Year 5 Autumn Term
What's happening in the Autumn Term?
Our theme for the Autumn term is Earth and Space, with much of our learning linked to our geography and science lessons.
In geography, we find out about the structure of the earth and research different climate zones/biomes. We develop our understanding of the mapping of the Earth as well as researching how areas are interlinked. Our focus narrows onto specific issues affecting our planning, such as deforestation and water. The end of term sees a contribution to these issues in the form of a Christmas bake sale for the charity Water Aid.
Our science lessons start off with the topic of forces, where children explore different experiments including the egg-drop experiment to understand air-resistance and racing boats to see which one has the most stream-lined design. Our understanding of forces also includes gravity which leads us onto our space topic. Learning about space covers different aspects of our world, including the shape of the earth, day/night, seasons and researching the planets.
Literacy takes on our exciting space theme at the beginning of the year with several creative weeks spent on science fiction, this takes the form of describing and alien planet (based on the film Avatar), writing adverts for this planet, writing a Dr Who story and culminating in explanation writing about a self-designed space ship and how aliens invade other plants. Discussion texts are a focus after half term, with children researching and debating whether we should colonise the moon. Around the time of our visit to the Space Centre in Leicester, pupils begin their training to become astronauts – linked to Tim Peake’s mission in 2016. They write diaries and letters as astronauts using the trip as a stimulus. At the end of the term, they use their persuasive skills to write adverts for their cake sale.
Our maths work continues to cover different areas such as number, fractions, shape and space. We also incorporate links to our topic with space problem solving, scaling for biscuits that the children make and timetables based on our trip.
Art also focuses on Earth as a subject, with children using iPads to explore satellite images of Earth. They look for the art and patterns in the natural environment to plan a collage. They also take inspiration from two artists, Matisse and Schwitter to improve their skills. This results in a piece of collage work.
In DT, the children link their understanding of pulleys/gears and forces from science to investigate how cams work. They then design and make a space toy that uses different types of cams.
In geography, we find out about the structure of the earth and research different climate zones/biomes. We develop our understanding of the mapping of the Earth as well as researching how areas are interlinked. Our focus narrows onto specific issues affecting our planning, such as deforestation and water. The end of term sees a contribution to these issues in the form of a Christmas bake sale for the charity Water Aid.
Our science lessons start off with the topic of forces, where children explore different experiments including the egg-drop experiment to understand air-resistance and racing boats to see which one has the most stream-lined design. Our understanding of forces also includes gravity which leads us onto our space topic. Learning about space covers different aspects of our world, including the shape of the earth, day/night, seasons and researching the planets.
Literacy takes on our exciting space theme at the beginning of the year with several creative weeks spent on science fiction, this takes the form of describing and alien planet (based on the film Avatar), writing adverts for this planet, writing a Dr Who story and culminating in explanation writing about a self-designed space ship and how aliens invade other plants. Discussion texts are a focus after half term, with children researching and debating whether we should colonise the moon. Around the time of our visit to the Space Centre in Leicester, pupils begin their training to become astronauts – linked to Tim Peake’s mission in 2016. They write diaries and letters as astronauts using the trip as a stimulus. At the end of the term, they use their persuasive skills to write adverts for their cake sale.
Our maths work continues to cover different areas such as number, fractions, shape and space. We also incorporate links to our topic with space problem solving, scaling for biscuits that the children make and timetables based on our trip.
Art also focuses on Earth as a subject, with children using iPads to explore satellite images of Earth. They look for the art and patterns in the natural environment to plan a collage. They also take inspiration from two artists, Matisse and Schwitter to improve their skills. This results in a piece of collage work.
In DT, the children link their understanding of pulleys/gears and forces from science to investigate how cams work. They then design and make a space toy that uses different types of cams.
