Cale Green Primary School
Year 5 Theme 2 Overview
Arabian Nights!
Our new theme for the next nine weeks is called “Arabian Nights.” The focus of this theme is the exciting historical period often known as ‘The Golden Age of Islam’. We will be investigating life in the early Islamic civilisation (900AD), centred around the city of Baghdad. We will explore how the empire expanded to be larger than the Roman Empire and the reasons for its demise.
English Link up
We will read lots of stories from other cultures, focussing specifically on 1001 Arabian nights and the stories from this compilation. This will lead into lots of creative writing opportunities which will include describing characters and settings, writing from different points of view and using speech to move stories forward.
Maths Link up
The children will start the theme by learning about written multiplication and division. We will be learning how to solve worded problems using mental and written strategies. It will help the children enormously if they know all their multiplication tables and division facts. We know that children learn these best at home.
We will then focus on both squared and cubed numbers. We will also focus on statistics and data handling.
Cross Curricular Links
In Geography we will map where the Empire was and how this compares to how modern day countries and borders. We will look at trade routes used at the time, locating these on maps.
In History, we will explore the origins and spread of the Empire. We will learn about the round city of Baghdad, the ‘House of Wisdom’ and why the city was known as a world centre of excellence for learning and culture. We will look at how the developments of this time have impacted on our own lives. Finally, we will learn about the end of Empire.
In Art, we will investigate and create our own geometrical patterns in the style of Islamic art.
In R.E. we will investigate ‘The 5 Pillars of Islam’ and what they mean to Muslims.
As always, we will enhance our learning through the use of computers, wherever possible.
Special Class Events
26th November – Visit to St George’s Christmas Tree Festival
27th November – Crashed Vehicle Project for Road Safety Week
3rd December – Snow Queen at the Z Arts Centre
4th December – Class visit to the People’s History Museum, Manchester to meet Mellor Primary School as part of the School Linking Network.
14th December – Christmas Party
17th December – Beauty and the Beast – Pantomime at Aquinas College
12th January – A cultural talk about Islam
Physical Education
Children in Year 5 will be swimming every Tuesday afternoon, during this theme. Full P.E kits should always be kept in school, should the opportunity arise for an additional P.E lesson.
Homework
Homework folders will be given out on a Monday. The children will have spellings to copy and learn, along with a maths sheet to complete weekly. The completed homework folder is due back into school every Friday.
Most weeks, the children will be set a task to complete and submit online using the ‘My Maths’ website. There is also an online lesson to accompany each task. The lesson will support your children with their homework task and will also help you to keep up to date with current mathematics’ methods. The children’s tasks will be set on a Monday and need to be submitted by the Friday. We would like all children to achieve at least 80% on each activity. If your child doesn’t reach this percentage, please ask them to watch the online lesson and repeat the task. If you do not have internet access at home, the school provides access to the internet during Breakfast Club, daily lunchtime Homework Club and at After School Club.
All Year 5 should be taking advantage for Homework Lunchtime Club which Mrs Beecham runs every day. The children can work on their paper based work or their ‘My Maths’.
Reading
The children should be reading as often as possible. Try and aim to hear your child read at least 4-5 times a week, even if your child is a competent reader. Please then make a note of this in your child’s reading journal.
Spellings
Please remember to encourage your child to use this strategy for learning spellings: Look-Cover- Write-Check.
Websites
To help support your child’s learning over the course of this theme there is a website, listed below, which you could explore with them:
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Please find us on the playground before or after school.
Mrs Pijoan and Mrs Balderstone