Welcome back

This half term is going to be a busy one, I hope you all managed to enjoy a rest over the holiday just gone!

At the moment in Maths we are studying time and I am so impressed with how well the children are doing already! Most children are confident with both digital and analogue format (ask your children what they mean... they should all know!) and some have already moved on to using a 24 hour clock. If you could practise this at home with your children, we would be very grateful as the more practise they get the better!! We will be moving on to adding and subtraction with decimals and word problems next, if any eager beaver children would like to get ahead!

In R.E we are studying festivals and in particular will be focusing on the festival of Divali. Make sure you check back soon as I will be putting challenges and activities on here for the children to do at home. It would also be great if you could ask your children about what they have learnt in class in their different subjects, we get through so much each day.In music we are lucky enough to be having a workshop in two weeks time and the end result will be a performance. Check back soon for more information.

We have also started a new subject called Morphology. The children have all made an enthusiastic and impressive start. Today we looked at word classes and using and grouping them correctly. We will be looking at prefixes and suffixes in detail and studying words in greater detail.We have begun a Geography block on tourist attractions and will soon be going on a trip. Letters will be coming out shortly.

How many London tourist attractions can you name??

In Literacy we are looking at newspapers... if you have them at home, please read them and share what you have found out in class. Any old copies would be greatly received!

Please remember we are here if you have any queries or worries, if you come and see us after school we will do our best to see you either immediately or as soon as possible. The children have a lot on now, with expectations for classwork and homework high. The teachers certainly appreciate their efforts and we work very hard to ensure they are working to the highest standard! I have had some parents asking for more work for the children and would like to stress that at the moment they are receiving enough! They need some free time to play and relax too! If a child isn't reaching their potential, the Year 5 teachers will make sure they speak to you.

Finally, a big good luck to Mohammed and Karim and Courtney who are representing Gateway at cross country running on Wednesday 31st October!

Most Original Design Winners

These children won the competition for the most original design for their musical instrument. The Oranga Can really is a fantastic instrument which had some great features and created some wonderful sounds!

Congratulations!!

Design Competition Winners

These children won the competition for the BEST PRESENTED musical instrument design and final product. There was a tight timeline for this project and they worked really well together on their ATM Flutex! Congratulations!!!!

5 Magenta the Design Consultants!

This week we have also come to the end of our Design & Technology project of making musical instruments. We explored the sounds of different instruments and looked at the different ways instruments are made. We collected over the past weeks lots of recycling objects and created designs of our own instruments. The class put all their designs together to create a Manual of Instructions and have now made the final instruments. They look and sound fantastic!

Pointilism

5 Magenta have been working on pointilism techniques. They have been looking carefully at the work of Georges Seurat and have started to create their own pointilism artwork!!

Work of the week!

Here is an example of excellent Literacy work. Zumorod has written a character study of Neetu, a main character from the book Grandpa Chatterji, by Jamila Gavin.

Neetu is always getting up early in the morning and getting ready for school. She wears a short skirt with a t-shirt. She also wears high heel shoes for school. She makes sure to do her hair with a ponytail, leaving a slip of hair over her eyes. She also wears a cardigan. Sometimes she wears heely shoes with trousers and shiny tops. She has a curved nose and curly eye lashes with white teeth.

Neetu often feels shy when she sees new people but she is always obedident and sensible. She also finds homework very easy and obvious. At school she is very helpful and passionate. When she is in the playground, she feels popular and confident. She is eager at the funfair.

Neetu is a girl that has many sides to her. Sometimes she feels superior at school because she is conscientious and tries hard in all lessons. She thinks that she is the cleverest child in the class.

I think that Jamila Gavin tries to tell us throughout the book that Neetu is a hard working and likeable character.

I liked this piece of writing because Zumorod tried hard to use lots of adjectives and impressive vocabulary in her writing. Well done!

Miss S

Hello!

Hello to all!
We have been very busy this half term in Year 5 and we have all taken a little while to settle in as there are lots of changes from last year.The children now receive homework every night for both Literacy and Numeracy. I am pleased to say that most children are coping brilliantly with this. The teachers know it isn't easy for all parents to help their children but homework is always based on what we are doing in class. If there are any problems if you could write a short note or let us know and we will spend time with the children to clarify any difficulties they may have.
Spellings are still given weekly and they have their test on Friday so please remind your children or test them if you can.There is also a reading journal the children are beginning to bring home weekly. Even if you could just check the neatness and presentation of the work, it would be much appreciated!

We also started swimming this half term and they seem to love it. Many children have made amazing progress in a very short time so well done! The children are all remembering their kits which is great. They still have P.E in school and this is on a Monday so they need to remember that kit as well. They need a plain white (or school) t-shirt, dark tracksuits bottoms and trainers. A jumper in this cold weather is also required. Children who forget do still have to take part and so may need to wear lost property or spare kits. It is especially important they have a change of clothing as they are getting older now and it is not appropriate to do Games in their school uniform.On the note of school uniform children must wear the correct uniform. Most children are dressed correctly but there are still a few wearing jeans or incorrect coloured trousers. Trainers are only acceptable if they are black.

If you check back, by the end of the week there will be a selection of excellent work the children have been producing. Come into the classroom as there will soon be a collection of children's work and the learning that has been taking place!

In Literacy we wrote our own short story based on the Jamila Gavin book, Grandpa Chatterji. We have carried out a detailed author study so ask your children what they know. I'm sure you will be amazed by some of the facts they have discovered!

Finally a special mention for Doua. Since the beginning of term she has been working so hard and been a real star in class and making a real effort with her homework. Well done!

Miss Sullivan