‘Be The Best You Can Be’

September 2020

Dear Y5 Parents and Carers,

We are very pleased to welcome your children back to school and we hope that they are excited to be back and ready to learn. We are keen to support all our children to reintegrate into school so please do get in touch if you have any concerns or feel your child would benefit from additional support.

Below is information which we hope will be helpful to you-

PE

Our PE days are Wednesday and Thursday. PE kits should be in school on these days but may not be used as we will limit changing in school. PE will be outside where possible and appropriate. 

Outdoor learning

There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing! At The Ellis we are working hard to develop the outdoor environment and opportunities to learn outside and in Y5 we will be using our outdoor classroom and wider school environment as much as possible. This means that your child will need appropriate footwear and coats every day. Indoor pumps will be needed in school to protect our classrooms from the inevitable mud!

Reading Books

Your child will have already brought home a reading book to share with you at home. Please record in their reading diary when they have read to an adult or maybe an older sibling. We ask that reading diaries are in your childs book bag every day so that we can fill them in when they have taken part in reading in school. If reading diaries are filled then we will send home a second diary free of charge, however if it is lost then we ask that a new one is bought from the office at the cost of 1 pound. Your child is welcome to change their book any day of the week when they have completed it but it is their responsibility to ensure books are changed regularly.   Children should aim to read at home at least 3 times per week and dojos will be awarded for reading.

Spelling books

The children are once again receiving spelling books.  They will write in their new spellings on a Monday and bring their book home to practise.  Please support your child in learning their spellings.  They will be regularly assessed in their spellings.  Their spelling books need to be in school every Wednesday.

Home Learning

Each half term, children are expected to complete a home learning project linked to our topic.  I have attached a sheet of a few ideas linked to our topic but feel free to create your own ideas! We are always intrigued to see what our superstars have been up to! Once they have completed their project or projects (as some children prefer to do a few shorter projects, whilst others like to complete one long one), please send them into school so we can share their learning with the class. (Photos or PowerPoints can be emailed to Mrs Fiddes and will be passed onto Year 5 staff to share). Please encourage your child to take pride in their home learning and aim for a quality piece that may have taken a few sessions to complete.

Online learning

Children are encouraged to be regularly practising spellings, time tables and areas of the curriculum online.  As a school we have subscribed to websites to support the children with their learning.  The children will be given their individual logins for TT Rockstars and Spelling Shed. Please support your child with their learning on these platforms.  If logins have been misplaced I can issue new ones.

Topmarks maths is also a fantastic website for the children to be practising all areas of the maths curriculum using interactive games.

You can find the Creative Cowells on Twitter @TheEllisY5

We use Twitter to share the learning we are doing at school, celebrate achievements and give information.

Our first topic is The Terrible Tudors and below is an overview of the learning we will be doing this half term.

Home learning suggestions

Here are some learning activities that you can do with your children at home to support their learning in school.

• Find out about the clothes worn by Tudors. You could compare Tudor clothing with modern dress. You could present what you find through pictures, photos, fabric creations or writing.
• Create a map of Tudor London. What is the same and different about the geography of the city then and now?
• Research and create a family tree of the Tudor Royal family. You could also create and present your own family trees.
• Draw a self-portrait in the style of a Tudor artist.
• Research or write a Tudor menu. You could even try to make some food following a Tudor recipe!
• Write a list of 10 questions you would like to ask a person who lived in Tudor times.
• Create a Tudor Rose and investigate the lines of symmetry.
• Create a bar graph showing how long each of the Tudor monarchs reigned.
• Find out about a Tudor invention and create a labelled diagram of it.
• Make a fact sheet about Tudor ailments and their cures.
• Create a quiz to test the class on their knowledge of Henry VIIIs wives.
• Write a dairy of a day in the life of Shakespeare.
• Make a 3D model of a Tudor building.

You can choose which of these activities you would like to do. You do not need to do all of them! We also know that you and your children have lots of original and creative ideas of your own. We love to see these too!

Please encourage your child to bring their learning into school to share.

If you have any questions, queries or worries then please get in touch via the phone or email. We know that there will be a whole range of feelings about the return to school, from excitement to anxiety but are ready to support all our learners and to enjoy learning together again.

Thank you for your continued support.

Best wishes,

The Y5 Team.

Please follow our Facebook page and see Mrs Wise with a video message for her new class in September and our Headteacher Vlogs.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheEllisCESchool/videos/?ref=page_internal

September 2019

Dear Y5 Parents,

Welcome back after the summer, I hope you had an enjoyable one.

Below is some information you may find useful.

Reading

We ask that reading diaries are in your childs book bag every day so that we can fill them in when they have taken part in reading in school. If reading diaries are filled then we will send home a second diary free of charge, however if it is lost then we ask that a new one is bought from the office at the cost of 1. Your child is welcome to change their book any day of the week when they have completed it but it is their responsibility to ensure books are changed regularly.   Children should aim to read at home at least 3 times per week and dojos will be awarded for reading. 

Spelling books

The children are once again receiving spelling books.  They will write in their new spellings on a Wednesday and bring their book home to practise.  Please support your child in learning their spellings as they will be regularly assessed.  Their spelling books need to be in school every Wednesday.

PE

Your childs PE days are now Thursdays and Friday (due to swimming), however once swimming is finished they will be on Monday and Thursday. Throughout the term, this is subject to change so it would be useful for your child to have their PE kits in school all week. I will remind them to bring them home for washing on a Friday.

Home Learning

I have attached a sheet of a few ideas linked to our topic but feel free to create your own home learning ideas! We are always impressed by your amazing creations! Please send any completed projects into school so we can share the learning as a class.

TT Rockstars and Spelling Shed

Children are encouraged to regularly practise spellings, time tables.  As a school we have subscribed to websites to support the children with their learning in these areas.  The children have been given their individual logins for TT Rockstars and Spelling Shed.

The Sensational Seahorses on Twitter @EllisYearFive. We will regularly use Twitter to share learning and celebrate achievements. We will also use it to give you information and reminders. Whole school reminders can be found on @theellisprimary.

As always, if you have any questions, please dont hesitate to pop in and see me.

Thank you for your continued support,

Kind Regards,

Mrs E & The Y5 team

Y5 Home Learning Ideas

We are very lucky to have TWO fabulous topics that have lots of interesting home learning potential, here are just a few ideas:

SPACE:

• Design and build a space shuttle
• Try to find out what astronauts eat and sample some freeze dried food
• Look at the stars which constellations can you spot?
• Make a model of the planets
• Design and create some aliens
• Research the planets
• Keep a moon diary

THROUGH THE DECADES:

• Look through old family photos- see how the fashion/hairstyles have changed
• Choose a decade and research an area youre interested in- fashion, transport, music
• Listen to old music together
• Research games from different eras- what did children do before screens?
• Have a chat with a relative about what it was like when they grew up
• Look at old maps of the area- how has your local area changed?