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

'Another Time, Another Coast'

 In our learning this term, we will be learning about the History of our local area - focusing mainly on the changes in Plymouth. We will then continue our learning by focusing on the pilgrimage to America from Plymouth. We invite parents and carers to attend our learning celebration on Thursday 26th March at 2.30 pm.  

P.E AND DANCE DAYS

PE for Merlins will be on Monday afternoons and Dance will be on Tuesday mornings. Please ensure your child comes to school with the correct kit, which is clearly labelled. For more information about kit requirements, please visit our 'Physical Education & School Sport' Page. 
We will ensure that PE kits are sent home at the end of every half term.  

HOME LEARNING DAYS

Home learning will be sent home on Fridays and should be returned to school on Wednesday. Home learning should be completed to the best standard possible and Mathletics and Times Table Rock Stars should also be completed weekly. We celebrate the efforts of Mathletics and Times Table Rock Stars in our assemblies with special class shout outs and certificates.  

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday 28th January - KS2 Fire Safety Talk

27th/ 30th January - Parents evening

17th February - Half Term Begins

12th March - Reach Outdoors Begins

16th March - Bikeability Group 1 Begins

26th March - Learning Celebration

30th March - Easter Holidays Begin

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 and 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 2019/2020

SPRING TERM

Spring term curriculum map

Thursday 5th March 2020 - World Book Day

For World Book Day this year, Year 5 children read with Year 1 children whilst in our fancy dress! 

Monday 24th February 2020 Science - Testing the force of gravity

In Science, children conducted fair tests to explore how quickly different objects fall to earth due to gravity. We then produced line graphs based on our results. 

Monday 10th February 2020 - Multiplication Masters

A big well done to our Year 5 children, who have successfully completed their Multiplication Masters and earned themselves a certificate! 

Tuesday 4th February - Map work - Learning Journey

 In Learning Journey we compared the maps from Plymouth during the Industrial Revolution and Today. We used symbols to represent the human features of Geography we found and found the differences between the eras. 

Tuesday 28th January - KS2 Fire Talk

KS2 children took part in an interactive assembly to learn the importance of Fire Safety and what to do in an emergency. 

Wednesday 22nd January - Home Learning

Take a look at the home learning that we brought in! Thank you for all your hard work and effort - you did brilliantly and Miss Clayton gave out lots of house points too! 

Wednesday 15th January 2019 - PSHE - Peer pressure

In our PSHE learning this week, we learnt how friends can impact us in both positive and negative ways. We were tasked with some scenario cards, which we used drama to recreate. We then discussed with our partners what we might have done if faced with the same problems. 

Wednesday 8th January 2020: Maths - Measuring perimeter of 2D shapes

We have started our new Maths journey by exploring the area and perimeter of 2D shapes. We were very careful with measuring with a ruler and added together the length of the sides confidently. 

ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/2020

AUTUMN TERM

Autumn term curriculum map

28th November - Year 5 Learning Celebration. 

We shared our learning around Chris Ofili with our parents and carers. Some of us made a giant canvas using similar techniques and we showed off our sketch book skills to our families. 

Children in Need - Friday 15th November

We raised a huge £1160 for Children In Need this year! Children took part in Joe Wicks' "The Big Morning Move" and placed change on Pudsey! Thank you to all children who donated! 

Humanist beliefs - 06.11.19

Making links to RE, we were visited by a Humanist. We learnt a lot about how Humanist beliefs might be different to our own and other religions. We considered the symbolic references of items such as a pencil, cards and a toy soldier. Harry showed some very reflective learning by saying, "The cards might represent magic. Christians might believe that the only magic is God as they think he performs miracles. A humanist might believe that it is just a trick and it isn't real." 

Art - Chris Ofili's Afrodizzia 01.11.19

As part of our theme, we have been evaluating the artwork of Chris Ofili by focusing on his fantastic use of colour, line, shape and themes. We then had a go at replicating his style in our sketch books.  

Monday 14th October - Hinduism Workshop

We met Ravi this week, a practicing Hindu, who taught us the customs and beliefs within Hinduism. Some of us even got to dress in typical Hindu dress! 

Thursday 10th October 2019 - Reach Outdoors - Raft building and slip and slide. 

As part of our Outdoors Learning, Merlins built rafts and tested how "sea-worthy" their building skills were. We also built a giant slip and slide, which was great fun! 

Wednesday 9th October - Dance - Zamble African Dance Company

This morning, Zamble African Dance Company visited the school and performed Assembly with all the children. They were involved in traditional African dancing and chanting.

Wednesday 2nd October - Kayaking - Reach Outdoors

As part of our Outdoor and Adventurous activities learning, we were lucky enough to take part in Kayaking at Goodrington with Reach Outdoors. The waves were a bit choppy on the way out, but we faced our fears and battled the elements - some of us even fell in (it's a good job we had our wet suits on!). 

Thursday 26th September - Science - Testing absorbency of materials. 

In Science today, we designed a fair test to answer the question, "which material would make the best wetsuit deisgn?" We then built structured and carried out the test. Most of us found out that the kitchen roll was most absorbent and the tin foil was least absorbent. Therefore, we concluded that tin foil would be best for our kayaking adventures! 

Friday 20th September 2019 - Guided Reading

In our Guided Reading, we have been choosing texts which challenge us and we find enjoyable. Group 1 have been reading "Charlotte's Web" and some of us have been reading a story about bullying called, "Mind your own business!" We have been also getting stuck into Newspapers, Magazines and Comprehension activities. 

Monday 9th September - Maths - Place Value

In our Maths lesson today, we needed to read the place value of larger 5,6 and 7 digit numbers which were represented using place value counters. These images showed different populations of major cities within the UK. Children then had to order the populations of these cities from smallest to greatest value, paying particular attention to the value of each digit.

Science - Sorting Materials Friday 6th September 2019 

In Science this week, we investigated the properties of materials. We used Venn diagrams to sort these based on the similarities and differences between them. We then came up with some interesting questions to investigate further!