Spring Term

27th January 2023Adam Omer

Year 6 have been busy since the start of term, working hard to improve our maths and English skills whilst also finding out about what goes on inside our bodies-particularly our circulatory system.

In preparation for SATs in May we have had intervention lessons on reading comprehension and maths every week on Tuesday and Wednesday PM

In English we have been writing our own adventure tale based on a kidnap and learning how to weave a “Flashback” into our stories. Alongside this, we have been reading the book “Stormbreaker” by Anthony Horowitz which tells the story of a teenage spy and working on  improving our comprehension skills by analysing and discussing characters and actions.

Our maths topic this term has been fractions and decimals (a perennial favourite with pupils and parents alike). We have been learning how to: change improper fractions into mixed numbers and vice versa; add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions by whole numbers and other fractions and find equivalent fractions and simplify them. If that wasn’t enough, we have been learning about decimals and place value.

In science this half-term, we have completed our topic on Animals including humans, where we focused on the workings of the circulatory system-heart, lungs and blood. I can assure you that no children were harmed in the teaching of this topic!

In other areas of the curriculum, we have been revising greetings in French and in music we have been listening, appraising and singing the Carole King song, “You’ve got a friend”. In PHSE we have been looking at out strengths and weaknesses and setting goals for the future, both in school and outside.

 

In the remaining 2 weeks of this half-term in English, we will be: editing our Kidnapped story and producing a final piece; continuing to read Stormbreaker and interrogating the text and learning Yr 5/6 spellings weekly.

In maths we will be carrying on with work on decimals.

In science we have started a new topic on Light in which we will investigate How light travels  and light sources.

Next week (30th January) we will be carrying out mock SATs in Grammar and Spelling,  Reading and 3 Maths papers.

 

Spring 2

In English we will be working on creating a discussion text based on Stormbreaker  entitled  “Should children become spies”.

In maths we will be going on to look at Shape and the properties of different 2D and  3D shapes.

In science we will be continuing our work on Light where we will: carry out investigations on shadows and their sizes; look at the parts of the eye and optical illusions.

In other areas, we are carrying on with the Carole King song in music, looking at La Date – months, days and weeks in French and Dreams and Goals in PHSE.

A quick reminder that parents’ evening will be on the 28th and 29th March.

The year 6 team wish you all a fabulous February and and a marvelous March.

The Year 6 team

 

 

Year 6 Blog

9th December 2022Adam Omer

What we have been up to

We have had a busy time in year 6, what with Christmas craft morning and our trips to the mosque. Thank you to the parents that came to our Christmas craft activities session-we hope you enjoyed being back in primary school for the morning. You and your children’s handiwork will be on sale (for a small donation) at the Christmas bizarre on Friday 9th December.

The children and adults enjoyed their visit to the mosque this week. It was lovely to be able to take the children out of school for an educational visit for the first time in two and a half years. The children learnt a lot, were very respectful and behaved extremely well. Our thanks go to Mr Ali and Mr Addison for getting us there safely every day and to the imam and Sameen for guiding us so expertly around the mosque.

In English we have been writing our own suspense story based on The Spiderwick Chronicles and in the two and a half weeks before Christmas we have completed some work about the 1914 Christmas Day ceasefire between the allies and the Germans in the 1st World War. The children have written a letter as a British “Tommy” back to their family recounting the day’s events and we will finish the unit by writing a 3 verse poem based on a poem by Carol Ann Duffy (previous poet laureate).

In our reading lessons we have finished the book Skellig by David Almond and have started looking at a book called Mama Miti which is set in Kenya and is about how the people of the country helped themselves to become self-sufficient.

In maths the children have been studying reflection and translation using co-ordinates and learning about ratio and proportion and have performed well with quite a tricky area of maths.

In topic the children completed their Greek tapestry on the myth of The 12 tasks of Heracles (Greek spelling-Hercules is Roman-you learn something new every day) and evaluated their finished piece.

In science, year 6 have been studying the heart and circulatory system. They have learnt about the 4 chambers of the heart and how the heart and lungs are linked to keep our body moving.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays the children have been looking at maths and reading SAT type papers. During these sessions, the children are able to talk together about answers they give to set questions and learn how to answer questions using the teacher and each other. This is a vital part of SATs preparation and will hopefully give your children the tools to do as well as they can in May.

 

Early Spring Term

In English we will be writing an adventure story based on the spy genre. Alongside this unit we will be reading Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz which is all about a teenage secret agent. Within this unit we will be teaching the children how to use flashback to help tell a story.

We will complete our reading work on the book Mama Miti.

In maths we will be starting a long unit on fractions, which constitutes a fairly high percentage of questions in the SAT papers so is a very important part of the maths curriculum.

In science we will continue our topic on Animals including humans by looking at the lungs, the blood and staying healthy.

In French we will be looking at the vocabulary of telling the time (which will link nicely to maths)

We hope you all have a very merry Christmas and look forward to seeing the children back at school on Wednesday 4th January 2023.

 

Year 6 Autumn 1 blog

14th October 2022Adam Omer

Welcome to the year 6 blog. Let’s find out what we have been up to and what we will be doing at the beginning of next half-term.

ENGLISH

In our reading lessons, we have been reading “Skellig” by David Almond. The children have been learning how characters are developed and how to identify certain themes in the book.

In writing, we wrote our own poem based on a poem entitled ” Into the Lair of Baron Jugula” and after two weeks work on that, we have just completed a unit on explanation texts where we seem to have been visited by an ogre and found out a lot about a rather mischievous creature called a boggart.

MATHS

In maths lessons, we have focused in on calculations and place value, as without a good knowledge of these areas, children will struggle with much of the SATs paper later in the year. We have also looked at algebra, which the children have coped well with.

TOPIC

Our topic this term is “Ancient Greece” and the children have learnt about where modern Greece is in Europe and which countries border it. We have also learnt about the opposing ancient city states of Athens and Sparta and the clear differences between them. We have studied the “hoplite” soldier and drawn our own pictures of them and are now moving on to find out about Heracles and his 12 tasks, from which we will then create our own mythical beast for him to battle and then write a further task for the ancient superhero.

RE

In this subject we have been finding out about what it means to be a Muslim, and this will culminate in a visit to the largest mosque in western Europe at the beginning of December-more information about this trip to follow at the beginning of next half term.

PHSE

In the first two weeks of term, we looked at what it means to be resilient and completed a number of tasks which helped us settle into year 6 and be a good classmate.

ART

We created our own symmetrical self-portrait using proportion, line and tone and have completed art tasks linked to our topic work.

ICT

We have completed mathletics tasks and used the internet to research what life was like for families in ancient Greek times.

BLACK HISTORY

We will be looking at the life of Michael Jordan and learning about his trip to the top of his sport and what made him such a success.

So, what is coming up next half term in Year 6 I hear you cry?

ENGLISH

After half term we will be writing a suspense story. In our reading lessons we will be looking at a book called Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli which is about environmental issues in Kenya.

MATHS

We will be beginning the half term with work on measure and then position and direction.

TOPIC

We will continue our topic on Ancient Greece where we will be creating a tapestry based on the story of Heracles and his 12 tasks.

In other subjects we will look at the song Happy by Pharell Williams in Music and do some work on staying safe online in ICT.

We will be beginning our afternoon interventions in maths and reading to help with preparation for the SATs in May.

Make sure your child is keeping up with the homework set and the weekly spellings and remind them that they can always ask for help from teachers (and parents) if they need it. Also, if he/she is not confident with x tables, please get him/her to practise them.

We look forward to seeing you on the 18th and 19th October for parents’ evening.

The Year 6 team

 

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.