We’ve had another lovely week in Year 5 and I continue to be so proud of how hard the children continue to work. This week the children have thought carefully about how they are going to prepare themselves to meet Jesus this Christmas. They have made their advent promises and they have linked their promise to Jesus’ teachings. Please ask your child what they have promised to do this advent.

Our learning this week:

In English this week the children have begun planning their own adventure story for Mai-ling who has to defeat an ogre that is rampaging around the village of Yishan and they have been experimenting with language to build suspense and atmosphere.

In maths the children have used written methods to multiply and divide 3-digit and 4-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers.

In RE the children have listened to the story of Abraham and Sarah, learnt about the Covenant God made with Abraham and have reflected on Abraham’s trust in God.

In Science this week the children have explored the effects of water resistance. They have discovered that objects with greater surface area move through water much slower than objects with a streamlined smaller surface area.

PSHE - During this week’s Bounce Forward lesson the children have continued to think about their strengths and have identified three of their key strengths and shared how these strengths make them more resilient.

Thank you to those of you who shared their resilient moves with us this week…

Today is Lancashire day and we were set the challenge of running the daily mile so we combined this with our resilient move of getting fresh and exercise…

This week our resilient moves, from the Resilience framework, picked out randomly from our resilience box are:

1 - Organise yourself (learning)

2- Find time for your talents (Core self)

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Brodie

Writing Award - Eliza

Maths Award - Onalee

Year 5 Star Winner - Elliot

Great work this week Year 5! Have a lovely weekend and enjoy some family time.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedNovember 27, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Our learning this week:

In English this week the children have read and discussed how the author of the Dragon Slayer has used incredibly precise description to give an atmospheric description of the dragon asleep. They have then composed their own descriptive paragraph of an ogre who will be a character in a new episode that the children are going to write.

In maths the children have continued to focus on simplifying fractions and they are all getting really good at this. They have also used mental strategies to multiply and divide multiples of 10 and 100 and used the inverses of each other to find relationships.

In RE the children have listened to the story of Noah from the Bible and have learnt about the Covenant that God made with Noah (and us) and the significance of the rainbow.

In Science this week the children have explored the effect of air resistance and have looked at the discoveries of Galileo Galilei. The children planned and carried out an investigation into the effects of air resistance on three different parachutes.

In geography the children have created a travel itinerary based on the places in America that we have been investigating this term. For each destination they had to record: its absolute location using latitude and longitude, time zone, possible activities that the travellers could do in each area based on the travellers interests and its climate.

In Yoga, one of our favourite sessions of the week, the children have continued to work on mindful body, mindful breathing and mindful listening. This week the children have also been working on Vinyasa yoga. Vinyasa is a style of yoga where poses are strung together to form one fluid sequence of movement, using breath. Take a look at how well the children are doing…

PSHE - This week’s Bounce Forward lesson concentrated on getting the children thinking about what their strengths are. The children shared their own personal strengths and also thought about strengths they think their friends have too.

In class we now have a resilient moves box and each child has chosen a resilient move from the Resilience framework to put into the box. Each week we will choose a couple of resilient moves at random from the box and we will be challenged to make that resilient move over the course of the week. This week’s resilient moves are:

1 - To get fresh air and exercise. (Basics potion)

2- To find time for your talents. (Core self potion)

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Jensen

Writing Award - Evie

Maths Award - Theo

Year 5 Star Winner - Kayden

Notice:

In line with the Covid-19 health and safety guidance in school, we are required to keep windows open in the classroom, to ensure the room is ventilated. As the weather is getting colder, this does result in the classroom being colder that usual. With this in mind, I have mentioned to the class, on Miss Haggerty’s authority, that they may wear an extra layer of clothing (like a T shirt) under their white polo shirts, as extra insulation. Can I also advise that boys wear full length trousers and girls wear tights, when possible. Thank you.

Coming up…

Next Friday (27th November) is Silly Sock day. Children will need to bring £1 donation for the PTFA
Christmas jumper day 11 the December. More details to follow.

Well done Year 5, you’ve worked hard this week. We hope you have a wonderful weekend. Remember to record the resilient moves you make over the week and if you have any photographs to share, then please email them to me and we can share these resilient moves here.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedNovember 20, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

This week Year 5 have reflected on why we have Remembrance day and have read all about Armistice day and why we wear red poppies and have two minutes silence. It also gave them the opportunity to share personal stories of brave family members who fought during the First World War and subsequent wars. To show their respect, Year 5 made their own poppies and wrote a special prayer dedicated to their own family members and all of those who have fought and died through war. On the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, we, like the rest of the nation, stopped and observed the two minutes silence and we remembered them.

Our learning this week:

In English this week the children have explored further the story of The Dragon Slayer through activities including drama. They have looked at powerful vocabulary that create clear images in the reader’s mind and they have used inference and deduction to gather information about a character from the text.

The children have also begun reading Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo for our class guided reading sessions.

In maths our focus has been on fractions. The children have been using fraction strips and fraction walls to compare them. They have also been finding equivalent fractions and have been learning to simplify fractions into their lowest terms using their knowledge of factors.

In Science this week the children have explored the effect that gravity has on objects and how the first theory of gravity was developed. They have learnt about Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery and have completed an experiment to measure the force of gravity pulling on objects.

In geography the children have explored the link between longitude and time. They have used a map of time zones to work out what time it would be in different destinations across North and South America if it was midday in the UK.

In Computing the children have learnt that computers use binary to carry out calculations and they have performed their own binary addition calculations.

In PE this week the children built on the learning from last week and were introduced to a new skill - to intercept the ball- and a new rule - to hold the ball for a maximum of 3 seconds before passing to your team mate. They played games of 3 on 3 and had to remember to abide by all 3 rules.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Jack

Writing Award - Sienna

Maths Award - Molly

Year 5 Star Winner - Lila

Before I go, I want to draw your attention to Miss Haggerty’s post regarding self isolation. It is really important that we work together to keep each other safe and help bring down the rate of infection by following government guidance. If anyone in your household/bubble experiences any COVID-like symptoms then EVERYONE IN THAT HOUSEHOLD MUST ISOLATE and therefore your child would need to stay at home during this period.

If your child has to self isolate, then please visit our new Y5 Home Learning page here on the website to find the work that your child should complete at home. Unless there are already other members of the class self isolating, on the first day you will find a list of tasks that your child should complete during that school day. After that, I will post a daily timetable alongside lessons and resources that your child should complete whilst at home for the remaining period of the self isolation (week by week). Once the work has been completed, photos or scanned images of the work should be emailed to me at year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk to evidence the work they have completed.

Lastly, apologies for the mix up at home time today - a message was sent out to the whole school in error. I can confirm that hometime for Year 5 on a Friday is still 1.05pm.

Another great week Year 5! We hope you have a wonderful restful weekend.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedNovember 13, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

It has been a lovely week all back together again and once again the children have settled back into their work routine nicely. We began the week taking part in Father’s virtual mass celebrating All Saints Day and this lead us nicely into our RE lesson where we learnt all about Saint Martin de Porres and considered what Teresa of Avila meant by, “Jesus has no body now on Earth but yours.” The children recognised how St Martin de Porres lived his life by doing the work of Jesus and they thought of ways in which they could carry on Jesus’ mission in the same way that Saint Martin de Porres did too. One of the ideas the children came up with is to help others by contributing to the Samaritan’s shoebox appeal that school is currently collecting for (press link for more information). Year 5 have been asked to donate school supplies such as pens, pencils, notepad or solar powered calculators. Thank you so much to those children who have donated already, it’s very much appreciated. Last year school were able to send off 30 shoeboxes filled with gifts for children in need around the world, and we hope to be able to do the same again this Christmas. If you’d like to donate some items for the appeal, then please send them in on Monday - thank you.

Year 5 donations for the Samaritan’s shoebox appeal.

In English we began our new unit of work on stories from other cultures and we are focusing on stories from China. The children read three stories, The origin of the kitchen god, The Dragon King’s daughter and Dragon Slayer, and investigated what they could find out about the culture, customs and features of Chinese stories.

In maths this week the children have been looking at multiples of numbers and have used division rules of numbers to work out whether a number is a multiple or not. They have also investigated factors of numbers and discovered that numbers with two factors are prime numbers and numbers with an odd number of factors are square numbers.

This week in Science we started our new Forces topic and the children have identified and explained the different forces acting on objects.

In geography the children have been reading the climate graphs of several destinations within North and South America and have identified the different climates using what they learnt from our last geography lesson.

During our Bounce Forward session we focused on the Basics potion of the Resilience framework (click on link to see the framework) and considered which of the ‘ingredients’ we can take responsibility for. We then focused in on getting enough sleep and thought about what helps us get to sleep and what prevents us getting to sleep at night. Year 5 all agreed that when they don’t get enough sleep it makes them less resilient and they aren’t as happy. It is recommended that children of their age should be getting between 9 and 10 hours sleep at night.

On Tuesday Year 5 resumed their yoga lessons - we all look forward to these as it gives us all the chance to feel calm and relaxed. Year 5 are certainly getting better at balancing!

Our PE lessons this half term will focus on communication and teamwork. This week, the focus of the lesson was working together to move and throw whilst also obeying two new rules.

Our Reading champions this half term…

All these children have completed their first bookmark for reading at home. There are also more children who were not in school and we will be sure to take a photograph of them with their certificates on their return. Well done to all our reading champions and I hope to see many more children receiving their reading awards next half term.

Well done to Elliot and Kayden who were our golden ticket winners for reading this half term. Unfortunately Kayden wasn’t in school to receive his prize but it’ll be here waiting for him when he returns to school. Golden tickets are given to children in Year 5 every time they read three times in a week at home and get their diary signed. I’m so pleased to see so many children trying to collect their golden tickets. Let’s see if we can challenge ourselves to collect more golden tickets next half term.

Our learning this week:

In English the children have worked really hard on writing their biography on the famous British author of the Alex Rider series, Anthony Horowitz. They’ve worked really hard on the content and have thought about the presentation of their writing for their reader.

In maths the children have been focusing on the subtraction method using formal calculations.

In RE the children have written a letter to Pope Francis to tell him how they are going to use their gifts as he requested in the Inauguration mass. He said, “Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us show loving concern for every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about.”

In Science the children did an end of topic quiz and have made posters this week to show all they had learnt during our Space topic.

In geography the focus was on how latitude affects climate. The children looked at various places in North and South America and identified the rainfall and temperature patterns to identify the different types of climate.

Thank you to parents who have sent me evidence of the work for those children who have been self isolating this week. If you haven’t yet sent me photographs of your child’s work, then please can you do so to my email year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Cianna

Writing Award - Laciee

Maths Award - Kourtney

Year 5 Star Winner -Cianna

PTFA quiz afternoon

Yesterday the PTFA held a virtual quiz in school, which was a little bit of fun for the children at the end of half term. Many thanks to the PTFA for all their hard work, Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed it! The PTFA wanted us to share this here so that all the children working from home this week could join in too. Please click on the link - hope you enjoy it!

Quiz

Answers

I hope you all have a wonderful half term holiday together, the children certainly deserve a good rest and some fun time with their families.

Take care and keep safe

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedOctober 23, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

For those children who are isolating this week, below is the timetable of activities that the children should complete including links to websites the children will need to access. The resources link contains a folder of additional resources that are needed to support their home learning.

Timetable

Resources

A ‘Home Learning’ tab is being developed for each year group page on the website, but until then I will put any home learning resources on this ‘Year 5 News’ area.

Please email any questions or photos of completed work to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk Take care and I hope you all remain well and safe.

Mrs McVey

PostedOctober 19, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

I can hardly believe that we are only a week away from half term. We’ve had another great week in Year 5 and I continue to be impressed with the efforts of the children both at home and at school. Yesterday we were able to give out more golden tickets to our reading champions who read regularly and get their diaries signed. Next week will be giving out the reading certificates for those who have already completed their first bookmarks for reading in Year 5 and we will also be picking out our Golden ticket winner to celebrate who our overall reading champion for this half term is.

I also want to applaud those children who are using Bedrock regularly at home, it’s great to see their enthusiasm - the scores show the children are making great progress with their vocabulary! In addition to Bedrock and the other sites Year 5 have access to, school has now subscribed to IXL for the whole of KS2. At the moment we only have access to IXL maths but hopefully we should have access to IXL English soon. This afternoon Year 5 have come home with a letter about the website and they have copies of their log in details attached to the letter and stuck into their reading diaries. As always the Year 5 homework page here on the website details the homework for this week and you will notice that this week’s maths homework is to be completed on IXL (the skill they need to complete is detailed there). English homework will be on Education City as usual. Please see homework page for full details of homework..

Learning this week…

In English this week the focus has been on biographies. They have read and analysed the features of biographies based on Jeremy Strong and Year 5 are now planning their own biography on the author Anthony Horowitz.

In maths Year 5 have been working on a few different skills. They have been measuring to the nearest millimetre using a ruler and have also converted units of measure (mm to cm and cm to m) and they have also been working out the perimeters of shapes. Towards the end of this week our focus has been on formal subtraction methods and using the inverse to check our answers.

In RE the children have been thinking about how we can be good stewards of Creation by looking after the World that God created just like he wanted us too. They have thought about the things they can do to protect the environment and also how they can care and show love for each other and for vulnerable groups.

In science the children have learnt all about the movement of all the planets relative to the Sun and have named and ordered them. Ask them about the planets and remind them of their mnemonics they wrote to help them remember the order of the planets. Here’s one: My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming PLANETS. Can they remember some facts about the planets?

In geography the children had to find the latitude and longitude of our seven destinations through North and South America using an atlas.

In Spanish Year 5 we have played games to recap the names of 2D shapes and colours and they learnt some new vocabulary to do with position and direction.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Evie

Writing Award - Kourtney

Maths Award - Nevaeh

Year 5 Star Winner -

Next week, we would normally have our teacher parent meetings but due to restrictions we are unable to do so face to face. Instead, next Friday you will receive a mid-term report for your child by email. If you need to contact me regarding your child’s report, I will be available that day. My class email address is : year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk

Another great week Year 5, we hope you have a lovely weekend with your families.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedOctober 16, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

It has been another lovely week in Year 5 and we continue to be so proud of how hard the children are working. I’d also like to say thank you and a big well done to those children who have sent their story telling videos in for their Reception buddies, they are going to love them! I also want to say thank you to Lila, who treated us this week to sharing her talents by playing her guitar for us. Well done Lila!

At the moment we are unable to have our whole school assemblies and so at the start of this week Miss Haggerty sent the children a special video message. She reminded the children that the month of October is a very special month for Mary, Jesus’ mother. She then challenged the children to pray the Rosary every day this week in honour of Our Lady and also to offer it for the Pope’s intention. The Pope has asked that we say a special prayer this month for our environment. So, each day this week we’ve had a different prayer leader to lead us all in saying ten Hail Marys.

Our Learning this week…

In English this week the children completed their stories in the style of Jeremy Strong and have worked hard to edit and improve them to ensure they contain the features of his writing.

In maths the focus has been on time. The children have been converting times between digital, 12 hour digital clock and 24 hour digital clock and also finding a time a given number of minutes or hours and minutes later. Some children still struggle to tell the time so please challenge your child to tell the time using analogue and digital times.

In RE the children have read the story of ‘The Fall’, about Adam and Eve, and have discussed Original sin and how this has affected all of us in our lives.

In science the children have been learning all about the movement of the moon relative to the Earth and have looked at the phases of the moon. They also made their own moon dial so that they can record the shape of the moon each night through October and record it on their lunar calendar.

In geography the children have been practising to find the latitude and longitude of places on a World map.

In computing the children found out about the Rovers that have been sent to Mars and have been learning about the difference between inputs and outputs and have explored how the size of RAM affects the processing of data. The children then played a game from NASA which allowed the children to explore a simulation of what it is like to programme a Mars Rover.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Eliza

Writing Award - Lila

Maths Award - Kayden

Year 5 Star Winner - Kayden

Well done Year 5, keep up the great work and we hope you have a lovely weekend with your families.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedOctober 9, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

This week Year 5 got the chance to meet their Reception buddies for the first time. They welcomed the children to school by writing them a lovely welcome letter and sharing with them a little bit about themselves. Although the children are only able to meet their buddies from a distance at the moment, already I can see what trusted friends and great role models they are going to be for them. It was so lovely to see how excited both sets of children were to meet each other - I hope to share some photos of their meeting soon.

As the “Buddy” role is a little different right now, we have been thinking of ways that the children can still be a good buddy without bursting our class bubbles. One idea is for Year 5 to be filmed reading a favourite story, one that perhaps they enjoyed when they were in Reception, which can then be played for Reception at story time. Many of Year 5 have already expressed how they would like to do this and so I have suggested that they should film this at home and then the video can be sent to me at our Year 5 email address (year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk) and I will pass them on to Miss Dixon.

Our Learning this week…

In English the children have begun to write their stories in the style of Jeremy Strong.

In maths the children have been focusing on mental strategies in multiplication and division. The children have been using doubling and halving to multiply and divide by 4 and they’ve been looking at mental strategies for multiplying by 20, 25 and 9.

In RE the children have answered questions on how the World began. In their responses they have considered the theological truths as written in the story of Creation from Genesis 1, but also they have looked at the Scientific Truths and have shown their understanding that one does not contradict the other.

In geography we have been learning about latitude and longitude and how this gives us the absolute location of places in the World. Ask your child to tell you what this is to see if they can remember. Next we will be using latitude and longitude to locate places on a map.

In science this week we have learnt about Earth’s orbit around the sun and have discovered how long it takes for the Earth to do this. The also discovered how it is the Earth’s tilt which gives us our Seasons.

Year 5 continue to do Yoga on a Tuesday with our visiting instructor Mrs Ward. This is such a lovely highlight of the week and allows for some much needed down time and an opportunity for us all to be calm and relax. Mrs Ward encourages the children to share how the mindful breathing and listening makes them feel and it’s so lovely to hear that many of them are using these techniques at home.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Adam

Writing Award - Mia

Maths Award - Hallie

Year 5 Star Winner - Elliot

Just a quick note about the homework… Well done Year 5 for all the effort you are putting into completing your homework and reading and getting your diaries signed at home. The children have enjoyed seeing their points mount up for all their extra efforts and I thank parents for your support in this.

For your information, Bedrock now allow children to complete lessons daily and I can already see that many of Year 5 are logging in and completing more than the expected one lesson for homework, which is absolutely wonderful! Today Miss Evans and I were really impressed with the really high scores that the children were achieving in their lesson today and I know the children were extremely proud too!

Also, a reminder that each week we will have spelling and times tables tests. It’s really important that the children spend some time each week learning these. Unfortunately only a small handful of children are getting full marks in these.

Lastly, just a reminder that if there are problems accessing the home learning then please let me know as soon as possible by emailing me at year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk Thanks to those parents who have been in touch about this already.

Another great week Year 5, you all work so hard and get on so well that it’s such a pleasure coming into school and teaching you all! We hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedOctober 2, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

I can hardly believe we’ve been in school for four weeks already! It has been lovely and the children are all working hard and showing what good learners they all are. They’ve been collecting points for their great behaviour and hard work, both at home and at school, and Miss Evans and I continue to be impressed. Please do ask your child how many points they have managed to obtain this week, and in future weeks, to encourage them to strive for more.

As mentioned, points are also awarded for completion of their weekly homework and for their daily reading and getting their diaries signed, and I thank you for your support in this. All diaries are checked daily, regardless of whether they have read or not and reading bookmarks are updated at this time. Please ensure your child has their diary and reading book in school everyday - most children do but there are a small number of Year 5 who are missing out on collecting their points for reading because their diary is not in school every day.

Thank you also for your support in online homework over the last few weeks, I’ve been impressed with the scores I’ve seen so far and I’ve already noticed the children using vocabulary learnt through Bedrock. Most children have successfully completed all their weekly homework but there are a small number of children who have yet to complete some of the activities on Bedrock and Education City. Now the children are in Upper KS2, it’s really important that they are learning to organise their time to complete their homework in preparation for Year 6 and for High School. Please see the Year 5 homework page for details of this week’s homework. last

If there are problems accessing the home learning then please let me know as soon as possible by emailing me at year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk so I can support where needed. With infection rates rising and more restrictions being put in place, if we were to be put into a position where learning needed to take place at home due to self isolation or lockdown, these sites (amongst others) would be used for home learning. If this were to happen, communication would be established by email. I do have most of your email addresses but I will request your email by text if I haven’t got it. One last thing, as we no longer have face to face contact at the moment, if I need to speak to you regarding your child, I will contact you by email or by phone.

Our Learning this week…

In English the children have been planning their own episode for Ramona’s escape down the mountain using ideas from Jeremy Strong’s own story. The children have had some great ideas and they are already looking forward to writing their own episode next week.

In Maths we have been looking at place value in numbers with two decimal places and have had a go at writing our own “Which decimal am I?” cards for others to solve using the clues written by the children. They’ve also been multiplying and dividing numbers with up to two decimal places by 10 and 100.

This week in our Space topic, the children have been looking at how the rotation of the Earth allows us to have day and night. Ask your child to explain it to you, to see how much they’ve remembered.

In RE the children have discussed the Scientific view of how the World began and also listened to the Creation story from Genesis 1 (Theological view) and have made their own Creation wheel as a reminder of the story.

We had a really successful Computing lesson this week where the children learnt all about Binary coding that computers use to communicate with each other. The children found out that the Curiosity Mars Rover communicated back and forth with Nasa using this code. They have learnt how to read binary up to eight characters and understand that each one or zero is referred to as a bit. They then played a game on the computer where they needed to calculate binary numbers, knowing each digit is worth double the one that precedes it. It’s quite a challenging concept so I was really impressed with how quickly they understood this and they managed some really high scores.

In Bounce Forward this week, we discussed tough times that people go through and the resilient things we can do to help us get through them. Some of the children chose to share their own personal stories and I really was impressed with their openess and honesty. We talked about how important it is to talk to someone we trust and share how we feel when we’re going through a tough time, as a problem shared is a problem halved.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Declan

Writing Award -Brodie

Maths Award - Olivia

Year 5 Star Winner - Molly

Another great week Year 5, keep up the great work! We hope you all have a lovely weekend with your families. Keep safe!

Mrs McVey and Miss Evans

PostedSeptember 25, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Year 5 are continuing to work hard and we’ve had an enjoyable week. Despite being out of school for so many months, the children have quickly settled back into school life and I’m very impressed with their great behaviour and how focused they are on their work. It’s also a pleasure to see how well the children get on and play together at playtimes. Your children are a real credit to you and our school!

Our Learning this week…

This week in English the children have continued to look at the features of Jeremy Strong’s writing. They have had a go at creating their own sentences with parenthesis indicated by brackets, dashes and commas and they’ve recalled one of the episodes of the story and included dialogue in their writing.

In maths the children have been thinking about mental strategies for adding and subtracting methods and they have challenged themselves to use the most efficient methods to be quick and accurate. Keep practising these at home!

In RE we have been discussing how the world began and have compared their own views against those of their learning partner.

In science we have begun our Space topic and have been looking at the shape of the Earth, Sun and Moon and have considered both direct and indirect evidence which proves this. We did a pencil and water experiment which demonstrated that although our senses (direct evidence) can be useful in Science, we also need to consider other evidence too. Ask Year 5 what examples of evidence there are that the Earth is spherical.

Our Computing topic this half term is all about the Mars Rover and this week the children have learnt about the automated motor vehicle and have explored how and why the Mars Rover transfers data. To get an idea of the distance that the Mars Rover had to travel, the children also researched the distance to Mars based on the length of other objects, such as the Eiffel Tower, the length of a blue whale , a football pitch and the Great Wall of China.

Today Year 5 have started their weekly PE sessions with a coach from BFC. The children have been put into two groups and each group will get one hour of PE with them. This half term the focus of the sessions are athletics.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Jacob

Writing Award - Elliot

Maths Award - Isabella

Year 5 Star Winner - Sam

Great work this week Year 5, we’re very proud of you all! Have a lovely weekend with your families.

Mrs McVey and Miss Evans

PostedSeptember 18, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

It has been lovely this week with all the children back together and our little Year 5 family bubble has got off to a great start despite the many changes to our routine. The children have all settled down into this new routine extremely well and are working hard. Keep it up Year 5!

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Isabelle

Maths Award - Jensen

Our learning this week…

In English we have begun looking at stories by the author Jeremy Strong. This week the children have read “This is not a fairy tale” and they have begun identifying the key features of his style of writing and have compared this to other extracts of his stories.

In Maths the children have been reading and writing 5-digit numbers and they have been ordering and comparing numbers using the < and > symbols.

In Science we will be learning about aspects of Earth and Space. This week the children have shared their existing knowledge of this topic and they took part in a Space quiz to to see how much they know already.

In Geography we have started our Latitude and Longitude topic and have begun by using atlases to locate countries in North and South America.

This week we have begun a resilience programme called Bounce Forward as part of our PSHE lessons. Bounce Forward, written by Lancashire Mind and Headstart, is a universal resilience programme, which has been designed to increase wellbeing and resilience in children across Blackpool. Bounce Forward will give the children the opportunity to improve and build up their resilience strategies and skills, in a practical and fun way. This week the focus was sharing information about themselves.

On Tuesday the children began Yoga sessions again with Mrs Ward who taught the children last year. The children have fully engaged themselves in this and it was a really enjoyable and relaxing way to end our afternoon. Mrs Ward was very impressed with how much the children had remembered about mindful bodies and mindful listening. This week she has challenged the children to spend some time each day collecting sounds from mindful listening. The children will be able to share these with her and the class next Tuesday.

Homework expectations

Reading

I’m really pleased to see that many children are reading regularly at home and getting their diaries signed. It is the expectation that Year 5 should read regularly (every night if possible) and parents please sign your child's reading diary each time they read so that they can collect their bookmark stickers. The children choose books from within their ZPD range and once these are finished they can quiz on their book and this helps us to assess their progress in reading. It’s so pleasing to see so many children completing their first few quizzes already. For each time your child reads three times in a week they will also receive a golden ticket which will be collected up and at the end of each half term we will draw out a reading champion. I want to see all of Year 5 receiving reading certificates and golden tickets in class!

Please note: To minimise risk, when a child brings back their reading book it is put to one side for at least 72 hours before they are put back onto the book shelf for another child to use.

Weekly homework

To keep us all safe, KS2 are now using online homework as we can no longer have English and Maths workbooks toing and froing between home and school. At the end of each week I will post the details of Year 5’s homework on the Year 5 homework page of this website and homework should be completed by the following Wednesday. The children have come home this afternoon with a reminder of their logins for Education City and TTRockstars and they also have a new login for a programme called Bedrock, which the children are now familiar with and have used in school (please see letter sent home today for details of the programme). Each week the children will be expected to complete at least one Bedrock lesson at home and another will be completed on a Thursday in school. The programme allows the children to complete a lesson every 48 hours so I would ask that they don’t do it on a Tuesday or Wednesday at home, otherwise they won’t be able to access it on a Thursday in school when it is timetabled. In addition to Bedrock, there will be tasks set on Education City and the children will need to prepare for a weekly times tables test (TTRockstars) and spelling tests. Laminated spelling lists have come home this afternoon so your child has a cleanable copy of the spellings to use at home and each week I will let you know, via the homework page which ones they need to learn for a weekly test. The tests will take place on either a Thursday or Friday. Please note that we are still assessing their spelling knowledge so once these assessments are complete, it may mean that some children will have different spellings to do.

Summary of this week’s homework can be found on the Year 5 homework page.

Well done Year 5, you’ve all worked hard this week. We hope you all have a lovely weekend and we’ll see you on Monday.

Mrs McVey and Miss Evans

If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

PostedSeptember 11, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Year 5 have made a great start to the year over these last three days and it has been lovely to see how well they have adapted to being back in school after such a long time. They really have worked hard over these last three days and I’m so impressed with their behaviour and how they’ve just taken it all in their stride. Miss Evans and I are so proud of them and are really excited to be working with them this year.

Your child will have come home with their reading book (with new ZPD) and diary. I’m so pleased to see so many have already read and got their diary signed last night. Well done Year 5, keep that up! Bookmarks and diaries will be updated next week and once we’re back in routine, these will be checked daily so please encourage your child to read regularly. Your child’s water bottle will also come home with them each evening to ensure that it can be washed and filled ready for the next day. Unfortunately we don’t have spares in school, or cups they can use, so it is important that they bring it in each day. The only other thing the children will need, unless they have a packed lunch, is their coat - school bags are not needed. Please ensure your child brings a coat each day just in case the weather changes over the course of the day - we will still want to get outside for some fresh air even if it is a bit cold or just a bit of rain.

PE days

Year 5 would usually start school swimming this half term but at the moment this is cancelled and will be up for review at half term depending on local advice. We will update you of any changes in due course.

Year 5 will need to wear their full PE kit on a TUESDAY and FRIDAY. On Tuesday we will have Yoga with a visiting Yoga teacher and on a Friday they will have Athletics with BFC coaches.

Homework

The only homework this weekend is reading. Weekly homework will be explained and set up from next week and I will let you know in my next blog what the expectation is.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend and we look forward to welcoming all the children back together on Monday.

Mrs McVey and Miss Evans

PostedSeptember 4, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

You have all made me so incredibly proud!

Year 4 - Welcome to Year 5

Good Morning Year 4,

Firstly I just want to welcome you all to Year 5 and tell you how excited I am to be teaching you from September. On Thursday I met with Mrs Cunningham-Kay to talk about you all and it was lovely to hear how hard you have all worked this year and how proud she is of how you’ve all continued to do this at home over these last few months. It has been an unusual end to this school year and although we are not able to meet in the Year 5 classroom for our usual transition or moving up morning, it’s lovely that we get the chance to do this virtually.

Although I have taught you Spanish for the last two years and we’ve already been able to get to know each other, there are still so many things that I would like to know about you. If we had been in school together I would have started by sharing some things about myself and I would have shown you my “Me” box. Instead, I’ve created a little video to help you get to know me a bit better…

Now that you know a little more about me, I’d like you to tell me about you. Below are some things that I would like to know about you and it is up to you how you respond to them. I have attached a booklet that I made that you can write in, or you may prefer to write a letter, make a poster or even a video - there are few templates below which you may use if you wish. If possible it would be lovely if you could send a photograph of yourself with your work, which I can then share on the Year 5 blog at a later date. However you choose to respond to my questions and share your thoughts and feelings about you, I would like you to send these to me at my email address year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk by Friday 10th July.

1) Tell me about you. Describe yourself. What do you like/dislike? What hobbies and interests do you have? What are your strengths? What are your ambitions?

2) What have you been doing while school has been closed? How have you found home learning? What fun things have you been doing? Have you tried anything new?

3) Your Year 4 achievements/areas for development. What did you enjoy most? What did you find difficult?

4) What are you looking forward to in Year 5?

5) Do you have any worries/concerns about coming back to school or being in Year 5?

Thank you Year 4. I look forward to hearing from all of you and I will be in touch with you again soon.

Mrs McVey 🙋🏻

All about Me booklet (with lines)

All about Me booklet (without lines)

Letter template 1

Letter template 2

PostedJuly 5, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Good Morning

Today (Monday 29th June) is the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Over the weekend, Father Jim celebrated this Feast with a Mass which you can watch here on the church website. Father Jim has also put together a mass (as he did for Ascension) especially for the children which should be available today on the children’s page. It features readings, drawings, hymns etc from children across all Blackpool Catholic Schools.

I’m extremely proud of all your efforts during the TTRS battle between the boys and girls last week. It really was neck and neck all week and when I had a look at the results just before the competition ended, the girls were actually in the lead. However, a big effort from the boys in the closing minutes meant that they were able to overtake the girls and win. Well done boys! Please see details below of another TTRS battle planned for Wednesday and I’d very much like to see all members of Year 5 working as part of a team to do their part.

Have a look at what else some of Year 5 did this week…

This week’s learning focus:

English:

Keep up with your daily reading. Aim to read for at least 20 minutes a day.📚
Free Ebooks can be accessed at https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk Click on “My class login” and enter the username and password I sent to you last week. Through this login you can also access Oxford Owl Spelling, which is the same as the Read, Write, Inc spelling scheme we have used in class. You’ll find the spelling activities in the Extra Practice Zone when you first log in. See parent guide for support.
Bedrock - Complete at least three times this week.
Writing task -Pie Corbett Talk for Writing Pack (unit 5) The Ultimate Guide to Elves and Sprites is the final Talk for writing unit that I will be asking you to complete. It can be printed off if you can, or just use from the screen with a note book if not. When you have finished this unit, please send me a copy of your completed writing. 📝
Education City - Reading & Spelling tasks have been set.

Maths:

White Rose Maths - The videos for this week’s lessons can be found at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-5/. Download this week’s worksheets .
The answers for the worksheets can be accessed here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.
MyMaths & Education City - I have set tasks on these sites which reinforce the White Rose Resources and allow you to practise the skills.
TT Rockstars - Daily for 10 minutes. This week I have set up a Times Tables Battle between Year 5 and Year 6. The battle commences at 9am and will end at 3.30pm on Wednesday 1st July . I’ll be checking on the progress of this battle throughout the day and I’ve told Miss Slater that we will definitely win. So Year 5, work as a team because WE NEED TO WIN! 😉Good luck everyone!

Note about Sumdog - Our subscription to Sumdog ends this week so I have not set any activities on Sumdog this week. You will find that once the subscription ends, some access to premium games and content will disappear.

Additional work/resources:

• Week 12 Learning Project The theme of the project this week is all about Under the Sea. 🐠 🐙 🐳 🐋 Please note that the Learning Project themes may be a little out of synch with other classes over the next few weeks. However, if Year 5 have siblings in other classes and you prefer to work on the themes using their project theme, that’s fine.

• https://www.oddizzi.com This week’s new challenge from Oddizzi is Global Knowledge

• #OnlineSafetyAtHome pack 7 from ThinkUKnow. If you haven’t already, take a look at these activities.

• Father Jim continues to update his website for the children. If you have any questions for Father Jim, please look at the Children’s page on the Church Website. https://www.olablackpool.org/children-s-page He’s looking forward to all your questions.

• ¡Aquí se habla Español ! If you want to continue learning Spanish, a lovely fun app called Duolingo (free version) is a great place to start. Why not try 10 minutes a day and see how much you can learn. Let me know how you get on!

Coming up next week…

This year’s 'Sports day' will take place between Monday 6th July - Wednesday 8th July. Please take a look at the sports section of our school website for further information about our sports day from home and school. It is important that everyone participates as you will contribute to your house team possibly winning! Children will need to complete the challenges within those days and email me their entry by 4pm on that Wednesday. Any after 4.00pm will not be counted.

http://www.ourladyassumption-sch.co.uk/pesports-news

Take care, miss you all!

Mrs McVey🙋🏻

PostedJune 28, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Good Morning Year 5

How have we got to week 11 of home learning? These weeks just seem to be flying by and I can hardly believe it! What I do know though, is that you all continue to amaze me with your hard work and for that I am so proud of you all!

Thank you to those of you who sent me updates of what you have been doing. I love receiving these and so if you haven’t yet done so, please ask your parents to send me a quick email and a photo of something you have been doing. ( year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk )

Have a look at what some members of Year 5 have been doing…

This week’s learning focus:

English:

Keep up with your daily reading. Aim to read for at least 20 minutes a day.📚
Free Ebooks can be accessed at https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk Click on “My class login” and enter the username and password I sent to you last week. Through this login you can also access Oxford Owl Spelling, which is the same as the Read, Write, Inc spelling scheme we have used in class. You’ll find the spelling activities in the Extra Practice Zone when you first log in. See parent guide for support.
Bedrock - Complete at least three times this week. A really big well done to those children who are completing this every day! 👏🏻🌟
Writing task - The new Pie Corbett Talk for Writing unit has not yet been released so this week I would like you to have a go at the story below, which was also released by the Talk for Writing company. Please work on this over the next week and send me a copy of the completed writing once you have finished it. The Cloud Swing is a lovely short story written by Eithne Gallagher, which tells of a young child’s magic journey on a cloud swing around Italy under lockdown. Once you’ve read the story, I’d like you to plan and write your own trip through lockdown. You could choose a magic carpet or have your own cloud-swing or microlight to magic you to wherever you want to go. Please use your best joined handwriting and check your spellings.📝
Education City - Reading & Spelling tasks have been set.
Sumdog - a Spelling assessment has been set this week. (Please see note about Sumdog below)

Maths:

White Rose Maths - The videos for this week’s lessons can be found at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-5/. Download this week’s worksheets .
The answers for the worksheets can be accessed here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.
MyMaths & Education City - I have set tasks on these sites which reinforce the White Rose Resources and allow you to practise the skills.
TT Rockstars - Daily for 10 minutes. This week I have set up a Times Tables Battle between the Year 5 boys 👦and girls 👧. The battle commences at 9am today and will end at 3.30pm on Friday. I’ll be checking on the progress of this battle throughout the week. Good luck!
Note about Sumdog - Our subscription to Sumdog is ending this month so I have not set any maths (or grammar) activities on Sumdog this week. I would prefer you to prioritise MyMaths & Education City once you’ve done your White Rose Maths lessons. However, you will still be able to use Sumdog and have access to premium games at the moment if you wish. Once the subscription ends, you will find that some access will disappear.

Additional work/resources:

• Week 11 Learning Project The theme of the project this week is all about Transport.🚗 🏍 🚋 ✈️

• https://www.oddizzi.com This week’s new challenge from Oddizzi is Food and Farming

• #OnlineSafetyAtHome pack 7 from ThinkUKnow

• Father Jim continues to update his website for the children. If you have any questions for Father Jim, please look at the Children’s page on the Church Website. https://www.olablackpool.org/children-s-page He’s looking forward to all your questions.

• ¡Aquí se habla Español ! If you want to continue learning Spanish, a lovely fun app called Duolingo (free version) is a great place to start. Why not try 10 minutes a day and see how much you can learn. Let me know how you get on!

Take care, miss you all!

Mrs McVey🙋🏻

PostedJune 22, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Good Morning Year 5

Well I’m really impressed! Last week you got off to a flying start with all your learning , I’m so proud of you all! Thank you to parents for continuing to update me of your child’s work and other activities they are doing. Keep up the great work Year 5!

Have a look at what your friends have been up to…

Please keep sending photos of what you are all doing, it’s a wonderful way for us to stay connected.

This week’s learning focus:

English:

Keep up with your daily reading. Aim to read for at least 20 minutes a day.📚
Free Ebooks can be accessed at https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk Click on “My class login” and enter the username and password (This will be sent by text Monday morning). Don’t forget you can also borrow Ebooks from your local library.
Bedrock - Complete at least three times this week. A really big well done to those children who are completing this every day! 👏🏻🌟
Pie Corbett Talk for Writing Pack (unit 4) I would like you to continue with this unit you started last week. You should have completed this work by the end of this week. It can be printed off if you can, or just use from the screen with a note book if not. Please send me a copy of your writing when you’ve finished (by 19th June). 📝
Sumdog & Education City - Spelling, reading and grammar tasks have been set on these sites (but please prioritise Bedrock and Pie Corbett).

Maths:

White Rose Maths - The videos for this week’s lessons can be found at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-5/. Download this week’s worksheets .
The answers for the worksheets can be accessed here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Once you’ve completed your maths lesson, self mark your work to check that you’ve got the answers right. Don’t forget that Friday’s maths lesson is a challenge which you will find on the above link - there are no worksheets for this.
Sumdog, MyMaths & Education City - I have set tasks on these sites which reinforce the White Rose Resources and allow you to practise the skills (but please prioritise White Rose Maths).
TT Rockstars - Daily for 10 minutes. 🎸

Additional work/resources:

• Learning Project The theme of the project this week is all about Space 🚀.

• https://www.oddizzi.com This week’s new challenge from Oddizzi is Country close up 🌍

• #OnlineSafetyAtHome pack 6 from ThinkUKnow (if you’ve not already had a look at this) 🖥

• RE Home Activities This has many RE activities that the children can do from home. If you haven’t already, please have a look at the links to the Year 5 and 6 activities. If you have any questions for Father Jim, please look at the Children’s page on the Church Website. https://www.olablackpool.org/children-s-page He’s looking forward to all your questions. ✝

• ¡Aquí se habla Español ! 🇪🇸 Try out the fun app called Duolingo (free version) to continue your Spanish learning or even try a different language - you can learn a few different languages using the same account. Why not try 10 minutes a day of Spanish and see how much you can learn. Let me know how you get on! Really pleased to hear that so many of you are now using this as part of your daily timetable. Well done Year 5!

Hope you all have a good week. Take care, miss you all!

Mrs McVey🙋🏻

PostedJune 15, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

Good morning

I hope you have all enjoyed a well deserved rest and have been able to enjoy some family time over the last two weeks. We were blessed again with some beautiful weather, particularly over the first week, and I hope you were able to make the most of the outside whilst still keeping safe.

As you will be aware, from today school is now open more widely for some children and some Year groups will be returning in the coming weeks. Unfortunately for us, that does not include our Year group. Although I will now be in school more often ( working with other groups of children in school), I will continue to set you work for you whilst you are at home. Thank you for all your hard work , I am so proud of how you continue to show resilience and great strength whilst working from home at this very unusual time - you really are an amazing class! Keep up the great work and remember that if you’re unsure of anything then please do get your parents to email me. Due to the wider opening, I will now be in school more often but I will continue to answer emails. However, I may just need to ask for your patience on certain days. Please continue to send me your finished pieces of writing and photos of things you’ve been doing so that we can share these on our weekly blog - it’s a great way to feel connected and see what your friends are up to.

This week’s learning focus:

English:

Keep up with your daily reading. Aim to read for at least 20 minutes a day.
Bedrock - Complete at least three times this week.
Pie Corbett Talk for Writing Pack (unit 4) You are to complete this new talk for writing pack, called Wonderful Wizards, over the next two weeks. It can be printed off if you can, or just use from the screen with a note book if not. Please send me a copy of the completed writing by 19th June.📝
Sumdog & Education City - If you have additional time, spelling and grammar tasks have been set on these sites.

Maths:

White Rose Maths - The videos for this week’s lessons can be found at https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-5/. Download this week’s worksheets .
The answers for the worksheets can be accessed here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Don’t forget that Friday’s maths lesson is a challenge which you will find on the above link - there are no worksheets for this.
Sumdog, MyMaths & Education City - If you have additional time, I have set tasks on these sites which reinforce the White Rose Resources and allow you to practise the skills.
TT Rockstars - Daily for 10 minutes.

Additional work/resources:

• Learning Project

• https://www.oddizzi.com This week’s new challenge from Oddizzi is Weather and Climate

• #OnlineSafetyAtHome pack 6 from ThinkUKnow

• RE Home Activities This has many RE activities that the children can do from home. If you haven’t already, please have a look at the links to the Year 5 and 6 activities. If you have any questions for Father Jim, please look at the Children’s page on the Church Website. https://www.olablackpool.org/children-s-page He’s looking forward to all your questions.

• ¡Aquí se habla Español ! Try out the fun app called Duolingo (free version) to continue your Spanish learning or even try a different language - you can learn a few different languages using the same account. Why not try 10 minutes a day of Spanish and see how much you can learn. Let me know how you get on!

Hope you all have a good week. Take care, miss you all!

Mrs McVey🙋🏻

PostedJune 8, 2020

AuthorKay McVey