Mrs Janes                    Mrs Bone

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Beowulf

Hear and listen well, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more. It may be an old story, yet it troubles and terrifies us now as much as it ever did, for we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness and beyond. This is just a snippet written by the author (Michael Morpurgo) of this wonderful tale – Beowulf.

In fifth-century Denmark, a murderous monster stalks the night, and only the great prince of the Geats has the strength and courage to defeat him. Beowulf's terrifying quest to destroy Grendel, the foul fiend, a hideous sea-hag and a monstrous fire-dragon is the oldest surviving epic (a long poem) in British literature. 

In Term 2, year 5 continue with the Victorian theme and will be reading the world famous ‘A Christmas Carol’. This is a ghost story of Christmas written by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman and Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as Christmas trees.

Was Scrooge really as mean as he was portrayed to be?

We shall also be reading Joy to the World in term 2 as we learn about how Christmas looks for other countries. All over the world, there is a wealth of fascinating traditions and legends surrounding the Christmas story. Here are five festive folk tales, retold by Saviour Pirotta, originating from places as far-flung as Mexico and the Middle East, Northern Europe and North Africa. Sheila Moxley's vivid artwork adds to the seasonal spirit, making this a true celebration of Christmas, throughout the world.

In Year 5 we have spent the last week of our Victorian topic learning all about Victorian Halloween. We learnt about different Halloween traditions and compared them to what we do now. We created adverts for Victorian Halloween products, horror stories based around Bram Stoker's Dracula, instructions for carving Halloween turnips and finally carved spooky apples using our instructions. It was lots of fun! We can't wait for next term!

On our year 5 Victorian Day we all dressed up as Victorians and experienced the day in the life of a Victorian school child. We learnt about the three 'R's' of Victorian schooling: Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic. In the playground we played with hoops and skipping ropes as Victorian children would have done, then we came inside to practice our cursive lettering on black paper with chalk and had a cup of vegetable broth with a piece of 'stale' bread! We had to be careful though because if we fidgeted or did not pass the regular 'cleanliness' inspections our strict Victorian teachers would force us to were the 'Dunce' hat in the corner! 

In Art and Design this term we have been focusing on designing our very own Victorian houses. We have done research into the different architecture used, planned our designed uses sketches and evaluated different clay techniques. Finally we were able to construct our clay houses using air dry clay and then paint them. Now they are ready to bring home!

This term, Year 5 will be reading a wonderful Victorian novel called the 'Street Child'. It is a story of young Jim Jarvis, a boy struggling to survive on the streets of Victorian London after his mother dies.

Jim is left all alone in the workhouse and is desperate to escape. However, London in the 1860s is a dangerous and lonely place for a small boy and life is a constant battle for survival. Just when Jim finds some friends, he is snatched away and made to work for the remorselessly cruel Grimy Nick and is constantly guarded by his vicious dog - Snipe. 

Will Jim ever be free? 

Jim's gripping adventure in this tale is based upon the true story of the orphan whose plight inspired Doctor Barnardo to set up his famous children's refuge. 

Attached are the statutory Year 5 spelling lists for Autumn 1. Over the first few days, we have been testing the children on their current spelling knowledge and will be providing them with an individualised weekly spelling list that is suitable to their needs. These have been attached to their Reading Records so please take the time to sit with your children and support them with these as often as possible. If you have any questions, please ask. 

In Daffodil Class this week we played a variety of board games which tested our knowledge of place value. It was lots of fun!

We had our first ever drumming lesson! We did some call and response activities and learnt a few different beats.