize, this was also successful and contributed further to the grand total.

Week commencing 12.6.17   

     A strong week from all pupils this week; showing fantastic depth in Maths (Addition and Subtraction) and writing incredible letters to Harry Potter, inviting him to attend Hogwarts. 

    We have been blogging all week, using our child-friendly blogging site. This has enabled pupils to blog at school and at home and comment on each others blogs. Children have found this highly entertaining. It has also been interesting to see how pupils suddenly forget to use all forms of puntuation and grammar when using a keyboard!!

   We were making potions in Science this week, mixing vinegar with washing up liquid and a "mysterious powder" (the children later discovered that this was bicarbonate soda). We then mixed in glitter to make the potion that little bit more special!

   It looks like it is going to be hot over the weekend and in to next week so please be safe and ensure you bring appropriate clothing to school on Monday!

Week commencing 5.6.17

     And so we return for the final half term of the year. It is bound to be emotional, exciting and rewarding (in a variety of ways). This week has been about finding our bearing again and getting settled back in to work. In Maths, we are revisiting Place Value in greater-depth this time. Our book study is going to be Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone where we will be writing a letter, poem and play script. Science, we will be making potions in Mr Beardwizards Potion class (Mr Barratt's alta-ego). We will be comparing Italy and the United Kingdom in Topic. RE focus is going to be Roman Catholicism in conjunction with our Geography topic.

Week commencing 22.5.17

   It has been a truly exhausting yet rewarding term, please, please, please enjoy the break, hopefully the weather will be incredible for everybody. Well done on working incredibly hard!!

Week commencing 15.5.17 
 
     Another week closer to half term but the children are still working 100% to achieve their goals across all subject areas.

   We are continuing to study measure in maths whilst also beginning to write a discussion text in English, debating whether Britain was right to declare war on Germany thus causing the start of World War 2.

  We have finally finished our novel, it was sad to hear what happened to Bruno and Shmuel but the children did very well to infer all the information and understand the brutal things that happened during WW2 at concentration camps. We will be watching the film on Wednesday afternoon - expect tears!!

Week commencing 8.5.17  

   Firstly, I'd like to say a massive well done to our year 6 pupils who this week completed their SATs and are now officially on the countdown to leaving school. This brought to my attention that my year 5s are now a year away from taking their SATs so I gave the class a taster test in both Reading and Maths. 22 children passed their reading and 25 their maths - WELL DONE GENIUSES!! 

   The children have also continued their understanding and extension of knowledge in measure for mathematics. Additionally, the class have written a character description on a character from our novel 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'.

  In science, we have also picked some shoots of flowers/plants and we are attempting to grow a full plant from these - it will be a long process but we hope to have something to see by July!

Week commencing 2.5.17  

    We returned to school on Tuesday thanks for another bank holiday - we can't say we're not grateful, ready to learn and full of the proverbial beans, itching to learn! 

    We took our post test on Geometry today with phenomenal results, an average of over 80% this time! It was the highest average this class has achieved since we started recording the pre and post test data. This, I believe, is largely down to the work the school has been doing with regards to Maths Mastery and the information being passed down from the East Midlands Maths HUB. As a school, we are extremely grateful for being part of their revamp of Mathematics!

   In English, we have been prepping our first mini big write of the term by looking at how to describe a character. We were bored of the usual character descriptions where we don't have to work hard to understand a characters thoughts and likes and dislikes, therefore, we have banned certain words, obvious words and have to used more synonyms to create a picture in the readers mind of what the character looks like, behaves like and does.

Week commencing 25.4.17


 Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to JustLincolnshire for coming in to school to talk to the children about 'Hate Crime'. The children were very mature about the subject and it was commented that their behaviour and knowledge were the best the company had ever seen! Well done team!!

    We are in the final throes of Geometry now, just a few more lessons to go until the post test, I am already confident in the children, once we finally master how to use a protractor - so far so good though!! 

  In English were are reading more of our book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Children are inferring the information incredibly well and are thoroughout enjoying studying the book. We are linkning this with our topic work which is based around the usually untold story of WW2 - the Jewish communities' story.

Week commencing 18.4.17 

      Welcome back! I hope you all had an awesome Easter break and have come back feeling refreshed!! A big term for the school with SATs taking place for Year 6's. However, this does not take the focus away from our studies.

   We began this term with the continuation of learning about Shape/Geometry in maths, we're not too far off taking our post test and i'm sure the mini-tests sent home as half term homework helped the children's understanding further. 

In English, the children were introduced to their new novel - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Having read the first two chapters with the children, they are absolutely desperate to read more, which is fantastic! A HUUUUGE thank you to the children and parents who created or tailored an item of clothing for the half term project, they all look amazing. It was hoped that in doing this the children would realise how lucky they are that they don't have to do this for every item of clothing they own and for many, many years. Unfortunately, during WW2, millions of people had to do this due to rations being made compulsory.

  Our science topic this term is living things and their habitats and we start with looking at the reproduction system of plants before going on to compare this to animals and humans. We will be taking short trips around Sleaford looking for a variety of habitats so if you know where any are, please send the information! :)