Kestrels - Year 5

KESTRELS CLASS PAGE

Mr Searle is the class teacher.

Welcome back to all the wonderful children of Kestrel Class on Monday 8th March!

Hello all,

I hope you are all well and I am really looking forward to seeing you all back in school on Monday!

To help you to organise yourselves for coming back into school after such a long time, I have put together a list of things that you will please need to bring in on Monday:

• Your pencil case containing: pencils, a glue stick (really important!), a ruler and rubber. If you have your own coloured pencils and scissors too, that is great!

• Your copy of 'Cosmic' - please bring these in as you will need them in class for Monday's Focused Reading lesson!
• Your whiteboards and whiteboard pens.
• Your Memory Box that you have created, if you would like to share it with the class.
• Please do not bring in your Blue and Green exercise books, as we have already seen and marked all of your Assignments online. Kindly keep these at home in the event that they are needed again.
• Please come in your P.E. kit for your P.E. sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays (with Mrs Higgins).

Thank you so much and I'll see you on Monday!

Mr Searle

Welcome to Year 5

During the term the children will be studying a cross-curricular themed Topic entitled “We are not amused”. We will be basing our work around a class novel – “Street Child” – an historical fiction based on the beginning of the charity, Barnardos. This will include writing in both a Graphic Novel form and Playscripts. In addition, we will be doing map work skills in Geography – including looking at the local area in Victorian Times and countries in other parts of the world which were part of the British Empire. 

We are also hoping to be part of the Shakespeare As You Like It experience, which involves us looking at a Shakespeare play and then performing it at Norden Farm. Currently, this is still being organised, however, the exact format of this year's  performance has not yet been finalised due to current Theatre restrictions.

Our History is based on How Britain changed during Queen Victoria’s reign. It will include looking at the art and designs of William Morris. We would normally have visited the Victorian Schoolroom at Reading Museum in December to get an experience of what it would have been like for schoolchildren in Victorian Times.  However, the museum is not currently running this program; consequently, we will be having a Victorian School Experience in class on Monday 5th October. 

Victorian School Day (Monday 5th Oct)

If possible, I would like the children to dress as Victorian children to enhance the experience – further information on clothing below.  Please remember that this is role-play and that Mr Searle will only be acting as a ‘strict’ Victorian teacher.

Ideas for clothing:

Girls should wear their hair off their faces, long hair plaited but not in buns (girls did not put their hair up); Wear plain ribbons; Knee length socks, calf or long skirts, long or short sleeved blouses or dark dresses (character skirts have been worn in the past).

Boys should wear dark trousers tucked into knee length dark socks; Dark shoes; Plain long sleeved shirts; Waistcoats/neckerchiefs, plain scarves (mufflers) and caps if available

Behaviour in the classroom:

Victorian children must be seen and not heard.

They must address the school master as ‘Sir’ and curtsey or bow when wishing him or her good morning or afternoon.

They must not speak until spoken to.

They must sit with their hands behind their backs when they are not working.

They must stand up when adults enter the room and greet them appropriately.

They must do as they are told.

Helping Your Child at Home

Children in Year 5 are expected to develop greater independence and responsibility for their own work. Please encourage your child to work independently on their homework, but also take the opportunity to discuss it with them and have them explain their understanding to you.

Reading:

When reading, encourage your child to identify words which create the mood in the story. Ask how this makes the reader feel. After your child has read part of their book, discuss with them how they feel, e.g. if they thought they were going to read something funny, has it made them laugh? What did the writer do to make your child feel this way? Get them to think about what might happen later on in the book.

Writing:

Encourage your child to look at a wide range of genres, including a number of different non-fiction text types (including discussion, argument, persuasion and explanation). Look at how more advanced conjunctions are used in non-fiction writing, e.g. ‘on the other hand’, ‘nevertheless’, ‘however’; instructions include ‘first’, ‘next’, etc.

Maths:

As well as helping with homework and helping your child learn their tables, many activities can still take place at home, which will help improve mathematical thinking.

These include:

• Card games. Most card games require collecting totals, matching or remembering numbers that have gone before. They are excellent practice for mental arithmetic.

• Dice games. Some of these can be found on the MathSphere site – they usually involve counting or working out probabilities.

• Traditional Board games. Again these are excellent, the buying of items or giving of money often helps with understanding larger amounts, up to millions! Battleships help explore and develop am understanding of co-ordinates.  There are also many simple two-player games of strategy, which involve logical thinking and working out a winning strategy – all good maths!!

P.E.

Our P.E. days are Tuesday and Thursday.  Initially, we are starting with Athletics and Cricket, as the children will have missed this element of the curriculum at the end of last year.  We will then be moving on to Football and Tag Rugby as all our sessions are outside. Please could you ensure that your child comes in their PE kits on their P.E. days.

General Information:

This half term, P.E. is on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.

In addition, the class will be having Science in the Forest sessions throughout the year on Thursday afternoon. We have been very fortunate to have the Royal Holloway University of London come into school to assist in this, including teaching elements of the Science Curriculum through Forest School.

Meet the Teacher Handouts:

During the Meet the Teacher meeting the following handouts were given: