Year 5
Spring 2 2016-17
Topic: The Living Planet
In Literacy, your child will be
learning the following key skills:
 Using poetic devices such as
figurative language and alliteration
to convey meaning
 Defining unknown vocabulary
 Using simple past tense
Books we will be reading:
 The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes
Educational Visit:
Library Trip
Grammar: definitions to learn
Personification: using human
characteristics to describe abstract concepts
and natural phenomena
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant
songs, usually at the beginning of words to
create effect
Your child will also be learning:
 About Solids, liquids and gases in
Science; about the different changes
of state.
 About ‘The Living Planet’ in
Geography; locating countries on
maps, looking at endangered
animals and how humans can
impact the environment
In Maths, your child will be learning
the following key skills:





Measurement: Time
Statistics
Fraction: Decimals/percentages
x/÷ word problems
Geometry: position and direction
Key Maths vocabulary to learn and
spell:
Key subject vocabulary to learn and spell:
Highlighted words from poem- see below
Irreversible change
Reversible change
Condensation
Evaporation
Hemisphere
Greenwich Meridian
Equator
Continent
Island
Quarter to, quarter past, o’clock, minute,
second
Mean, mode, median, average, axis
Fraction, decimal, percentage, numerator,
denominator, fifth, quarter,
Learn by heart:
All times tables from 1-12: multiplication
and division. Pupils should be able to
complete 100 multiplication/ division
question in under 4 minutes
*children must be able to say these in any
order and quickly
Spellings (Spelling Bee, from DfE): learn
to spell
Identity, immediate(ly), individual, interfere,
interrupt, occur, opportunity, parliament,
persuade, physical, rhyme, rhythm, sacrifice,
secretary, shoulder, twelfth, variety, vegetable
Mathematical Vocabulary: efficient,
composite, volume,
negative, integers,
Year 5
Spring 2 2016-17
How to make an Exotic Fruit Salad
imperial, metric, reflex angle, dimensions,
in Design and Technology
regular, irregular, polygons
 How to read the Bass Clef in Music
 Important stories in Religious
Education
 About friendships and respect in
PSHE
 How to programme algorithms in
computing
 How to talk about your school/
classroom/favourite subjects/ state
the time/ describe the weather in
Spanish
You can help your child by:
Helping them to learn their spellings and what they mean by looking them up in the dictionary and using them when talking and writing.
Completing the home learning project to develop knowledge about the topic.
Learning key number facts.
Helping them to memorise and recite the poem ‘The Highwayman’ (see below), asking questions about what the poem is about.
Helping them to learn the new vocabulary: definitions and spelling

Year 5
Spring 2 2016-17
Poetry- Year 5, spring 2
As part of the National Curriculum for English, children must be able to learn,
by heart, recite and perform poetry. Every half term, a new poem will be given
to each year group. Time should be spent learning the poem at home, there will
be opportunities to practise and perform in school.
The Highwayman
By Alfred Noyes (1880-1958)
PART ONE
I
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding
—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
II
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
III
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
IV
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
V
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
Year 5
Spring 2 2016-17
VI
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the
moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.
Possible home learning activities to extend children’s understanding of the
poem:
 Find the meanings of the words in bold
 Draw a picture to illustrate the poem
 Create your own verse to fit in with ‘The Highwayman’
 Answers some questions about the poem, for example:
o What do you think the poem is about? Why?
o Why poetic devices does the poet use?
o What type of poem is this?