Welcome to the final term in Year 5; where is the time going?! Here’s what’s been happening in the Year 5 classroom this week:

Science: This afternoon, we kicked off our Earth and Space science unit, igniting curiosity and raising questions we’re eager to explore in the coming months.
English: Linked to our science topic, we dove into our new text “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly, discussing the inspiring journey of four female African-American mathematicians at NASA, and began to explore the key themes of resilience and overcoming gender and racial barriers.
Maths: Building on our previous knowledge of equivalent fractions, we tackled comparing, ordering, and adding fractions.
RE: In RE, we delved into the four Resurrection accounts, comparing them and creating visual representations of Mark’s account through Resurrection art.
PE: Our PE sessions introduced us to the fundamentals of athletics, focusing on running and jumping as we began our athletics unit for the half-term.

Home learning for this week is as follows:

Maths	Mathletics assignments: ·        Comparing & ordering fractions less than 1 ·        Comparing & ordering fractions greater than 1 ·        Add & subtract fractions with the same denominator
Reading	5 tests on Readtheory or 20 minutes of reading per day
SPaG	Edshed.com quizzes: ·        Brackets to indicate parenthesis ·        Dashes to indicate parenthesis ·        Commas to indicate parenthesis
Spelling	Log on to Spelling Shed using your EdShed login, and play a variety of games to practise this week’s spelling rule: Challenge Words (from the Year 5 and 6 Statutory Word List) ·        amateur ·        foreign ·        ancient ·        pronunciation ·        awkward ·        symbol ·        criticise ·        yacht ·        excellent ·        equipment

Please see the attached letter that outlines the RSE learning for this term.

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

Miss Donatantonio

The highlight of our week in Year 5 was our trip today to the British Museum, aimed at enriching the children’s understanding of Ancient Greece. We embarked on a journey via train and tube to Russel Square, and upon our arrival, we were treated to an engaging presentation in a remarkably impressive lecture theatre! The presentation delved into Greek myths and provided insights into identifying characters depicted on Greek pottery through visual clues. The presenter was very impressed with the children’s knowledge!

Following a satisfying lunch break, we ventured into the Ancient Greece galleries, where we undertook tasks focused on the artefacts there. These tasks put our observation and detective skills to the test. I must commend the children for their exemplary behaviour throughout the day; they were a joy to accompany. Special thanks are owed to Mrs Heymoz for organising the trip following her teaching of the history topic this term, and also to Mr Wilson who gave up his day to accompany us.

Home learning this week is to ensure all lyrics to songs for the Way of the Cross service are learnt by heart, so that we raise the roof on Tuesday evening! Practise here.

Please also practise this week’s spellings (words with silent letters):

doubt
autumn
island
build
lamb
receipt
solemn
ascend
thistle
disciple

On Wednesday next week, we will be doing a class walk as part of our Lenten fundraising events. I am planning to take them through the nearby fields, so please ensure they have 2 pairs of footwear with them: 1 pair that they don’t mind getting muddy on the walk, and 1 pair that they can change into back at school.

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Donatantonio

Please use the lyrics and links below to learn the songs for the KS2 Way of the Cross service.

Lyric sheet can be found here.

My Soul is Sad

My soul is sad. My heart is breaking tonight.
Could you not watch and comfort me until light?
Am I alone, surrounded only by night?
Could you not watch one hour with me?

Could you not keep awake for one hour with me?
Is it so hard that you should do this for me?
I die for you that you might always be free.
Could you not watch one hour with me?

And so I weep, and there is no one to hear.
I am in pain; will no one witness my tears?
I am your God, and as my Passion draws near,
Could you not watch one hour with me?

Stay With Me

Stay with me
Remain here with me
Watch and pray
Watch and pray

Walk Alone

Take your cross now Jesus man.
Walk the road to Calvary alone.
Your innocence a mockery Nazarene for what crime do you atone?
Walk alone.

Battered bruised and bloodied now, stumbling on the long and dusty road.
Stripped of all your dignity.
This final journey holds a fate well known.
Walk alone.

Death’s dark journey calls your name.
Crown of thorns, crown of shame.
Faces filled with hate and blame.
The good you’ve done forgotten now.

Take your cross now Jesus man. Walk the road to Calvary alone.
Walk alone.
Walk alone.
Walk alone.

Born For This

Born for this. You were born for this.
Born to walk this road and bear that rugged cross.
But it’s breaking my heart to see you like this.
My son, my precious child.
The agony, Oh, the agony.
I see you suff’ring and there’s nothing I can do.
But I’ll walk by your side till we come to the end.
My son my precious child.

I see the anguish in your eyes.
I’ve prayed this cup will pass you by, but I know that it has to be so. Though I don’t understand the reason.
So much pain so much confusion,
but you were born for this,
you were born for this.
My son, my precious child.

Fallen Again

Fallen again. Kneeling in shame.
Frightened, rejected unbearable pain.
Suff’ring in silence such patience unknown, not moving.
Can he go on?
Fallen again. Face to the ground. Soldiers abusing, heckling crowd.
Slowly he rises feet heavy unsure.
Strength fading still he goes on.

All Hail, King of the Jews

O great king O royal one, your cross awaits. Is there anything your majesty desires?
Is your cross too heavy sire?
May I shine your crown?
Let us relieve you of your splendid royal attire!
All hail king of the Jews!
All hail King of the Jews!

Come now king and rest awhile you’ve walked so far!
We bet you’re very glad the journey’s almost done.
We like your regal garments so we’re sharing them around.
Casting lots to see what can be won.
All hail king of the Jews!
All hail king of the Jews!

Murderers and brigands,
We thought we’d seen it all.
Every kind of criminal there can be.
But this one they call Jesus is the strangest of the lot!
A self proclaimed Messiah is he!
All hail King of the Jews!
All hail king of the Jews!
All hail king of the Jews!

Father, Forgive Them

Father forgive them for what they have done. They know not the scale of their crime.
Guilt in their eyes and my blood on their hands.
Forgive them dear father forgive.

Father why have you forsaken your son.
Alone I am left here to die.
My flesh and my spirit both wounded the same. Forgive them dear father forgive.
Eli Eli lama sabachtani. Repeat

Precious Saviour

Precious Saviour laid to rest.
Shattered hopes, such emptiness.
Lifeless Lord. It is over now.

Night has come, the darkest hour.
Our hope has gone.
Here in this stone-cold grave the one we thought would save us, where is solace to be found?
It is over now.
It is over now.

You Are The Way

You are the way
to our Father above!
Jesus send Your Spirit,
help our hearts to love.
You are alive!
You’re our friend and our guide.
We can always trust in you as you’re here
by our side!

At the cross,
forgiveness we pray
for moments when we’ve fallen astray.

Through the cross,
the darkness has passed.
The Lamb of God is light that will last!

We will take up our cross,
it’s a gain, not a loss.
We’ll reach out, love the poor and the lost!

Spiritual Growth: To honour the significance of Lent and drawing closer to God, the children participated in the sacrament of Reconciliation. They engaged in a Reconciliation service alongside Years 4 and 6, followed by individual confessions with either Fr Shaun or Fr Robert.

Catholic Social Teaching (CST): Throughout Lent at Pope Paul, we will be emphasising different CST principles weekly, employing art as a medium for exploration. This week, we contemplated the concept of “Care of Creation,” discussing and reflecting upon this painting:

It was interesting to hear the children’s thoughts and ideas, linking it to their knowledge of Laudato Si’ and the creation story.

PE: We commenced two new topics: Yoga on Wednesday and Dance, concentrating on the Haka, on Thursday. In our dance session, the children collaborated to devise movements symbolising aspects of war and tribal culture, crafting group motifs.

Maths: Our exploration of fractions began, with this week’s focus on identifying equivalent fractions.

English: Our attention turned to Bubba’s character in The Watertower, examining the dilemmas he confronts through the lens of an internal monologue, and learning how to advance action in narrative writing within the reporting clauses of direct speech.

Emily, Frankie and Finn led us in a Lectio Divina this week, allowing us to find meaning in the story of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple. Well done you three.

Home learning for this week:

Mathletics: Finding equivalent proper fractions (Quest)

Recognising equivalent fractions (Quest)

Spag.com: Direct speech punctuation (C)

Spellings: Words with suffixes where the base word ends in ‘-fer’

difference
preference
inference
preferred
conferring
referring
transference
referee
transferring
reference

Have a good weekend everyone!

Miss Donatantonio