Announcement!

You can now email me examples of your wonderful learning to our new class email:

 willowclass@riversideprimaryschool.org.uk

Every Friday I will put all the photos into a slideshow and award golden certificates for the best work! Keep up the hard work :)

Very useful information: A website with links to an exhaustive number of FREE educational websites for the children to enhance their learning: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/135609/list-of-education-companies-offering-free-subscriptions/?fbclid=IwAR38M_RoSSj0s-dDC27_WSOSu8SoBxflCVmQSt8jQ5oDJq7tBhh9xhQoB3k

 

Home Learning Tuesday March 31st 2020

Very cool news!!!! NASA (United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has allowed all their videos and images to be accessible for FREE!!! https://images.nasa.gov/ We will be studying Space Exploration in Term 6, so get a head start and explore.

 

Home Learning in Willow Class

 

In the event that children are sent home, or children who have withdrawn themselves into isolation - there are a lot of resources that you can visit online to help. Here is a list that will be updated regularly. A lot of this information has been sent home with the children, as well as their learning journals.

 

Khan Academy - https://www.khanacademy.org/

It is free to join and create an account. Otherwise, use the search field to find 5th Grade (It's American). This is particularly good for maths and has an American teacher's voice and moving chalk take the children step by step through a mathematical operation. We are adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions. Go systematically through these Units.

 

Getepic books - www.getepic.com

With 35,000 books to choose from, Epic books is a wonderful site. It is only available freely for 30 days, but please take advantage of it in the meantime. All you'll need is the code I've been sent to access it - zhx8736. 

I recommend the children read Katla and the Vikings by Mary Elizabeth Nelson. It is a challenging read as it is for ages 10 - 13 but goes with our topic in history. 

 

Discovery Education Espresso - www.discoveryeducation.co.uk

Username: student4953

Password: riverside

Click 'login' on the top right and type the Username and Password. 

Children will be familiar with this site - they've been using Espresso Coding for ICT. That is still available if they want to go on it.

Just clicking Espresso takes you to the Home Page where you can click KS2. The Grammar link is particularly useful for the children.

 

Primary Resources - www.primaryresources.co.uk

Teachers get a lot of their PowerPoints and worksheets from this site. It has every subject imaginable and an invaluable resource for home learning. Free and no subscription. For adding fractions, for example, you could print out a worksheet and have the children complete it.

 

National Geographic Kids - natgeokids.com/uk

Another free resource that is amazing. On the Home Page click the Primary Resources button and a selection of academic subjects are on offer: geography, history, english, science, art & design, maths and PSHE (Physical, Social and Health Education). In the history selection, there is a link to videos and information about the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, our topic this term. Have the children explore it. 

 

Twinkl - www.twinkl.co.uk/offer

You need to subscribe. It is free for 30 days. Type your email, create a password, select 'parent' and type in this code: CVDTWINKLHELPS

You'll get a page that will have a series of buttons and you'll click 'Key Stage 2.' Then you get a list of academic subjects that you can browse. Play around with it, there are a lot of great PowerPoints. 

 

RE Online - reonline.org.uk

This is a website used by parents who home school their children. The parent has to take the role of the teacher here, look at the lesson planning and activities and go through them with the children, taking the lead. This term, we are learning about Buddhism and if you follow the link to Buddhism by clicking 'Religion/World View' several options come up. A good one to start with is Buddhist mandalas.

 

Please use the home learning book that the children brought home for written work. Keep the printouts together in a file so the teacher can see what the children have done. There could potentially be four weeks or more away, and it is important that the children continue with their academic work. When it is set up, I will be posting, on this site, daily lesson plans and activities that I expect the children to do. I truly hope everybody is staying safe and well. This is a difficult time for us all and young minds have to remain active and stimulated by learning, not just gaming and watching TV. 

Welcome to Year 5 Willow Class.

A word about your child's teacher, Mr. Bennett:

I have a degree in Anthropology and Archaeology and studied Egyptology at the University of London. The first few decades of my working life were spent as an archaeologist, travelling to such wonderful locations as Egypt, Palestine, Mexico, the USA and many sites in the UK. When I finished that career, I decided to become a teacher. I worked as an Archaeological Tutor for the University of Nottingham WEA and then when I moved here, I was a tutor at The University of Oxford and Reading University. I received my PGCE reasonably late in life when I decided I wanted to teach in Primary School and after working at various schools, I found a home at Riverside. I've been here now for several years and really enjoy life at this school. I will be updating you about what we are studying and what projects we will be embarking upon. As always, I urge parents to read with their children at home. I cannot stress the importance of regularly using the English language at home, through TV shows and DVDs, speaking, conversing with siblings in English and most importantly, reading and being read to. There is a proven link between reading and improvement in writing and this is a commitment we have, not only in Year 5, but throughout the school.

 

Year 5 children chilling out in the newly expanded reading corner. Twice a day, blissful reading for pleasure. Shoes off and lulled by soft music and the magic of reading a good book.

Children get the opportunity to take turns at the Creation Station; a chance to get out gel pens, cool stationery, dictionaries and story cards to sit and do some creative writing. There is a Marvel superheroes diary for anybody to jot down feelings, ideas and to draw pictures of what they want to write about. During English lessons, it is also a space where a student can sit alone with their thoughts, having all the resources they need to make a success of their writing task. 

Riverside Combined Year 5 class trip to the Pitt-Rivers Museum of Anthropology and the Oxford Museum of Natural History.

 

Below are some pictures from the Willow Class visit to the Pitt-Rivers Museum to learn all about the Mayan people of Ancient Mexico. A useful thing we learned is that the Mayan people have not vanished. Their pyramids might be 500 years old, but the people are still alive in Mexico and Central America. They are facing the same problems indigenous people all over the world are suffering - deforestation, government corruption, poverty and high unemployment. The afternoon was spent visiting the Museum of Natural History where we were delighted by the dinosaurs, terrified by tarantulas, mesmerised by meteors and dazzled by the dodo. Hope you enjoy!

For the beginning of the Spring Term, Willow Class has been reading and studying the wonderful poem by Alfred Noyes - The Highwayman. Besides trying to write their own poem, the children also painted a sunset silhouette of the Highwayman during Art Class. The blending effect and dark foreground make for a very lovely display.

On Wednesday 5th April, Willow Class went on a trip with Walnut Class to the Reading Museum. We are reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens as our shared reading book and I wanted to give the children a greater insight into the life of Victorian working children. The Museum do a wonderful workshop about working for a wealthy household in Reading in 1840. All the children got to dress up as chimney sweeps, scullery maids and footmen while having their roles explained. There was also time to wander around and explore other aspects of this amazing museum. There is an exhibition on the Roman city of Silchester, whose ruins are near Reading. Again, more fun dressing up as Romans and looking at all the artefacts. The Art Gallery also fascinating the children and they all took their art books to sketch some of the exhibits. A great deal was had by all!

On Wednesday 4th March 2020, the combined class of Willow and Walnut walked down to the Maidenhead Library to attend a book signing and workshop by Abi Elphinstone. Abi is a celebrated writer of children's fantasy stories that are full of excitement and adventure. Her presentation was very inspiring and the children were full of questions. A great day out!