Meet Mr Mateta, our Lions Class Teacher!
Mr Mateta is energetic and enthusiastic in everything he does. With a real passion for PE, he loves getting stuck into a game of basketball, while also enjoying a challenge of a good chess match. This Spring Term, he’s especially excited about our upcoming residential — a fantastic opportunity for adventure, teamwork, and creating lasting memories together.

Mrs Brewer is the teaching assistant in Lions. She is a mum of 2 boys and loves family fun at the weekends. We have got our Hathersage residential this term which she excited to be taking some of you on. Mrs Brewer is exited to watch you all grow and make lots of progress across all of your learning.

PE days in Lions are Tuesday and Thursday. Homework is given out on a Friday on Seesaw. Children have a week to complete their homework. Spellings are tested on a Friday and new spellings given. Children can practise their spellings on Spelling Shed

History

In year 5, our Spring Term Topic is all about Maya with the key question being ‘Maya Civilisation – How did it differ to Britain?’ Within the topic, our children will learn about Maya rule and how it was so successful. We will make comparison between Maya and England leading up to the 10^th century. Finally, the shifting powers will be compared between the Maya region and Anglo-Saxon England.

Geography

The Spring Term will see two geography fieldwork studies in year 5.  The first will focus on the biomes and ecosystems of the UK. Whilst the second will focus on rivers. Both fieldwork units will allow our children to explore life as a geographer allowing them to ‘Dream Big’ making connections with subjects, interests and future careers.

Writing

Writing in the Spring Term will be inspired by the books ‘Arthur and the Golden Rope’ by Joe Todd-Stanton and ‘The Darkest Dark’ by Astronaut Chris Hadfield. The children will use the amazing writing in Arthur and the Golden Rope to write their own myth ‘Creating Connections’ with their previous learning about the Vikings in the Autumn Term. The Darkest Dark links nicely to our science unit on earth and space. The children will write a biography. Throughout our writing, we will continue to develop our grammar, punctuation and spelling through our Gateway, Mastery and Feature keys.

Reading

Word reading and fluency are developed within each unit through various activities, such as echo reads, timed reads, and fluency grids. Each text includes high-frequency words and a range of common exception words, enabling children to read aloud and understand the meaning of new words they encounter through repeated reading of the text, contiguous reads, echo reads, and the use of the fluency grid. Children will check that the book makes sense to them, discuss their understanding, explore the meaning of words in context, and identify how language, structure, and presentation contribute to meaning. A range of vocabulary-based questions will be used to develop and demonstrate this knowledge. Our year 5 reading, helps develop retrieval skills through diverse texts, teaching children to pinpoint key elements like characters and events. Summarising skills are honed as they identify main ideas from multiple paragraphs. Lastly, children learn to make simple inferences and ask questions to deepen their understanding, reinforcing their analytical skills throughout the reading journey.

Maths

Our maths will begin with further deepening our year 5 knowledge of multiplication and division.  The children will multiply up to a 4-digit by 2-digit number. Additionally, they will divide a 4-digit number by a 1-digit number and divide with remainders. This will lead to the children solving problems using both multiplication and division. Next, we move on to our second fraction unit of the year. Here, the children will multiply unit fractions, non-unit fractions and mixed numbers by integers. Our children will then learn about finding fractions of an amount and finding then whole. Our decimal knowledge will take us up to exploring thousandths as fractions and decimals including comparing and ordering. In perimeter and area, the children will build on their year 4 knowledge by finding the perimeter or polygons and the area of compound shapes. Finally, statistics will be our focus uncovering more about line graphs and tables.

Art and Design and Technology

In art, our children will learn about the Mexican Artist – Frida Kahlo. They will study her self-portraits and gain an understanding of surrealism. Furthermore, we will discover how Frida painted moments in her life and expressed emotion through her work.

Mechanical toys are the focal point of our DT learning.  We will complete research into woodwork and mechanisms in mechanical toys and consider that products have evolved over times as a result of constant evaluation and modification. The children will then design, make and test a prototype using cams and followers before making their final product!

Science

In the Spring Term in year 5, the children will investigate Earth and Space and Plant and Animal Life Cycles in science. In our Earth and Space unit, the children will describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system. They will learn about the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth and the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies. Finally, the children will use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky.

Our second science topic of the term follows on from our year 4 learning about offspring nd flowering plants. The children will understand the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird. Additionally, the will investigate the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.

RSHE - Relationships, Sex, and Health Education

Our No Outsiders books will teach us more about recognising when someone needs help and considering responses to racist behaviour. Furthermore, we will think about caring in the community and what makes a health committed relationship. Our E-safety work will begin by looking at online reputations – specifically how people can form inaccurate opinions, and we will understand the importance of a strong password. Finally, the children will develop their knowledge of sun safety.

PE

PE in the Spring Term covers gymnastics, games, dance and outside adventurous activities. In Spring 1, we will compose individual, partner and group dances that reflects the chosen dance style and improve their orientation skills in our OAA unit. Moving on to Spring 2, the children will be introduced to tennis, learning more about striking the ball effectively. Finally, the children will develop their balance skills using their core in our gymnastics unit.