Science Week 6th-10th February 2017
This year’s Science and Technology Week promises to be an exciting week
in which our children will focus on how data can be used in science to
share results and draw conclusions. They will plan and carry out their own
investigations, and then record their data in a variety of ways including
using tables, bar charts and time graphs. It’s a brilliant chance for our
children to use their mathematical skills through stimulating, practical
science. In Year 5, we will be studying Fascinating Forces, exploring the
nature and effects of friction, gravity and air resistance.
Important Dates
Inset: Tuesday 3rd January
Term starts: Wednesday 4th January
Safer Internet Day: Tuesday 7th February
Half term: Monday 13th to Friday 17th February
Parent’s evenings: Tuesday 7th and Thursday 9th March
Class Assembly: 5MG Friday 20th January
End of Term: Friday 31st March at 1:15pm
School Trip: Science Museum, date TBA
School Visitor: SATRO Tuesday 24th January
Reminders
* PE lessons this term will be on Mondays and Thursdays. We would like to
remind you that the children should all have a separate white t-shirt for P.E.
(without a collar), as well as red shorts and plimsolls. Trainers and a plain
tracksuit, without a hood, in red, black or grey are required for outside
games lessons.
* Maths and English homework will be set on Wednesday and are due in
the following Wednesday. Topic homework will be set for the term. In
addition to this, children must read at least 5 times a week.
* We will be cooking ‘Space’ food this term.
* We are always looking for parents / carers to support in school throughout
the year. If you would like to help in class or around the school and have a
current DBS please do speak to one of our team.
Values and Life Skills
In January the children will explore and understand the value of Tolerance.
In February our school value of the month will be Love and Kindness. In
March they will learn about Hope.
Barnsbury Primary School
and Nursery
Year 5 Topic Planner Spring 2017
Our topic is ‘Mission to Mars’
(12 weeks)
One day humans may need to leave Earth and settle on another planet.
Mars is our most likely destination – a world that we believe once harboured
life and, with our intervention, may do so again in the future.
We are learning:
Science:
 About the planets in our Solar System – their size and distance from the
Sun and Earth.
 How to order the planets according to their distance from the Sun.
 How the planets formed.
 How we measure days, months and years.
 About day, night and the seasons.
 About the moon; its features (craters, mountains and ‘seas’).
 About mass, weight and the effects of gravity – on Earth, in space and
on other planets.
 About the possibilities of life on other planets.
 What life is and how it is defined.
 How to identify a living organism.
 About different forces and their effects – gravity, air resistance.
 If it is possible to inhabit another planet.
 How to choose the best energy source for a Mars shelter.
 About the history of astronomy.
 About famous astronomers from the past and the present.
Suggestions for ways to support at home:
Websites:
www.yourchildlearns.com/online-interactive-maps.htm
www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/science/earthandbey
ond
www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/revision/Science/space.htm
Visits: Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium
‘Mission to Mars’ continued
(12 weeks)
We are learning:
English:
 To read and compare stories by significant children's authors.
 To explore aspects of an author's style.
 To write a story including alliteration, simple and complex sentences.
 To use joined handwriting fluently with increasing speed.
 To understand guidelines for adding a wide range of prefixes and
suffixes.
 To organise writing using paragraphs and a range of devices (e.g.
conjunctions, pronouns and adverbials) to build cohesion within and
across paragraphs.
 To use correct verb form (tense) through a piece of writing.
 To identify the purpose and audience for writing, taking into account
how this influences the form and style of writing
 To re-read what they have written to check it makes sense and
consider how alternative grammar and vocabulary can enhance effects
and clarify meaning.
 To identify and discuss themes and conventions in and across a wide
range of writing.
 To check that the book makes sense to them, discussing their
understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context.
 To ask questions to improve their understanding.
 To summarise the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph,
identifying key details that support the main ideas
 To identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to
meaning.
Design and Technology:
 To understand the technology that has been used to explore Mars.
 To design and make a suitable shelter for living on Mars.
Art:
 To create Martian landscapes.
 To explore different media in order to create a moonscape.
Computing:
 To design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals.
 To use sequence, selection and repetition in programs.
 To use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work
and to detect errors in algorithms.

‘Mission to Mars’ continued
(12 weeks)
We are learning:
Maths:
 To compare and order fractions.
 To identify, name and write equivalent fractions.
 To recognise and convert mixed numbers and improper fractions.
 To add and subtract fractions with the same denominator.
 To multiply proper fractions and mixed numbers.
 To solve multi-step problems involving multiplication and division.
 To read, write, order and compare numbers up to three decimal places.
 To recognise and use ‘thousandths’.
 To round decimals with two decimal places.
 To multiply and divide decimal numbers by 10, 100 and 1000.
 To solve problems involving measure (length, mass, money and volume).
 To recognise the per cent symbol (%).
 To solve problems involving percentage.
Geography:
 To understand the geographical features of Mars.
History:
 To explore what people in the past used to think about Mars.
 To find the evidence to prove and disprove intelligent life on Mars.
French
 To describe the size, colour and position of the planets in French.
Music:
 To listen to and study the work of Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets Suite’;
identifying the rhythm, melody and tempo.
 To compose our own pieces of music using percussion, tuned and untuned instruments.
 To create a group composition.
Word banks/ new vocabulary:
Solar system, gravity, shadows, moon, seasons, sphere, rotate, orbit, sun,
atmosphere, force, phase, habitat, Mercury, Saturn, Mars, Earth, Venus,
Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter.