| Autumn 2008 Archive Part 1 |
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Autumn Term 2008 Archive (most recent info pasted at the top of each half-term) 5W Autumn News Archive 2008 (1st half-term) (23.10.08) To do by half-term - Children should have spent some time this week practising spelling words that they mis-spelt in the last informal test. They should also ensure that they return their 'climatic zone' map and their project sheet if they haven't done so already. We're all looking forward to seeing Mali's passion tomorrow as well as tying up some loose ends with Lucian and Eleanor L's passions.The children will receive a certificate tomorrow that acknowledges receipt of their project. On the first day back after half-term, they will receive an official certficate with a few comments about their shoebox project. They will also receive their new homework project sheet on 'Food'. NB:Photos of all the shoeboxes will be on this website soon.
(21.10.08) Project Sheets (Urgent!) - Just to make things clear. Your child should be returning their project sheet (see copy in info box right) with all the books they have read listed in the column on the right. This should be handed in with the storybox this week. If your child has brought their storybox in already, but not their sheet, please make sure it gets to me no later than Thursday. Please note that a revised letter from Mrs. Smith regarding the homework will be with you tomorrow in time for next half-term's project on the topic of 'food'.
(20.10.08) Oops! - Two pieces of paper did not go out today as I was taken away to a meeting and I... well...forgot!! Firstly, the spelling test from last week. I will give it out tomorrow. Children should do their best to learn words that were incorrect for the test on Friday up to a maximum of 10 words. Any words that they are still having difficulties with, will be given to them again next half-term. The second piece of paper was the 'climatic zone' sheet as stated on the weekly plan (see right). This will now be handed out tomorrow. The other homework task - the work on horizontal and vertical lines - is now cancelled.
(20.10.08) Presentation! Presentation! Presentation! - Several children need to address their appreciation of presentation and good handwriting. This will be addressed in the coming months! In the meantime could all parents and other adults who work with the children introduce them to a long lost and forgotten friend of yesteryear - it seems. May I introduce them to...the...RULER!!!!! Remember him! Not only is the ruler a very good friend of mine, but he's also good at measuring in mm, cm, and inches. However, what I like about him the most is that he can draw STRAIGHT lines. He is able to do this in maths and incredibly - some might say - in English too, especially when it comes to UNDERLINING the TITLE and the DATE in EVERY piece of work. Wow! What a great friend Ruler truly is! You RULE mate! Please - let's draw a line under what we've done up to now and make a special effort to let Ruler rule when it comes to presenting our work.
(19.10.08) Football Funday - 5W come out on top with a share of the spoils with 6MP. Well done 5W!
CHAMPIONS UNITED!!
A well deserved after match snack!
(19.10.08) Weekly Timetable - Please see this week's busy timetable attached in the info section (right). Please encourage your children to manage their time in and out of school well. My term's objective is to encourage them to do just this. The degree of progress made this year will be determined by the degree in which they use their time and increasingly become responsible for their own learning - wherever they are on the learning ladder!
Buy your children short story books too. Here's a highly recommended one from me - click here. Get them to read these kinds of stories regularly. After all, when we ask the children to write stories, we want them to write SHORT stories and not novels! Encourage them to study these stories like the way we are studying 'Harwell Hall' in and out of class.
(17.10.08) Stefanos' Passion - Stefanos produced an absolutely fabulous interactive Powerpoint Presentation and quiz on his passion for the violin. He also showed how much of an accomplished player he is by performing for the class. Well done Stefanos! It was brilliant. Photos and further details on the 'Passion Page' soon.
(16.10.08) Eleanor L's Passion - Here is a photo from Eleanor's passion presentation on tortoises. Eleanor showed us pictures of the different types of tortoises and brought in a tortoise from home for all to see. We haven't quite finished yet because the class will soon be making origami tortoises too! More photos on the 'Passion' page soon as well as a slideshow of photos of the school trip last week.
(15.10.08) Writing the book review for the storybox project.
(15.10.08) Assembly - Hope you enjoyed our assembly today! I think the children did fantastically well to perform an array of poems on the 'spectre' that is poverty. Hope it wasn't too morbid and got across the importance of MAKING POVERTY HISTORY!! Times-table test - The children carried out a random 8 and 9 times-table test today and will be taking home their results tomorrow. Please do all you can to work on their areas for development as appropriate.
(13.10.08) Shout it out! Would really appreciate it if parents could find time to encourage readers to SHOUT OUT their poems in assembly this week!!!!! The children have written some brilliant poems and there is nothing more disappointing than a whispered poem that nobody heard. Please help them at home!! Thanks MW.
(12.10.08) We really want at least some of the children to take part in the BBC's Off By Heart poetry recital competition. Mrs Smith is really interested in having a representative from St. Michael's and there is no reason why that individual cannot be from Year 5. We will be beginning our search for Year 5's poetry recital champ from next week when we discuss it with the classes. Please do all you can to encourage your child to enter. In the meantime please read all about this exciting competition using the following link and encourage your child to pick a poem that suits them. Good luck whatever you choose. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/offbyheart/ (12.10.08) Timetable - Please find a downloadable copy of this week's busy timetable in the 'info' section (right). Wherever possible I have included some useful links to websites that will aid your child's learning beyond the lesson itself. Would also like to add that timetables are never set in stone. It should be at least 70% accurate most weeks however.
(9.10.08) Great Day Out! We had a great day out today! We'll tell you more soon. Just for now have a look at some photos from the Macbeth workshop, Globe Theatre tour, and 'Horrible History' shows by clicking on the link to the left of this page. There will be a slide show with many more photos available next week!
(8.10.08) Christos has recommended a book in the Book Club. See also the object he has brought in for a creative writing exercise in the workshop.
(8.10.08) Solving mathematical problems - The class has an abundancy of good mathematicians. However, many find it difficult to apply their skills when trying to solve problems. i.e. What method do I need to use to solve this problem? What are the stages I need to go through to solve this problem? What is being asked of me here? This is especially evident in word problems when using the English language.
This is linked to comprehension skills. Children with good comprehension skills are normally good at understanding and solving problems. Therefore, lots of reading and comprehension work is useful this year at school and at home. The children have to understand that sometimes answers don't always come to us straight away. Sometimes 'trial and error' is the only way. Just because they cannot solve it immediately, does not mean they cannot do it at all !!
(8.10.08) Website Links - I have started adding some links for some useful websites on this site. These sites cover specific areas in which the children could practise to support their work in class.
(8.10.08) Music lessons - Many children seem to be having their individual music tutorials in the middle of a Literacy or Maths session. I really recommend that you try to rearrange these sessions so that they do not clash with important core subject sessions, especially in Literacy. MW
(7.10.08) Homework Project Character Work - Please find a downloadable copy of the activity for this week to the right of this page. Please also encourage your child to do a draft version first. Time lost this week can be gained at the end of half-term if necessary. (Copy handed out 8.10.08)
There will be a spelling and times-table test next week. (WB 13.10.08)
(5.10.08) See Rosa's book review in the Book Club. See also the objects she brought in for the creative writing exercise in the writing workshop. (5.10.08) Class Assembly - Wednesday 15th October is the date for our first class assembly. Look at the picture below as a clue to what the assembly is about. Hope you can come!
(5.10.08) Weekly timetable - The children (and us adults) would benefit from a weekly timetable that lays out the week ahead. This is part of my aim to get the children to be disciplined with their use of time and appreciate what is expected of them. This will also benefit parents in knowing what is going on each week. I highly recommend that you print out these weekly timetables to help at home. If you don't have a printer ask your child to bring one home. One idea I recommend is to spend just a couple of minutes either before, during, or after dinner, discussing the content of your child's lessons. e.g. What did you do today darling? What did you learn in Literacy or Maths? Yes...some will say things were too easy or hard but this is expected at the beginning of the year as we adjust to the needs of each child. This really helps them to focus on remembering things beyond the lesson itself. The timetable will be available to download from the info column to the right of this page at the beginning of each week. Please forgive me if for some reason this is placed on the site late! The first timetable for WC 6.10.08 can be downloaded now. It will also be given out to each child to place in their desks.
(5.10.08) Children's authors - This year we will be having the pleasure of meeting children's fantasy author Cliff McNish once again in the Spring Term. However, I would also like to invite author Thomas Bloor towards the end of this term. Thomas has a unique style that compliments much of what we are looking for in a child's writing, especially in his books 'The Memory Prisoner', 'The House of Eyes' and 'Worm of Blood' which can be seen as my first recommendation in the book club. Is it possible that each child from each class could contribute just £3.00 for his visit. If class reps could come forward asap to discuss this I would really appreciate it. MW (5.10.08) Homework Project - Children should be furnished with information regarding the character aspect of their project over the next day or two. A copy of which will be posted on this website. (5.10.08) Tudor Day Trip for Year 5. We are all getting very excited about our brilliant day out to the Globe and Bloomsbury Theatres. Please ensure your children bring coats and have packed lunches containers that are disposable. May we remind you that NO spending money is required as there is simply no time for trips to the shops. Teachers attending are Mr. Whiting, Mr. Ross, and Mrs Ronelle Smith our history teacher this year. We will also have the pleasure of the company of two Learning Support Assistants in Traci and Dina. Look out for photos of the day on this site soon.
(4.10.08) 'Harwell Hall' - a perfect short story for kids A few weeks ago I gave out a copy of a short story called 'Harwell Hall' to all the children. This simple short story has everything a child should look for when attempting to write a story of their own. It contains many of the areas I want the children to focus on over this coming year. If you're interested in using this story to aid your child's progress, look out for help on my writing workshop page soon.
(1.10.08) Homework Project: On the homework sheet we stated the following for this week: Draw a floorplan or map to scale to represent the box/house/setting within the story. Make and fit internal fixtures such as furniture, setting, features related to story. Use mm and cm to measure things carefully. Write a page recording details of the project so far. When we said to scale it really depends on what you think your child is capable of. The most important thing is that characters are proportionate to the objects and setting around them. More able mathematicians might be encouraged to measure themselves compared to other objects, walls, etc in their room at home and calculate approximately how much bigger or smaller they are in relation to other things as preparation. This hopefully will ensure that characters are not drawn towering over a tree! e.g As far as recording what they've done so far, there are maybe two means of approach. 1. Write a diary of all the ups and downs of the project so far. 2. Just write an explanatory piece of writing on how you carried out each stage. Cartoon style diagrams of each stage might be fun especially for lesser able children. At the end of the day we just want to see effort and attention to detail. Spellings should be accurate and include words from their lists. An effort to apply sentences from the sentence sheet we provided will also go down well. Hope this fun picture helps the children understand scale!!
(30.9.08) Tudor Trip - no parent helpers are needed for this trip as we have enough staff available. Children will need packed lunches and no spending money is necessary. We will return at approximately 4.30 p.m so please be available to collect your child from this time. Spelling and Times-table Tests - The children should return from school tomorrow with their spelling and times-table result sheets. Please do all you can to aid your child by focusing on areas they have not mastered yet. The spelling test was done quite randomly this time with a selection of popular words I chose from the spelling lists. In about two weeks there will be another more comprehensive test where the children will be put into pairs to test each other. Just before half-term there will be a more formal comprehensive assessment of their words.
Books and Bobs! (30.9.08) Having spent a few weeks with the children, I want to provide as many moments as possible that inspire the children to be passionate about reading and writing. Every week I want a child to bring a book they recommend to school. This will be placed on this website with a small review which the child could write themselves on a piece of paper if they wish at home. I may also make a comment or two about the book. Alternatively, the child can just talk about it in class and I will write down what they like about it on the website. I will also place a recommended book or two on the site.
Rosa will start the ball rolling this week. A timetable of this idea will be on this website soon. (Picture left) How might you use this unusual object as a starting point for a piece of creative writing? WOW!! (29.9.08) I was impressed today by two children who brought in the 'personification' exercise I mentioned below. I didn't ask for it to be handed in, but they wanted to. I gave both these children a yellow smiley face with shades which as everyone in 5W knows is worth a whole 5 minutes golden time!! I have therefore come up with the idea of providing more exercises on this website that compliment or extend the written work in class. Any children that bring in the activity will receive a smiley face for golden time and a small prize based on effort as appropriate. Look out for these soon. MW Passion 2 - Lucian (Art) (29.9.08) Lucian would like everybody to bring in a small toy by Friday for his art passion presentation. The toy should be no more than 12 inches high. e.g. a teddy bear, an action hero, a doll, a robot, etc. We're all looking forward to another fantastic hour of fun.
Toys must be a lot bigger than this teddy bear! It's the smallest teddy bear in the world! An incredible 5mm tall!!
PASSION 1 - Megan (Fishing)
(26.9.08) Megan's passion presentation was superb. I loved her enthusiasm for something she is obviously very passionate and knowledgeable about. Special thanks goes to Megan's daddy who brought an amazing array of fishing equipment for Megan to present. The rest of the children were given the opportunity to practise casting. Time was also allowed for Megan to show us some amazing photos of some of her catches (and her daddy's!!). The children also shared their views and experiences of fishing, both positive and negative. Thank you Megan for a wonderful experience for all. Mr Whiting is certainly 'hooked' on fishing and you might see him testing the waters at a river near you soon! Thanks also to Mali for helping Megan. More photos soon on the 'Passions' page.
Michaelmas Day Service
Homework Project - again!! (25.9.08) Just to get a few things cleared up... 1. The spellings should be learnt a.s.a.p. 2. Please encourage your children to use them in any written work within the project where possible. Also encourage them to use them in all other writing exercises. This is not compulsory but highly recommended. 3. With regards to the sentence sheet that was sent out this week - this again is not compulsory but highly recommended. Encourage the children to use them in their project where appropriate and in all other writing exercises. Although somewhat prescriptive, they provide tools in your child's writing toolbox - so to speak. If the children know these, they will become second nature to use in future creative or prescriptive writing. Above all they enable children to develop a greater appreciation of the regularity of punctuation. P.S. There will be a times-table test very soon! P.P.S. I'm still waiting for some children's spelling sheets.
Please ask your children about the literacy lessons this week. We have been looking at writing about a setting and using personification to bring places alive. For a useful exercise on personification click here. Don't forget Megan's passion on Friday. Children should be prepared for an hour of fishing fun! MW
(23.9.08) Don't forget to hand your child's spelling list in by tomorrow please. MW (23.9.08) Copies of the information I have written up so far can now be found on Mr. Ross' website for those parents looking in from 5R. Any news will be updated regularly on both sites when appropriate.
(22.9.08) Mr. Whiting spent the weekend talking with Henry VIII to find out what really happened during his reign! 5W will be finding out soon too when they see the 'Terrible Tudors' at the Bloomsbury Theatre as well as through their history lessons.
(22.9.08) Sorry! We handed 4 (and not 3) pieces of paper out today. 1. Homework Writing Task. 2. Spelling words sheet. 3. 'Harwell Hall' story. 4. The spelling sentence sheet. Copies of some of these will be attached to this website soon. Don't be scared by all the info. Each child should look to do things to the best of the ability in the time available but please practise the sentences regularly at home. There will be a new spelling sentence sheet each half-term. NB: Instead of completing the spelling word sheet, you may wish to photocopy the one on the back of the original sheet instead. Confused?? We understand! Feel free to speak to us any time and we will do our best to help you.
(21.9.08) Sorry! Didn't get the spelling chart out to you as promised!!It will be out Monday together with a sheet that explains everything you need to know about the writing tasks. Also included will be a spelling sentence sheet for this half-term. In Year 5 we highly recommend that your child learns and applies these sentence structures within their homework where appropriate and also in any other written tasks that they may do at home. One of the benefits of the old approach from last year was the constant focus on sentence level work which enabled the children's writing to develop in maturity and coherency. These sentence forms will be studied in class but homework should compliment this not ignore it to ensure consistency and progress. The sentences will become more complex as we progress through the year. The more they practise at home the better. We would really like to see these sentence forms in their homework without - of course - suppressing their creativity. Anyway, make sure your child has 3 pieces of paper with them when they come home on Monday. Speak soon! MW P.S It was really nice to meet my class reps on Thursday! They will be in contact with you soon. P.P.S Megan will be the first to present her passion this week - fishing!! Make sure the chidren tell you all about her presentation. Normally I work closely with the first presenter to ensure the standard is set high from the outset. However, Megan has already shown herself as being well organised and highly conscientious and has put together an exciting presentation for Friday already. Well done Megan!
Class reps!! I'm not at all scary! Where are you? Please come and see me soon! MW
(17.9.08) Copy of letter sent out to children today re: school trip. (See printable version right) Dear Parent/Carers,
Year 5 normally visit the Globe Theatre as part of their studies of the Tudors this term. This trip has been highly beneficial in developing the children’s understanding of the works of Shakespeare and indeed the Tudor lifestyle. Not only do the children take part in an excellent workshop on the story of Macbeth, but they also have a fascinating tour of the Globe itself. With a trip to the souvenir shop, the whole experience lasts about 2 hours until lunchtime.
This year, however, there is an opportunity not to be missed at the Bloomsbury Theatre. The Birmingham Theatre Group will be performing a ‘Horrible Histories’ style production of ‘The Tudors’. Those of you familiar with the Horrible History books will understand how entertaining and fascinating they are to young children with all their gruesome details!! As a school we receive a reduced price per child. Here is a copy of the promotional statement advertised by Bloomsbury Theatre:
The Terrible Tudors
Therefore, we are looking to combine the two events to provide the children with a fabulous day out. The date for the trip in a lifetime is Thursday 9th October 2008. We will arrive at the Globe Theatre in time for the workshop and tour at 10.30 a.m. After a short lunch break at 12 noon we head off to the Bloomsbury Theatre in time for the 1.30 p.m performance of the Tudors. To ensure time is allowed to travel between the two venues and to save on some cost, we will not be visiting the Globe Theatre souvenir shop. We will be travelling by coach. The return time has yet to be confirmed, but it is likely to be about 4.30p.m. This is to be confirmed later. The cost of the trip which includes transportation, Macbeth drama workshop, a Globe Theatre tour, and tickets to see ‘The Tudors’ is £24.00. We need this by Friday at the latest so that we can confirm the booking. Sorry for the late notice but it was beyond our control. If you have any difficulties with the payment for the trip, please do not hesitate to speak to one of us. We will inform you soon if we require any additional adult help. (This needs to be returned with the slip attached to the letter)
Creative Reading (17.9.08) You may be wondering what the 'books read' column is all about on the right-hand side of the homework project sheet. Regular reading this year is very, very important and this column is just a little reminder to ensure regular reading is taking place at home. Here is a copy of a letter I placed on last year's website about the importance of reading effectively. The same can be said of this year. May I share my thoughts on what seems to be a growing trend in Year 5 classes in recent years. Many children continue to struggle grammatically, structurely, and creatively; especially in story writing. It is essential that reading and writing are united in any approach to literacy development and not perceived as separate entities. Everyone knows that in order to write, you must first be able to read. So it stands to reason: if you would write well, you must read well. And I don't just mean you can read per se, or even read fast or eloquently. You must read creatively. 'Well' means 'effectively' as well as 'creatively' in this instance. What is creative reading? It first must create mental alertness by inspiring your imagination. How else will you stay awake or remember what you've read? Next, creative reading should train your eye in style, layout, and grammar; and not just phonetically or for the content. Creative reading provides the ammunition for creative writing. A gun lacks fire without its bullets and vice-versa! I'm not saying that every reading session should involve creative reading all of the time!! No! No! To enjoy the content of a good story or piece of non-fiction is vital too. But the earlier we can train a child to be the creative reader; the better the writer and subsequent speaker of the English language they will become. The same principal is evident in music. If a child learns to read music as a language as soon as they can pick up a fiddle or a drumstick, then the easier it is to become the fully accomplished musician. It - like creative reading - becomes second nature. Many children in Year 5 can read very well indeed and have excellent comprehension skills when it comes to dissecting the content for meaning. However, when asked to interpret the stylistic and grammatical elements a sudden mist descends in front of them. 'Nough said! We shall look to improve this as teachers. Is it something parents can help with too? I hope so!
Homework Projects - Importance of the writing tasks (16.9.08) The most important aspect of the writing/spelling within the project in Year 5 is that the children take seriously the advice given them. It is a project that cannot be done half-heartedly as it contains a half-term's worth of tasks essential for progress. It is a project that every child should do to the best of the ability. It should be neat and show effort. Every word should be checked for spelling before handing it in. We will not see the booklet until just before half-term so it is important every task is done carefully so that progress is made. Sentence structure is crucial without suppressing their creativity. This is being covered in class weekly. Last year's homework focused on this significantly. We will be sending home examples of sentence structures we want the children to practise at home. They should show evidence of these in their project where appropriate. Regular practise of these forms really helps!! Copies of these sentences will also be placed on this site later this week. What about spelling and tests? Children should promptly collect all of their synonyms and begin practising how to spell them with -ed and -ing suffix endings where appropriate (the verbs). Randomly throughout the term we will test the children on a selection of these words until hopefully by the end of half-term they achieve a good standard. Results will be sent home. At first, it does not matter too much if your child scores poorly in the first test, as long as they show improvement in the subsequent tests leading up to the final test just before half-term. There will probably be about 4 random tests. Vocabulary and sentence level work is essential this year. We really recommend that the researched vocabulary words are handy to see near your child's desk at home throughout the year so that these words become embedded in their head! The same can be said of the sentence structure sheets mentioned earlier. Children must learn their times-tables regularly and not just the basics. All of you were provided with examples of the types of questions that you child will be asked. Groups will be identified soon. Again tests will be carried out randomly over the year. The homework sheet provides you with a guideline to which tables will be focused upon and when. For example, the first test will be concentrating on x 6 and x 9 sometime in the next week or so. Again results will be sent home so that time can be spent improving before the next test later in the term/year. That is all for now. Please come and say hello if you want anymore help or advice. NB: If you would like to utilise any of the spelling homeworks from last year to aid your child, many are available to download in the 5W archive file for 2007-2008. (15.9.08) The homework for this half-term was handed out today. Please don't panic! All the information you need will be given out to the children and posted on this website every week. This week the children should only focus on collecting their spelling words (make sure there are no easy one please where possible) and start their project as suggested on the sheet. DO NOT try to do anything ahead because info on how to complete these tasks will be sent out weekly. I will be posting further information later this week to explain how this homework works! Bye for now! P.S Where are my class reps?? (10.9.08) Hello Year 5! This website will be up and running soon with lots of information about what's happening this year. For now I'm looking for my class reps to come forward!!! Class reps are massively important to me. If you are the class rep or you know who they are, please help! Many thanks....Mr. W Some 5W children help with promoting Global Citizenship.
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(20.10.08) Sentence Sheets -You should have received the first of two sentence sheets for the autumn term. It is highly recommended that children are taught these regularly until they master them and begin to use them within their writing. There will be six sheets (one each half-term) like this in total over Year 5, each time increasing in complexity. Copies of this sheets will be attached in the info box (right) as they are made available. NB: These are HIGHLY recommended for use at home to guide your child, especially if your child is having difficulties in making their writing and ideas coherent. These should be seen as 'tools' to use in helping to make their writing better. Print these out and have them near to where your child works ar home. They are not to be seen as additional homework! Just an aid!

(19.10.08) Authors and writing - Let's get the children inspired by books and writing stories of their own! Look at the 

The following advice on how to write the book review is a guide and is by no means compulsory. How your child goes about the review is entirely up to them. However, a good standard should be achieved if these guidelines are followed.
(9.10.08) PGL 2010 - Your child should have returned home with an envelope recently regarding the Year 6 trip to PGL in 2010. Inside there should be details regarding how to spread your payment over the next two years and a blue PGL payment card. If you have not recieved this, ask your child.



The same child will also be bringing in an unusual item they may have at home that could be used as inspiration for a piece of creative writing. e.g. Something strange they found on a beach, a weird present they received, an unusual toy, or maybe a mysterious picture. If the child finds it difficult to bring an unusual object, it does not matter - any object will do that is special to them.



(25.9.08) Georgia, Megan, Alex, and Eleanor L have been chosen by Mrs. Smith to read in the Michaelmas Day service on Monday 29th September. They will be reading poems about St. Michael which they wrote in class this week. One of them will have a chance to win a small prize. The service begins at 11a.m.
(24.9.08) Just to let you know there will be a test focusing on a random selection of the children's spelling words within the next week. We have received most of the spelling sheets back now although some of these already have spelling mistakes! Be careful! :)
(18.9.08) Have your children written down all their spelling words for this half-term? I have decided to send out a chart for the children to fill in their words. This chart should be returned to me by Monday please so I am aware of what words to include in tests. 
At the beginning of every week we will provide the children with information and guidelines on how to carry out the written tasks. It is important that you collect these. Copies of which we will place on this website.



