Monday 15 May 2017

Computer Control Workshop Day!

Thank you so much to Mr Kettle from STEMworks for a brilliant Computer Control Workshop!
We started the morning thinking about how we use computers and how they work (inputs and outputs). We thought about definitions for what a robot is and how we use robotic things in our everyday lives. We then split into groups of 2’s and 3’s and made our 15-minute Lego EV3 robot.





Once our robots were built we were set a series of challenges. Each challenge was worth a different number of points.

Challenge 1 – STOP  (worth 20 points)
We had to start with our robots in the STEMworks box, program our robot to travel forwards in a straight line and stop with the 2 front wheels exactly on the black line at the stop sign.



Challenge 2 – PARK  (worth 30 points)
We had to start with our robot in the STEMworks box, program our robot to travel forwards to the end of the mat, turn right, travel forwards and park the whole robot inside the other STEMworks box.



We then adapted our robots, adding sensors to tell it to stop and adding sound files.

For the afternoon session we were given 3 different challenges. We had to complete as many of these, as accurately as possible, in the time given. Each challenge was worth a different number of points with 140 points in total up for grabs! We had to write and test each program. When each program was ready it was judged by Mr Kettle and we were awarded points. We had to adapt our robots to complete these challenges.

We had a brilliant day and learnt so much about computers and computer programming!







Friday 5 May 2017

Summer Term Communication Letter

Dear Parents/ Carers of Year 5 Pupils,

Welcome back! We hope you are well rested and ready for an action-packed term! We have already started this busy term with a fantastic week of ‘Bikeability Training’.

Summer Term Curriculum

Here is an outline of some of the areas of learning that we will be covering in class this term. 

Maths
Measure (time, volume, distance, perimeter and area)
Geometry (angles, reflections and translations, 3D shapes)
Problem solving
English
Word Play Poetry
Biographies and Autobiographies
Stories from a different point of view
SPaG
Science
Living things and their habitats
R.E.
Who is Jesus? What do people believe about him?
Computing
Programming (STEMworks Computer Programming Workshop Day – 15th May)
Analyse and evaluate data
P.E.
Athletics
Rounders and Cricket
Swimming (after half term)
Topic
(History, geog, art, D.T.)
Mysterious Remains
Enterprise


How you can help at home

Homework – Please note change of day
Year 5 children will continue to receive one English and one Maths homework weekly. However, as a change from last term, we will ask for Maths homework to be handed in on Tuesdays and English homework to be handed in on Wednesdays. We will set some MyMaths homework tasks as part of the Maths bubble homework. If you do not have access to the internet at home children are welcome to use laptops at school to complete these tasks during Friday lunchtimes.
If your child has any trouble with homework, all they need do is come and ask us (where possible before the due date).  It is also appreciated if you could help encourage children to take responsibility for their own homework. Each homework should take half an hour. If your child does not complete the task within this time, please sign it at the bottom, to let us know they have spent half an hour working on the task.
In addition, the children will continue to learn a spelling rule each week. They will receive a list of spellings that follow this rule every Monday and will need to learn these for a weekly spelling test on a Friday.
Please find attached to this letter the half termly spellings the children need to learn at home (and what they scored when tested on these spellings this week). These will not be taught in lessons and will be tested at the end of the half term. Thank you for your support with this – it makes a big difference.


Reading
Please continue to read regularly with your child. It is so important as children become more fluent with their reading that they understand what they have read. Please ask them questions about the characters and plot to check their understanding and encourage them to express their own opinions about a story/book. Please also encourage them to read aloud with appropriate intonation and expression, paying careful attention to punctuation marks used by the author.

Planners
Please could you check your child’s planner at the end of each week and sign the bottom of the page. Your child should take responsibility for asking you to check and sign it. The children will record their weekly spelling and times tables tests scores in their planners. We will collect the homework planners each Friday.

P.E
The children will have a P.E. session on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Sometimes our timetable has to change so P.E. kit should be in school each day please. It would be useful for the children to have both outdoor trainers and plimsolls (or clean trainers) as part of their kit so that we can use both the hall and outdoors.

Planners and reading books
Please have these in school each day. Thank you.

Enterprise Project
We are hoping to run an enterprise project later this term. More details to follow.


Please don’t hesitate to come and see us if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely,


Mrs Michelle Parkin and Mrs Marika Hortop