This half term, our core text is the ‘Boy in the Tower’ by Polly Ho-Yen. It is about a boy who is living in a tower block and strange plants start attacking the foundations of the buildings. The children will be analysing the characters’ motivations and reactions. We will then be planning a monologue and writing a story.

Children will continue to develop their reading and comprehension skills by making predictions based on visual images and the text, inferring, and clarifying their understanding of words and phrases based on evidence from the text. They will make links with real events happening in the world around us and continue to develop learning behaviours such as supporting and actively listening to each other. Information texts about materials will be a reading focus for a week.

In geography, we will be exploring the unit Protect Our Planet. The children will learn about sustainability through topics such as food, travel, waste, and energy use. They will take part in a range of discussions and practical activities, including challenges to help reduce their carbon footprint. The aim is to inspire children and their families to make more sustainable choices and play their part in protecting the environment.

We will be exploring the health and well-being unit this half term. The children will be learning about the importance of relaxation and sleep; understanding how to cope with failure; learning how to set goals and how to achieve goals. They will also know when to take precautions while in the sun, how to eat healthy meals and ingredients; learning about different emotions and possible ways of dealing with a difficult situation.

For indoor P E, the children will move on to unit 2 of real PE. In this unit, the children will develop and apply their dynamic balance on a line and counter balance with a partner through focused skill development sessions, modified/non-traditional games and sports and healthy competition. For the outdoor P E sessions, pupils will be learning multi-skills P E focusing on agility, balance and control and games.

In French, the children will be learning about the topic of weather. By the end of this unit, pupils will have the knowledge and skills to describe the weather and to also present a weather forecaster pretending to be on television. This enables us to link the weather vocabulary with map work, compass points and general geography. This unit will help the children to improve both their language and cultural knowledge.

In computing, this half term we will be learning how to start to create vector drawings. They learn how to use different drawing tools to help them create images. They will learn to recognize that images in vector drawings are created using shapes and lines, and each element in the drawing is called an object. They then will layer their objects and begin grouping and duplicating them to support the creation of more complex pieces of work.

In music this term the pupils will be listening to and understanding music, improvising elements and singing the song 'The Sparkle in my Life'.

• Wednesday 12th November @ 8:55 - Year 5 class assembly to parents

• Thursday 27th November - Year 5 trip to the Globe Theatre, London

• Friday 28th November - Inset Day (school closed to all pupils)

• Wednesday 17th December - Christmas dinner and festive jumper day

• Friday 19th December @ 2pm - End of term