Year Five 2016 - 2017

Mr Prior

Mrs Winterbottom

Welcome to Year 5

Reading
Reading is a major priority at North Walkden, we want our children to be confident and fluent in their reading. Subsequently, the children will continue to follow a reading scheme which will be monitored by staff but they are responsible for changing and looking after their own books, as long as a parent/carer has signed the reading record to say they have read it. Staff will hear children read at least twice per week, more if possible and depending on the needs of the child. Furthermore, guided reading and comprehension activities take place regularly during the week, where we can really expand their skills in reading. As previously mentioned, I expect children to read daily at home, however this doesn’t have to just be their reading book; children should now be enjoying a wide range of texts. These can include: newspapers, magazines, comics or even a recipe book! Try to encourage your child to read independently, if possible, and let me know what they are reading in their reading record.

Literacy
With the introduction of our new cursive handwriting script, the children are taking great care in the presentation of their writing. Many of our Year 5s already have beautifully joined up writing, however some have adopted the cursive script and are enjoying using it to improve the presentation of their work. As a class, we will continue to work on our hand writing in separate sessions throughout the week.

In Year 5, I am expecting children to become brave and creative writers as they play around with words and language in order to create imaginative and informative pieces. We will cover a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres and children will be encouraged to take charge of their writing and be able to edit and improve their own work.

The sentence work in Year 5 continues to get more advanced as I get them ready for Year 6. We will be learning how to create and apply more complex sentences, which have exciting openings and clauses. Consequently, grammar will be a big focus in Year 5, as we learn to use and apply more complex rules for spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Maths
Maths will continue to build on the skills they have been learning in KS2, but to a more advanced level. Children will be expected to understand place value up to 1 million and there will be a bigger focus on word problems and 'real life' problems. It would be a huge help if you could help your child understand time and money in a real life context, for example during shopping. This can be done informally and would help the children become more fluent in their understanding. As always, times tables are key and children need fluency in their times tables up to 12; this will help them in many areas of numeracy.

Other Information
PE takes place every Wednesday afternoon untill next half term when it will change to either Tuesday or Friday, it would be a great help if you could put a name on the kit as we have already lost a few items! Children are allowed, and encouraged, to bring in a water bottle and fruit; fruit can be eaten at playtimes.

See you soon,
Mr Prior and Mrs Winterbottom