13 Sep 2019

Yr5 Curriculum Update – 13/09/19

Working together to achieve success for every child


Dear parents,

Because we believe that students are best positioned be reporting and commenting on the learning that they are involved in, from now on, the Year 5 curriculum updates will be written by students in collaboration with teachers.  We currently have a team of ambitious writers made up of one student per class, who will share the learning they have done over the past fortnight.  The team of writers will teach other students how to write for the update allowing more students the opportunity to share on behalf of Year 5. We hope you enjoy understanding their learning from their perspective.

 

Unit of Inquiry

HOW THE WORLD WORKS

Central Idea

Matter exists in different forms which can be changed and used for different purposes.

Lines of Inquiry

  • What defines matter [form]
  • Changes matter can undergo [change]
  • Using scientific understanding/knowledge to solve problems and answer questions [connection]

In the past two weeks, we have been focusing on the different states of matter and their properties. We have been doing a variety of experiments focused on states of matter.  Some classes have started to make posters with their own information and aspects of the states of matter. Students had time to research for their posters and learn how the different states change to another state.

We have also started to tune in to the different properties of physical and chemical changes. We have been watching videos to research more on the states. Some of the experiments we have been doing include: What temperature does chocolate melt at and how quickly does it melt? What happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar in a bottle with a balloon on top? Why does toasted bread turn purple when you dip it in iodine? Does ice melt at different rates depending on what liquid it is in? (e.g water, orange juice, milk, coke).

Literacy

We wrote a persuasive letter to our parents, where we had to write about plastic wrappers and other plastic stuff that would harm our environment and how to reduce or not use them at KJS. We all thought of having a simple goal to not have any plastic wrappers every week on Monday and Friday. The whole school has an even bigger goal: to reduce / not use plastic wrappers every day at KJS in line with the “Real Foods” goal of children being provided with healthy, wrapper free food in reusable containers.

5E also did Alien Writing, where we had to write a letter about crash landing on a planet called EARTH and then we described one or two objects (things we thought an alien would be confused about) – and we wrote what we thought that an alien would think about the object and how they would describe it in a letter to a friend on Jupiter.

We also made Book Recommendation videos, so people could see what books we like to read and get information about other books they might like to read. This was a chance to share our opinion of our favourite book as well as hopefully encourage others to try reading something they wouldn’t normally choose.  A lot of us used WeVideo to make them.

 

Maths

Central Idea

The base 10 place value system extends infinitely in two directions.

Lines of Inquiry

  • The relationships between numbers (connection)
  • How the base 10 place value system works (function)
  • What a successful mathematician is (form)

We have begun our inquiry into the place value system and are exploring our understanding of the base 10 place value system.  We have been doing hands-on learning with base 10 materials and understanding what each piece of equipment represents.  We have also learned what every place means and what it is used for. E.g. the decimals’ place is used to represent numbers smaller than 1 but larger than 0.

The term “Base 10” is used because every place in place value is based on 10.

An example is: 10, 100, and 1,000. And so on. These ideas are based on 10 because 10=10×1 100=10×10 1,000=10×100 10,000=10×1000, and this pattern repeats itself up to infinity. Place value separates different values, such as: 1-9= units place, 10-99= tens place, 100-999= hundreds place, 1,000-9,999= thousands place.

We also learned about a concept called “partitioning”, which is basically splitting the number to know what parts it has. Examples are: 352= 300+50+2, 352.24= 300+50+2+0.2+0.04.

 

Request from parents please:

Each student is allocated an individual Chromebook for learning purposes in Year 5.  It is often helpful for students to have their own set of headphones to support their learning in a hygienic way.  If you could supply a set of headphones (optional to have a microphone), it would be appreciated.  Students can keep their headphones in their individual trays in their classrooms.

Kind regards,

The Year 5 team

 

Key Dates for the Diary

  • Thursday 12 September   CPD – No school
  • Monday 30 September   CPD – No school
  • Tuesday 1 October   National Day – No school
  • Friday 4 October   Day before Mid-Term Break – FULL Day Classes
  • 7 – 11 October Mid-Term Break