Welcome to Willow Class!

On this page, you will find information about the curriculum, what we get up to in class, photos and much more!

Class Teacher - Miss Barber

Teaching Assistant - Mrs Morgan Tranter

Mrs Tucker will be teaching the class on a Friday afternoon.

Should you wish to contact me about your child, please catch me during drop off and pick up, or do so via my email address fbarber@winterbourneearls.wilts.sch.uk

Upcoming Important Dates!

• Start of Term: 22.04.25 
• Figsbury Challenge: 26.04.25

PE

PE days will be on a Monday and Wednesday; please come to school in your PE kit on these days. 

HOMEWORK

• Homework, which will either be set on paper or using an internet-based platform such as Mathletics, will be set on a Friday and due in the following Thursday. 
• Your child will be asked to stick the homework list of instructions they are given as well as the spelling bank into their Reading Record as soon as they are set them. This is to ensure they do not get lost. If there is a reason homework cannot be completed that week, please communicate this with me before the date it is due in. This way it is likely the problem can be resolved.
• In addition to their weekly homework, it is expected that children read everyday at home. This can be independently, however regular reading with an adult is still very important for pupils in UKS2. Please record this reading in your Reading Record each day, which will be checked each Monday by Mrs Morgan Tranter.
• You may be set a half term 'make and do' project that is linked to our topic.

SPELLINGS

At the beginning of each spelling unit, a note will come home in 'Reading Records' which will state the spelling rule being focused on in school. As well as this, children will also receive a word bank that supports children to practise using the rule. Children will be expected to complete additional research to build their word bank and further their understanding of the rule. It is important that these weekly spellings are practiced daily. A low-stakes spelling quiz will take place whereby children are expected to prove they have completed their learning of that unit. 

End of Summer 2!

Wow!! What an exciting time Year 5 have had. For our final half term, we ventured out to the Titanic Museum where we took part in a workshop, a discovery session and even had the chance to explore the museum independently! We learned so much, including hearing some personal stories of passengers and crew on board the ship. We have hugely enjoyed this topic over the Summer Term and from it have created some high level pieces of writing in English, including a newspaper report as well as a structured discussion piece using causal conjunctions. With all this knowledge, Year 5 were given the task to create their own independent lines of enquiry projects in History where they all chose their own specialised topic of investigation. These ranged from focusing on specific people to focusing on the architecture of the impressive vessel. They should be so proud of the way these projects have turned out and they even received the opportunity to show their parents all their work on our very own 'Titanic Day'. Here, we all got dressed up (or down!) as passengers and crew from the Titanic and had a go at lots of activities, including a lifeboat race. In DT, Year 5 have investigated the nutritional value of different Spaghetti Bolognese recipes and learned the importance of making alterations to recipes for taste, dietary requirements or just to try something new! From this, Year 5 cooked their own altered recipes, involving the addition of mushrooms, celery, chilli, and for some...even pineapple! What a fantastic year it has been.

End of Summer 1!

Year 5 have hugely enjoyed their ‘Iceberg Ahead!’ topic this half term, learning all about the events of the Titanic. We have delved deep in to where, why and when the sinking occurred and the reasons behind this catastrophic event. We anticipate our trip to the SeaCity Museum in order to dig deeper into this learning! We have been using what we have learned about the Titanic to construct an in-depth non-chronological report in English, followed by writing a diary entry in the perspective of one of two main characters from our class book, ‘The Titanic Detective Agency’ by Lindsay Littleson. As well as this, in art Year 5 have looked at how in order to create a detailed and effective sketch of something as great as the Titanic, we must look at how to draw from a one-point perspective using a vanishing point. We then turned these into advertisements as though promoting the Titanic for the first time in 1912, using watercolour pencils to really bring them to life!

In PE, we have been practising our throwing and catching skills in Rounders; learning the rules and working in teams to win. Putting these skills to the test, a group of us competed against other primary schools at Wyvern St Edmunds, succeeding in coming 4^th place!

We were incredibly excited to welcome Science Week, where we built rockets from various materials and tested the distance they were able to propel, due to Newton’s Third Law. We explored many other aspects of Space, including entering the Wonderdome, tasting some space food and after analysing Sam Ryder’s ‘Space Man’ and learning that songs can be interpreted as poems, we had a go at writing our own. After an action-packed half term, we are excited to progress this learning after the break!!

Welcome to the Spring Term!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas time and a positive start to the New Year. 

This Spring term is action-packed and we cannot wait to get started! 

After a busy Autumn term getting settled in to Year 5, we are ready to get stuck in to the new term!!

This term, our topic is 'Lungs of the Earth' connected to Rainforests, with a specific focus on the Amazon Rainforest. Our enquiry question is 'Who owns the Earth?'

Throughout this topic, Year 5 will be identifying different types of rainforest, the vital layers of it, as well as enhancing map skills using atlases.

Not only this, but Y5 will be investigating the causes of deforestation and the impact this has on the animals who inhabit the Amazon Rainforest. 

This topic will be explored through a number of subjects, including DT - where the children will be making stuffed toy rainforest animals, English - writing about survival in the rainforest linked to our Guided Reading book 'The Explorer' by Katherine Rundell, and Art - trying our hand at watercolour, oil pastel and pencils to create images of animals from the rainforest. 

This is a really exciting and fascinating topic which will give Y5 the chance to realise the vital role that the Amazon Rainforest plays in keeping the delicate climate of the planet stabilised.

Have you ever wondered what a Kapuchin Monkey would say if it could talk?

Well, Year 5 are going to find out!

During Book Week in March, we will be studying the book 'Interview with a Tiger', by Andy Seed. A fiction/non-fiction book that involves informative interviews with different clawed rainforest animals. From this, Y5 will get the mics out and conduct their own interviews with their own rainforest animals in order to learn more about them.

We cannot wait to get started!!

Welcome to the Autumn term 2023-24!

This term our project is called "Who let the Gods out?"

We will be developing our historical and geographical skills throughout our project as we learn more about Ancient Greece.

Our concept question is - Are you a thinker or a fighter? This is linked to our historical study of Ancient Athens and Ancient Sparta. One state valued thinking, while the other valued being strong warriors.

To view our curriculum document for this term which lists all of the things we will be learning, just follow the 'Curriculum' link for the  Autumn Term.

Class Gallery and Latest News:

For the latest photos and to see what we have been up to in our learning- See the term buttons.