Year 5 Curriculum outline Spring 2021
Year 5 Curriculum Outline Spring 2021 The Great Wall ~ Are we nearly there yet?
Humanities - Social Understanding Pupils will use the Great Wall of China as inspiration to look at how historians, archaeologists and scientists collaborate to find out about the past and how new discoveries
are being made all the time. This will lead on to studying the diverse physical and human geography of China and how it is developing at a vast rate. After half term, the focus will be on transport through the ages. The pupils will research different types of transport, investigating trends and how these shape the world we now live in. They will focus on British and local history with the opportunity to carry out an in-depth study of a chosen development in transport history. The term will include a collaboration day where we will showcase our learning. In RS, we will learn about the Old Testament and consider its importance to Christians. The stories of Abraham and David will be reviewed, and we shall be discussing how the writings of David influenced the Christian world. We will understand how Christians believed that God revealed himself through prophets, and consider the relevance of the Ten Commandments today.
Language and Communication The pupils will study a traditional Chinese story, develop their use of figurative language and write their own story in the same style. They will also take a look at a range of poems classed as free verse - which don’t follow a set rhyme scheme, rhythm or pattern. This will allow the children to really play with language and use imagery as a powerful tool for descriptive writing. After half term they will look at information texts linked to our transport theme and retelling a story from different viewpoints.
In Modern Languages, as children gain confidence in communication, they are finding out more about how languages work and spotting links to knowledge they have gained about their own language and its grammar. They will begin to learn about the importance of verbs and their patterns. In French, lessons this term will start with looking at larger numbers and this will then be applied to telling the time. Later in the term children will focus on France and its geography, looking at geographical features, towns and travelling around, introducing the verb aller. In Spanish pupils will be asking for and giving opinions about sport and using expressions of frequency. This will lead into the use of pronouns and verbs to talk about their activities in the present tense.
Mathematical Understanding We will begin by looking at multiplication for by 1-digit and then 2-digits numbers. Next the focus will be division with 4-digits by 1-digit with a specific look at remainders. Next we will cover fractions - equivalency, comparing and ordering fractions, converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers, adding and subtracting fractions and solving problems related to these; multiplying fractions and finding fractions of an amount.
Our next topic is decimals - converting between fractions and decimals, ordering and comparing decimals, rounding decimals, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100, 1000 and finally using all four operations to solve problems involving measures and money involving decimal notation. Our last topic will be decimals and percentages. We will look at the link between percentages, decimals and fractions, and pupils will understand that per cent relates to the number of parts per hundred. We will solve problems involving fractions, decimals and percentages and look at rounding decimals.
Physical Education and Well-being In PE lessons at Rosedale House this term pupils will take part in touch rugby, dance and indoor athletics, focusing on speed running, jumping and relays, as well as cross country running. At Dame Bradbury’s, pupils will take part in indoor athletics and hockey. Football, netball and hockey will form the basis of games lessons for the pupils this term. For hockey, pupils will need shin pads, a moulded mouthguard and hockey sticks. Development of key skills, refinement of technique and a focus on integrating tactics into match play will be key features of lessons this term. More information about fixtures can be found at www.stephenpersesport.com or www.damebradburyssport.com Do encourage your child to get involved with any of these sports outside of school by joining local clubs, and discuss the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle.
In PSHEE, the pupils will learn about the types and effects of different drugs, considering essential medicines and who can use and administer them. They will learn about the basic safety rules for medicines and also consider attitudes and beliefs about other substances used in society, such as alcohol and nicotine, developing their critical thinking skills. Pupils will then go on to look at exploring their own identity, learn about the meaning of community and the importance of valuing difference. They will consider the effect of the media and advertising. Pupils will also reinforce their understanding of using technology safely and effectively throughout the term.
Creative and Performing Arts In Music, pupils will explore the elements of traditional folk music from across the United Kingdom. Pupils will learn to listen, analyse, perform and compose, based on a number of chosen setworks, both old and new. The pupils will glean exposure to a number of key composers, such as Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and notice some of their common and most distinctive musical traits. The pupils will have lessons in movement, particularly Morris dancing, woven into their study as well, so as to allow them to feel the lilting folk rhythms in an authentic and musical way. The pupils will round off their folk music topic with performances of their favourite traditional pieces. Each week, the pupils will develop their instrumental technique and ensemble performance skills as members of differentiated flexible performance groups. These groups will change a number of times throughout the year, providing the students with a holistic ensemble
experience, challenge, and opportunity to explore a variety of instruments and musical genres. As a member of each ensemble, the pupils will build their confidence and fluency with reading staff notation, and learn how to convey expression and more detailed musical markings. The Great Wall as a boundary and way of containment will inspire our ceramic skills in Create Design Engineering this half term as we discover features from great artworks and translate the elements of art into three dimensions. Using clay to explore rolling, joining, cutting and decorating skills and techniques, we will create our own vessel based on the work of a great artist. The second part of term will be spent constructing our own motorised vehicle. We hope to combine constructing skills with coding to design our own wheels. In Drama pupils will develop their skills in performance technique in preparation for the year group production. With a focus on developing and maintaining a character throughout a performance, pupils will also develop vocal skills. Pupils will put into practice their understanding of stage blocking. Through the production, students will also have the chance to develop their movement, dance and physical theatre skill. A full evaluation of the performance allows pupils to consider how to improve their performance work in the future.
Scientific Understanding This term in Science, pupils will start by learning about materials and their properties, looking at the properties of solids, liquids and gases, how these affect their practical uses and how they change from one state into another. We will look in some detail at the Earth’s atmosphere and its role in protecting life on this planet. We will then boldly go beyond the atmosphere, with a topic on Earth and Space, in which pupils will gain a wider perspective on the place of the Earth in the wider Universe, starting with the rotation of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the Sun, the phases of the Moon and why we have seasons, and moving out to look at the wider Solar System. How you can help: Visit local museums, such as the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Saffron Walden Museum and Cambridge Science Centre. These institutions have extended their online resources during lockdown, as has BBC Bitesize Science. Look out also for science programmes on TV or YouTube.
Digital
The Inner Wheel With the Google apps at the heart of digital curation our pupils use Google Classroom to complete work digitally and hand in work that is produced in a variety of ways. We have identified 7 main apps, our EverGreen apps, that help to showcase our pupils’ learning. An animation, movie or annotated piece of work provides richer feedback for the teacher and ultimately helps to make greater progress. Explain Everything www.explaineverything.com Green Screen www.doink.com Stop Motion www.cateater.com Strip Design www.vividapps.com/Strip_Designer/ Notability www.gingerlabs.com Book Creator www.bookcreator.com Puppet Pals www.polishedplay.com The Outer Wheel We have a number of apps that we use consistently throughout our curriculum that lend themselves to our creative approach. We avoid apps that are specific to a particular outcome, preferring content free apps that can help to enhance our pupils work and understanding. Some examples are: Minecraft, iMovie, KeyNote, Pages and Padlet.
Coding Another aspect of our digital curriculum is the coding/programming skills that are embedded in all subjects or taught discretely in Years 5 and 6. We have identified a progression of apps that help to develop our pupils ability to code. The apps provide variety and challenge and help to develop the computation skills that are crucial learning in our digital work. We combine the coding experiences with physical output. Using Spheros, BBC Micro:Bits and Ozobots provides visual outcomes that bring our code to life. As our pupils develop further they transition on to written code.
Thinking Toolkit Alongside and underpinning our curriculum we ensure that our pupils are developing as active learners and active thinkers. Throughout each subject area pupils are encouraged to use their range of thinking tools and reflect on when and how they are using them. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on how their thinking tools underpin all aspects of their learning and not just in the more obvious ways. How are they creative in maths? How do they enquire in English? How are they critical in Music? How do they think computationally in PE?
Inclusion This curriculum map outlines the core curriculum for each year group each term but at the heart of our wheel is the individual learner. Each subject area has a progression of skills which enables staff to stretch or support individuals as and when they need a little help, a bit of a push or a just a different way in. Within our classrooms through planning, teacher knowledge and interactions work is differentiated to suit the needs of each individual.