Year 5 – Simmonds Class

Simmonds Class 2024-25

We have had a fantastic first few weeks settling in to life in Year 5.  Thank you to all of you who could attend our 'Back to School' meeting (for those who weren't able to attend I have attached the PowerPoint below).  In literacy, we have written biographies of Ellie Simmonds.  We have started reading 'The War Horse' by Michael Morpurgo.

In Maths, we have been focusing on place value.  We have become more familiar using the Gattegno chart to help us with our place value understanding.  We have solved investigations using our place value understanding.

In topic we had great fun building our own trenches in the hall.  The children listened very attentively whilst understanding the causes of WW1.

In science, we have carried out a range of different investigations exploring the properties of materials.

Keep up the hard work Year 5! 

Welcome to Simmonds Class! I hope you all had a very happy holiday, and feel ready and excited for the year ahead. We certainly do! Please check this webpage regularly, as it will be updated weekly with news of what we've been up to in Year 5. Homework, spellings and important letters will also be uploaded onto the pages above.

If you have any questions or queries, please don't hesitate to contact us on:  cmoore@brentryprimaryschool.org.uk or mlawrence@brentryprimaryschool.org.uk 

 Mrs Moore and Mr Lawrence  

Archived Year 5 Work 

Week ending 27th May 2022

What a fantastic week to end off term 5! The beginning of the week saw the return of our French travellers, who clearly had an amazing time. We enjoyed a very entertaining session hearing all about their exploits and adventures. Many thanks to all the dedicated staff who took care of them and provided such a great experience. Many photos have been put on the Facebook page if you would like to check in.

We met Francesca from the "Moments Not To Be Wasted" programme, an initiative to combat the food waste in the UK, and learned many new tips and tricks on how to store food effectively.

We worked extremely hard to finish our art project with activities on paper modelling, wire sculpting and examples of decoupage, all following the theme of Plants and Flowers. A few final touches and we will complete a whole class display of our work, with a photo to come shortly. 

Without a doubt, the highlight of the week was our Jubilee Celebration on Thursday. Assemblies to honour the Queen's role and hard work throughout her reign filled the morning, with an extended lunch break to fully enjoy the wonderful banquet style picnic afterwards. Below is a selection of some of these moments.

Sadly, we did have to say our goodbyes to Millie, who is leaving to start at another school, following her house move. We made a card to send our individual messages and, collectively, wish her all the very best for her new adventure. Do let us know how you settle in, Millie! 

I have given out a homework task, and it relates to our final home project of the year. As explained on the sheet, it has been handed out early in case any keen beans want to begin the research and gathering of ideas during half term, but there is no requirement to do this. There will be plenty of opportunity to complete it before the deadline if the children decide to leave the work until next term. The subject is Pop Art, our art theme for term 6, and the task has been attached to the homework section above in the event it didn't make it home!

Have a wonderful half term break. I will be on year 6 camp during the first week back but look forward to catching up with you all on my return in week 2.

Week ending 13th May 2022

The weather has been completely unpredictable this week but we were able to fit in our much awaited outdoor art lesson on Hapa Zome hammer printing. We achieved some fantastic results and the children were deservedly proud of their hammering skills, used to "bruise" out the dye of flowers to good effect. Here is a sample of their finished products and some showing the class, busy at work.

Week ending 6th May 2022

Despite a three day week, Simmonds Class have completed some challenging maths work on multiplying and dividing by multiples of 10; learned how to use a comma accurately in multi clause sentences; developed sketching and shading techniques within artwork and enjoyed a great afternoon's session of racing rounders. Photos of some of the work samples and activities are shown below.

Reminders:

• Yoga will be on Monday so please ensure your child comes to school in the appropriate PE kIt
• Homework can be found in the homework section above. This week's task is the consolidation of when and where to apply the comma as well as spelling rules for plural words.

Week ending 29th April 2022

We have had a busy and active week to kick off the start of term 5. Simmonds Class provided huge support to help with the "Just Give" match funding  event. Posters were designed and displayed; cakes were donated and put up for sale; sponsored circuit activities were undertaken and counted....and as a result, Brentry School raised over £400. A late couple of donations on the Friday morning, totalling £100, meant the final amount was £509. Doubled, according to the price match, means that we have secured £1018 for the tree champions and their work towards being "A Force For Nature." Well done to all the participants and many congratulations for raising such a fantastic amount of funding as a whole school community. 

Below are some of the photos from the week's events and lessons. 

REMEMBER:

• School is closed on Monday 2nd May due to the bank holiday
• Homework is due in Wednesday 4th May
• School is closed on Thursday 5th May due to Polling Day
• Outdoor games will be on Friday so children will need to come to school in PE kits

Week ending 8th April 2022

It has been a terrific week to end off the term for it has been filled with exciting tree day activities, an afternoon's munching of Oreo biscuits (!) as we learned about the phases of the moon, and a well deserved reward session of picnics, parachutes and playground fun. On top of that, the children worked through finding fractions of amounts and writing all about what made the Quokka so happy  We were supported throughout by our lovely student Mrs Grose who made a fantastic contribution to the class in such a short time.

Photos of the week's activities are shown below.

A few more photos can be found in the gallery section above, showing our Friday morning arts and crafts session on making woodland creatures out of different materials.

There is no set homework for the break but I would like to remind the children that it is always a good idea to  keep sight of those tricky spellings on the year 5/6 word list and to keep them fresh in mind. 

Additionally, there are on going activities listed in the homework section, with links provided, as well as those tasks found on the isolation pages.

Thank you to all of you who donated such generous amounts of food for our picnic and enjoy the two week break with your fab children. 

Week ending 1st April 2022

After a week of assessments, the children thoroughly deserve a restful and sunny weekend, so I shall be keeping my fingers crossed for them that the weather is kind. 

Many thanks to all those children who completed and handed in their home projects today. A selection of some of their masterpieces are shown below. 

Reminders:

• Tree Day on Monday requires the children to come to school wearing their old clothes, as many of the activities will be completed outside. Spare footwear is essential.
• Last swimming session is on Tuesday. Please ensure children bring in their towel and costume.
• Spellings to learn have been attached to the homework section above.

Week ending 25th March 2022

The week has once again zoomed by but the children have completed some high quality work in that time. We visited Blaise High School on Monday to watch their performance of Shrek: The Musical, which was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. The secondary school students had clearly worked hard and it was so nice to see some former Brentry pupils up on stage. Some great singing; comedic acting and a wicked Scottish accent made the whole production a joy to watch.

Many, many thanks to all the performers and Sam Harper, drama teacher, for the invitation.

Our landscape paintings were finished and a few examples were selected for our class display.

In numeracy this week, we have covered some very tricky calculations involving the multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers. Within literacy, we have described different landscapes using a variety of figurative language, such as similes, metaphors and personification to provide imagery for the reader: their work was a joy to read. We have also looked at the importance of love in RE and identified how images can be altered for the purpose of advertisements and media coverage.

Spelling homework has been added above, alongside a reminder that the home projects are due in next Friday, 1st April.

I have asked the children to wear PE kits into school on Monday for a gym session in the afternoon.

Week ending 18th March 2022

Science Day kicked off the week on Monday and Simmonds Class had plenty of fun experimenting with all things colourful. We discovered the impact of water on coloured pen and learned about chromotography; we also tested a selection of everyday acids and alkalis with indicator paper and "grew" a rainbow with absorbent kitchen towel. Photos of the day's activities are shown below.

We continued the theme of colour with an art lesson linked to our geography topic, painting landscapes of eastern European locations. We experimented with mixing colours to produce different shades and applying the paint in different ways to create a variety of texture. Here are a few examples of our work in progress.

Friday was a day of celebration, dressing up and kind donations. We combined Red Nose Day with a superheroes and Ukrainian Day so we had a wide selection of costumes, thoughtfulness and funny looks! Many thanks to all of you for your generous donations to such worthy causes and I trust Year 6's cake sale at the end of the day provided the finishing touch. Here are some photos of all the fun.

Reminders:

We are walking to Blaise High on Monday afternoon to watch "Shrek: the Musical" and will not return to school until 4:30pm. Those parents who are picking their child up from Blaise at 4:00pm should make their way to the school's reception where Mrs Price and Mrs Vale Guerreiro will be supervising.

Swimming continues on Tuesday morning so please ensure your child comes to school with the necessary swimwear and towel.

This week's spellings can be found in the homework section above.

Week ending 11th March 2022

It was an amazing coincidence, having written about the journey of Ernest Shackleton in 1915 and the sinking of "Endurance," that she was discovered this weekend, only 4 miles from where she sank and so well preserved! Simmonds Class thoroughly enjoyed watching the interview from the expedition's leader and seeing how well the boat had survived these past 100 years.

We have begun a new literacy unit on poetry this week and have been identifying different types of poetic devices poets use to bring imagery and emotion to their writing. It is clear that we have some budding poets in our midst and I am looking forward to seeing what else the children can produce.

In numeracy, we have continued through the many aspects of fractions and practised how to make conversions between mixed numbers and improper fractions: the class have worked extremely hard on this and fully deserve the gold stars they have earned this week. 

Below are some photos of the information posters we have been working on for our science topic on Earth and Space. Some great fun facts have been learned and it was good to see such great presentation skills on show at the same time!

REMINDERS:

• Homework for the next few weeks will be the continuation of the home project, "A Country in Eastern Europe." Spellings have been given out, found in the homework section above, and an outline of where I believe the children should be by now in terms of their project's progress.
• Parent Evenings are taking place next week, Monday and Tuesday for Year 5. Please check your email for the link to the Zoom meeting at the time you signed up for
• Swimming Session 3 will be on Tuesday morning so please ensure your child comes to school with their costume and towel.
• Any last permission slips for the Shrek production on Monday 21st March need to be returned early next week in order to secure enough adult supervision for walking the children to and from Blaise High.
• Science Day takes place on Monday 14th March so children are allowed to come to school in their "messy" clothes!

Week ending 4th March 2022

Welcome back to school and the beginning of term 4. We have hit the ground running once again, with an exciting English week and plenty of opportunity to bring our reading, writing and story telling alive. An evening of Bedtime Stories; the annual Spelling Bee competition, Dress Up Day and the story swap meant all things literacy were the order of the day. Below are some of the photos taken from these events.

We also introduced the new geography topic, "A Study of Eastern Europe," where we will be looking at the landscape, climate and human demographics of the countries involved. "Earth and Space" is our science unit for the term and we have already identified the planets that make up our solar system. See if your child remembers any of the mnemonics we looked at to help put these planets in order (distance from the sun).

The homework task can be found in the homework section above: it is the next home project, involving research and presentation of one country in eastern Europe. A power point has been put together to help with ideas and can be found on the isolation page in the Humanities folder.

Finally, launching our PSHE puzzle, "Healthy Me," we practised putting each other in the recovery position, a useful skill to have in the event an emergency situation presents itself. 

DON'T FORGET SWIMMING KITS AND TOWELS ON TUESDAY!!

Week ending 18th February 2022

School closure lessons for today, Friday 18th Feb, can be find in the isolation page above. I have focussed the lessons on what we had intended to cover in class but have adapted them slightly so you can access them easily from home. Do send me anything you would like me to see, such as further art work, book reviews or photos of science experiments: my email address is jjones@brentryprimaryschool.org.uk

We managed to take a few photos today of the completed artwork on collages of Britain and its flags. Some, you will see, are still works in progress but the care and resilience the children showed in completing this task was great to see. Their efforts have paid off, as the end products demonstrate.

Some children also had a go at completing a piece of art in the style of Banksy, using a stencilled approach, and creating a personalised "tag" as would be graffiti artists. 

Please remember:

Simmonds Class will begin their course of swimming sessions on the first day back after half term, Tuesday 1st March. Please ensure your child comes to school equipped with towel, goggles and swimming costume. Also, long hair must be tied back: no jewellery allowed.

Many thanks and I trust you all have an enjoyable break.

Week ending 11th February 2022

We have had an experimental time in Simmonds Class once again, with our science investigations into forces. This week, we attempted to make the perfect parachute, using our knowledge of air resistance and its effects. We changed just one variable in our tests, such as size, shape or type of material the parachutes were made of, and tested to see what elements made a difference to how fast or slow it travelled to the ground.

Below are a few photos of our investigations

We also began the new numeracy unit on Fractions and it has been great to see the class hit the ground running with this subject. We have covered fraction equivalents, comparing and ordering fractions, as well as simplifying fractions. The homework task provides an opportunity to consolidate the idea that the numerator and denominator need to be multiplied or divided by the same amount to be an equivalent fraction. 

We have now finished our geography topic on Modern Britain and its Marvellous Maps, completing it with an interesting lesson on how land use has changed after time. (As a heads up, we will be learning about Eastern Europe next term and a second home project will be set relating to this). 

Green Team are back in the game, having won the most team points this week, so congratulations to them.

Week ending 4th February 2022

It has been another busy week, with science investigations, developing hockey skills, polishing off our balanced discussions and applying our written methods for division to a range of challenging word problems. Yet again, the children have excelled themselves and I have been genuinely delighted with the progress so many of them have made. Below are a few pictures of our PSHE miming task, matching up different professions, before we researched some information about our ideal jobs. The slideshow demonstrates our science investigation on how gravity works on different objects: I am hoping to get some of the video clips from our resident camera operator, Zach, onto the gallery section above, so watch this space!

Week ending 28th January 2022

Year 5 have made good headway on their balanced discussions this week, covering a variety of issues, from debates on junk food being banned, to whether trees should be cut down or boys and girls should play football together. It has been great to witness the children's growing awareness of arguments for and against each issue and to see their increasing ability to put forward reasoned statements.

We have also begun to look at dividing numbers by a single digit, using a formal written method.

Below are some photos of our science lesson on simple force mechanisms, our portrait sketches on famous Great Britons and, once again, Green team celebrating the most team points earned across the week. Further photos can be found in the gallery above, showing our collages on all things British. 

Week ending 21st January 2022

The week seems to have flown by once again but we have made some good progress with written methods for multiplying 2 digit numbers by other 2 digit numbers in maths and begun to look at the key features needed for discussion (or balanced arguments) within literacy. We also had a fantastic session of tree planting Thursday afternoon where well over 50 new trees were planted by year 5 in the school grounds to help support habitats as well as provide shaded areas for whenever (IF ever !) the sun gets too hot.

Here are some of the photos of our team work. 

A quick reminder: Outdoor games take place on a Friday so your child should come to school wearing a suitable PE kit for cold weather. Indoor PE is on Monday.

Week ending 14th January 2022

Congratulations to Simmonds Class for surviving their first full week back in school after the Christmas break 

It has certainly flown by, with a revision of conjunctions, sentence starters and multiplication facts to fill the days, as well as completing Area and Perimeter in maths;  Forces and what they can do; geographical symbols on ordnance survey maps and thinking about our lives when we grow up (with a little help from Matilda).

Below are a few photos of our antics...including some fiercely fought arm wrestling (all in the name of science!) and some fabulous balancing acts in PE to demonstrate counter tension.

Week ending 7th January 2022

Welcome back to a new term and a new year. I hope you all managed to enjoy the break and escaped suffering from the on going COVID spread. The children seem well rested and have made a very positive start to term 3, launching into our first geography topic of the year, Modern Britain. The homework task is related to our initial discussions about what Britain is...and the children have been asked to create a collage of things associated with Britain and "Britishness." This is due in next Wednesday.

We have also been busy calculating perimeters, using a range of conjunctions in our writing and discovering our "inner actor" by performing religious stories through role play. Below is a selection of photos from our week's endeavours: the "most likely" to win future Academy awards must include Shabab, for his stern portrayal of Muhammad, outraged at the treatment of the camel, and Bethany and Belle, for their creative rendition of the front and back of the camel itself. 

Some exciting news to finish: Michael has joined us in Simmonds Class, having recently moved to England from Austria, and we are delighted to welcome him to year 5. We all hope he enjoys his time getting to know us...and look forward to watching more of his fab skills on the football pitch!

Week ending 10th December 2021

Big congratulations go to the whole of Simmonds Class this week for making it through a tough old week of end of term assessments and still having smiles on their faces by the Friday! They displayed a great attitude towards the tests and have absolutely done you and themselves proud. 

We enjoyed our final session of Forest School with Caterpillar and presented her with a heartfelt card full of messages about how much we had learned and experienced from our Wednesday afternoons. We also replenished her supplies of hot chocolate and marshmallows since we seem to have consumed quite a plentiful amount over these past weeks! Photos of the fun are shown below. 

We drew our history topic to a close this week with an interesting and thought provoking debate on the legacy of slavery. We discussed its impact on racism today, the taking down of Edward Colston's statue in Bristol last summer and learned about some key abolitionists who helped make the slave trade illegal. We then followed this theme up through our PSHE lesson, and highlighted any links to the discrimination of religions, too, in RE. The photos below demonstrate the thoughtfulness, I think, of some of our discussions

As the festive spirit begins to spread, we wore our Christmas jumpers in for the day and struck a few poses for the camera:

Next week will be spent polishing off some final touches to the topics and themes we have covered this term and we will no doubt be having some creative fun with art and design activities. A letter has been sent through email regarding Simmonds Class Reward on Wednesday (attached in the letters section above) and we are currently in negotiations for replacing the much awaited trip to the cinema with an in house showing of a film of the class' choice.  If successful, this will be shown next Thursday.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the Carols by Candlelight evening this coming Monday, weather permitting, and remind you to wrap up warm for the event.

Week ending 26th November 2021

Maths week has been a great success and we have kept our brains busy with a whole range of challenges, including solving codes, mental competitions, scavenger hunts and in class work with multiplication of numbers by 10, 100 & 1000. Simmonds Class also had three winners from Mr Clarke's home task so big congratulations all round. 

Within literacy, we have learned about the differences between direct and reported speech in preparation for writing our own newspaper articles next week and we continue to learn those tricky homophones. More have been set for the homework task today so keep going with these.

Forest School, life as a slave on a plantation, the 5 pillars of Islam and cooperative games in PE have made up the rest of the week, alongside our first practices of the songs to be sung at our forthcoming Carols by Candlelight evening, so the children deserve a good rest this weekend. A selection of photos from the week's activities are shown below and in the gallery section above. 

Please note: Due to a KS1 rehearsal in the hall Monday afternoon, Simmonds Class will have a second week of outdoor games on Friday afternoon so PE kits are not required this coming Monday. Thank you. 

Week ending 19th November 2021

Forest School this week was an excellent session, all about trust, team building and problem solving. It was a revelation to discover how your other senses are heightened once blind folded; how working together and communicating effectively gets the job done...and how delicious toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate are when consumed in the great outdoors. A selection of the activities are shown below. 

On a complete change of course, we also learned this week about the appalling conditions on board a slave ship during the middle passage, the section of the triangular route between Africa and America. The children asked many pertinent questions and showed a good deal of empathy for what enslaved Africans were put through. We completed some annotations about what we had learned.

Anti bullying week took place across the UK this week and year 5 launched their recognition of it with a lesson on how to spread kindness, promoting the key theme of "One Kind Word." We developed some snakes and ladders games where we shared ideas about how bullying incidents could be resolved and how they could be escalated, depending how we respond to them. We then polished the week off with a fun "Odd Socks Day" and designed a few colourful pairs ourselves as a morning activity. 

There will not be a set task for homework this week as I have asked the children instead to have a go at learning as much of the Year 5/6 word list as they can manage (found in the spelling section above). This is in preparation for a Spelling Bee competition that we will be holding in our classes next week, as part of a whole school event. It will also be maths week, organised by the one and only Mr Clarke, so it will be a good idea for the children to also practise their general times table facts and quick mental recall of calculating with numbers. 

Good luck and I look forward to an exciting week 4. 

Week ending 12th November 2021

Simmonds Class have enjoyed another busy week, performing role play scenarios to examine how differences in culture can sometimes lead to conflict; making African masks; identifying features of newspaper reports; interpreting data in tables, charts and graphs; investigating which materials dissolve in water and indulging in the big debate: "Does God Exist?" before looking at the ups and downs in our own life journeys. In addition to that, we had our second session of Forest School with Caterpillar, learning how to ignite a fire and make instant bread over a camp fire.

Photos can be found below and in the gallery above.

Homework this week gives the opportunity to practise positioning the apostrophe correctly: either for contraction or possession. Remember the rule for singular and plural nouns....and don't get muddled up with straightforward plurals! We will be having indoor PE on Monday afternoon so PE kits are required.

Week ending 5th November 2021

Well, what an exciting and fun filled opening week to term 2 we have had. The Spooktacular evening, with fireworks, gruesome costumes and delicious hot dogs was a superb event and it was wonderful to see so many of the school community joining in with the fun. If you are on Facebook, do check out the photos. Here are some of the costumes we wore in year 5: who do you recognise?

On top of that, Simmonds Class took part in their first session of Forest School with the fabulous Caterpillar. Lots of outdoor activities filled the afternoon, including roasting marshmallows, weaving ...and burying Tanay under a pile of autumn leaves! Luckily he survived. 

We have also been busy introducing the new units of work and topics for the term: we learned about what the transatlantic slave trade was and had a really informative discussion about why this might have begun. We have consolidated a few of the trickier grammar rules, such as keeping a consistent tense throughout our writing and where to put those apostrophes when shortening words. In PSHE, we reminded ourselves about British Values and explored how we use them in every day life, and we practised different types of roll in PE, as part of our sequence compositions that we are working towards. Here is a selection of photos showing how we are getting on.

Homework this week gives an opportunity to practise what we have been learning in class: how to read, interpret and draw line graphs. Sheet A is for everyone, and squared paper has been provided for the task, but if there are any keen beans out there, a second sheet B has been attached in the homework section above. Good luck!

Week ending 22nd October 2021

We have made it through our first term together in year 5 and it has whizzed by. This week saw the completion of our adventure stories, a fun Ancient Greek Workshop Day and the presentation of our home projects. Photos of some of the work is displayed above in the gallery section but the final class display is below. 

Homework has been set for the half term, a literacy task on upgrading sentences with additional details. I have also asked that the children check through the year 5/6 word list and consolidate a minimum of 10 spellings.

Have a wonderful half term break everyone and I shall look forward to seeing you all back on the

1st November. 

Week ending 15th October 2021

The classroom looks like something out of an Ancient Greek museum today as the home projects and authentic looking artefacts have made their way to Simmonds class. They look fantastic and I have set time aside this weekend to work through them and provide feedback on all the hard work that has been done. The children will be able to present them to the rest of the class next Wednesday, which will be our Greek Day. A letter has been sent to you through email regarding this and I hope many of the children will be embracing the day and dressing up in costume. If the letter has not made it to you, I have attached it above.

Here are a few photos of some of the projects that have been handed in. 

We have also been busy in class studying different aspects of ancient Greek life as well. We have learned about the Gods and Goddesses ancient Greeks believed in; the fair and equal political system they introduced, known as democracy, which is still used in the UK today; and we are in the process of planning our own adventure stories, based on the characters and events from the classic film, Jason and the Argonauts. Here are a few examples of the art work produced from learning about the gods and mythical creatures of this time.

Homework this week is a set of calculations that requires understanding and application of the column method for addition and subtraction that we have been using in class. The sheets attached cover three different levels and ask for the missing numbers to complete the questions. The appropriate sheet has been stuck into your child's homework book. As always, this is due in for next Wednesday.

A few more photos of the week's activities have been added to the gallery section above, including some science fun on finding the best thermal insulator and ball skills in PE. Do take a look. 

Have a restful and enjoyable weekend everyone. 

Week ending 8th October 2021

The week has ended with one of my favourite days of the year: Hello Yellow Day. With the children dressed in yellow, and indulging in all things happy and joyful, it was no surprise to have been able to capture these great photo booth moments.

In year 5, we discussed what "special powers" we all have to help with our emotions, resilience and with coping in difficult times. It was lovely to hear the children's responses and that the key message from the day was so evident: to those who are struggling, you are not alone.

It was also poetry week and Simmonds Class performed, "What do people need?" by Benjamin Zephaniah as part of it. I am in the process of putting the video clip on the page but here is what they looked like on stage.

We also found time to fit in some science investigation, conducting an experiment to discover which material made the best thermal conductor. Metal spoons definitely allowed heat to travel through them far more than the plastic and wooden spoons. Next week, we will be testing for the best thermal insulators.

Homework this week is to add any finishing touches to the home project on Life in Ancient Greece. A few completed pieces of work have already been handed in and are shown below to give any last minute ideas for presentation or content. If these are anything to go by, I am looking forward to receiving the remaining projects by the deadline of Friday 15th October. 

Have a lovely weekend everyone and many thanks again for all your kind donations for Hello Yellow: it's looking like we have raised nearly £250 for YoungMinds. 

Week ending 1st October 2021

Another week has zoomed by and here we find ourselves in October already. We have covered a lot of numeracy concepts, completing our unit on rounding, ordering and comparing numbers up to a million, and also found time to build on our previous knowledge of Roman numerals. The homework task is related to this latter subject and I have attached the sheet in the homework section above, alongside the next spelling pattern of "ough" words. As always, these are due in for next Wednesday, 6th October. 

Within literacy, we finished our biographies on Ellie Simmonds and have begun to look at some "dub" poems by Benjamin Zephaniah in preparation for an assembly performance next

Thursday as part of poetry week. 

We have had quite an artistic week, designing Christmas cards for your order form, which hopefully has made its way back to you today. Please take a look at the end product and return the form, duly completed and signed, if you would like to order any of the items on the list. Some children went on to create Greek vases, using authentic images and patterns, and Greek masks, depicting the comedies and tragedies of ancient times. 

A few pictures are displayed below to show some of the work completed, as well as some shots from our PE lesson where we practised a variety of jumps and landing position. Further photos of the class' artwork have been put into the gallery section above.

Week ending 24th September 2021

After a somewhat challenging and exhausting week, the children have been rewarded with Fun Time Friday today as a big thank you from all the staff: it was a delight to witness their patience, good behaviour and engagement in lessons. Ice creams and sunshine were the order of the day, as the photos below reveal.

Earlier in the week, we continued our work on understanding place value; identifying properties of different materials, including thermal insulators and conductors; identified how artefacts can be a great source of historical evidence, learning about the events in the original Olympic Games and began to look at the Christian idea of God. We used our class reading book, "Kaspar, Prince of Cats," by Michael Morpurgo, to extend our inference skills for comprehension ........and were therefore well in need of a good run around in our Friday afternoon games session! Here we developed our throwing skills, applying the "cradle" position to help secure the resulting catches. A few photos from the week's activities are shown below.

Homework this week focuses on  time adverbials, words and phrases that add the detail in a sentence of when something happened. The children have been introduced to these through their biography work, such as "some years later;" "after that;" finally;" "in the future..." Two sheets of questions have been stuck into each homework book, but copies of each set have also been added to the homework section above, in case the book did not make it home. (In this event, choose the set that best fits your child's level of challenge). Completed sheets are due in next Wednesday and a spelling test on "ible" words will be held next Friday.

Reminder: History projects are due in Friday 15th October. If you have any questions about the task, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Week ending 17th September 2021

It has been another successful week in Simmonds Class with the children being awarded 10 minutes extra play time today for winning "Best in Assembly." Great attitude and all round good behaviour once again: well done. We have tackled place value in much larger numbers this week so the homework task is related to this. Your child has been provided with a homework book with the relevant sheet of maths questions to complete stuck inside: this is due in by next Wednesday, please. IF your child feels he/she would prefer a different level, then you can find all three sheets in the homework section above.

The biographical writing on Ellie Simmonds continues apace and we hope to have this finished next week. In RE, we considered why some people believe and do not believe in a God, while in history, we looked up Greece in an atlas and listed what we could find out from the map about this country. The children have been fantastic so fully deserve a weekend off and I will look forward to seeing them again next week. Remember: indoor PE on Monday afternoon so PE kits are needed.

Week ending 10th September 2021

 It has been a great first few days and I have to say, I am very impressed with the attitude, enthusiasm and work ethic I have already witnessed from so many of the children. They have taken on board a number of new routines and expectations, so thoroughly deserved a little "indoor play" session at the end of Friday afternoon as they became familiar with some of the resources we have in the classroom. A few photos of how we have worked together, created a class charter and designed some "imaginative" classroom characters are shown below. We will gently introduce the full timetable next week, so PE kits are required for Monday.

NB: You should all have received an email regarding the Zoom link for our Back to School meeting, Monday 13th September, at 4:45pm. Email me if you have not received this (jjones@brentryprimaryschool.org.uk)

and I can resend. Enjoy your weekend everyone. 

Year 5 and Simmonds Class Aut 2021

I trust you have all had an enjoyable and relaxing summer holiday and that you have fully recharged your batteries in readiness for the new term and year group. After a longer break than usual, I hope you are looking forward to seeing each other again and excited about what the new term and new “normal” will bring as Brentry’s “now-year-fives.” I am sure there will be a great mix of emotions on return, ranging from delight and joyous anticipation to some more restrained feelings, wondering how things may have changed and how you are going to cope with it all. You will be pleased to know that we teachers have spent a lot of time considering this and putting together plenty of opportunities for you to ease back into the school routine gently, to ask lots of questions and to have the time to share all your thoughts.

For myself, I am really looking forward to having you in, getting to know you and letting you know about all the exciting things we cover and do in year 5. Here’s to a fun filled first week back!

NB: If you have to self-isolate or are unable to get to school for other reasons, please do take a look at the isolation page for ideas to keep yourself busy. Email me any work you would like me to take a look at or, indeed, pass on some photos of what you have been up to.

Week ending 16th July 2021

Best week....EVER!! 

What a great way to finish off the year: we completed some fabulous woven mats using plastic strips; had a zoom call to meet Mrs Ochiltree and found out all about the exciting things we can look forward to in year 6; took part in a whole class water fun afternoon (and yes, ganged up on Mrs Jones!) and finished the week in style with a games morning and popcorn filled film afternoon. The absolute best part, however, was hearing that our very own Bella Lawrence had won the year 5/6 category in the UK's Speak Up for Nature (public speaking) competition. As a result, Brentry Primary is now recognised as a beacon school as a Force for Nature and Bella herself will receive a personalised medal, T shirt and £200 voucher for Go Ape. Huge congratulations go to her and, of course, to Mrs Fennell who drove this project forward and gave so much of her time, energy, effort and enthusiasm to this great cause. Many thanks and heartfelt gratitude goes to her. A selection of the week's photos are shown below and many more can be found in the gallery section.

Do enjoy a fantastic summer break with your families and know that your children have made me a very proud teacher. It has been a difficult time in so many ways, again, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my year with them

Week ending 9th July 2021

Another week has raced on by and it is almost unbelievable how busy we have still been as the end of term draws near. We began the week with some outdoor maths work, finding the area of irregular shapes (photos in the gallery section above) and continued the shape unit with some lessons on coordinates in all four quadrants with our visiting Mr Woodley. We had our next yoga session and look forward to our final one next week. It is definitely a great way of keeping calm and flexible at the same time, as well as a lot of fun.  We have continued with out art topic and completed some great examples of images in the style of Andy Warhol, together with submitting our home projects. Many of these are shown below.  

The sun shone for us on Friday morning and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Blaise as a thank you reward for Simmonds Class earning their 30 gold stars. Dizzy heights were reached, on the size of ice creams as much as the apparatus, and the day was topped off with an outside lunch on return and a golden time on football, card trumps and lego modelling. Huge congratulations go to all the children on their conduct throughout the day: they were a credit to Brentry School and made the supervising adults very proud. 

Week ending 2nd July 2021

The end of term seems to be fast approaching and we are frantically trying to finish off topics already begun. The Pop Art lesson this week saw the final products of our Ben Day portraits in the style of Roy Lichetenstein. Who do you recognise in the selection of paintings below?

Lily and Imogen had fun making chocolate rice krispie cakes: and we in Simmonds Class enjoyed eating them.

This week, it was the turn of yellow team to hold the trophy on high, having earned the most amount of team points. Well done to you all, under the enthusiastic guidance of Captain Milo. 

Some fabulous Pop Art projects have been handed in already and I have been delighted with the originality of the final results. Remember, the deadline for these is next Monday, 5th July, (though I have told the children they may have a few extra days if needed, considering the sunny weather and the prospect of a weekend away!) I have put a couple of power points, in the homework section, of lessons we have done or discussed in class. Do take a look if you are still trying to make a decision on what to do your project on.

Week ending 25th June 2021

Well, what a week this has been: the sun has shone; our mobile phone cases are complete; we have been treated to ice cream and then enjoyed a fabulous sports day to top the whole week off in style. On top of all that, we have learned about drawing, measuring and calculating angles; features of mystery story writing; drawing in the style of pop artist Roy Lichenstein....and are now, deservedly, only 3 gold stars away from our whole class reward target. Keep pushing to that finishing line, Simmonds Class. 

Reminder: Pop Art home projects are due in Monday 5th July.

Take a look at the selection of photos below from the week's activities and don't forget to check out the gallery section above for a few more. Happy weekend everyone. 

Week ending 18th June 2021

First of all, a very big thank you for all the kind donations you have contributed to the (postponed) summer fair. Your plentiful supply of bottles and chocolates are much appreciated and being safely stored for when the big event takes place in September. The children enjoyed a dress down day as a result and it seemed to have a very positive effect on their approach to their work. We have spent our afternoons working hard through the process of designing and making a mobile phone case for our DT project. As you can see from the photos below, we have followed a number of steps to achieve this: drafting a design criteria and some initial designs; selecting a preferred design;  measuring and creating paper templates to pin to the fabric and cutting out the felt, ready for sewing; practising a variety of stitches, in order to choose which one best suits our designs and now we are in the process of sewing our patterns together to achieve a final result. We definitely have some emerging designer talent in Simmonds Class, that's for sure. 

Mr Clarke came to visit year 5 this week and presented some well deserved certificates for all the children who entered the public speaking competition. We are sure this is an experience that each of them will take forward with them and be incredibly proud of. Congratulations once again to school winner Bella Lawrence and we wish her all the best of luck for the final round against other contestants across the UK. 

As Wimbledon approaches, Simmonds Class put in a spot of tennis practice during the games lesson this week and built up their skills to deliver some stunning forehand shots. 

It was the turn of Red Team this week to win the most team points and here they are, celebrating in style, under the leadership of Captain Elizabeth. Congratulations to them. 

Week ending 11th June 2021

A big welcome back to you, following the half term break, and there's plenty to look forward to in the final term of year 5. Do please keep a look out for all messages related to the Summer Fair, starting with the

non school uniform day next Friday, 18th June.

Any donations here, of chocolates or bottles for the tombola stall, will be gratefully received. 

Huge congratulations go to Bella Lawrence this week for winning the public speaking competition in Thursday's assembly performance. The panel of judges were incredibly impressed with the quality of all the speakers but Bella's passion and natural delivery won the day, as did her heartfelt acceptance afterwards. Her entry will now be put forward, in the final round of this UK wide competition, against 19 other schools. We will let you know the results as soon as we receive them.

The athletic season has begun and the photos below show some relay practice the runners of Simmonds class took part in during their games session on Wednesday: plenty of potential spotted to become the future Usain Bolt or Dina Asher Smith! 

We have completed some tricky maths work this week, focusing on making conversions between different units of measurement. I have to say, the children have worked really hard on this and they earned a further 3 gold stars in one day towards their target of a whole class reward. Well done!

We have also started a new art topic, "Pop Art" and the final related project has been given out today. You can find this in the homework section above and the final projects are due in Monday, 5th July.

Here are a few pen portraits the children completed in the style of pop artist, Roy Lichtenstein.

Can you recognise any Elvis', Marilyns, Harry Potters or even a hidden Mr Bean?

Finally, this week's team point champions are Green Team so many congratulations to them. 

Week ending 28th May 2021

The final week of term 5 has certainly been a busy one and the children fully deserve their half term break. They completed some fantastic persuasive writing, on the back of our public speaking workshop last week, and a selection of the children are (hopefully!) busy rehearsing their speeches for an assembly performance, once we return to school. The stand out speaker will be put forward to the national competition, following the result from our own panel of judges. 

The sun shone for us on Thursday after school, making our very first silent disco a great success. Photos of the event are shown below, many of them from our own in house photographer, Elizabeth. 

Our PE lesson this week focused on team work and following instructions to develop orienteering skills. Here are a few pictures of the activity, "Funny Faces," where each team had to interpret symbols and maps in order to place the equipment in the correct positions. 

Other than a few finishing touches, our art topic on Flowers and Plants came to an end, with a great lesson on shaping wire to create 3D structures. It may well have resulted in a few sore fingers and thumbs but the end products were fantastic. Here are a few examples of the wire shaping through to the completed flowers and the final whole class display.

All that is left now is for me to wish you all a very happy (homework free!) half term and I look forward to seeing you all again for the final term of year 5. 

Week ending 21st May 2021

Firstly, many thanks to all the parents who logged on to Zoom this week for their parents evening appointment. It was really nice to catch up with you all and update you on how your child is getting along: all very positive, and a testament to how well your children are managing such a strange year. 

We have continued apace with our topics: fractions, decimals and percentages in numeracy; persuasive writing in literacy; all about sound in science (despite the on going noise from the very loud lawnmower!); Christianity in the 21st century for RE, where we learned about the life of Mother Teresa and Flowers and Plants in art where, this session, we manipulated paper and card to create some colourful 3D creations of all shapes and sizes. Here is a selection of some of them. 

It was the turn of Yellow Team to hold the team points trophy up, which Captain Milo duly did, so many congratulations to them, earning 40 points through through their hard work and great attitude.

Do check out the gallery section above for photos of some completed decoupage examples.

Homework this week is to work through the two sheets attached: one on fractions, decimals and percentages; the other on adding and subtracting decimals. A few top tips have been given on the instruction sheet which are definitely worth a look as a reminder of what we have covered in class. Please remember: you only have to do the one sheet, for each topic, at the level that you think best suits you. Please ensure these are handed in by next Wednesday. Enjoy your weekend, though take an umbrella if you're intending on going out! 

Week ending 14th May 2021

Without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight of the week was our Tree Champions workshop on Thursday, delivered by the brilliant Jenny Stewart from Speaker Trust. The day was jam packed full of games, activities and speaking tasks, all designed to help develop self confidence, communication skills and the ability to speak in public. The children worked steadily throughout the day to put their ideas about trees and nature into a speech, which they then delivered to the rest of the class. As you can see from the selection of photos below, Jenny captured their interest and passions fantastically and the children's final performances genuinely brought a tear to the eyes of those adults watching. Up to 5 of the children will be invited to deliver their speech again, alongside children from other schools around the UK, as part of a competition.

Results will be given at the beginning of next week. 

We have also been busy with more science experiments, investigating ways of hearing sound over distance. We had great fun making and testing out our string telephones to understand how sound travels. 

On Friday, we continued our art topic on Plants and Flowers and began our own examples of decoupage. This technique is the art of decorating an object by gluing coloured paper cut-outs onto it in a series of layers. Each layer is sealed with glue until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like a painting. Here are a few photos of the work in progress. We hope to complete the finished product on Monday.