Mayfly Class

                    Welcome to Mayfly Class                    

Mayfly is one of our Year 5 classes at the Isle of Ely Primary School. From this page you will be able to read about our curriculum each half term and all the work we get up to in and out of the classroom.

 

                            

Who works in our classroom?

Mrs Rachael Forster                                 

Class teacher                                           

 

 

Our curriculum

In Ant class this term, we will be learning:

Subject	Unit of Work
English	This term, we will be focusing on the fictional story, Asha and the Spirit Brid. This text focuses on overcoming obstacles, friendships and going on a journey with a purpose. It explores how characters interact, their actions and their reactions. We will also be looking at a warning story and explanation text and using the following toolkits to enhance our writing: Inject action into the setting, creating atmosphere through personification and simile – The bushes seemed like they were holding their breath. The trees lined the streets like an army. Use repetition to build tension whilst advancing the action – Towards the lake ... towards the bowl ... towards my fish! We will also be filling phonics gaps that became evident as a result of our last half term assessments, along with a focus on spelling and ambitious vocabulary and using our imagination affectively. In grammar we will be focusing on: Using commas in lists, adverbials and clauses; recognising commas to avoid ambiguity; pronouns to avoid repetition; relative clauses with parenthesis for clarity.
Maths	This term, the children will be covering many different areas of maths, including: Geometry - properties of shape Geometry - position and direction Decimals Negative numbers Measure - converting units Measure - volume Please use White Rose alongside our lessons if you want to go deeper or further with each topic.
Science	This term, we will be looking at astronomy, the theory of the Big Bang and the expanding universe, gravity, the moon and our galactic neighbourhood.
History	This term, the children will be learning about the origins of the transatlantic slave trade, what life was like for a slave, resistance and rebellion, abolition, and the experiences of Olaudah Equiano.
Geography	This term, the children will continue looking at the continent and countries of Africa from the perspective of physical geography, natural resources, biomes and food security, along with looking at the ancient African Empires and what South Africa was like from 1400 - 1900.
Physical Education	Swimming forms half of our PE this term, along with tennis. Swimming will be on Tuesday afternoon and tennis on Thursday mornings. Please ensure your child has the appropriate swimming kit including swim hat and goggles where necessary, swim trunks or a one piece swimsuit for the girls. No jewellery is to be worn on a Thursday.
Religious Education	This term, the children will be focussing on peace through the different religions. We will be looking at what it means to find inner peace, and how certain religions promote this alongside community peace.
Spanish	This term we will be continuing with Spanish as a new language to the children. We will be focusing on parts of the body and feeling unwell, and jungle animals.
Personal, Social and Health Education	This term, the children will be focusing on drug education and peer pressure.
Design & Technology	This term DT will take place across a couple of focus days where the children will be researching, designing, and making a pop-up book which will link to the subject of Art.
Art	This term Art will take place across a couple of focus days and will be linked with DT. The children will be looking at Islamic Art, both 2D and 3D, and using this to create images for their pop up books.
Computing	This term computing will look at Stop Animation.
Music	This term children will be learning about looping through music and body percussion.

 

Our Class Text is:

Asha and the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan

Knowledge Organisers:

At the Isle of Ely Primary School, we use knowledge organisers as a tool to enhance our students learning and to allow parents and carers to support their child's learning. In our knowledge organisers you will find essential knowledge, key dates, vocabulary and key figures where relevant. These can be used as a fun assessment tool which will ensure that students remember more and learn more in the upcoming unit of work.

Art Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

Design & Tech. Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

Geography Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

History Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

Music Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

Religious Education Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

Science Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

Spanish Knowledge Organiser Summer 1

Weekly Newsflash

22/05/23

What a fantastic Arts week we have had this week. The children have taken part in a number of different workshops over the week with some fantastic visiting artists and dancers. The children have learnt both Irish and Indian dances, taken part in painting and drawing workshops, and learnt some new mark making techniques. On Wednesday the sailing trip was a great success. The weather was glorious and fun was had by all. Hopefully it has inspired the children to take an interest in their local sailing club and maybe take part in one of their open days in the future. The children also had their final fun swim on Thursday afternoon and have all worked incredibly hard over the past 6 weeks to improve their skills and abilities in the water. Next week is half term and hopefully we will all enjoy some warmer weather before embarking on the final half term in Year 5!

 

w/c 15/05/23

This week has seen us with five days in school for the first time in what seems like a while! We have embarked on a poetry unit in English this week, learning about portmanteau words that are used in the Jabberwocky, writing our own imitation poem off of the back of this and also looking at black out poetry. This is a very fun way of drawing words out of an existing text and turning them into a poem. In Maths, we have been investigating parallel and perpendicular lines and 3D shapes before completing our end of unit check. Science blew our minds this week, as we learnt about our neighbouring galaxies and the sheer size of the universe. It's looking like another Ant win in Times Table Rockstars... come on Mayfly! We are very much looking forward to next week, which is our DT and Art week, and we'll even be doing a little bit of sailing in the middle!

w/c 08/05/23

The last of our 4 day weeks has been another busy one. The children have completed their independent writing innovations based on Smaug, which brings this unit to a close. They have used some fantastic figurative language, and made good use of some ambitious vocabulary. In maths we have continued the unit on Geometry, focusing on the angle facts of a straight line, round a point, and interior angles of triangles and regular quadrilaterals. Our spelling and phonics focus has been ewe, ire, ear and er words. The TT Rock Star battle has continued, and after a defeat last week, we are really hoping to win this one! In History we have been looking at the Abolition of the Slave Trade, in Geography our unit on Africa has ended with a lesson all about Kenya. Next week we will be doing our end of unit assessment in this subject. Finally, in Science we have been learning about the Lunar Phases and the theories surrounding how our moon was formed.

w/c 01/05/23

Well, for a four day week, the children have certainly packed in a lot of learning. Both classes have begun their new weekly times table battle against each other using Times Table Rock Stars. Who will win this week? Last week Ant were the winners! Science was very interesting this week, as the children learnt about terrestrial and jovian giants, learning the difference between the two types. The children have also worked hard in Geography, learning about food security and how some countries are insecure when it comes to this basic human right. This week in English, we have been planning our innovated action story, flipping the characters and having a beast seeking out a warrior to defeat them. Next week it will be all about our independent story! In Maths, we have been measuring angles, starting with acute and inverse. It has been fun learning how to use a protractor accurately. Our spelling focus this week has been the digraphs er, ow, ai and oa.

 

w/c 24/04/23

In maths this week, we have focussed on the 24 hour analogue and digital clock, and had a push on times tables fluency in our maths lessons. We have set up TT Rock Stars again for all the children in the class, and will be having weekly online battles, so please be sure to spend a little time each day practicing all of the times tables and let’s see if we can beat Ant class next week! In English we have been looking at personification, similes, and repetition as toolkits for descriptive writing, along with planning our whole class innovate switching the characters in the story of Smaug. We will write these stories using the toolkits we have been practicing next week. In Geography we learnt about Mansa Musa, and in RE we looked at how different religions promote Peace in their societies, whilst in History we delved deeper into the Transatlantic Slave Trade and what life was like for the enslaved. In science we continued our unit on Astronomy and focussed on gravity and the orbit of the earth around the sun, and the moon around the earth. In PSHE we focussed on what to do if someone is suffering a medical crisis, specifically an asthma attack, in Spanish we practiced what to say at the doctors and the corresponding treatments, and in music we listened to famous artists that use looping as a technique. Remember the school is closed on Monday for the bank holiday, have a lovely weekend!

w/c 17/04/23

What a busy first week back! The children have settled in well after their Easter break, ready for the Summer Term. This week we have started our new class book Asha and the Spirit Bird, and in English have started to learn the short story Smaug, about defeating a dragon.

In English we have been creating a text map of Smaug and using dragon inspired pictures, along with Descriptosaurus' to generate ambitious descriptive phrases for use next week in our own writing. In maths we have completed our unit on data, graphs and tables. In science we have been learning about the theory of the Big Bang and how the universe was created. History saw the start of our learning about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, whilst in RE we began our unit on Peace through the religions. In geography we are continuing our unit on Africa, looking more in depth at the physical geography and natural resources. In music we have been looking at looping and body percussion, whilst in Spanish we have been revising parts of the body and learning how to explain to a doctor that we are unwell. In PSHE we have started our Drug Education looking at legal and illegal drugs and medicines. Finally, in PE, we have started playing tennis, and going swimming. The children all took part with great enthusiasm in the pool and we are looking forward to our next session.