Week Beginning 14th July

We had a fabulous time at the Zoo! Have a look at our fabulous photographs!

Week Beginning 6th July

Reminder: Chester Zoo - Tuesday 15th July

Sutton Academy - Wednesday 16th July (children back to school in time for lunch!!)

Another brilliant week in Year 5! 

We have been refining our written method for division this week and worked in small groups to solve the tricky word problems and crack the code!! During our Literacy sessions we have continued our persuasive writing unit and we are very excited to design and advertise our own products next week when we hold a 'Dragon's Den' competition. 

Week Beginning 23rd June

Reminder: Final swimming session - Tuesday 1st July

Year 5 had a fabulous day at Old Trafford on Tuesday! Have a look at some of the fun activities we participated in!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 16th June

Reminders:

Monday 23rd June - STEM afternoon

Tuesday 24th June - Old Trafford Cricket Ground - Please return consent forms!

Wednesday 25th June - Sports Day - Please ensure your child has a coloured top to match their team!

Thursday 26th June - Swimming

We have had a sports filled week! We have continued with our swimming lessons and it is unbelievable how much the children have learnt in such a short space of time. I think we may have some Olympic swimmers from our class in a few year's time!! We have also enjoyed practicing for our whole school Sports Day, which is due to take place on Wednesday afternoon. Please can you make sure your child has a coloured t-shirt to match their team and a pair of school pumps. We also have a very busy week planned for next week! Monday  Haydock High School will be visiting us and we will be taking part in a STEM afternoon! Tuesday we will be visiting Old Trafford Cricket Ground! Wednesday is Sports Day! Thursday we are going to swimming! And before we know it, it will be the start of another exciting week!!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 9th June

First of all I would like to say a huge 'Well done!' to Year 5 for completing their assessments and achieving their targets this week! I am so pleased with the children's progress and their current assessments are a testament to their hard work and determination that they show in all of their lessons. On Tuesday and Thursday, Year 5 went swimming. All of Year 5 tried their hardest and listened very carefully to the instructions. The children's behaviour was fabulous: members of the public commented on how lovely and polite the children are. I cannot wait to go and show off our wonderful children next week when we go swimming again!

On Thursday we spent a little bit of time learning about Brazil and discussing the World Cup. We learnt the first verse of the National Anthem and enjoyed singing it in the sunshine before we began our mini football tournament. Well done to Ben's team who were crowned the winners!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 2nd June

Although it has been a short week, Year 5 have been extremely busy revising for their assessments. This week we have been working for Monsters Inc!! Year 5 had the challenge to calculate how long each monster had been to work for using a number line. Some monsters were very cheeky and had extra breaks!! Their hours were the hardest to calculate because they had more than two steps to get to the answer. We then had to calculate how much money Monsters Inc needed to pay each monster. During our Literacy sessions we looked at using paragraphs, colons and semi colons in our writing. Monsters Inc had asked us to write a job advertisement for a new 'scarer'! Mr Waternoose (the boss) was very impressed with the organisation of our writing and the level of punctuation that we used!!

We have also began a new unit in science this week. We discussed what it means to keep healthy. The children worked in pairs to create a poster to show what they already know about keeping healthy and what they would like to find out. Together we have planned some very exciting science lessons for the next few weeks!

Our topic for this half term is all about St Helens. Today we made the most of the beautiful sunshine and took our tables outside to complete our art work. We discussed the different land uses in St Helens and worked in pairs to sketch and paint a useful building in St Helens using 2d and 3d shapes.

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 23rd May

This week Year 5 have been learning all about keeping their heart healthy. We had lots of fun in Maths measuring different distances and timing how long it took our partner to skip. We then used our distance and time to write some tricky word problems for another pair to answer.

During our Literacy sessions, we made our own healthy sandwiches! We worked hard to create a set of written instructions to share with other children so they to could make their own healthy snack! We discussed what makes a good set of written instructions and why it is important to make sure they are very clear! Mr Robinson tried to follow Miss Hitchen's written instructions to wash his hands but her instructions were not very good! Have a look what happened...

Look at our lovely sandwiches ....

This week we have also written our own skipping rhymes. We really enjoyed taking part in the skipping challenge on Thursday and singing our rhymes.

Miss Hitchen

Reminder: Monday 19th May - Girls Cricket Competition 9.30 -3.30.

If your child is taking part, please ensure they bring a packed lunch to school in a plastic bag, with their name labelled clearly on the front.

Week Beginning 12th May

This week, Year 5 have been practicing spelling a variety of words ending in 'able' and 'ible'. Earlier this week the children attended 'Surperhero Spelling School'. We had lots of fun investigating root words and suffixes! We found out that there are about 900 words that have the ending 'able' and only 200 words that end with 'ible'! Superhero 'Spell Master' challenged us to turn a variety of verbs into adjectives by choosing the correct ending. We then chose a word we were unfamiliar with and used a dictionary to find out its meaning. Our last challenge was to write a super sentence using the word to see who could impress 'Spell Master' the most! Why not ask your child to tell you the rule? Or challenge them to choose the correct ending?

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 5th May

Even though we have had a shorter week in school, we have been extra busy!! We have began our new topic in Literacy - Older Literature! The children have enjoyed reading extracts from The Secret Garden and watching short clips of the film. During our Maths sessions we have looked at estimating answers when adding and subtracting decimal numbers. I was so impressed with children's 'shopping' homework. Very soon they will be able to add up your shopping bills for you before you get to the checkout!!

On Wednesday we had some very exciting news! Twelve children had been selected to attend Lord's cricket ground in London. It was lovely to be able to give the children this news and to see the excitement appear upon their faces!! Over the next couple of weeks we have lots of sporting events happening, your child should have brought home a letter this week if they are participating. Please can you ensure the reply slips are returned to school as soon as possible so that the teams can be confirmed and begin their training with Miss Sheffield! Hopefully, we shall see more trophies in our cabinet very soon!

Today I have been the proudest teacher at Grange Valley! Year 5 completed their weekly spelling and mental maths tests earlier this morning and I was so impressed by all of the children's scores. Over half of the class managed to score between 18- 20 on mental maths! We went to see Mrs Holcroft to show off our skills. She (and Mrs Bailey, who was working very hard in her office) was overjoyed with the children's achievements! After we marked our spelling test, children who scored 10/10 went with Miss Sheffield to take a picture to share with you all ....

WE THINK WE ARE AMAZING!!!!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 28th April

This week Year 5 have been very busy learning all about fables in Literacy and multiplying decimal numbers in Maths with Miss Neill. Tuesday Year 5 showed off their fabulous dance moves during our sponsored dance! The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Could I please ask you to send in any sponsor money into school as soon as possible, in an envelope with your child's name on the front! Thank you for your support!!

On Wednesday this week, we had lots of fun taking on the role of a Greek Hoplite soldier. We held our armour and marched in to battle! I was so amazed at how much the children had learnt! They were really enthusiastic and could tell me lots of interesting facts about Greek war ships and how soldiers prepared for battle.

Thursday morning we woke ourselves up by holding a class debate! Together we watched Newsround, the children were really shocked to hear how the Spanish government have drafted guidelines on how children should behave, with the suggestion that children should help with household chores. It was really interesting to hear all of the children's views!! However, I and our fabulous teaching assistants have decided that the team 'for' helping with household chores won the debate! Well done children!! Looks like you will have lots of help around the house this weekend!!

Today the children have had a lovely afternoon at Haydock High School, taking part in a game of cricket.

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend!!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 21st April

We have had lots of fun this week in Year 5. In topic we began to make our Greek theatre masks.

We began our circuit training in PE this week. Our aim is to get as fit as a Greek soldier!! When we have completed all of our sessions we will be completing a graph in ICT to show our progress and answer questions related to the classes overall fitness.

To finish off our fabulous first week back, we had a wonderful reward time in the hall!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 31st March

Today we have had a wonderful Easter craft filled day! Well done to Julia and Emily for winning the special prizes! Also a big well done to Tom for winning the 'decorate an egg' competition.

Have a lovely break and I hope there will be lots of sunshine on the way!!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 24th March

This week Year 5 visited Christ Church to learn all about the Easter story. We had a lovely time!

I was so impressed with the children's behaviour, they represented Grange Valley brilliantly and their manners were impeccable!! Well done children!!

As a special treat, for answering lots of questions on our visit, I chose three children to go for afternoon tea with Mrs Holcroft and Mrs Threlkeld. They were so pleased with all of the new things the children had learnt during the morning.

On Monday I will be judging our 'design your own mythical creature' competition! Please make sure your wonderful creations are completed on time to be in with a chance of wining the prize!! Thank you to all parents and children who have already brought theirs into school! They all look amazing!!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 17th March

Reminders:

Thursday 27th March - Children will be visiting Christ Church for Easter. Please ensure your childs permission slip has been signed and returned to school.

Friday 4th April: The return of the very popular Easter Egg Competiton!! Details on this weeks newsletter!

Today we have had a super sporty day to show our support for Sports Relief! This morning the children enjoyed researching the history of Sports Relief and why it is such a good charity to support!! The children prepared some fabulous PowerPoint Presentations to show off everything they had learned. It was lovely to see how confident the children were when presenting their work to the rest of the class! After break, we went in to the hall to perfect our Cricket skills, in preparation for the upcoming competitions! I was absolutely amazed by the children ... their Cricket sessions with Mr Chambers are really paying off!! To end a wonderful sport themed day, we completed a fantastic Design Technology activity! The children were split in to 5 teams and were challenged to create a sport themed table top game using only the materials provided on their table. We had lots of fun playing with them during reward time!

Have a lovely weekend!!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 10th March

Reminders:

Please ensure your child has a full PE kit in school for our lessons on Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday 21st March - Sports Relief - Donate £1 and come dressed in casual/ sports kits.

Thank - you to the parents who attended our 'Share a Story' session on Wednesday. We had a lovely afternoon in the sun... shame the lovely weather didn't last any longer!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 3rd March

Reminders :

Book Fair begins Monday 10th March until Thursday 13th March and will be open 3.30pm -4.30pm.

Monday 10th March: Captain Grammaticus comes to school!!

Wednesday 12th March: Share a Story 3pm!

Thursday 13th March: Parents Evening

What a busy week it has been in Year 5! On Monday the children had great fun with Miss Neill, learning all about the different units of time in Maths, participating in a role play activity in Literacy and identifying different seeds in Science.

Tuesday was filled with lots of pancake fun inspired by Mrs Holcroft's wonderful assembly. Year 1 came to visit and really enjoyed taking part in the activities we had planned!

We have had a lovely end to the week. Today we went outside (dressed as our favourite fairytale character) to help plant trees to develop our woodland area. We are looking forward to summer time when we can go 'into the woods' for some of our lessons!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 24th February

Reminders :

World Book Day - Friday 7th March - Children to dress up as their favourite fairytale character.

Share a Story - Wedensday 12th March - Parents and grandparent are invited in to school for story time at 3pm. If you are able to attend please return your reply slips.

Parents' Evening - Thursday 13th March and Wednesday 19th March - Please return your slip by Wednesday 6th March

Welcome back!! The children have returned to school full of energy and enthusiasm for the busy term ahead. The children were really excited to see Miss Neill in class on Monday morning. Miss Neill will be with us until the end of May and will be teaching lots of fun and creative lessons. We started the week learning all about the suffix 'cious' and 'tious' in our SPAG (spelling, grammar and punctuation) lessons. We have played lots of fun games this week to help us with spelling our tricky words. One of our favourite games was reordering the jumbled up letters. The children should be really proud of their spelling scores this week! Three quarters of the class scored a massive 10/10!! Well done children!

During our Maths sessions this week we have been learning all about the area and perimeter of simple and compound shapes. We listened to some very catchy songs to help us to remember how to find the area and perimeter. Why not ask your child to sing them for you?

We began a new topic in Literacy - Stories from Other Cultures. We started the week listening to the story of 'Cendrillion' the Caribbean tale of Cinderella. We looked at how attitudes, customs and relationships differ to our own and enjoyed noting the differences in other stories from around the world. We have started to read 'Journey to Jo'burg' by Beverley Naidoo and will continue to read this story over the next few weeks.

Have a lovely weekend!!

Miss Hitchen

Week Beginning 10th February

We have had a very busy end to a very busy half term! Love has been in the air this week! All of the children had a fabulous time at the Valentine's disco and have enjoyed sending each other love hearts to put a smile on their friends faces!

During our maths sessions we have spent time looking at reading and plotting co-ordinates. We created our own treasure maps and worked with our talk partners to find each others treasure. We moved on to looking at translation of 2d shapes and could describe the movement of the shapes using tricky vocabulary such as horizonatal axis and vertical axis. At the end of the week we enjoyed revising the names and properties of shapes and learning about parallel and perpendicular lines, opposite and adjacent sides and angles.

During our Literacy sessions we have been working very hard to finish writing our Newspaper report on 'The Battle of Marathon.' The children have thoroughly enjoyed this unit, learning all about the city states of Athens and Sparta. Our wonderful work will be displayed in class very soon. The children would love to show you their hard work, so why not pop in and have a read! As part of our creative writing we looked at fantasy stories. The children watched short clips of Harry Potter and enjoyed listening to the audiobook. The children were interested in how J.K Rowling described the setting and introduced the characters. We got to work on planning and writing our own fantasy stories! I can't wait to read the finished product over half term!

This 'wonderful' weather has meant the children haven't been able to go outside for all of their playtimes this week. However, we have still enjoyed ourselves! Have a look at some of the activities we have been up to!