Friday 11th November

Welcome back to Year 5F’s blog for this week.

As it is Armistice Day today, the children have spent time this week learning about the significance of poppies and why we wear them at this time of year. As today is the eleventh day on the eleventh month, on the eleventh hour the children observed two minutes’ silence to show their respect for those that lost their lives during times of war. They watched the BBC News and were able to see how the country came to a standstill at eleven o’clock, as we all stopped and shared a moment of reflection.

Maths – The children have been concentrating on multiplication and division this week. They began the week with a prior learning test to see what they already know. What quickly became apparent was that many of the class struggle with the instant recall of their multiplication and division facts. As a result, we have had a huge blast on chanting times tables out loud together. The children have been given fun ways to chant, with rhymes to help them recall the tricky answers. Ask them to show you how to do it at home. We are hoping that the children will continue with the chanting at home every night and would ask you to please encourage and help them.

This website is especially good for quick-fire practise at home…

English – The children began by looking at modal verbs. These are very useful verbs which can help to enhance writing. Here are some of the modal verbs the children have used in their writing this week…

               could…would…should…can…will…shall…must…may…might

Modal verbs can be used as a question…Can I go to the cinema tonight?

Or as a statement, by changing the order of the words…I can go to the cinema tonight.

They can show degrees of possibility…I might watch football…I could watch football…I will watch football.

Modal verbs can offer advice…You must wear school uniform.

They can show ability…I can drive a car.

They can ask permission…Could I please leave five minutes early?

Finally, they can show habits…I will often have toast for breakfast.

So, as you can see they are very versatile little verbs!

On Wednesday, the children walked down to Empire Cinema to watch an Australian film called Paper Planes. Watch the trailer here to see what the film is all about…

The children thoroughly enjoyed finding out about Dylan and his adventures. They have begun some follow up work based on the film. They have written a character portrait about Dylan and created a story-board re-telling the film using words and pictures.

Topic – The children have been learning some songs in Music about the Viking Gods. They LOVE singing along to a song all about Loki. He was quite a mischievous god who loved to play tricks. They have also learned about Odin. He was the father of the gods and created the world. He created a land for giants to live in (the Viking’s enemy), a world for man to live in and a land for the gods.

Have a listen and why not have a sing-a-long yourself!

The children went on to learn about the countries that the Vikings originated from. They discovered that they came from Denmark, Sweden and Norway - collectively they are known as Scandinavia. They found out that they first invaded Britain in the late eighth century. The first country they invaded was Ireland, followed by Scotland and the North East of England. Many Vikings settled in the North East, especially around York, which they called Jorvik.

Science – The children have been learning about life-cycles. They have looked at the four stages in the life-cycle of a frog. Can you name them and explain what happens? Answers are at the bottom of the blog. Watch this animated explanation of a frog’s life.

Here is this week's CERTIFICATE WINNER who for being so well mannered, hard-working, kind and respectful. Practically perfect in every way! What a super star we all think she is!  She went on to be chosen as the UPPER PHASE PUPIL OF THE WEEK and won the trophy to take home until next Friday. A colossal well done  from all of Year 5F! 

All that remains to say is have a great weekend. After this extremely cold spell, the weather is supposed to return to a more palatable 10 degrees over the weekend. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

ANSWER: Frogspawn (eggs), tadpole, froglet, adult frog