Year 5 News
Our Learning Celebrations
Literacy
Text Studies
As we read our text, 'Music For Tigers', we continue to explore the writing techniques used by the author. Year 5 children have practiced using a number of tension building strategies in their own narrative stories to great effect.
Below are some snippets from several of their stories.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp." I woke up to birds chirping and circling around the water. I go to stand up to shoo them away, but as I do, I see a big shadow lurking around my boat. I freeze. My heart pounding. How long has it been here? Am I going to DIE? It starts to rain. 'Just to make things worse,' I thought.
Charlie 5A
As he saw the darkness growing in the sky, his little boat started crashing on the massive waves. He looked for land. There was no sight of land. The fog was growing thicker and thicker each second. He didn't know what to do except panic! "AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Greg shouted. As he sees a humongous wave "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Greg shouts again. "Help me anyone plea… " as Greg got cut off by the …..
Noah R 5A
Only 30 minutes later it starts raining, then 1 hour passes and its thundering. Gregs friends all look at each other. The boat goes silent, then the silence breaks with the sound of... 'BANG! CRASH! BOOM!' Everyone sits down quietly. They all exchange glances at each other, not speaking. They are trying to figure out what is going on. Suddenly, an alarm goes off! 'BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.'
Lucia 5A
In the distance she saw a faint light. But the boat started to slow, her boat starts to groan and huff. Sienna's boat ran out of petrol. Suddenly, without thinking, she jumped in the water and started swimming towards the light. As she came closer, she realised it was Dales boat. "DALE! DALE!" Sienna yelled, as she climbed on to the boat. She franticly ran around the boat searching for Dale. Then she suddenly stops dead in her tracks….
Darcy 5B
As they sprinted down and out of the warehouse and into the boat, they realised the thing was still chasing them. "START THE ENGENE!!" As they slowly move they hear a screeching sound. Then a BANG. The robot slowly makes its way through the boat and as soon as it found Jobe and Lukas they heard a CRASH. Then a BANG!. Lightning stuck the robot. "Now is our chance!!" shouts Greg, as they push it off the boat and watch it slowly struggle as its pulled down by ocean.
Damien 5B
I try and get my mind off it by searching for any islands nearby. A lack of hope strikes through my back. I see one! "I can't waste any time," I tell myself.
I'm not so nervous anymore. I can finally drive the boat! I start to drive the boat straight towards it. As I step onto the sand I feel so relieved. "Quick" I say.
I pull the boat onto the shore and run to find some food. Aha! A mango tree. As I start climbing up the mango tree I can already see the massive storm coming and feel rain on my body. I reach for a mango and run!
Grace M 5B
I’m at camp. Mum and Dad are laughing at something I said……. then the wolves come! They attack us and eat all the food. Mum screams at me to get back and go into the forest. So I run. I run like the wind. I don’t stop until I can no longer hear the cries or snarls. I’m just surrounded by silence, loud silence. It feels wrong some how. Like I should be brave and tough, but I’m not. I’m terrified.
Amaya 5C
We're on the lake as I see the same shadow I saw before I got on the boat. "Did you see that? I say.
"No, what are you taking about?"
"Look. There it is again!" I scream to Dad.
"You're just seeing things."
Rumble, Rumble, Rumble. Thunder strikes. "Do you think we should get off the water?" I say nervously.
"Nah, it’ll be fine," Dad says in a calm voice. The boats starts shaking.
"Dad what is that?" I say in a distressed voice.
" I don’t know but whatever it is it is gigantic!"
Sam 5C
Click, click, click. “Aghhh, my flashlight died!” I yell. I knew it was stupid coming here. Well at least I brought my compass. I empty out my pockets and let out a frustrated scream as my compass had fallen out. Snap, crack! “What was that?” I say aloud, even though there’s no one to hear me. There it goes again. “Don’t panic, it’s probably just the old man who told me about the gold here, " I tell myself. I reach for my shovel, but I don’t pick it up. Something was watching me. I felt like running but my legs wouldn’t move. There's a pair of green eyes… right behind me!
Aiden 5C
Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar
In spelling, students have investigated the root ‘techn’ and 'scoop', discovering their meanings and using them to construct and analyse words within the same word family. Through activities such as creating word sums, using morphology matrices and applying their knowledge in sentence work, students are strengthening their spelling skills and deepening their understanding of how words are formed and connected.
Mathematics
Multiplicative Thinking
We have started our new Mathematics focus on Multiplicative Thinking. The Year 5 students have explored important number concepts including factors, multiples, and prime and composite numbers and inverse relationship between multiplication and division.
Students used arrays, multiplication facts, division models, and skip counting to identify factor pairs and multiples of numbers up to 100, while also recognising number patterns created through repeated addition. They developed their understanding of mathematical vocabulary such as factor, product, prime, and composite, and practised classifying numbers by investigating their factors.
It has been wonderful to see students confidently applying their multiplication knowledge and explaining their mathematical thinking throughout these lessons.
Unit of Inquiry
Our new Unit of Inquiry, under the transdisciplinary theme How the World Works, began with an exciting hands‑on provocation.
Students worked in small groups to research different global locations, gathering information aboutpopulation, buildings and environments and more. The students were unaware that these areas were all prone to natural disasters. After building 3D models of their locations using recycled materials, the students brought their models outside to view and admire.
While they were reflecting on their research and teamwork… DISASTER STRUCK! Their models were suddenly hit by a flood, earthquake, volcano, tornado and landslide, bringing natural forces to life in dramatic fashion. Students then reflected on their emotional responses and connected this experience to the real‑world impact natural disasters have on people and the environment, setting the stage for a rich and meaningful inquiry.
Year 5/6 Sport- Recreation Group
Students have been enjoying rec these last couple of weeks, with a variety of activities. Please enjoy these photos to see what they have been up to.
What We Are Learning Next
Literacy
Text study
We will continue to explore the theme of conservation in the book and find textual evidence. Students will deepen their understanding of the text by focusing on the factual details and how to record information. This leads into how they can expand sentences in their own written work.
Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar
Students will review their understanding of dependent and independent clauses. They will be introduced to the subordinating conjunctions of manner ‘by’, ‘as if’ and ‘like’. And use them to combine clauses to form complex sentences.
Mathematics
The Year 5 students will continue developing their understanding of multiplication and division through problem-solving activities and visual models.
Students will use function machines to solve multiplication and division equations with unknown values, applying their knowledge of inverse operations and fact families to explain their reasoning. They will also explore strategies such as tree diagrams and visual representations to solve mathematical problems clearly and confidently.
Students will investigate 1 by 2-digit multiplication using area models, learning how to partition numbers and represent their thinking visually to solve more complex multiplication problems.