This week in Year 5 we have continued to set high-expectations of the children and started to get into the curriculum a little more. With a new website, comes a new process to learn, so - for one week only - Mr. Johnston has taken to the keyboard!

In English, Year 5 revisited expanded noun phrases (ENPs) to add detail to their descriptions and help the reader to better imagine the settings and characters they will read about, for example:

The rusting, broken axe lay buried within a pile of crisp, untouched snow.

From this, we continued to look at using expanded noun phrases with a modifier to add further detail about the last noun we used in the sentence, for example:

The rusting, broken axe lay buried within a pile of snow, which grew with every snowflake that continue to fall.

Next, Year 5 revisited the use of fronted adverbials to explain how, when or where an action took place and help to build cohesion within their writing, for example:

Beneath the darkening, night sky, the orange flames of torches flickered by dwelling doors.

All of this learning led to the children completing extended pieces of writing, which contained examples of the different skills taught throughout the week. 

In Mathematics, Year 5 have continued to explore place value of numbers up to 1,000,000: using place value and Gattegno charts; part-part-whole and bar models; numerals and words to represent numbers in different ways. 

In History, Year 5 have continued to explore the history of the British Isles and the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We have explored the reasons that encouraged these invaders to settle in parts of the country including:

• Homelands routinely flooding.
• Failure of crops and harvests.
• Conflict with other tribes. 
• Being invited (and often paid) to help the Britons defend again the Picts (Scottish)

We discovered that this led to the creation the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and - following the successful invasion of Viking forces - Danelaw. 

In Geography, we have explored the difference between the British Isles, Great Britain and the United Kingdom as well as plot the settlement of Anglo-Saxon and Viking during the period.

Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) has begun to provide Year 5 with an opportunity to explore the French language by looking at examples of its use in the world as well as creating their book covers using a map of France for inspiration. 

In Physical Education (PE), we took our first visit to St. Nicholas Leisure Centre for the first swimming lessons of the year. During the lesson, we were grouped and given an opportunity to start developing our skills. 

Altogether, it has been an action-packed, learning filled five days! Next week? Well, with an educational visit to Tamworth Castle, we are sure there will be loads to share!