Skylarks 2024 - 2025

Welcome to Skylarks’ Class Page 

Our class teacher is Miss Beattie and our teaching assistant is Mr Beswick. 

Mr Ault will teach PE on a Friday. 

We can’t wait to go on an exciting learning journey with you this year!

Year 5 Pupil Voice:

"Our teachers and teaching assistants are all very nice and supportive. They make our lessons fun and help us whenever we need it."

"My favourite thing about school is the friendships that I have made. There are no outsiders in our school so I always feel welcome."

"Year 5 is my favourite year because we get to learn about the salt industry and visit the Lion Salt Works. We also get to go on a trip to Tatton to spend the day living like an Anglo-Saxon."

Phase 1 (September - February)

Writing

During Phase 1 we will be focusing on three lovely texts to inspire our writing. First, we will be focusing on writing a series of diary entries based on the book ‘Queen of the Falls’ by Chris Van Allsburg. During this unit of work we will be using commas after fronted adverbials and to clarify meaning, as well as organising paragraphs around a theme. 

We will then be reading ‘The Lost Happy Endings’ by Carol Ann Duffy and Jane Ray. We will use this enchanting story to help us write our own traditional tale. We will be focussing on developing characters and settings through selecting effective vocabulary and integrating speech to move the action along.

Finally, we will focus on a further two texts to inspire our writing. First, we will be exploring Norse Mythology and writing our own myths based on the book 'Arthur and the Golden Rope' by Joe Todd-Stanton. This will fit in wonderfully with our learning on the Vikings in the foundation subjects. During this unit of work we will focus on using expanded noun phrases, relative clauses, paragraphs and commas to avoid ambiguity.

Maths

During the Phase 1 will be working to consolidate our maths learning from Year 4 and introduce new Year 5 concepts. We will be focusing on Place Value of numbers within 1,000,000, the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and fractions (including recognising equivalents and adding/subtracting fractions).

History and Geography

During the Phase 1 we will explore our class theme ‘Identity’. We will be developing our inquiry skills by asking and answering historical questions about our local ancestors and will be completing a local history study on Lostock Gralam. We will also explore questions about who we are, where we come from and how Lostock has changed over time. We will learn about key aspects of Northwich's history including the Lion Salt Works, Anderton Boat Lift and Robert's Bakery. 

We will then continue to explore our class theme ‘Identity’ as we learn about the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We will be using a range of sources to enquire about their arrival in Britain and the impact of this on the British way of life. We will use our mapping skills to help us locate the countries and capital cities where the Vikings travelled to and from.

Science 

During Phase 1 we will explore the topic 'Materials and their Properties'. We will work collaboratively to group together materials based on their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity and response to magnets. We will also work scientifically to demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes. 

We will then move on to learn about 'Living Things and their Habitats' where we will describe the differences in the life cycles of mammals, amphibians, insects and birds. We will also use our wonderful forest schools area to help us describe the life process of reproduction in some plants.

RE

In RE, we will focus on Christianity and Sikhi. In Autumn 1, we will work to answer the key question 'How & Why do Christians read the Bible?' In Autumn 2, we will look at the key question 'How is Christmas celebrated around the world?' We will then move on to study Sikhi and answer the questions: What Sikhi beliefs are important to Sikhs? Why is community & equality important to Sikhs?

Phase 2 (February - May)

Writing

During Phase 2, we will be reading ‘The Darkest Dark' by Chris Hadfield. We will use this beautiful story to help us write a formal biography about Chris Hadfield. During this unit we will focus on using a variety of verb forms, commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity and brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis. 

We will then explore the beautiful book ‘The Paper Bag Prince’ by Colin Thompson. This wonderful book focuses on the vast amounts of rubbish that ends up in landfill and will fit in perfectly with our Global Neighbours topic. Using the book as a stimulus, we will plan and write a persuasive leaflet to give information about waste management. We will focus on using modal verbs to indicate degrees of possibility, devices to build cohesion and brackets/dashes to indicate parenthesis.

Maths

During Phase 2 we will be continuing to work on the Year 5 objectives, consolidating our learning from the Autumn Term and moving on to look at some new concepts. We will be focusing on formal written methods for multiplication and division; fractions, decimals and percentages; measure (area and perimeter) and statistics (graphs and tables). We will also revisit the four operations regularly through daily 4-A-Day activities.

History and Geography

During Phase 2, we will embark on our whole school topic ‘Exceptional People’. Throughout this unit, Skylarks will learn about Micheal Collins and the exceptional things he achieved during his life. 

Science 

In science we will begin by building on our knowledge of animals including humans. We will create a human timeline to indicate the stages in growth and development of humans, before moving on to describing the changes humans go through as they develop from a baby to old age. 

Finally during Phase 2, Skylarks will explore the topic 'Earth and Space' where they will learn about the Earth and other planets in relation to the sun in the solar system, as well as the movement of the moon. We will make moving models to help us understand how day and night are caused. 

RE

During Phase 2, we will explore Christianity in more detail and will answer the question 'Why do Christians believe that Easter is a celebration of victory?'

Phase 3 May - July)

Writing

Our final book of the year will be ‘The Hunter’ by Paul Geraghty. We will use this heart-warming story to write a narrative based on the structure of The Hunter by changing the characters, animals and settings. In our writing, we will focus on using relative clauses, adverbial phrases and a wider range of conjunctions.

Maths

During Phase 3, we will continue our learning on fractions, decimals and percentages in maths. We will also be learning about the properties of shapes and converting between different units of measure. We will continue to revisit the four operations regularly through daily 4-A-Day activities.

History and Geography

During the final phase of our 'identity' topic, we will explore the concept of migration. We will focus on North America, including which countries are in North America; who the first people were to explore North America and when they migrated. We will then complete a comparison study to help us understand geographical similarities and differences between a region within Europe and a region within North America. 

Science 

During Phase 3, Skylarks will build on their knowledge and understanding of forces. We will use a variety of hands-on activities to help us explain that objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity, as well as identifying the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction. We will also explore how some mechanisms (including levers, pulleys and gears) allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

RE

Throughout Phase 3, we will be embarking on our learning about Islam. We will explore the questions: How is Muslim faith demonstrated through family life? Why are the 5 pillars important to Muslims? To help us answer this question we will learn about Ramadan and Eid; family life and the 5 Pillars. 

PE

Please note that PE for your child will be on a Friday during the Autumn Term 2024. Your child should come to school dressed in their PE kit on this day.

Homework

Maths

Children in Skylarks Class will be set a weekly maths homework to further support their understanding of the mathematical concepts we have covered in school. This homework will be set on a Friday and should be completed, marked and returned to school the following Friday. Your child will record the page number in the homework diary each week. 

If for any reason your child is unable to complete their homework at home, please encourage them to speak to Mr Beswick or I as we would be happy to set aside some time to go through this with them. 

Times Tables

Times Tables will remain a big focus for us this year. It is very important that children are fluent in their times table facts as they form the basis of many other mathematical concepts. Children will be set a specific table to learn and will be tested on a weekly basis. We encourage all children to practice their times tables at home. A fun way to do this is on Times Tables Rock Stars and Hit the Button. You will find your child’s login for TTRS stuck in their homework diary.

Reading and Spellings

Your child will bring home a lovely book from school to enjoy reading at home. When your child reads at home, either independently or with you, they should record this in their homework diary and have it signed by an adult. Children should spend 20 minutes reading each evening. 

Spellings will be stuck into homework diaries on a Friday and tested the following Friday. Please spend 5 minutes daily practicing your child’s spellings with them. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact. 

Miss Beattie x