Another busy week was had by Year 5! In preparation for their trip to Big Pit next week, the children learnt about the formation of coal and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using coal as an energy source. We also spent a session investigating the role that children played in Wales’ early mining history – we were all quite grateful that our visit will be a luxury rather than a working trip after what we learnt! 

The organisation “Bullies Out” ran two workshops with Year 5 on “Kindness Matters” and “Changing Attitudes” this week. The children certainly seemed to enjoy the hands-on sessions and we hope that the content will help support and build on the work we have been doing with Year 5 to make sure that everyone feels safe and respected at Romilly. 

In Talk for Write, the children used actions (to humorous effect!) to help them learn the next paragraph of our story “Hansel and Gretal”. They then, used their writing skills to ‘set the scene’ by using descriptive vocabulary. In mathematics we have been putting the children’s knowledge of place value in to practice by arranging values on a number line. The children learned how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. We discussed rounding numbers in real life contexts and gave them practical opportunities to practise and apply this skill in our rounding carousel! 

  Important information for next week 

• Our visit to Big Pit will be taking place on Monday 28th September. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay and that a grab bag has been ordered if required. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear and long hair tied back. 

• 5KH are due to go on their visit to Slade Farm on the 5th October, please ensure that Grab bags have been ordered if needed and that consent is authorised on Parent Pay (the trip is free so no payment is requested!) 

3. How you can help at home 

We are aware that although most children are excited for our trip, some are a little nervous about what to expect. In order to help them prepare for our visit, you could show the children what to expect by visiting their website: https://museum.wales/bigpit/ 

Please ensure that the children are reading when at home, ideally all children should be reading for enjoyment for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. 

Please continue with times tables and their division equivalents  

Practise continue quick fire subtraction and addition mental maths with your children for example, asking at random What’s 10-2? What’s 7+3?   

Useful home learning websites: 

• Top Marks, Hit the button  

• BBC Bitesize 

This week, year 5 have been introduced to our Autumn term topic, Pits and Ponies. Each class explored the chronology of coal mining in Wales by making a human timeline of events. We also introduced a cold task where we asked the children what they know about Coal mining already and most importantly, what they would like to find out… 

In Talk for Write, the children became literary detectives as we explored inference and how it can be used to create suspense in our writing. In mathematics we have begun by revising the children’s understanding of place value. 

2. Important information for next week 

• Our visit to Big Pit will be taking place on Monday 28th September. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay and that a grab bag has been ordered if required. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear. Please ensure long hair is tied back. 

  How you can help at home 

Please ensure that the children are reading when at home, ideally all children should be reading for enjoyment for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. 

Please continue with times tables and their division equivalents  

Practise quick fire subtraction and addition mental maths with your children for example, asking at random What’s 10-2? What’s 7+3?   

Useful home learning websites: 

• Top Marks, Hit the button  

• BBC Bitesize  

1. This week’s learning 

This week, we have really enjoyed getting to know the children and helping them to settle into their new classes. You should be very proud of how well their first week in Year 5 has gone! This week Year 5 have continued our Health and Wellbeing topic on self-regulation. The children have learnt about emotions, empathy, the hand model of the brain and have even had the opportunity to take part in a self-regulation strategy carousel! They then evaluated strategies to help support them and their friends during situations when they feel overwhelmed. They have then used this week’s learning to create a shared space in our pod area for the children to use as they need throughout the year, should they be feeling overwhelmed.  

Throughout our Health and Wellbeing topic, we have focused on behaviour and play at break times and lunchtimes to help remind the children that play should be a time when all children feel safe, respected and happy. 

2. Important information for next week 

• Our visit to Big Pit will be taking place on Monday 28th September. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear