Otter Class

Class teacher’s welcome

Welcome to the ‘Otterly’ Outstanding Yr5 Otter class!

We are very excited to share with you events that happen throughout the school year. In Otter, the children are provided with the skills and knowledge required to become aspirational, curious and enthusiastic lifelong learners.

Welcome to our Summer! Hopefully the weather will be as bright as our curriculum! 🙂

Please see the new Knowledge organisers, overview of this term’s learning, home learning project suggestions and new images of our written methods in maths.

Miss Hetherton

Curriculum news

At a glance – Summer 1

Maths – Geometry: Shape, Position and Direction.
English – Fairy Tales, Narrative poetry
- - - A poetry unit exploring myths and monsters through reading, performing and writing. Children analyse poetic forms, rhythm and line breaks, develop personal responses, dramatise poems, retell myths, compose sonnets and haiku, and create their own anthologies using collaborative drafting and editing.
Science – Life Process. Looking at Life cycles of plants and animals.
RE – What do Hindu people believe about God? This topic promotes our school value of respect.
History – Ancient Greeks
PSHE – Being My Best
Art/DT– Sculpture linking to the Ancient Greeks
Music – BBC 10 Pieces: Edvard Grieg’s Hall of the Mountain King
French – Niveau Rouge 5, Days of the week, Number – cinquante, time, question and answer This encourages the understanding and respect for other cultures and languages.
Computing – Creating media – introduction to vector graphics

Home Learning

What grabs your attention? What do you want to learn more about? How do you like being creative?

Use these things to choose and produce a home learning project. This is your chance to show your interests and how you learn best. Enjoy! 🙂

How These Activities Show the School Value of Service: Even though these tasks are completed at home, each one offers opportunities for children to serve others—their classmates, families, and wider school community—by sharing learning, contributing ideas, and helping to build a richer learning environment.

English Activities

1. Recommend good reads

Service link:

By recommending books, children help classmates discover new stories they might enjoy.
Reviews support others in choosing texts that match their interests or reading level, serving the whole class community.
Sharing reading enthusiasm encourages a positive reading culture, benefiting everyone.

2. Create Your Own “Wonderstruck” Illustrations

3. Visual Storytelling (Wordless Comic Strip)

Service link:

A clear, expressive comic strip can help peers understand how stories can be told visually—serving others by supporting shared learning.
Children can use their comic to reassure others about new experiences, such as journeys or meeting new people, offering service through empathy and creativity.
Displaying their work contributes to the class’s appreciation of different artistic approaches.

Create a Simple Clay or Salt‑Dough Sculpture Inspired by Sam Shendi

History Activities

1. Create an Ancient Greek Fact Card
2. Make a Model of a Greek Temple or Theatre
3. Sketch an Ancient Greek Vase Design
4. Create a Simple Clay or Salt‑Dough Sculpture
5. Create a Greek Meander Pattern

Science Activities

Create a Life Cycle Diagram (Plant or Animal)
Nature Survey in the Garden or Local Are

These projects are designed to run alongside the learning for the half-term and should be handed in on or before Monday 18^th May 2026.

Please continue to:

Read with your child on a regular basis
Encourage positive routines
Support with home learning projects
Develop independence and organisation for each day
Help to expand your child’s vocabulary within everyday conversation
Exposure to a variety of text types

Links to support learning

Reading

Please encourage your child to read daily for a minimum of 20 minutes. At least 3 reading sessions per week should be recorded in the school Reading Record. Children should all have a school reading book (that can be changed regularly) but should be encouraged to read other material as well.

Read more about English in Y5 in the National Curriculum Programmes of Study

Maths

Times Table Rock Stars (please ask if you need a reminder of your child’s login details) – all children are expected to be fluent in their tables up to 12 x 12 so regular practice is very helpful!

Written methods for addition, subtraction, short multiplication, long multiplication and short division are taught as in the pictures below.