Year 5 Weekly News - Friday 18/03/2022
English
We are still absolutely loving our text for this term - Comic by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Liam, the lead character, has just won a competition to go to a brand-new space-themed theme park in China (although his parents think he is on a school trip to the Lake District). We can't wait to read on and find out what happens next!
Our writing has been inspired by the book, and we are creating a play script based on scenes from the book where Liam first has to persuade his friend - Florida - then his parents. The playscript, as well as including all the features of a playscript, must also have an element of persuasion in there.
Maths
In maths this week, year 5 have been calculating fractions of amounts and have completed their learning on fractions. Next up - decimals and percentages.
UBBC
We began our learning in UBBC this week by looking at the Space Race - the competition between USA and USSR into the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s to be the first to the moon. We learnt how USSR were first when it came to getting a satellite into space and first in getting a man into space. However, USA claimed the ultimate victory by putting a man on the moon in 1969. It was "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".
Towards the end of the week, our heads have all been in a spin in UBBC - we've been leering about the rotation and revolution of the Earth.
On Thursday, we made sun dials and have been using them since to track the sun as it appears to move across the sky (of course, we all know that it is not the sun moving, rather it is the Earth spinning on its axis).
We have learnt that the Earth's rotation gives us day & night and takes 24 hours; and we have learnt that the Earth's revolution is it's orbit around the sun, which takes 365 days (and 6 hours!). We also learnt that the Earth spins on its axis at a 23.5 degree angle, meaning the hemispheres of the Earth are either tilted towards the sun, or away from it - this gives us our seasons. It's been a lot to get our heads around but we've had great fun learning and showing off our understanding.
Home Learning Information
This week we have been looking at tracking the sun using homemade sun dials.
Tracking the movement of the sun, the moon and the planets has long been a fascination of humanity. From the earliest days of civilisations there are examples of clocks and calendars that tracked the movement of the sun and moon across the sky. This was important to early civilisations, as this helped them to plan when to plant crops, how long seasons would be and when to prepare for winter. Summer and winter solstices were times for great celebration in many cultures as they marked both the middle of the summer, and then end of the winter and the coming of spring - these were also tracked using calendars.
For your homework, we would like you to investigate one of the following:
Ancient calendars
History of sun dials
- https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/sundial/403911
- https://kids.kiddle.co/Sundial
- https://study.com/academy/lesson/sundials-lesson-for-kids-facts-history.html
Stonehenge
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z82hsbk/articles/zg8q2hv
- https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/history/general-history/stonehenge-facts/
The Ancient Maya calendar:
Key Messages and Information for Parents
- Monday - no PE kit. School closes for children at 1.15pm for parents Parent Teacher Consultations from 1.30pm
- Tuesday - Parent Teacher Consultations from 3.30pm
- Tuesday - Swimming Year 5 (G,B)
- Wedsnesday - Parent Teacher Consultations from 3.30pm
- Thursday - Pupil Council MacMillan Charity Coffee Morning (parents invited) in hall— 9-10am
- Thursday - Upton Spring Music Concert 6.30pm—by ticket only (tickets will be sent home this week)