TOPICS/CURRICULUM
Spring Term 2
Welcome back! We hope you had a relaxing and well-deserved half-term. Our Spring term learning has got off to great start and we have had fun continuing to immerse ourselves in our topics of Earth, Space and the History of Astronomy.
This half-term will continue our Discover topic focus, and we will deepen our understanding and learning of Maths, English and many more subjects too.
Spring Term 2 Topic: Discover - How can we know the unknown?
We will be:
- learning about the beginnings of astronomy from the stone age right the way through to the present day
- exploring the unknown and the people who have been inspired to investigate it
- analysing how different views about astronomy have changed, such as whether the sun goes around the Earth, or whether the Earth goes around the sun
- learning about and comparing astronomers from around the world
- discovering how belief and ideas can change over time
Our project concepts this term are belief, change, innovation and the unknown.
English Learning
In English, we will be continuing to look at Anthony Browne’s King Kong as well linking themes to our Discover topic.
We will learn:
- about the features of a picture book aimed at older readers
- about newspapers and their features
- about letters and their purpose and audience
- to write from a character’s POV
- to sharpen our writing using more advanced grammar and punctuation
We will also be continuing to read ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ by Onjali Q. Raúf as our Guided Reading text.
Mathematical Learning
This half term we will be:
- completing our learning about the short method for multiplication
- learning about the short method for division
- learning about area and perimeter
- continuing to develop our rapid recall of our times tables
PSHE Learning
We will be learning about families and relationships, the changing body and online safety.
French Learning
This half term we will be learning new vocabulary for snacks and drinks ‘at the tea room’. We will also be learning additional key phrases to help us role-play in
the French ‘salon de thé’ as well as using our knowledge of numbers and French currency.
Scientific Learning
Our topic this half term continues to be Earth and Space:
- We will learn about our how the Moon orbits the Earth, which orbits the Sun, and the forces that make this happen
- We will learn about the phases of the moon
- We will consider the possibility of life on other planets how people have tried to find it or communicate with it
Music Learning
We will be basing our learning around The Planets by Gustav Holst. We will learn about rhythm, time signatures, timbre and the many instruments of Holst’s orchestra. We will examine how the composer’s influences shaped his music. We will also be composing our own piece for another new planet.
Faith and Wonder Learning
We are learning about Salvation and the Passion ahead of the Easter holiday.
Computing Learning
We will be learning how to program music and create a soundtrack using the coding programme Scratch.
PE Learning
Outdoor PE this term will be building our skills in rounders ready for some games in the Summer term.
How can you help?
- Encourage your child to read regularly at home, both independently and to an adult
- Lots of regular times table testing and quick maths skills following the instructions indicated on the home learning sheets. The faster the response, the better!
- Supporting your child with learning their spellings, discussing the meanings of words, putting them into sentences and reviewing spellings from previous weeks
- All of this will be on the weekly home learning sheets
Events/Trips planned for this half term
- Monday 3rd-Monday 10th March – Sponsored read week
- Thursday 6th March – World Book Day
- Friday 14th March – St Margaret’s Got Talent 6pm-8pm
- Wednesday 26th March – 9.15am Easter Church service
- Friday 4th April – Last day of term and Mr Jee’s last day!
- Tuesday 22nd April – First day of Summer term
Further dates and information may come out from the Office throughout the half term.
If you have any resources you are happy to loan to us or have any particular knowledge about any of our learning focuses, please let us know.
Class emails:
amberley@stmargaretsprimary.org.uk
lewes@stmargaretsprimary.org.uk
The Year 5 team