Welcome to Life at KPS for Year 5

Mrs Van Rooyen and Mrs Sharma warmly welcome you to Year 5.

The aim of this page is to highlight some of the fantastic learning that has been happening in Year 5, this page will be updated monthly, with photographs and information about the learning we have completed during the month.

We hope you enjoy looking through these updates and do discuss your child’s learning with them to celebrate their success. We look forward to any suggestions you may have to make your child’s learning a pleasant experience.

May 2022

Art / Design and Technology

In DT we have been looking at construction. We started looking at attachment and how we can use different ways to attach pieces of cardboard. Children learnt about different ways to attach different parts to other parts such as: gusset, tab, feet, flange, slot, L-brace etc. We will be using some of these in our upcoming project. In DT we have been looking at construction. We started looking at attachment and how we can use different ways to attach pieces of cardboard. Children learnt about different ways to attach different parts to other parts such as: gusset, tab, feet, flange, slot, L-brace etc. We will be using some of these in our upcoming project.

Computing

In computing we looked at how to program your teacher to make a jam sandwich. This is about the instructions and to be exact in every small instruction or algorithm.

Coding is telling a computer what to do, in a way that, with a bit of translation, it can understand. You give computers instructions in what is known as ‘code’, in a similar way to how you might have a recipe for how to cook something. You tell the computer about elements it needs to work with (like the ingredients), you give it instructions, and there might be some conditions it needs to choose between (like choosing whether an oven is electric or gas and then following the corresponding temperature). These instructions you give the computer need to be broken down into every single task, without ambiguity. It can take practice to think as a computer would so you can work out what instructions would need to be written.

English

In English this month we have been working extremely hard on our new topic – Charlotte’s Web. Children have been writing some amazing descriptions of barns and imaging what it would be like if they were Wilbur escaping from the barn. We have come up with fantastic fronted adverbials, subordinate clauses and relative clauses to add to our descriptive writing. It was important for children to try and create a picture in the mind of the reader, this ensures that they are writing a description and not a narrative.

Food Technology

We were celebrating this term the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and for that reason, we looked at some typical recipes that the Queen would usually have that is typical ‘English’. Scones is one of favourites of the Queen and so we tried our own. We had such great success that everybody, including Mr Vig, thought we ‘smashed’ it. He commented on the texture of our scones and said it was the best ever scones he had! We were extremely happy to know it turned out so well!

Maths

We have been looking at Decimals, Fractions and Percentages. We started with recapping decimals and this tied in with reviewing place value. We then moved on to hundredths and thousandths. We spent a couple of lessons looking at this and once we had solidified this, we were able to progress to converting decimals into fractions and percentages. We worked on ordering decimals as this is vital when understanding the value of decimals.

Music

Children have been learning the National Anthem and ‘Sing’ both of which are in preparation for the Platinum Jubilee.

Panjabi

In year 5 we have been learning about the full Panjabi alphabet, all 8 sets. We have been using our knowledge of the full alphabet to read and write Panjabi. As well as being fluent in the alphabet, we are comfortable using 4 of the Punjabi symbols such as: siharee, biharee, kanaa and laavan. We are beginning to use laavan in our words and sentences. As well as written Panjabi, we have been looking at the names of different shapes in Panjabi and we are making it cross-curriculum with maths.

Physical Education

In PE, we have been continuing learning to play Kabaddi! We have been practicing the skills needed to play the sport by taking part in practice games and drills designed to improve spatial awareness. Kabaddi is a team sport in which you have to score points by invading the other team’s space and tagging a player, then returning to your own side before getting tagged back. Children will be working on quick footwork skills and teamwork to improve their game play.  These skills are transferable to many other team and individual sports and we will be discussing this further in our lessons.

PSHE

This term we started the new Jigsaw topic: ‘Changing me’. This is about understanding personal characteristics and looking at how  girls’ and boys’ bodies change during puberty. We started this topic off with a lesson about self-awareness. We were looking at our strengths and weaknesses and then also decide on what we like about ourselves and what we would like to change about ourselves.

Science

We have started our topic of ‘Animals including humans’. We first started by looking at the life cycle of animals, and linking in with our English, we looked at the life cycle of a spider. We then moved on to the human life cycle. It was important we understand where life begins for humans. This allowed us to move on to the stages of growth in babies. We even created graphs to show the growth and development of babies. Finally, we looked at the gestation periods of a variety of animals!

Sikh Studies

This term in Sikh Studies the children in Y5 have been learning about the great Sikh Ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They learnt many facts about Maharaja Ranjit Singh and also other prominent Sikhs that were also present during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They also learnt some stories about Maharaja Ranjit Singh that shows how important it is to follow Sikh values despite being a powerful ruler. In their books, children had to write a fact file of Maharaja Ranjit Singh based on what they had learnt in the lessons.