🌳Welcome To Rowan Class Webpage 🌳
On our page we will be sharing our learning experiences and providing key information to parents.
Our Class Teacher is Mr Morris.
Our Learning Support Assistant is Mrs Bello.
Our Trainee Teacher is Sunpreet Sagoo.
Our P.E day is Tuesday.
In Rowan class, we are expected to complete the following homework challenges each week:
Reading: 📖
Maths: 🧮
Spellings:✍
Key Website Links:
Autumn Term: English
During the first part of the half term, the Year 5’s English was a unit inspired by ‘The Barnabus Project’. We followed the thrilling escape of Barnabus, a "failed pet" longing for freedom. Building on the story's themes of individuality and courage, we created our own imaginative "failed creatures," each with unique quirks and backstories. Through vivid figurative language and carefully crafted fronted adverbials, we brought these creatures to life in our own escape scenes. we immersed ourselves in the challenge of blending action, emotion, and description, producing writing that was both adventurous and build tension.
Our second unit was based of the story of Zelda and the Rain Cat, which is a story that heavily focuses on suspense and tension. We dove into the setting of the story, explored how the language made the weather feel threatening and the impact that had on us as the reader. We looked at the way in which we could slowly reveal a threat by using empty words and vague description to make the reader feel uneasy. We used poetry and short burst writing to enhance and showcase our skills. Building up to our big write.
We focused on the following elements to create a story full of suspense and tension:
• Figurative language à personification, metaphors and similes.
• Empty words to slowly reveal the threat.
• Effective verbs.
• Fronted adverbials to move the action along.
• Rhetorical questions to engage the reader.
• Sentence of 3.
• Showing emotion through action.
Our third unit was based on ‘Why Rain Cats are extinct’, which is an explanation information text. As a part of this unit, we explored climate change and the impact it has had on animals going extinct.
We focused on the following writerly techniques to enhance our explanation text:
• Fronted adverbials to link ideas.
• Cause and effect conjunctions.
• Cause and effect sentences.
• Selecting technical vocabulary to sound like an expert.
• Rhetorical questions to engage the reader.
• Parenthesis to add extra information.
• Formal language.
Autumn Term: Maths
During the Autumn term, we explored a range of new concepts as well as building upon our existing skills.
Below is a list of the key concepts we have learned so far:
· Place Value up to 1,000,000.
· Rounding numbers within 1,000,000.
· Addition.
· Subtraction.
· Multiplication à Short and long methods.
· Division à Short method.
· Factors, prime numbers, square numbers and cube numbers.
· Finding equivalents to unit and non-unit fractions.
· Converting improper fractions to mixed numbers.
· Converting mixed numbers to improper fractions.
· Adding and subtracting fractions.
Autumn Term: Topic
During the Autumn term we have been learning all about who the Vikings were and where they came from. Exploring why the Vikings embarked across seas in an attempt to invade and claim Britian’s land as their own. We followed their invasion patterns throughout the years and watched their invasion grow stronger. We recapped own sketching skills and are learning the delicate skill of using water colours in order to create a water colour painting.
Meanwhile, in science, we have been doing tests, planning and conducting experiments and discussing our findings and evaluations all in aid of investigating the properties of materials.
In the other parts of the curriculum, we have also:
French -> Recapped our phonetic sounds in French. While also learned about the four seasons and the what the weather can be like during that time of the year.
Music -> We have explored the genre of music called the Blues. Singing and discussing how it makes us feel. We then learned to play chords and created a performance based on the blues scale and 12 bar blues.
Religious Education ->
· We have been thinking like philosophers by discussing the question ‘Is believing in God reasonable?”. We explored different viewpoints and ending our learning by writing a balanced argument.
· We have also been thinking like scientists by exploring the question ‘How has belief in Christianity and Islam impacted on music and art throughout history?’ We examined different types of artistic expression, the history and symbolism of religious art and the impacts of different cultures on art. We then ended our learning with a debate about the Hagia Sophia and its status as a museum vs a functioning mosque.
Computing -> We have explored what safe searching is and learnt tips to help keep us safe while searching online.
RSE: -> We have learnt about getting enough sleep, keeping clean and changes at puberty.