Welcome to Our Falcon Class Page!
Knowledge Organisers
English
Over the next few weeks, Year 5 will complete their work on David Almond's novel Skellig, exploring the themes of transformation, hope, love and friendship. Children will write and publish their own narrative inspired by key events in the story before moving on to a literary essay about how changing settings reflect the characters journeys. They will also study the poem The Listeners by Walter de la Mare, developing speaking and performance skills, and learn about the achievements of Baghdad during the Golden Age of Islam, culminating in a non-fiction history report. Throughout these units, pupils will continue to develop their reading comprehension, discussion, writing and oracy skills.
Maths
This half term, Year 5 will be developing their understanding of geometry, addition and subtraction, and multiplication and division. Children will explore the properties of 2D and 3D shapes, including nets, strengthen their fluency with formal and mental methods for adding and subtracting whole numbers and decimals, and learn how multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000 affects the value of whole numbers and decimals. Throughout these units, pupils will explain their reasoning, solve problems and apply their mathematical understanding in a range of challenging contexts.
Science
This half term’s science topic is the Materials. This unit builds on prior knowledge from Key Stage One, where children began to learn about materials and their properties. Children began to think about how the properties of materials link to their uses, understanding of the properties of materials, how some materials can dissolve into a liquid and how this process can be reversed to recover a substance from a solution. Children will revisit the concept of conductivity. They will look at the most suitable material for thermal conductivity and will analyse different materials and their properties. This knowledge and understanding will form a foundation of understanding of chemistry that they will build on in KS3.
History
We are moving on the learning about The British Empire. We will focus upon how the British Empire grew in the 16th to the 20th century. We will explore the Colonies all over the world: North America, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Asia and Africa. How monarchs, explorers, and trade helped it grow. Henry VII (1485–1509): first Tudor king; supported early voyages to America. Elizabeth I (1558–1603): encouraged explorers like Sir Francis Drake; tried first colonies (Roanoke). James I (1603–1625): Jamestown in 1607 → first permanent English colony in North America. George II (1727–1760): Seven Years War → Britain gained Canada; lots of trade.
Geography
In Geography we will be learning about Mountains. Year 5 will focus on explaining how mountains form through tectonic movement and erosion, locating major mountain ranges on a world map, comparing similarities and differences between global mountain regions, using precise geographical vocabulary in extended writing. We will explore Mountains of the World, The Alps, The Himalayas, American Mountains and African Mountains. We will also be completing fieldwork on Huntingdon Landscape.
Art
Children come to this unit with historical knowledge of the ‘Golden Age of Islam’ studied in history in Autumn A. They are first introduced to art from the Islamic world by first studying the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. In it they identify examples of Islamic style, including calligraphy, geometric and vegetal patterns made from tile work and mosaics. The go on to consider these features in The Alhambra and the Taj Mahal, in particular noting the ornate plasterwork in the Nasrid Palaces at The Alhambra. Study of symmetrical designs, vegetal patterns and mosaics refers back to the influence of Byzantine art studied in year 4. The children create two works of art in Islamic style. At first, they use rulers and compasses to create repeating geometric designs which they decorate with brightly coloured inks. They then take their design and transfer it onto a clay tile, developing their skills in three-dimensional modelling
Music
For this term in music, we will be continuing our learning on Music from West Africa. Listening to a piece called Jin-Go-La-Ba by the Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji. Olatunji recorded Jin-Go- La-Ba in 1960 on an album called ‘Drums of Passion’. It was one of the first recordings to popularise African music in the U.S.A. It uses repetitive rhythms played on percussion instruments and chanting. The musicians chant the words ‘Jin-Go-La-Ba’ which, in the language of the people of Yoruba from Nigeria, mean ‘Do not worry’. We will be clapping and chanting three of the rhythms from the piece before creating a composition using djembe drums.
R.E.
This half term in Religious Education the children will be looking at Reincarnation. Children will explain the place of Incarnation and Messiah within the ‘big story’ of the Bible. They will Identify Gospel and prophecy texts, using technical terms and explain connections between biblical texts, Incarnation and Messiah, using theological terms. We will be thinking about how Christians put their beliefs about Jesus’ Incarnation into practice in different ways in celebrating Christmas. The children will weigh up how far the idea that Jesus is the Messiah — a Saviour from God — is important in the world today and, if it is true, what difference that might make in people’s lives.
P.S.H.E.
In P.S.H.E. this term the children will work on our citizenship topic of “Working Together.” This unit helps children to begin to develop lifelong skills in communication and working with others. It also helps them to identify and value their own strengths, gifts and talents and to understand how these, along with others’ skills and strengths can contribute to the success of a group task. Children will begin to think about how the skills they are developing now might be used in later life, for example in the workplace. They will consider their hopes for the future and think about what steps they can take now to begin to build towards these. They will learn to reflect on the process of learning a new skill and think about what might help or hinder them when facing challenges. Through discussion and practice, children will develop their communication skills, such as listening, debating, explaining their views and acknowledging the views of others. Various influences on children’s decision making will be considered, including the Media.
P.E.
This half term, year 5 will be doing Dance. This Year 5 Eco Dance unit covers a range of environmental issues, such as forms of energy, renewable and non- renewable sources of electricity, recycling, changing weather patterns and also oceans and plastic pollution. These environmental issues provide the stimuli for students’ learning in dance. Students will learn about transitioning between actions in a dance and how to create a recurring motif. They will develop their use of their spatial awareness and their understanding of timing in dance, as well as the way they create lines and shapes with their bodies. This is an engaging unit that links science and themes of sustainability.
Our P.E. day will be Thursday.
