Year 5 - Maple
Teacher – Mr Whincop
Teaching Assistants – Mrs Weeks
Dynamic Dynasties
In Dynamic Dynasties, your child will learn about periods of ancient Chinese history. They will explore a timeline of the first five Chinese dynasties and learn about the legends surrounding the beginning of Chinese civilization. They will take a deep dive into the history of the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty and explore evidence found in the ancient city of Yin. They will study oracle bones, learn about religious beliefs and explore bronze artefacts that set the Shang Dynasty apart from other civilisations. They will also study the hierarchy of the Shang Dynasty and discover who was powerful and who was powerless. They will look at warfare and find out how bronze technology gave the Shang Dynasty an advantage over their enemies. They will learn about the life of the great military leader, Fu Hao. The children will then look at significant aspects of life after the Shang Dynasty, including the work of Confucius in the Zhou Dynasty, the short but significant reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty and the importance of the Silk Road created by the Han Dynasty. To end the project, your child will find out how ancient China’s lasting legacy can be seen in the world today.
Sow, Grow and Farm
In the Sow, Grow and Farm project, your child will learn about allotments in the United Kingdom and how the government encouraged people to have them to support food rationing during the Second World War. They will learn about food webs and animal life cycles, including how living things are dependent on one another within a habitat. They will investigate the different ways that plants reproduce and will dissect flowering plants to identify the different structures. They will have the opportunity to learn about farming in the United Kingdom and the techniques used in modern farming, including the challenges that farmers face. They will learn about the benefits of eating seasonally and about the pros and cons of importing food. They will also learn about world farming and how the different climate zones affect where different foods can be grown.
Groundbreaking Greeks
In the Groundbreaking Greeks project, your child will learn about different periods of Greek history, exploring the earliest civilisations, the devastation of the Dark Age and the breakthroughs and developments of the Archaic and Classical periods. They will understand how the geography of Greece affected the development of city states and explore Athens, learning about the structure of the government and society. They will get to know some of the most significant Athenians and understand why Greek art, culture, architecture, philosophy, medicine and mathematics were so significant. Your child will learn about the leadership of Alexander the Great and discover how ancient Greece became part of the Roman Empire after the Hellenistic period. They will explore how the Romans respected and developed Greek ideas, making them their own and spreading them throughout the Roman Empire. To end the project, your child will decide which was the ancient Greeks’ greatest idea, and explore how the legacy of ancient Greece affects their lives today.
Home Learning Expectations
Your child will receive a maths and a Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG) task to complete every week, alongside the expectation of daily reading. Occasionally there will be a task linked to wider topics we are learning, such as Science, computing and history.
- Homework will be given to the children on a Friday and is due the following Friday.
- Tasks are always written in school diaries and Class Dojo.
- Homework books will be sent home on a weekly rotation in order to allow time for marking and to reduce paper/printing. Therefore, one week children will have their homework tasks stuck in their homework books, and the following week children’s homework will be a game or tasks to be completed on online.
Reading
Children should bring their reading records into school every day. Your child’s chosen Accelerated Reader (library) book should be read every day, either independently or shared with an adult. I encourage reading out loud to an adult at home as much as possible, though I appreciate this isn’t possible every day. Children are responsible for recording the book and pages read in their school diary, however reading will only be counted if signed off by an adult at home. Children will have their reading records checked every Friday.
Maths
Whilst online maths will be set every other week, children are encouraged to log in to TTRS and Freckle regularly to help with revision and gain points!
Any real-life experience with counting, telling the time, reading data, measuring or handling money is of great value to your child to see maths being used in context. Crucially, however, it is a secure understanding and quick recall of their times-table and related division facts which is of most value and will help unlock other areas of mathematics that they find tricky.
If you have any concerns or queries about information or any other matter relating to your child’s education, please talk to Mr Whincop in the first instance.