Today in our PE lesson we started to learn about gymnastics. Our learning today was all about jumping. Ask your child if they can tell you, or show you, what our key learning points were.
Can your child name the jumps in the above images? For a challenge, can they tell you something that’s good about the technique and something that could be improved?
Over the next few weeks we’ll progress our learning into balancing, rolling, creating sequences of movements and using apparatus safely.
Today, we wasted no time in carrying on where we left off in 2018 by getting straight into our learning. This afternoon, we focussed on our living & learning theme for the coming weeks: staying safe. Of course, there are lots of ways to stay safe but today we focussed on staying healthy – in particular, mentally healthy.
We started by sharing everything we knew about physical health.
Then, after some research (including a couple of videos), we shared everything we’d learnt about mental health.
Finally, we thought about ways we can look after our own mental health.
And practised a few mindfulness techniques.
Ask your child to reflect on their learning and how they can look after their mental health at home.
This week, our homework is Talk Time: I can reflect on my progress this term.
We encourage you to talk with your child about the last term (since September) and how they feel they improved/progressed. The discussion could take whatever form you feel is best, but here are some questions to prompt you:
What learning do you feel proud of?
What learning do you feel has improved?
What learning do you feel you could improve next term?
If you were to make one target for the coming term, what would it be?
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework which should be returned by Thursday 13 December.
The children are invited to respond to something from either a cultural or spiritual perspective.
I can show what I know and think about something cultural.
We’d like children to present their responses about a recent book they’ve read, film they’ve watched, piece of art they’ve looked at, piece of music they’ve listened to – anything cultural in fact.
We’re interested to read some sort of description (a summary, for example) and then your child’s opinions. This review might include pictures, an interview (your child could write a fictional script between himself/herself and the artist, for example), a letter (eg to or from a character, or perhaps even the author) – anything which might include your child’s responses!
However, your child might prefer to do the following:
I can show what I know about a festival.
Over the course of this term, some children in school may have celebrated a religious festival of some sort. This might have been
There are lots of other festivals and celebrations which you and your child together might want to reflect on.
We invite children to respond to the sentence above – they might include a recount (like a diary entry), pictures, an interview (perhaps in a script). Your child might also choose to research a completely unknown festival, or they might even think about creating a brand new festival, one that everyone will celebrate.
Our spellings this week focus on when we use the suffix -ably or -ibly. Last week, children explored the rule. This week, children have a list of words to learn ahead of a spelling test on Friday 07 December 2018.
Homework this week is Creative:
I can show I know who I am.
This homework is a reflection of our Living and Learning ethos statement from this week: ‘I know who I am.’ In class, we’ve discussed our identities and what makes us, us. We’ve also discussed the importance of differences between people.
There are many ways in which children could choose to respond to this creative task:
Of course, you can respond to the task in whatever way you feel. We’ll celebrate our efforts during our homework review next week.
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework which children should be ready to discuss as part of our homework review on Thursday 22 November.
I know how to STOP bullying.
This homework is a response to our learning this week during anti-bullying week. Throughout the week, each class has had the chance to talk about what bullying is, what the different types of bullying are and how can we STOP it:
As part of your discussion you may find our school definition of bullying useful, as agreed by our School Councillors:
Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.
As the homework is Creative, you can do anything you want to respond to the statement. Here are a few ideas to help you:
This week, there is a whole school Talk Time homework around this question:
Is it okay to break a promise?
This homework could be linked to the fact that next week is Anti-Bullying Week. For instance, a discussion may centre on whether it is okay to break a promise to keep a secret if a person’s safety and well-being is at risk.
Children should be ready to discuss this next week during their homework review.
This week, the whole school has the same Talk Time homework. In preparation for the upcoming School Council elections, children should complete one of the following tasks:
It’s time for children to consider if they would like to stand for election for our new School Council. With two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers, all children are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
Elections for our new school council will take place on Thursday 25 October with our polling station and ballot boxes at the ready. Candidates will have the opportunity to give their election speech to their class on Wednesday 24 October or Thursday 25 October.
What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council.
Hints for your speech include:
Thank you to our current school councillors for all their ideas and contributions. We hope you have enjoyed this role and responsibility. You’re welcome to stand again for election.
Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections.
If you choose not to stand in the election, you should consider the importance of voting.
This week, in our Y5 reading sessions, we’ve been practising our reading skills using a semi-fictional text about Boudica the Iceni Queen and her battle against the Romans. This text links directly to our big topic: Time Travel. (We’ve also learnt about the Romans in our writing, maths and topic lessons.) There was quite a lot of text to read so to help us understand the text more clearly (learning about identifying significant events and characters) we made story maps.
The next day, we focused on using our inference skills to explore the dynamics of the relationships between the key characters. To help us organise our thoughts we used a relationship grid.
Help at home by encouraging your child to discuss the different relationships characters have in the book they’re reading or a programme they’re watching on TV.
Finally, we applied our inference skills again in a different context. This time, we used an emotions graph to explain how the characters felt at key points in the story.
Help at home by encouraging your child to think about the emotions a character may experience in different points of the book they’re reading or a programme they’re watching on TV.
We’ve loved our week of Roman reading and tomorrow we’ll enjoy our weekly love of reading session.