WELCOME TO YEAR 5 MERLINS

Merlins are resilient, resourceful and energetic. They are independent and use creativity to achieve excellent results to become successful young adults. Merlins are keen to explore their environments and enjoy exciting adventures further afield.

This Term's Theme

'Once upon a time...'

(For more information about this term's theme, scroll down to our curriculum map)

P.E & Dance days

Please ensure that a PE kit is brought into school on Monday and taken home on a Friday. All items of PE kit (and uniform) should be labelled with the child's name and class. PE for the Autumn Term will be on Friday and Dance will be on Wednesdays. 

We will ensure that they are sent home at the end of every half term. 

Home Learning days

Home Learning will be given out each Friday in Home Learning Books. This should be completed to the best standard possible and returned to school the following Wednesday.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 7th May - Year 5 children to Primley Court Nursing Home begins.

Monday 10th June - Bikeability phase 2 begins.

Friday 14th June - SRE parents' meeting.

Monday 17th June - SRE week begins.

Wednesday 10th July - Year 5 Learning Celebration.

Monday 15th July - LGBTQ+ parents' meeting.

Tuesday 16th July - LGBTQ+ workshops for Y5 and Y6 pupils. 

Meet The Team

If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to come in and see your teacher (Miss Clayton) or alternatively please contact a team leader (Mrs Gidley or Mrs Foster).

sclayton@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

rgidley@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

lfoster@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

Academic Year 2018-2019

Summer Term Curriculum Map

Friday 12th July - Water Safety Workshop

Years 5 and 6 were fortunate today to have a visitor from Open Water, a charity which educates children in water safety and believes the best way to guard against drowning is to educate by sending professional open water beach lifeguards into schools. They have devised their own E.S.C.A.P.E WATER programme to comprehensively deliver drowning prevention and water awareness to local schools. 

Tuesday 30th April - Hope UK - Drug and Alcohol Workshop

As part of our PSHE learning, Years 5 and 6 took part in a workshop to learn about Drugs and Alcohol. We discussed what a drug was and spoke about how most drugs are helpful and necessary to help people feel better when unwell. We then spoke about the dangers of drug misuse and what might happen to our bodies when drugs are taken. Here we are sorting out objects into drugs or not drugs. 

Thursday 25th April 2019 - Maths - Fractions

In maths this week, we have been identify equivalent fractions and converting mixed numbers to improper fractions. We were able to use counters and cubes to represent this and made use of our multiplication facts. 

Academic Year 2018-2019

Spring Term Curriculum Map

Our learning celebration! 

Take a look at the images from our learning celebration. We showed off our quill writing skills, our Tudor art work in a gallery, our Tudor dancing and our Tudor inspired mystery story video! 

Tuesday 19th March 2019 - Maths - Using a protractor to measure angles. 

For our Maths learning today, we took part in an angles hunt. We needed to accurately measure angles around the school using a protractor to uncover some hidden clues. Once we had found the clues, we needed to unscrabble the letters to reveal a hidden word...

Friday 15th March - Parliament lesson 

In Merlins today we experienced what it is like to part in a Parliamentary talk. Some of us dressed up in Speaker's uniform including robes and wig. We also got to use the division bell after discussions and casting votes. Take a look at the fun we had when learning about democracy! 

Thursday 14th March 2019 - Science Week

For Science week this week, we have been carrying out the topic "Ditch the dirt". For this, we have been investigating the issue of dirty and contaminated water in Turkana (Kenya). We started the journey by collecting water from a polluted water hole using various equipment. We then had to make filters to try and filter to water to make it safer to drink. We designed this filters first, made them and we will be evaluating how effective they are at cleaning the water. 

Thursday 7th March 2019 - World Book Day Celebrations!

For World Book day we completed a book trail whilst dressed as our favourite fictional characters. We then read with Cranes class for part of the afternoon. The children enjoyed our stories and asked us lots of questions about our books! 

Thursday 7th March 2019: Shape Venn diagrams

For our Maths lesson today, we sorted shapes based on their properties using a Venn diagram. We worked together as teams to discuss the properties of the 3D shapes including the faces, vertices and edges. 

Gymnastics Spring 1 Half Term

In Year 5 this half term, we have been practising our Gymnastics skills, including egg rolls, log rolls, rock'n'rolls and teddy bear rolls. We have also been learning different balances and how to do forward rolls accurately.

Thursday 24th January - 3rd February: Reach Outdoors. 

As part of our P.E. learning, we have teamed up with Reach Outdoors and experienced caving! We were feeling a little nervous at first, but by the end we loved getting muddy and sliding about! Have a look at the fun we had! 

Wednesday 30th January 2019 - Gymnastics 

Take a look at our Gymnastics learning with Mrs Tyson. We have been practicing our stretches and rolls (and we had great fun doing it!). 

Wednesday 23rd January - Learning Journey - How did Henry impact the lives of society?

In our Learning Journey today, we researched How Henry made changes to society and the impact this will have had on different communities within the Kingdom. We learnt lots of interesting facts and built opinions around what we had learnt. 

16th January 2019 - Maths - Squared number investigations!

In maths today, we tried to find out if we could make squared numbers by adding together two prime numbers. We enjoyed the challenge and tried to work logically to find different solutions. 

Wednesday 9th January 2019 - What makes an effective leader?

In our Learning Journey, we looked at different influential figures and whether or not we thought they were effective leaders. We compared: Mrs Tomkinson, Albus Dumbledore, Sir Francis Drake and Donald Trump. We had to think carefully about the skills and attributes which make an effective leader and justify our choices by using proof. 

Wednesday 9th January 2019 - Maths - multiples and factors

We have started our new Maths journey, focusing on Multiplicative Reasoning. We used a variety of resources to make arrays to find factors of numbers. After this, we were able to spot patterns, make generalisations and make predictions about number facts.  

Academic Year 2018-2019

Autumn Term Curriculum Map

Tuesday 20th November 2018 - Science - Water Resistance 

In Science today, we investigated how long different shaped objects take to sink in water. We made different shaped objects out of plasticine and observed how long it would take for them to sink in water. We noticed that flatter objects with a wider surface area take longer to sink than objects which are thin and pointy. 

Friday 16th November 2018 - Children in Need 

On Friday we celebrated Children in Need day by helping to raise as much money for the cause as possible. We took part in lots of activities including running races, obstacle courses, and guess the sweeties in the jar! 

Wednesday 14th November 2018 - Antarctic adventures! 

In class today, we experienced what life would have been like for Scott of the Antarctic. We had a dressing race, where we needed to put on our thermal clothes as quickly as possible to beat the freezing winds of the Antarctic. We also ate food like the team would have eaten - digestive biscuits (a good energy source) and cold baked beans (tinned food would have lasted the long journey). Surprisingly, most of us enjoyed the cold beans! The most difficult challenge we faced was putting up our tent in the cold winds of the continent! We had fun trying to work together to put the ground sheet on... Miss Clayton, however, didn't have fun trying to put it back in the bag!  

Friday 9th November 2018 - Maths - Converting units of measure

In Maths today, we used measuring devices to measure different lengths and heights around the classroom. Here we are measuring one another using meter sticks. We then converted the measurements into centimeters and millimeters by multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100. 

Thursday 8th November 2018 - Rock Climbing

Half of Merlins class also took part in Rock Climbing as part of their Outdoor Education. We really tried to push ourselves to reach the highest level on the indoor climbing wall. Although we were feeling a little scared, some of us managed to reach the top! Have a look at our brave efforts! 

Thursday 8th November 2018 - Archery 

As part of our Reach Outdoors Learning, children took part in archery. We played games to test our skills and accuracy by using the target to choose our dream holidays and design pizzas! Have a look at all the fun we had! 

Wednesday 31st November - School trip to Plymouth Ski Centre - Snow explorers!

Year 5 became snow explorers for the day and experienced what life would have been like for Scott of the Antarctic! We managed to ski down the slopes using the correct techniques before trying the toboggan and snow tubes! We had a phenomenal time and learnt lots. 

Monday 29th October - Maths - Fractions and decimal numbers 

Today in Maths, we used cuisenaire rods to parts of a whole. We then had to calculate the equivalent fraction, decimal and some of us even moved on to finding equal percentages. We also ordered fractions and decimals on numberlines based on their place value. Miss Clayton allowed us to be creative with out working out and we calculated straight onto the table (luckily to board pen rubs off!). 

How can we measure the strength of a magnet? 

In Science we tested the force of magnetic pull between magnets. We used force meters to measure the strength of a magnet and its pull on a magnetic materials such as a paper clip. We noticed that magnets have poles which repel and attract. Identical poles will create a pushing force and opposite poles will create a pulling force! We could have learnt about these all day if we were able to! Take a look 

Some sailors went to sea, sea, sea! 

Year 5 were incredibly lucky and were able to take part in a boat trip from Paignton to Brixham! When we arrived, we sketched the Golden Hind. We also felt what it was like for a real life sailor to travel on the water. Mr Lane (the captain) gave us all the chance to steer the boat towards our destination! Move over Sir Francis Drake, here come Merlins Class! 

Feel the force!

We have started our Science journey by investigating air resistance. During this lesson, we designed and made parachutes to test the air resistance. We timed how long it would take for our parachutes to touch the ground and discussed how the size or shape of the parachute may impact our results. Take a look at what we got up to! 

Maths madness and perfect place value!

We've started our Maths learning by investigating the place value of numbers up to one million. We decided to have a play around with counters and place value charts to help us get to grips with these larger numbers. Miss Clayton then challenged us to convert these into words and digits. Have a look at what we did!

Our story so far...

We have started our journey by gaining a sense of what life was like during the Tudor period. We took part in a variety of activities which taught us about: early exploration, Tudor transport, food and drink, Kings and Queens, fashion and learnt some interesting facts through a quiz! We had great fun and learnt a lot - particularly that sea biscuits don't taste as good as they sound!