Year 5

Autumn Term

The Autumn term is packed with exciting opportunities for learning. We start the year studying the Ancient Greeks. The Greek launch day is a superb way to start the topic with teachers dressed up and children using archaeological techniques to unearth clues about the past. After this the children enjoy a feast of Ancient Greek style food in a banquet! We use this enthusiasm to spur on our Lteracy work, writing Greek Myths. Also using Greek Myths as inspiration is the Greek Gods ‘Fashion Show!’ where children get to dress up and act like their favourite God or Goddess. Next we turn our attention to more recent times - Victorians!

 

The Victorian School day is an eye-opening experience for many members of Year 5 with teachers dressed as, and acting like, strict Victorian school masters. The children learn all about the age of Empire and Britain’s role in the Industrial revolution along with linking our Literacy work to the topic too. We look at the Dickens classic ‘Oliver Twist’ and use it as inspiration for writing from other people’s point of view. We also design and create moving toys using Victorian toys as inspiration.

 

Spring Term

Year 5 have a very busy Spring term! The learning has had a Geographical focus, and in particular we learn all about living in Chiswick then compare it to Ringsfield in Suffolk. In Chiswick we go on local walks to study the land use, count traffic in a traffic survey and try to discover why different areas of Chiswick are more desirable to live in than others. Using persuasive language skills learnt in Literacy lessons, we then attempt to convince people to relocate to areas more suited to their needs. The highlight of the term is our annual visit to Ringsfield Hall. Here, in the safety and tranquillity of the Suffolk countryside, the children partake in the ‘Earthkeepers’ course. Whilst learning all about recycling and looking after the environment the children set off on a quest to earn their ‘Earthkeeper Keys’. These keys unlock the secret meanings of the mysterious E.M! If successful the children earn their ‘K’ and ‘E’ keys at Ringsfield Hall. Whilst in Ringsfield we use the opportunity to compare it with Chiswick, visiting a local school and carrying out questionnaires to gather information that helps develop our understanding of similarities and differences between localities. The main ethos of the Earthkeepers scheme is reducing our impact on the earth and caring for its inhabitants. This is similar then to the key teachings of The Buddha. We study the origins and teachings of Buddhism and end the programme of study with an insightful trip to the Chiswick Vihara. Here we learn to meditate and find out about the life of a modern day Buddhist.

“I really enjoyed Ringsfield Hall. It made me more connected to the world than I already was. I understand the connections between things so much better now.” Mia

“Ringsfield School was a lot smaller than I imagined! They have only 40 children in their school and we have over 300! They also have year 3 and 4 in one class which is very different to our 3 classes per year group” Louie

“Thank you for teaching me about ‘Magic Spots’. When I went out in the morning I saw and heard things I would not be able to in Chiswick!” Siobhan

Summer Term

The summer term is just as busy. Continuing our Earthkeepers programme we turn our attention to sharing our knowledge of how to reduce, reuse and recycle things in order to lessen our impact on the earth. If successful the children earn their ‘Y’ and ‘S’ keys, completing their set of keys and finally revealing the last hidden meaning of E.M. Planning, making and selling desirable recycled objects at the Summer fair helps them to achieve this. Under the broad topic name of ‘How we see things’ Year 5 embark on a learning path that utilises ICT at its heart. We use the short film entitled ‘The Piano’ to understand the planning, filming and editing processes that go into producing a short film. We then use flipshare cameras and film editing suites on the laptop computers to produce a short film of our own.