Year 6 blog 15/6/22

15th June 2022Joanne Prowse

We are now in the final half term, the weather is warming up and year 6 is as busy as ever! We have lots of things to look forward to this half term including: the end of year leavers play, transition days in high schools, a leavers disco, camping on the school field, enrichment, sports day and much more!

In English this half term we have been looking at explanation texts. The children have been taking inspiration from Wallace and Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions videos to explain how complicated machines work. So far, we have written about a ‘teacher pleaser’ machine and a ‘homework-in-a-hurry’ machine. The ‘hot write’ at the end of the unit will be to write an explanation of how the ‘parent pleaser’ machine works. The children will deploy the skills they have learned in this unit including the use of modal verbs and cohesive devices. Here is an example of some work produced so far:

 

 

 

Our Jamaica topic is now in full swing. The children have so far looked at the geography of North and South America with a particular focus on the Caribbean, we have compared the climate and human geography of Kingston with that of Luton and we have debated whether a new hotel should be built along the coast in Jamaica considering both economic and environmental factors. We will soon be building Jamaican shacks as part of our design and technology project and we would appreciate any donations of empty cereal boxes that you could give us to help us build these. The finished shacks always look amazing! Here is an example from a previous year:

 

Rehearsals for our end of year production have now begun. We were amazed by the standard of the acting in the auditions and you definitely won’t be disappointed when you see the final show. We can’t wait for you to see it.

 

Post SATs blog

19th May 2022Paul Brady

First of all, we would like to say thank you to all the children for their hard work and effort during the SATs week. Punctuality and attendance that week was outstanding and I’m sure the children have done themselves and the school proud.

Thank you also to the parents for the abundance of cakes and treats sent in for our celebration picnic on the field. Many lasting memories were created! We couldn’t do these things without your wonderful support.

In English this week, we began our fairytale topic with a walk in the woods to meet some fairytale characters. This has helped to inspire the pupils as we begin to plan a twisted version of the traditional fairytale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.

The children have really enjoyed a week of practical science experiments on the topic of ‘Light’. So far, the children have investigated how light travels and how shadows are formed. The children now know how and why their shadow changes size and shape throughout the day. The children have also had fun investigating reflection by making a working periscope.

Next week, we will be setting the children off on a 6 week homework project based on evolution. The children will be researching some animals and creating a presentation about how they are adapted to their habitats. Look out for the details on this project homework coming home!

 

Beginning of Summer Term Blog

27th April 2022Paul Brady

We would like to welcome all students back to school after the Easter break, relaxed, refreshed and raring to go! As I’m sure you are aware, the SATs exams will be taking place during the week beginning 9th May. We would like to ask that all students make an extra special effort to be in school on time every day during this week as each test will start promptly after registration. Please try to avoid making any appointments that would affect the smooth running of the tests. It is very important that the children get a good night’s rest during this week.

In English, we have been finishing writing persuasive adverts about spy gadgets. They are taking shape very well and we are eager to see the finished product. Later on this half term, we will be writing a version of Little Red Riding Hood with a twist.

In Maths, we have naturally been focussed on revision in the last few weeks. The children have looked at a wide range of topics including Time, Timetables, Rounding, Mean Averages, Angles and Percentages. We continue to practise the main four operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The children are building their confidence in these areas.

In other lessons we have been finishing off our topic on Early Islamic Civilisation by writing the eighth voyage of Sindbad the sailor. We will be looking at a new RE topic this half term called ‘What it means to be a Christian’. This will involve plenty of discussion and sharing of ideas and experiences.

We are really looking forward to the Eid bazaar on Friday 6th May and there will be an ‘end of SATs celebration’ on Thursday 12th May. Lots of exciting things to look forward to over the next few weeks!

 

Year 6 blog – End of Spring Term

22nd March 2022Paul Brady

Year 6 have had a very busy, productive half term and we are very much looking forward to the Spring break. We have recently completed our final round of practice SATs tests and we now feel ready to tackle the ‘big event’ in May. The children have worked really hard on their assessments and the staff in year 6 are very proud of them.

In our English lessons, we worked on writing a discussion text about whether children should be spies. Our ‘hot write’ is now complete and the teachers were blown away by the standard of some of the writing. You can view an example below. Our next piece of writing will be a persuasive piece encouraging people to by the latest piece of spy technology.

In maths, we have spent much of the half term working on properties of shapes. We can now measure angles accurately and identify the number of faces, edges and vertices in a variety of 3D shapes. Future maths lessons will focus on revision in the run up to the SATs. We will let the children guide us in terms of what they would like to go over again.

In our other lessons the children have enjoyed learning about the early Islamic civilisation as part of our topic work, focussed on the city of Baghdad. You can see a sample of some of this work below.

We also really enjoyed cooking this week. We made tasty burgers and talked about food hygiene and kitchen safety. Here are some photos of this amazing work:

We would like to say a big thank you to all the parents who supported the children with the Big Pedal event recently. Active travel is really important and it was great to see so many children cycling to school.

We hope you have a wonderful Easter break whatever you decide to do. And we look forward to welcoming the children back for the summer term.

 

Year 6 blog – 3/3/22

3rd March 2022Paul Brady

Hello,

We are almost half way through a busy half term already. The SATs are nearly upon us and we are working hard to prepare ourselves.

On Thursday this week, year 6 enjoyed a fantastic World Book Day event. Thank you very much to all the year 6 parents for contributing towards the success of this event by sending your child in to school in their amazing costumes. You can see some of the photos below that were taken on the day:

In our English lessons, we are currently working towards writing a discussion text based on our model text which is ‘Should Parents Be Spies?’ The children are learning how to produce a balanced argument by considering both sides of an issue before coming to a conclusion. You can see some of the work we have done on vocabulary so far below:

In Maths, we are currently working on learning the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. The children have been counting the faces, edges and vertices on various shapes and trying to find out if difficult shapes have any properties in common. The children have also been learning how to make any number using Roman numerals. You can see a sample of the children’s work below:

In our other lessons, we have been learning how to play badminton in PE, studying the music of Carole King, learning how pronunciation works in French, looking at how to stay healthy in Jigsaw as well as starting our topic of ‘Early Islamic Civilisation’ by looking at maps of the region and watching a clip of ‘Aladin’. Again, you can view a sample of this work below:

We look forward to updating you all on the children’s progress at the Parents Evening which is coming up. And we will share some tips on how best to prepare the children for the upcoming SATs.

Year 6 end of half term blog 7/2/22

7th February 2022Paul Brady

Hello,

We have had a busy but very productive half term and are ready for our break.

In English, we have written some quality stories about a kidnapping with a flashback element. The children have embraced the concept and have used some excellent vocabulary. They understand the use of passive sentences and can use ‘dropped in’ clauses to add additional information. By the end of the unit, the teachers felt that there were examples of work that were improvements on our model text. Next half term, we will be working on non-fiction discussion writing, asking the question: Should parents be spies? This is related to our riveting class reader, Stormbreaker. Here’s an example of our work:

In maths, we have spent the month of January looking at fractions, decimals and percentages. The children should now be confident in all aspects of fractions. Ask them to tell you about what they know! Next half term we will be looking at 2D and 3D shapes as well as revising how to use a protractor to measure angles. We will also revise various other elements of maths in preparation for our SATs, which are fast approaching.

 

The children have loved learning about the human body this half term and can tell you all about the blood and how the body fights off viruses. They understand how to stay healthy and we have had some great discussions about why smoking is a bad idea!

 

The children enjoyed Internet Safety day last Tuesday and now understand that various apps and websites may have hidden motivations for providing their services after we looked at the terms and conditions of Facebook and Instagram amongst others!

Finally, we would like to wish you a fantastic half term break whatever you choose to do.

 

Year 6 blog – 19/1/22

19th January 2022Paul Brady

Happy new year!.

Year 6 have settled back in to their routines very well. We are in the final run up to the SATs exams in mid May and there is still lots to learn and revise! We want the children to perform as well as they possibly can in the SATs so we will be working very hard over the next few months.

In English we have started learning about a new genre – Spy stories. The children are currently busy learning about the skills needed to produce a good spy story before eventually producing one of their own. Take a look at some of our work so far:

In maths we have started the new year revising fractions, decimals and percentages. The children have revised how to add and subtract fractions as well as how to order fractions even when they have different denominators. We will be looking at how to multiply and divide fractions over the coming weeks as well as revising how fractions are related to decimals and percentages. Here is a good example of some of the revision we have done so far:

In Science the children have been learning about the human body – specifically the circulatory system. We have made models of the heart and will be moving on to discuss the lungs and we will be writing a pamphlet about how to stay healthy.

The children have also started two new PE topics: Striking & Fielding and Pilates. In RE they have had some interesting discussions in their new topic of Justice and Poverty and in music we have listen to and appraised the song ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ by Carole King.

As you can see, we are very busy in year 6 having fun as well as working hard.

End of term blog

10th December 2021Paul Brady

English

Recently, the children have been writing a story based on the book ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker. We focused on using interesting sentence openers and impressive vocabulary. The teachers loved reading the children’s work; they produced some wonderful stories. Here is a fantastic example:

Maths

The children have worked on ratio and proportion the last two weeks, as well as recapping what we already know about fractions, decimals and percentages. Here is a brilliant example:

 

Science

The children have been learning about electrical circuits in science. Some children commented, “That was the best science lesson ever.” The children were investigating how changes to a circuit will affect the brightness of a bulb or the speed of a motor.

PE

At the end of November, we took a team of year 6s to a football tournament in Stopsley. The children played really well and managed to win the plate competition with a goal in extra time!

 

It has been a very busy and exciting term. In the final week of term, we will be building and then racing our own motorised vehicles. The children will have great fun!

Year 6 Blog 17/11/21

18th November 2021Paul Brady

Year 6 have been writing a suspense story with a hiding/chasing plot in English lessons this week. The children have really embraced the idea of creating tension in their writing and the teachers feel that some of the children could have a future career as an author.

The mathematicans in Year 6 have been learning about position and direction including co-ordinates, reflection and symmetry. We began the topic by playing a fun game of ‘Battleships’ using paper and pencil – do any of you parents remember this game? We’ve now progressed on to reflecting and translating shapes on a grid.

In our Greek topic we have been looking at the 12 labours of Hercules and have begun to create a tapestry to tell the story. The children have really enjoyed the story and have worked hard to recreate it as a piece of art. We are looking forward to our Greek party to celebrate the end of the topic. Dressing up is optional but would be fun!

The children were inspired recently by a visit from a local imam who taught the children all about the 5 pillars of Islam. The children learned that Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca and really appreciated the opportunity to ‘visit’ a reconstruction of the inside of a mosque.

The children in Year 6 have a lot to look forward to over the next few weeks:

* Our Greek party, a visit to QES to watch the pantomime and some practical DT activities.

* In maths, we will be learning about ratio and proportion.

* In English, we will writing a descriptive narrative based on the book ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker.

* In music we are continuing to work on the song ‘Happy’ by Pharell Williams.

 

Our game of ‘Battleships’ in maths.

One of our fantastic Greek pots.

The children learning about the 5 pillars of Islam.

 

This half term in year 6

13th October 2021Paul Brady

We have had a great half term in year 6. The children have settled in really well and we have established some great routines for learning. We are working really hard towards our SATs tests in May.

Homework is now up and running – the children will come home each week with a SPaG, reading and a maths assignment. Each task should take about 20 minutes. Thank you so much to all parents for your help in getting the children organised with their homework. Most children have completed assignments on time ready to be marked.

We have had great fun learning about ancient Greece in our topic work. The children have learned about the differences between Athens and Sparta, the difficulty of studying history when there is limited source material, the geography of ancient Greece, religious practices of the Greeks and much, much more. Next half term, we plan to have a party based on the theme of ancient Greece to celebrate the end of the topic (more information about this in due course).

Recently the children have enjoyed poetry day on the theme of food and a really fun drumming session delivered by the Luton Music Service.

There is so much to look forward to next half term including, producing art work on the 12 Labours of Hercules, a visit from a local Imam to teach the children about Islam and learning about the human circulatory system in science. So keep your eyes peeled for more updates!