Welcome to Year 5, Dragonflies Class.

Our class teacher is Mr McKaigg, who is supported by Mrs Hunt (Mon - Fri), Mrs Harris (Mon - Fri mornings) and Mrs Johnston (Tues and Wed). We are a class who collectively work hard but have fun as well.

Timetable

When the children come in at 8.45 am they complete their Early Bird Maths questions, complete any editing required and then read quietly before the register.

At 9:00 am, we teach handwriting or spelling, learning the rules and conventions of spelling in different groups according to each child’s needs.

English follows at 9.30, often based around a good quality story or linked to our topic area.

After break, we start our Maths lesson with children working at their own level both independently, in groups and with adult teaching and support.

We then run our Guided Reading session from 11.35 to 12.00. This is a class session, with Teacher/TA support given.

RE is taught on a Friday morning as it is a core subject in Church of England Schools.

Foundation subjects including Humanities (History/Geography), Science, Music, PSHE, Art and Design and Technology are taught in the afternoons across the week.

PE

On the days where the class are participating in PE, please come into school wearing PE kit - 

• Plain, dark coloured shorts
• White t-shirt
• Plimsolls or trainers
• Optional plain, dark tracksuit or leggings for outdoors/colder weather
• School jumper or a plain, dark coloured jumper/hoody

On the days where the class are participating in Forest School please come into school wearing clothes that are appropriate for muddy/messy activities with a spare change of footwear to wear in the school building

Homework

All children in Dragonflies, regardless of their ability, are expected to read for at least 25 minutes each day to increase their reading skills, vocabulary and knowledge of how stories work. Their reading records, signed by an adult at home, are handed in each Thursday. Children are then entered into the Reading raffle if they have read at least 4 times a week, so please do encourage your child to bring their record in.

They are also set 1 piece of SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) or Math homework and sessions on Times Table Rockstars, along with a list of spellings to learn. Homework is set on a Friday and to be handed in by the following Wednesday.

There are occasionally other homework tasks that children are asked to complete eg. for Topic work. We expect all homework tasks to be completed by children as this is really good preparation for the increased volume of homework that children will receive in Year 6 and in Secondary School.

If homework is not handed in, the children will spend a lunchtime completing the work. If there are issues surrounding homework or children don't have a quiet space to work at home, we can support them at school but we do need to know about this.

Trips

In year 5 we have several different trips and experiences to look forward to.

In the Autumn term, we visit Nothe Fort in Weymouth, focusing on our World War 2 topic, learning about rationing, the Home Front, Education and many more aspects, through interactive historical learning experiences.

In the Spring term, we visit Leeson House in Langton, focusing on our Science topic of Life Cycles. We look at different life cycles in action, think about how animals adapt to their environment and look at animals in the wild.

In the Summer term, we visit Cary Camp, focusing on team building and communication. Through low ropes, bouldering, tunnelling and other activities we learn about communicating and working together as a team, preparing us for our journey into year 6.

Throughout the year we will also have different visitors in, for example, The Hedgehog Group, The Dog's Trust, local faith leaders, to deepen our understanding of different subjects and experience difference perspectives. 

Please remember, we have an open door policy – please come and speak to any of the Year 6 staff if you have any questions or worries.