Year 6 News - 1st December
Where have the last few weeks gone?! We’ve been so busy in Year 6 that time is flying by.
We took part in an inter-faith afternoon where each year group focused on a different religion and then presented our work to the rest of the school in an assembly. Year 6 focused on Old and New Testament stories and created some pieces of drama to perform – the other children were very entertained!
In PSHE, we have been exploring our health and well-being and have taken the time to set our future selves some goals as well as doing some mindfulness activities to help us relax, such as guided meditation, laughter and breathing exercises.
Science has had us using electricity to be able to tell the difference between complete and incomplete circuits as well as how components are affected by the contents of the circuit and voltage.
PE has seen us developing our football and gymnastics skills. There has been some excellent progress – especially with our ability to pass a ball and work tactically in a team to create space.
We are also very much enjoying our new book: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. The children have been excellent at getting to understand the characters, as was demonstrated when we “hot seated” Mother, Charlie and Tommo. We developed our skills in asking open questions that would allow us to use the text to answer as these specific characters might.
I’m sure it’ll be the holidays before we know it with all the exciting Christmas events coming up over the next three weeks!
Year 6 News - 27th October
What a half term it has been! We’ve been so busy and the children have made a good start to Year 6.
Recently, we had a visit to Cragside, the house in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity during the Victorian era! We explored the grounds and linked in some of our science knowledge when looking at the trees to decide which classification of plant they were. Inside the house, we toured all the rooms and spoke to the guides who shared many interesting facts about the house and little things for us to notice. The staff and other members of the public commented on how polite and well-behaved the children were, therefore highlighting our value of “pride”.
Not only that but a few days later, the Red Cross came in to do some first aid training with the children. We were taught CPR, how to use a defibrillator, what we mean by “first aid” and some tips for bumped heads and burns. The children even had a go at using the recovery position to get a casualty on their side if they are unconscious but still breathing. Everyone took part in a positive and enthusiastic way.
In the classroom, we have finished our non-chronological report in English from the point of view of a Victorian charity worker; looked at micro-organisms in science; researched the roles of some key women during WW2; and tackled multiplication of whole numbers as well as decimals in maths – and that’s just to name a few!
I hope all the children have a good rest over the half term and come back ready and raring to go!
Year 6 News - 13th October 2023
During our Online Safety Day, Year 6 took part in a workshop called “Just Press Play” to further understand how to remain safe in an increasingly online world. We all put headphones on and had to listen to and act out the story we heard. It involved reliability, being careful with the personal details we give out and thinking before we share information about others. Everyone took part brilliantly and commented upon how real the experience felt.
Meanwhile, in history, we have been exploring the effect of the Blitz on Britain, including the evacuation of children. We explored the positives and negatives of evacuation and used our empathy skills to understand how the children might have felt being sent away from a city to a countryside. We also developed our understanding about why Hitler changed tactic from the Battle of Britain to the Blitz.
In science, we have been looking at classifications and using classification keys in order to identify plants and animals based on their shared physical characteristics. It has challenged our questioning skills and use of specific scientific language.
We have also thoroughly been enjoying our class novel: Another Twist in the Tale. The story is starting to reveal lots of twists and turns and we have been improving our ability to read with expression through the use of “readers’ theatre”.
Year 6 News - 29th September 2023
Busy, busy, busy!
Since our last newsletter, we were visited by the Pearl of Africa choir and had a lovely time watching them perform as well as taking part in a workshop. The children taught us a song and some rhythms on the djembe drums.
We have also finished our “Brothers Grimm” style fairytales in English and are truly enjoying our novel, Another Twist in the Tale. We have noticed how the author uses specific language to reflect certain characters’ occupations and situations as well as learning a lot of new vocabulary, such as “modest garb”.
In PE, we have been testing and improving our fitness by doing circuit training. Everyone tried incredibly hard to get their cardiovascular systems going!
Meanwhile, in PSHE, we have been exploring the idea of respect: how it is lost and gained; giving respect to get respect; as well as the kinds of people we respect and why. Currently, we have a challenge going to see how many respectful acts our class can be identified as doing in one week – if you see any at home too, please send a Dojo!
Year 6 News - 15th September 2023
Year 6 have made a busy start to the new academic year!
In order to understand our new novel, Another Twist in the Tale by Catherine Bruton, we had to spend some time exploring some fundamental ideas about the Victorians as well as the Dickensian classic, Oliver Twist. Our novel is a “twist” on this important piece of literature and follows the journey of Oliver’s little-known sister, Twill Twist. Meanwhile, in our writing, we have been exploring the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and how their versions differ from those of Disney.
We also had the pleasure of joining Waterstones online for an interview with author SF Said – renowned for writing such exciting stories as Varjak Paw. Did you know it took him 5 years and 17 drafts before Varjak Paw was finally published? That’s resilience for you!
In maths, we have been revising and developing our knowledge of place value as well as completing our first CLIC, SAFE and Learn-Its challenges ready for the start of Big Maths.
History this term is taking us back to World War 2 and we have been exploring the inter-war years. We researched some key events in that time period and how they were significant in causing the Second World war. This coincided nicely with our first Commando Joe’s session in PE linking with the work of spy, Nancy Wake.
We were also introduced to Year 6’s class hero: Maya Angelou. We heard about her life and found that she embodied our School Values of resilience and pride. We then wrote a short biography about her life and were amazed by some of the obstacles she overcame and how much she achieved throughout her life.