We have had the most delightful week with our ducklings this week. It has been a joy for all of us to watch our four wonderful ducklings, Puck, Titania, Demetrius and Lysander grow and play this week. Watch our video to see how much they’ve grown and how much they love water!

Year 5 have been very busy this week charting the ducklings growth for our Science work and they’ve learnt quite a bit more of their life cycle . Sadly, the ducklings have now gone to their new home on a farm where they will be able to wander freely with other ducklings. We really are going to miss them as they all have such loveable characters.

Our other learning this week…

English - This week the children have continued to work on the Greek myth Pandora’s box and are now in the process of planning their version of the story from the point of view of Pandora.

Maths - This week we’ve continued to work on adding fractions and also adding mixed numbers.

RE - This week the focus was on how Mary, our Mother, can help us untangle knots of sin.

Geography - We’ve identified how a river changes along its course and we’ve used an atlas to locate the longest rivers in the British Isles.

PE - On Tuesday the children ran the daily mile on our KS2 playground. On Thursday the children played a fast paced Easter themed game called Carrot Quest which uses attacking and defending skills.

Holy Week

Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week with Palm Sunday. Normally we would mark this very special celebration, lead by KS1, in Church and then each day each KS2 class would then lead an assembly each morning to tell the special events of the week. Instead, next week we will explore a part of the Easter story each day next week. We have also been challenged to create two Stations of the Cross which will go into Church next week. I will post photos on the blog next week when they are finished.

Lent Reading Challenge

I’ve been delighted with how Year 5 have taken on our reading challenge over the last few weeks. It’s been wonderful to see how enthused they’ve been and I’m impressed with how many children have read more than one of our challenge books. Well done Year 5!

Next week is our Book club celebration and we’re really looking forward to having a discussion and sharing our thoughts . Please encourage your child to finish their chosen challenge book if they have not already done so, so that they are able to fully join in. Thank you.

Resilient moves

Thank you for sharing your resilient moves this week…

Brodie has been learning new skills on her skateboard...

Please continue to send in photos of you making resilient moves to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk so we can see what you’ve been up to.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Kourtney

Writing Award - Nevaeh

Maths Award - Cianna

Year 5 Star Winner -

It’s been a great week Year 5, you’ve continued to work hard and I hope you all have a great well deserved weekend.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedMarch 26, 2021

AuthorKay McVey

What a lovely week it has been! It has felt really good to have the class back together and I’ve been really impressed with how the children have come back positive and ready to learn. They’ve done really well this week and it’s like they’ve never been away. Well done Year 5, we’re so proud of you!

Our learning this week…

English - This week we have begun our unit on Greek Myths and have been exploring the story of Pandora’s box.

Maths - We’ve continued to work on fractions this week. We started by recapping the work that was completed over the last two weeks of home learning and have moved onto comparing and ordering fractions greater than 1.

Geography - We’ve looked in detail at the water cycle to follow up with the work from Kingfisher education workshops last week.

Art - This week we have looked at sculptures from the artist Alberto Giacometti. Then to link in with our work on the Ancient Greeks we have started making our own 3D sculptures, in the style of Alberto Giacometti, on the theme of the Ancient Greek Olympics. The children started by sketching each other in poses of Olympic sports and then they chose one and created the pose out of dowling and masking tape. Afterwards, the children applied modroc to complete the sculpture. Next week the children will paint them.

PE - This week the children have run the daily mile out on the playground and in our second session this week the children have played a Greek themed tag game - Spartans versus Athenians.

PSHE - We began our week reflecting on the lockdown and it gave the children the opportunity to talk about their lockdown memories and how they have felt about the last few months. We also began our ‘Think Good, Feel Good’ sessions of Bounce Forward which link to the Coping and Core Self Potion of the resilient framework. Using Disney’s Inside Out film, we explored all the emotions the children might feel and reinforced that it is ok to feel different at times and that is ok to feel sad, angry etc. It’s how we cope with it that helps us to be resilient.

Resilient moves

What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me your resilient move photos to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk

Lent Reading Challenge

We have decided as a class to take on a class reading challenge for Lent. By the end of term, we - Year 5, Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly - will read one of three books (chosen by the children). In the last week before we break up, we will celebrate our reading achievement by sharing our thoughts on the book with a book club party. Please encourage your child to read their chosen book to enable them to enjoy our book club at the end of term. You never know, some children might even go the extra mile and end up reading all three (Now there’s a challenge!).

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Sam

Writing Award - Kayden

Maths Award - Evie

Year 5 Star Winner - Evie

Congratulations to Kourtney who was the overall Year 5 winner for the World Book Day 📚bookmark competition. Thank you and well done to everyone who took part.

Congratulations to Sam for achieving his Bronze Music Medal on the flute this week. He scored an amazing 100% on his exam. Well done Sam!

Well done Year 5, we hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedMarch 12, 2021

AuthorKay McVey

Thank you and well done! 👏🏻🌟

I just want to start by saying a massive thank you to all of you. Over the last few months, you have truly been incredible and have made me very proud. The resilience you have all shown and the hard work that you have put in week on week has been amazing and I thank you so much for that. I also thank your parents for the support they have given in your work and for keeping me updated not just on your work, but also for sharing photos of all the wonderful resilient moves that you made. I have loved receiving photos of your smiling faces and they have really helped keep us connected whilst we’ve been apart. I now look forward to next week when we can all come back together in the classroom once again. It might feel a little bit strange coming back to school but we’ve got some lovely things to look forward to over the next few weeks. There’s one little surprise I think you’ll all be excited about - I’ll let you in on the surprise when we get back next week! 😊

Monday 8th March

Next week, school will open to all Year groups. Drop off and pick up times for Year 5 will be the same as before - 8.40am drop off at Thornhill Close gates, and 3.15pm pick up from the same place. On Fridays, pickup will still be at 1.05pm for all of the class. Our PE days will go back to Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is important you take time to read Miss Haggerty’s blog on the School’s Main News page which includes more in-depth information about our return to school and the safety measures that will be in place.

Please remember to bring completed Bikeability forms in on Monday if you wish to take part. There are only 12 places available and we will allocate places on first come first serve basis. If more than 12 forms are handed in on Monday, then this will be done through a draw.

Year 5 will also need to bring in their World Book Day bookmarks for the competition held by the PTFA. These will be judged next week and there is a prize for the winners (one from KS1 and one from KS2). Good luck!

World Book Day 📚

I hope you all had a lovely World Book Day. Thank you to those of you who sent in photos of you dressed as your favourite book characters. Can you spot the extreme reader?

Resilient moves

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

Elliot started his 100 miles for WWF

Elliot is completing it with his brother and sister

Isabelle has been drawing...

Olivia has been making Rock cakes...

Jensen made playdough with his brother

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedMarch 5, 2021

AuthorKay McVey

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday, I am delighted and I am looking forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday 8th March. It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for and it’s a sign of hope that better things are to come. The safety measures that have been in place since September will remain to ensure that we all stay safe in our own little year group bubble. If you haven’t already, please see Miss Haggerty’s post on the main news page of the website for details of the reopening.

Our Lenten adventure begins…

Last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, which is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, or 46 if we count Sundays, we replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. It is a time to refocus on Jesus as we look ahead to his death on the Cross at Easter and rejoice over his miraculous return. It is a time for reflecting on what we could do differently or maybe what we could do more of or less of during this time. Thank you for sharing your Lenten promises with me this week. In school the children also made their Lenten promises which we have put on display. When we get back to school we will think of a Lenten challenge that we can do together as a class.

World Book Day

On Thursday it is World Book Day and we are asking children who are in school to dress as their favourite book character and if you’re at home, I would still like you to get involved and send me your photos. All the World Book Day activities, including a whole school bookmark competition, are detailed on the timetable and this will take place instead of our English work for the day.

Bikeability

You should have all received an email regarding Bikeability which will take place on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th March. This activity is limited to 12 children who are competent riders. Forms will need to be completed and sent in on Monday 8th March. Places are first come first serve basis.

Resilient moves

Thank you to those who shared their resilient moves this week. What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

Elliot working hard

Elliot's coding

Brodie reading to mum

Brodie sketching

Brodie's coding

Lila's coding

Jensen's coding

Isabella doing PE

Thank you once again Year 5 for the great work I’ve received this week. Next week’s home learning will be available on the home learning page later today ready for next week. As this will be our last week of home learning before we all return to school, please email work to me by 1pm on Friday 5th March so that I am able to feedback to the children before the end of the school day. Any work sent after the school day on Friday 5th March will go into your child’s lockdown portfolio of work but as we are all back at school on MONDAY 8TH MARCH I will not have time to go through it and feedback. Thank you for your continued support with this.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedFebruary 26, 2021

AuthorKay McVey

Thank you!

Well here we are Year 5, we were challenged to home learning and we conquered it! It has been a long six weeks but that hasn’t halted the effort in your work and I’m incredibly proud of each and every one of you, those of you working from home and those of you in school, and I applaud all your efforts. 👏🏻I continue to be amazed at how hard working and resilient you have all been and I want to say a very big thank you to you and your parents for taking on this challenge and working so hard. Next week, I hope you are all (parents included) able to take a well earned rest and use the week to recharge your batteries and just take the time to enjoy being with your family and do things that you can enjoy together. Perhaps you’d like to take part in ‘Star Count’ (see below for details) - my family and I will be taking part in this.

Thank you to everyone who was able to ‘meet’ with us on Tuesday during our Google Meet. It was a lovely opportunity for us to come together again and it was the highlight of my week being able to see all your little faces, even if it was just through the screen. I hope you all enjoyed seeing each other too!

Thank you once again to those of you who have shared their resilient moves over the last six weeks, I really do enjoy seeing what you have all been getting up to and I know that the children who are in school have also enjoyed seeing them too. What resilient moves will you make next week during half term? Don’t forget to email them to me at year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk so we can share them after half term.

Lent

Next Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a period of six weeks (40 days not including Sundays) leading up to Easter when we celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. If you would like to find out more about Lent, click the link to the BBC Bitesize website which has videos and activities to complete.

Star Count (Lockdown friendly stargazing activity) 🌟

Each year, CPRE (The countryside charity) asks the nation to help measure light pollution in their area by getting starry-eyed and counting visible stars. They’re asking people from all across the country to become citizen scientists and look up to the starry sky from home for one night. They want you to join in by choosing a clear night from now till the 14th February and look up at the constellation of Orion and let them know how many stars you can spot. For more details, take a look at their website .

Here are the photos of your ‘Super Friends’ from our Google Meet PSHE lesson we had on Tuesday and some of your finished potion poems I’ve received. Thank you!

Coming up…

World Book Day is coming up Thursday 4th March. Obviously this will be different than other years with school being closed to some children but we will be organising an activity for this day. There will hopefully be a story reading by class teachers as well as a competition. Whether at home or at school, it would also be lovely for the children to dress as a book character (however if in school, please limit to a simple costume with as few ‘loose’ items as possible).

Bikeability - In mid March the Bikeability time will be coming in to deliver lessons on safe cycling to competent Year 5 cyclists - they must have an appropriate sized and safe bike and be able to ride their bike safely and competently (part of the training will be out on the road around school). Due to Covid restrictions, this session will only be available for 12 children and they have said that they may be able to offer an alternative date later in the school year if there are more children who wish to take part. Once we know more about school opening from the Government’s update after half term, details to parents will follow. However, in the meantime, if your child is interested in taking part then I would encourage that they get out on their bike as much as possible to ensure they are prepared for the course.

The home learning for after half term will be published next Friday. I haven’t set any work over half term but I do encourage Year 5 to keep reading for their enjoyment.📚

Have a wonderful well earned break Year 5! Enjoy!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

Letter from Blackpool Council regarding COVID financial support scheme launched to help residents with household bills.

PostedFebruary 12, 2021

AuthorKay McVey

I want to start by saying a big “THANK YOU!” for all the wonderful photos that you’ve sent in to me this week to show the resilient moves you’ve made to mark Children’s Mental Health week. The theme this week was ‘Express yourself’ and I’ve really enjoyed reading all about the different goals you have been setting yourselves, the reflections you’ve made and I’ve particularly loved seeing the different things that you have got up to to express yourselves. Despite this extremely challenging time we are all facing, each and every one of you has demonstrated just how resilient you are - you really have been looking up to find that rainbow! I’m so proud of you all and I can’t thank you all enough for the continued hard work that you have put into your home learning and those of you who have been working so hard in school.

Take a look at what your friends have been up to this week (I had to make two videos this week as we had so many photos come in) …

Please continue to share the resilient moves you make (year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk). Although Children’s Mental Health week is over for another year, it is still so important to continue to set yourself goals each week and to set aside time to do things that you enjoy and to make time to learn new life skills and start new hobbies. I too will be trying to set myself some goals… I don’t usually find the time to bake but so many of you have inspired me to make some time to do a bit more of that.

A catch up…

On Tuesday I am hoping that you will all be able to catch up with us on Google Meet. It has been a long half term since we were last all together and as next week is our last week before half term, I thought it would be lovely to have a bit of a catch up to see how everyone is getting on. We have all missed you terribly in school, so it’ll be lovely to see your smiley faces again - even if it is just through the screen! We look forward to seeing you all!

Safer Internet Day…

On Tuesday it is also Safer Internet day. We always mark this day in school each year and this year, with the increase in online use, it is even more important that we do so. On this day we will explore reliability online. The internet has an amazing range of information and opportunities online, but how do we separate fact from fiction? On the home learning timetable you will find the lesson dedicated to this and an audio video of me guiding the children through the activities.

Next week’s home learning can now be accessed from this link .This will be available each week by the end of school on a Friday .

Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedFebruary 5, 2021

AuthorKay McVey

Candlemas…

Year 5 Achievements

Our Reading Champions…

Well done to our reading champions this half term who all completed bookmarks (some completed 2!) for reading regularly at home. Reading is so important and I ask parents to continue to encourage your child to read regularly at home (at least 20 minutes per day) and get their diary signed.

When the children read regularly, golden tickets are given out and then we do a draw at the end of each half term. Well done to Evie and Adam who are our golden ticket winners and have won a prize.

This week Evie received her Bronze award for clarinet. Miss Benson was very proud of her and so were we. Well done Evie!

Year 5 Stars

This week’s Year 5 Star is Brodie .

Our overall Year 5 star winner for Autumn term was Elliot. Elliot regularly tops our weekly leader board for the most dojo points received and over the term has collected an amazing 727 points. Well done Elliot!

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

This week’s resilient moves challenge, from the Resilience framework, are:

1 - Find time for your interests. (Coping)

2- When times are tough, remember tomorrow is a new day. (Coping)

Please email me any photos of resilient moves you make over the Christmas holidays (for the two above or any others!). We look forward to seeing them and sharing them in the new year.

On Wednesday was Christmas dinner day and the children were treated to festive music and Christmas crackers…

Online Safety

Access to new technology over the winter period can provide new opportunities for children and young people but also present risks. Thinkuknow have published a Parent guide which looks at how you can support your child to be safer online this season by focusing on 3 key areas: viewing, sharing, chatting and friending. Please click on the link to take a look at how you can keep your child safe online.

Christmas is a time for giving and thinking of others and I just wanted to share this photograph of Evie and her sister Charlotte who have organised a collection for the Streetlife homeless charity in Blackpool. It is the third year the girls have made hampers and this year they managed to beat last year’s target and made 22 hampers! What a fantastic example of helping and showing loving concern for others this Christmas. Congratulations girls, this is amazing!

We wish you all a wonderful happy and Holy Christmas 🎄and we hope you all stay safe and well and have a great start to the New Year. See you all in the new year!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedDecember 18, 2020

AuthorGuest User

We’ve had a fantastic week in Year 5, the children have really amazed me! They were set a number of challenges this week in our DT/Science lessons. In the first of these sessions, the children were split into three groups and given a different challenge. One group had to make a simple frame from wood, using tools safely. The second group had to make a a moving vehicle using tech card and their knowledge of circuits and the third group had to make a vehicle shell for a chosen planet and design it using their knowledge of that planet. Elliot and Laciee were also challenged to making their own moving chassis using a lego set that school have borrowed. All the children worked extremely well and completed their challenges successfully…

The children were then put into small groups and together as a team they were set the challenge of designing and making a moon buggy model. The children designed their buggy, deciding on the materials that they would need and set off making it. By the end of the morning the children finished their moon buggies. I am so impressed with how hard they all worked and more impressed with the maturity they all showed, working in their teams supporting each other and with good cooperation and collaboration. Their work is now on display in the entrance hall for other Year groups to have a look at. Take a look at what they achieved…

Our other learning this week:

English - This week the children have been reading non-chronological reports and have been identifying the features.

Maths - This week the children have identified and named the parts of a circle including diameter, radius and circumference. They’ve drawn circles to a given radius using a pair of compasses and have also used angle facts to solve problems related to turns.

RE - The children read the story of Exodus when Moses was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and they have explored the challenges they faced and how they responded when tested.

Art - The children have continued to experiment with the work of Hundertwasser and have begun to enlarge their own work based on his.

PE - The children have been perfecting their hand ball skills and have enjoyed some really quick and fast paced games.

Yoga - This week was our last yoga session this year. We’ve all really enjoyed these sessions each week and it’s been good to see how much the children have improved in their balance and achieving mindful body and mindful listening.

PSHE - The children have made their own strength badges this week. They named one of their strengths and how that strength can make them more resilient.

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

This week’s resilient moves challenge, from the Resilience framework, are:

1 - Develop life skills (Learning)

2- Calming down and making yourself feel better (Coping)

Please email me any photos of resilient moves you make this week (for the two above or any others!). We look forward to seeing them and sharing them.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Mia

Writing Award - Isabella

Maths Award - Lila

Year 5 Star Winner - To be done on Monday

Thank you all for taking part in Christmas jumper day, the children looked great! We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedDecember 11, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

It’s feeling like Christmas in Year 5 this week and it has really lifted everyone’s spirits. We have our Christmas trees up (including one on the window made out of the children’s handprints), twinkly fairy lights are lit and our advent wreath candles and Nativity set are in place. It has been a really lovely week starting each day opening our interactive advent calendar from Cafod, sharing the Scripture of the day (read by the children) and saying our special advent prayer…

Our learning this week:

English - This week the children have been writing their adventure stories and have also been editing their work to make it better.

Maths - The focus this week has been using a protractor to measure angles accurately and they have been identifying the different angles: acute, right angles, obtuse and reflex.

RE - This week the children have explored the covenant that God made with Moses and have looked at the trust and faith that he had in God, which influenced his decision. The children used the Bible to record the key points of the conversation between God and Moses.

Science - The children have been identifying the effects of friction on different surfaces and have investigated those which have high friction and those with low friction.

Art - The children have been introduced to the work of Hundertwasser this week and have used a viewfinder to select and draw a section of one of his images. Take a look at their initial drawings…

DT - We started our DT work this week and the children were set a challenge to make a simple chassis using just card, dowling, 4 wheels and masking tape. Take a look at their efforts…

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

This week’s resilient moves challenge, from the Resilience framework, are:

1 - Get some fresh air and exercise (Basics)

2- Eat a healthy diet (Basics)

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Nevaeh

Writing Award - Grace

Maths Award - Jacob

Year 5 Star Winner - Isabella

Well done to some of our instrumentalists who have achieved their bronze medal during the last couple of weeks. Miss Benson was very proud of them and so are we…

Another great week Year 5! We hope you have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing your photos of the resilient moves you make this week.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans and Mrs Connolly

PostedDecember 4, 2020

AuthorKay McVey

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