Class Blog for Talland Y5

Week beginning the 5th May 2025

A Busy and Brilliant Week!

What a packed week we've had in Talland Class! From editing written work and spiritual thinking to maths mastery and making memories on the school field, we’ve truly shown what amazing learners we are.

Using Inverted Commas in Speech

We had great fun correcting written speech and have developed a sound grasp of using inverted commas for direct speech correctly. Well done, Talland authors!

Area and Perimeter of Compound Shapes

In Maths, we’ve become shape-solving experts! We tackled compound shapes by breaking them down into simpler rectangles. We used rulers, formulas and our sharp minds to find both the area and perimeter. It was a challenge at first, but now we’re pros at it!

VE Day Picnic - Red, White and Blue

Thursday was especially exciting as we celebrated VE Day with a picnic on the school field. Everyone looked fantastic in red, white and blue, and the sunshine made it even better. We ate our lunch and juice while remembering the bravery and joy of the end of WWII.

Hinduism, Karma and Life After Death

In RE, we’ve been learning about Hindu beliefs, especially karma, reincarnation, and life after death. We talked about how actions have consequences, and that Hindus believe in doing good deeds to have a better next life. We discussed how this helps guide people to make kind, thoughtful choices.

Deserts and their Features

Geography took us to some of the hottest places on Earth — the deserts! We looked at physical features like sand dunes, rocky plateaus, and mushroom rocks. We learned how these features form and how animals and people adapt to survive in extreme heat with little water. “Deserts are dry because they get very little rain!” explained one child during our class discussion.

best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry and Mrs Walters.

Week beginning the 28th April 2025

Designing Playgrounds, Cracking Maths, and Moral Stories!

It’s been a fantastic week in Talland Class, full of creativity, problem-solving, and some exciting storytelling!

Designing Playgrounds with Strong Structures This week, our classroom turned into a hub of imaginative design as we took on the challenge of creating playgrounds based on exciting themes such as the circus and the zoo! As budding engineers and architects, we explored how to use strong structures to support our ideas—triangles, arches, and cross-bracing featured heavily in our designs. We thought carefully about materials, safety, and how to make the experience fun and interactive for children. The results were impressive, with teamwork and innovative thinking on full display!

Maths Magic – Decimals, Fractions and Percentages Talland Class also tackled their exit tests in decimals, fractions and percentages this week—and what a brilliant job they did! The children showed a strong understanding of place value, equivalence, and how to apply their knowledge in real-life contexts. Their hard work and perseverance paid off, and we’re very proud of their efforts. Great job, mathematicians!

Exploring Moral Stories – How the Camel Got Its Hump In English, we’ve started exploring stories that teach us a lesson, beginning with Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale “How the Camel Got Its Hump.” We looked at the structure and the features of a story with a moral, including repetition, alliteration, and expanded noun phrases. The children have begun experimenting with these techniques in their own writing, and we can’t wait to see the moral tales they come up with next!

Well Done, Talland Class! From structural engineering to storytelling with soul, it’s been a busy and rewarding week. We’re so proud of the enthusiasm and effort every pupil has shown. Keep it up—exciting learning adventures await!

best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry and Mrs Walters.

Welcome to the Summer Term

Science and Engineering

The Summer Term has already started with an action packed week of events running alongside the normal curriculum. These have included: a writer's workshop and a visit from the Royal Science institution delivering science in a memorable way for children, and adults, to remember. The week culminated into a whole day of learning about Isambard Kingdom Brunel. As you can see in the pictures, the children worked effectively in small groups to build a bridge which would bridge a 30 cm gap and hold the weight of a model vehicle. The children were amazing. They talked extensively about how they could strengthen their bridges by using triangular and cylindrical shapes. The element of surprise and achievement shows magnificently on their faces when they tested out their very own bridge structures.

best wishes,

Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry and Mrs Walters.

Image Gallery

Documents

Year 5 KNOWLEDGE WEB - Summer Term 1.doc

Week beginning the 31st March 2025

Space Art

As the Spring Term closes, the culmination of various art techniques based on the Dutch artist Teis Albers, who is known for his works with a strong graphic composition, shadows, some mystery and a nostalgic mood, finally started to make sense for the children. As you can see in the pictures, the children have captured the mystery and nostalgia in their own artistic creations. To produce their master pieces, the children made a printing pad using card and assorted materials. This supported the production and the diversity of textures evident in the children's paintings. The children painted one colour on the printing pad and printed it on to a piece of card. They then repeated this procedure with a different colour. From this, a unique space background was created ready to add the children's ideas of future inventions: flying cars, for instance. The children have had so much fun over the term learning, adapting and creating with many new artistic techniques.

Have a fabulous Easter break, Talland Class!

best wishes,

Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry and Mrs Walters.

Week beginning 24th March 2025

Heading Out to Space

Another action packed week for Talland Class. The highlights this week were: a visit to a Cornwall based story caravan where the children heard traditional stories; a morning spent in a Space Dome where they learned about the Universe, the cycle of the moon and other amazing facts, for example, 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level is the altitude of the Kármán line, a conventionally used boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.

Some of the children have also been honing in on their own self-development, especially using musical instruments. It's fantastic to watch the enthusiasm, concentration and self-confidence ooze from these children. Well done, Talland Class.

best wishes,

Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry and Mrs Walters.

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Documents

Week beginning 17th March 2025

An Exciting Expedition to Dartmoor Zoo

The highlight of the children's learning this week has been the exciting expedition to Dartmoor Zoo. The visit included seeing the animals at feeding time, from otters to lions; hearing the lion's proud roar; watching the tiger confidently patrolling his environment; a nighttime visit around the zoo and participating in workshops and discussing how we can protect and improve the natural environment for all living things. The children's confidence oozed and the questions asked by the children were well thought through: for example, how could these animals be returned to their natural environment? Despite the long day of walking and viewing the animals, the children were a credit not only to Talland Class but to their parents/guardians and Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy School. The excitement, fresh air and the abundance of activities helped them to sleep soundly ready for a Friday morning stroll around the Zoo and team building games.

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry and Mrs Walters.

Week beginning the 10th March 2025

Emergency First Aid - The Recovery Position

The children have had so much fun learning how to place a casualty in to the recovery position. They all remembered the emergency ABC (airway, breathing and circulation) procedure prior to putting the casualty in a safe recovery position. Well done, Talland Class.

Maths
The children are becoming proficient experts in mathematical problem solving. They can confidently apply their knowledge of adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying fractions to solve simple one step and two step problems.

English
We have some natural poets in Talland Class who intuitively use figurative language to enhance the verses within their poems. Most children are able to competently use metaphors, personification and alliteration effectively to enhance the poems they have written. Some children were able to recognise and include rhythm to allow their poems to flow when being read. Keep up the good work, Talland Class.

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters and Mrs Payne.

Week ending 7th March 2025

Art in Space

During Talland's art session, the children used a space scene prompt to record their observations these included curved lines, pyramids, triangles, spheres and so on. From this, they used their observations to expand on the prompt with their own ideas and creations.

Maths
The children have furthered their knowledge and understanding of fractions and are now able to confidently multiply a fraction by a whole number, for instance:

English
With increased understanding of figurative language, the children have been able to create their own rhyming poems to describe Spring in Cornwall. Some of the phrases used by the children were effective and inspiring, for example:

- There were a million smiles.
- Golden yellow daffodils,
Sat on top of green hills....

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters and Mrs Payne.

Week ending 28th February 2025

Making Banknotes

The children have had an interesting week adding their own pictures to a £10 note. This is part of the this half term's focus on 'Who should feature on a £10 banknote?' They have already researched features of banknotes and now recognise a couple of significant people who feature on them: Jane Austen and Winston Churchill, for example, The study now will investigate other significant figures within British history and, by the end of the half term, the children will be able to make an informed choice who they believe should feature on a British banknote and give reasons for their decision.

Maths
During this week, the children have consolidated their knowledge of multiplication and division. They have been given the opportunity to use their knowledge of short division and column method multiplication and applied this to solve simple word problems.

English
The children have learned to recite the William Wordsworth poem, I wandered lonely as a cloud. They then researched several features of the poem: personification, rhyming couplets and rhythm, for instance. They then started to write their own poem using a similar style to William Wordsworth.

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters and Mrs Payne.

Week ending 14th February 2025

Mapwork skills

This week included comparing the Alpine region with the local area: Saltash. The children had lots of fun generating ideas concerning the leisure facilities within the area, these included the swimming pool in the Leisure Centre; the ambience of the Waterfront; and the children's parks. With the use of a local map, the children were able to annotate the map with Ordinance Survey Symbols to represent parks, swimming pools and parking areas, for instance.

The children's tailoring skills are now amazing. They use the blanket stitch effectively and are able to sew additions on to their soft toys, buttons, for example.

Due to the dedication the children have shown in their presentation, their written methods for division are clear and precise. The use of the four operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division - has finally started to make sense to them. Many can now use this knowledge and apply it to challenging problem solving questions.

Talland Class have used this week to research facts about the Alps to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the area. Through this research, they have been able to write a non-chronological report about the Alps to provide a well thought through and informative piece of text.

All the children have worked extremely hard this half term and deserve a well earned rest next week. Have a safe, restful and enjoyable half term break, Talland Class. We look forward to seeing the children again for the second half of the Spring Term.

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters, Mrs Payne and Miss Rowlands.