Welcome to Year 5!

5 Craufurd – Mrs Wellings

5 Field – Mrs Smith

with support from Mrs Graham

Essential information:

PE -  PE kit will be needed on Monday and Wednesday each week. Hair must be tied back and earrings removed.

Water bottles - please bring fresh water from home each day.

Our topic this half term is:

Magnificent Maya

This topic will introduce the children to the Maya Civilisation - where they lived, when they were around, what they ate, their writing, number system and calendars, how they built their cities, their gods, their favourite ball game and why it's Maya not Mayan!

In Science, we will be learning about habitats and classification of animals.

In RE, we will be asking the question, 'How can following God bring freedom and justice?' We will begin with a focus on Moses, learning about his story through the book 'Exodus' in the Bible. We will learn about the plagues sent to Egypt, Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and away from slavery, receiving the ten commandments and what all of this means to a Christian in today's world.

In Maths this half term, Year 5 will cover:

• Multiplication and Division
• Fractions

In English this half term, Year 5 will cover:

• Myths and Legends
• Persuasive writing

Please continue with the following:

• • Reading!! Enjoy a book or research our topic. Reading books can be changed each Friday. Visit Rising Stars, Reading Planet for some of the home reading books online and complete the quiz.
  • Practise your times tables in preparation for number heroes (Friday).
  • Mathletics will be set weekly (Friday).
  • A spelling activity will be set weekly (Friday).
  • Writing: You might like to write a diary, send a postcard, make up a quiz to test your family or friends, write a story or copy from a book to work on your handwriting.

Suggested Additional Activities:          

• List as many Maya cities as possible. Find out about one or more of the ancient Maya cities and produce an information guide about them. What is similar and different about the cities?
• Find and read some Maya myths or stories about Gods and retell them in your own words.
• Design and create a Mayan God for display using collage materials.
• Make up a game that teaches about Maya numbers. You could make dice or flashcards to use in the game or set up a numbers treasure hunt.
• Make a Maya headdress
• Make flour tortillas

Find out more and use these links for further information and ideas:

 https://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/the-maya

Look through BBC Bitesize's interactive guide to the ancient Maya and find out what games the Maya played (just two of the BBC Maya Civilisations guides for kids)

British archaeologist Dr Diane Davies has written lots of KS2 history guides to different aspects of Maya life: read her kids' introduction to the Maya world, the Maya writing system, Maya numbers, the Maya calendar, the Maya ballgame, Maya music and Maya religious beliefs

Read the Maya Legend of the Dwarf and the Governor

Read about the Maya people and the links between the Maya and the Sun, the Maya creation story, how the Maya calendar worked and why corn was important to the Maya

Watch National Geographic videos about the Maya to find out about Maya caves, the Maya story of creation, a Maya royal palace and the ancient Maya city of Xocnacah, which had a central platform structure that held thousands of people in an area the size of 4 football fields!

See for yourself:

• Visit the British Museum to see Maya artefacts
• Look at reconstructions of Maya sites
• See wonderful pictures of the Maya ruins at Tulum
• Images of the World Heritage site of Chichén Itzá
• It's the closest thing to actually being there: experience the Google virtual reality tours of ancient Maya sites online

You may like to read some of these books…