Kingsway Primary SchoolTeam 5 2024 - 2025
Miss Johnson
Year 5 Teacher
Welcome to Team 5
The adults who help us in Team 5 are:
Miss Johnson - Class Teacher
Mr Latham - Teaching Assistant
Miss Hopkins - Teaching Assistant
To keep up to date with the latest news and work from Team 5 follow us on Twitter @PrimaryKingsway, @KingswayYear5 and on Class Dojo.
Reading
Reading is essential to all curriculum areas and we spend time focusing on reading every day. We use VIPERs from the Literacy Shed which are comprehensions. In our comprehension, we focus on understanding of vocabulary, retrieving information, summarising, giving evidence and inferring. Some children also have access to our phonics lessons, Read Write Inc, and our computer-based literacy programme IDL.
Children also experience the joy of reading through a whole class novel. The class novel is a time to come together around a powerful, relevant text that engages the children and promotes discussion. In Team 5, we read a range of exciting texts.
Reading at home is essential. All children have a stage reading book and a reading for pleasure book. The children should read 3 times a week at home and note it in their reading records. The reading records will be checked on a Friday.
Writing
Our writing lessons follow Pathways to Write, which is a programme of study designed to empower children to become confident and successful writers. The units of work centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts, with a wealth of both fiction and non-fiction writing opportunities.
Spelling
In Team 5, we have spelling lessons on a Thursday and Friday. Each week, we will learn a new spelling rule, which we are able to practise in class or online using Spelling Shed. Pupils are able to access this at home as well as in school and during lunchtime club if they would like to. Spellings go home on a Friday for pupils to learn in preparation to be tested on.
Mathematics
Mathematics lessons follow White Rose Maths, which aims to develop children’s mathematical fluency and their deep, long-term and adaptable understanding of maths. The children can then use this knowledge and understanding to solve a range of maths problems. White Rose Maths adopts a concrete – pictorial – abstract method that enables all children to access learning and lessons are differentiated so that all children achieve.
To supplement maths lessons, we also dedicate time each week to revisit skills previously taught through Flashback Four activities, we complete these three times per week We have also built fluency into our maths lessons where we dedicate time to rehearsing skills previously taught to improve fluency, accuracy and speed.
It's important that children are continually practising their times tables in Team 5. We have some time dedicated to practising these each week but the more your child can practice at home, the better! We use a range of activities to learn our tables but also encourage the children to use TTRS at school and at home too.
The Wider Curriculum
In Team 5, children are taught a broad and balanced curriculum that includes all of the National Curriculum subjects. Over the course of the year, different subjects are prioritised at different times to ensure coverage and maximum attainment in all areas. The curriculum is exciting, dynamic and has been designed to build upon the children’s prior knowledge.
Autumn 1:
In our first half term, we will be studying Queen of the Falls. It is about Annie Edison Taylor, a lady who travelled over Niagra Falls in a barrel. The outcome of the writing we will produce will be a recount diary. During this topic, children will be immersed in rich vocabulary. In maths, we are learning about place value and how to add and subtract large numbers with up to 5 places. In Science, we are learning about properties of materials. We will investigate different materials and how scientific processes such as heating can affect these materials. Our main topic this half term is Dynamic Dynasties - it’s a history topic based on the Shang Dynasty. In Jigsaw, we are looking at “Being me in my world”, looking at citizenship and our roles and responsibilities. In computing, we will be looking at E-safety and systems and programmes. In RE, we are studying the religion of Judaism.
Autumn 2:
In English this half term, we are reading the Lost Happy Endings by Carole Ann Duffy. The outcome from this topic is writing our own fairy tale. During this topic, we will be learning writing skills such as using inverted commas to show speech, writing figurative language sentences which include similes and personification, and using expanded noun phrases.
In maths, we are learning to use multiplication and division skills by learning square and cube numbers. We are also learning about fractions - we will learn how to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions, adding fractions, and how to work out equivalent fractions.
In Science, we are learning about Earth and Space. We will learn about how day and night happen, and learn the names of the planets in our solar system.
Our topic this half term covers art - where we will be learning to mix paints and create landscape pictures using tints and shades. It also covers geography, where we will be studying maps.
Spring 1:
In English this half term, we will be reading Arthur and the Golden Rope, a mythical narrative written by Joe Todd Stanton. Throughout the unit, we will explore creative writing strategies, considering how to add description and detail to develop descriptions about characters and settings. We will use dictionary skills throughout the unit to explore new vocabulary and weave this throughout our own work. At the end of the unit, we will modify characters and settings to write our own mythical narrative.
In maths, we will continue to embed our knowledge of multiplication and division facts to supplement our learning of fractions. In addition to this, we will explore written methods for multiplication and division.
In science, we will learn about forces and mechanisms. We will carry out a range of scientific investigations to build on our working scientifically skills. We will carefully consider enquiry questions and evaluate what our results to planned investigations tell us about the forces and mechanisms that exist around us.
In geography, we will learn about investigating our world, the different time zones, vegetation belts and biomes. This will then lead us into our main driver project, sow, grow and farm. We will consider how the land available is used to grow crops and provide food and the impact that this can have on climate.
In PSHE we will work through our module of My Happy Mind, where we will learn to celebrate our own and others’ character strengths.
We have also been lucky enough to take part in a collaborative art project which will be on display in the school grounds at some point soon!
Spring 2:
This half term, team 5’s book study is the Darkest Dark, an autobiography written by Astronaut Chris Hadfield. Throughout the topic, we will learn how to apply key punctuation to our writing, such as commas to avoid ambiguity and brackets, dashes and commas for parenthesis. Grammatically, we will consider how to link ideas across paragraphs using adverbials and carefully considering tense choices. By the end of the unit, we will apply these skills when writing a formal biography about Chris Hadfield’s life.
In maths, children will continue to review and recall multiplication and division facts and apply this to formal written methods for both calculations. Children will be encouraged to identify commutativity links as well as inverse operations. We will then apply our knowledge of these calculations to support us with multiplying and dividing fractions. Towards the end of this half term, we will then move on to learn about fractions, decimals and percentages and how they are interconnected. We will be immersed in an environment that promotes rich mathematical vocabulary linked to these topics and will be encouraged to use this language throughout our maths lessons.
This half term, our science topic is living things and their habitats. In this unit, we will discover and explain the life cycles of the 5 different animal kingdoms. We will consider how each of these living things transition through each stage of the life cycle, including their ability to reproduce. We will also consider the life cycle of plants and how they differ to that of animals.
In computing, we will learn about databases and how they effectively store information. By the end of the topic, children will take on the role of travel agents, discussing how they have arrived at chosen options for a specific destination.
In RE, children will learn about the journey with Jesus to the cross in Christianity and how this links to the Easter story.
In DT, children will learn about eating the seasons and how seasonality can impact the availability of food. We will research food that is in season and select some of these foods to make and prepare a tasty recipe.
Summer 1:
This half term, we will be reading the Paper Bag Prince written by Colin Thompson. We will focus on how to use a range of key features in our writing, such as adverbs of possibility and modal verbs. They will enable us to write persuasively as we discourage others to use landfills and instead consider alternative ways to dispose of waste.
In maths, we will be learning about fractions, decimals and percentages. We will continue to embed our times table knowledge to ensure that our mental arithmetic is fluent.
In science, we will learn about animals and humans and consider the life cycles of different species. We will work scientifically to compare data and comment on the relationships within data commenting on positive and negative correlations to show our understanding.
In geography. We will learn about agriculture in the UK and in other places around the world in our sow, grow and farm topic.
In design technology, we will be learning about creating and testing a design that can be used around the household. We will produce prototypes to consider the most effective structures within our design.
Summer 2:
This half term in team 5, we will be reading Radiant child, a non-fiction text inspired by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and written by Javaka Steptoe. We will evaluate Basquiat’s art and consider how this inspired Steptoe’s non fiction text. Our writing outcome will be to produce an informative piece of writing that could be used in an art gallery. Within the topic, we will consider how to use multi-clause sentences, and refine our writing skills ensuring tenses, punctuation and cohesion is used throughout our work.
In maths, we will be learning about measures and geometry. We will learn how to identify and measure angles, and how to convert different units of measure. We will also embed our understanding of decimals and the number system, to consolidate our learning ahead of next year.
In science, we are learning about the Earth and Space. We will consider theories around the shape and positioning of the Earth in relation to the solar system. We will think about how night and day and seasons are caused.
In History. We will study ancient Greece, focusing on their achievements and the impact that their discoveries have led to in the modern world.
In art, we will study Gustav Klimpt, and work with patterns, colours and perspectives to create a collage in the style of the artist.