English

This week, year 5 have enjoyed continuing with our book, The Firework Maker's Daughter by Phillip Pullman. We have enjoyed lots of writing this week. We began by describing a setting from the book; a setting we had made a diorama for last Friday (see an example from 5Y below).

Towards the end of the week, we began looking at different ways to start stories, focusing on different skills each time. We wrote the first story opening with a focus on setting description, the second with a focus on dialogue and the third with a focus on action. They were really enjoyable to write and the creativity and variety within the classes was fantastic. 

In our reading sessions, we have been sharpening up our reciprocal reading skills of Questioning and Predicting. In PaG sessions, our focus has been on finding different ways to open our sentences; we have looked at using fronted adverbials, starting sentences with similes, starting sentences with prepositional phrases and starting with -ing words. Our spelling focus this week as been words ending -ant and -ance (Spelling Shed homework is focused on the same).

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Maths

In maths this week we have concluded our unit on Multiplication and Division by focusing on division. We have looked at a variety of methods for division, including chunking and the short method of division (often called the bus stop method). Those with a strong understanding of their times tables found this week incredibly satisfying as they were able to make links between division and known multiplication facts. Keep practising your tables on TTRS guys!

Next week, we'll be moving on to look at fractions. This unit will take us up to the half-term break and beyond.

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UBBC

This week was a really exciting week in UBBC as Upton children 'received a letter from a school pupil in China'. We were fascinated reading about their daily life and finding out how many differences and similarities our lives had. We then wrote a reply letter, comparing our lives to theirs. 

We finished the week by looking at Ming pottery, looking at why china porcelain is so culturally important and significant to China. In our sketch books, we then began to plan designs for our own Ming vase, which we'll be painting in the coming weeks.  

Next week, we'll be celebrating Chinese New Year on Tuesday 1st February and towards the end of the week we'll be cooking our own Chinese spring rolls. A great week to look forward to!

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Home Learning Information

This week, we have been looking at the "Three Perfections" of Chinese art and culture. Calligraphy and painting were two - and we have covered these in class - the third is poetry. For your homework this week, we would like you to write a poem. 

Chinese poems were often linked to nature; trees and plants; rivers and mountains; birds, animals and nature. Try to link your poem to nature. Also, Chinese poems often combined the other of the "Three Perfections" (calligraphy and painting) and were often beautifully written and illustrated (see examples below). Try to do the same with your poem. We can't wait to see what you produce! Good luck!!

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Key Messages and Information for Parents

Next week, Year 5 will need their swimming kits on Wednesday, not on Tuesday. This is because we want to spend Tuesday afternoon celebrating Chinese New Year, which falls this year on Tuesday 1st February. 

On Friday, children will be cooking in school, but they do not need to bring anything in for this.