Welcome to Year 6!

Meet the team: 

6L - Mr Lloyd is the class teacher and Mrs Saunders is the teaching assistant.

6C - Mrs Cowan is the class teacher and Mrs Reynolds and Mrs Ashby are the teaching assistants. 

Summer Term

English

In English we have been looking at the short animation 'Alma.' Set in a Spanish town, a young girl is enjoying a beautiful snowy day when she spots a curious blackboard, littered with names. Without thought, she adds her own and in doing so brings to life a mysterious toy shop, and on display: an exact replica doll of herself. The children will be re-telling the narrative, focusing on the use of pathetic fallacy to alter atmosphere and elements of horror writing to drive the action forward.

We will later be looking at 'Pig Heart Boy' by Malorie Blackman, which follows the story of a 13 year old boy in desperate need of a heart transplant. This theme ties in nicely with our Science topic this term, 'Animals including Humans'.

In Guided Reading we will be continuing to look at comprehension papers to support the children's inference and retrieval skills. 

In spellings will we be continuing to following the Spelling Shed Stage 6 scheme.

Maths

Over the course of the summer term the children will be focussing on Shape, Space and measure, including: area, perimeter and volume across various shapes. Alongside this they will be introduced to Algebra and Statistics. We will continue with arithmetic practice weekly with time allowed for times-tables practice through TT Rockstars. Homework will continue to be set on Atom Prime.

History

In History the children will be studying the question: How did the Maya civilisation compare to the Anglo-Saxons? Comparing the Maya and the Anglo-Saxons, children learn about the Maya civilisation. They investigate how the Maya settled in the rainforest, their religious beliefs, homes and what archaeological remains tell us about Maya cities. Using primary evidence, they examine theories into how the Maya cities declined.

Geography

In Geography the children will be studying the question: Can I carry out an independent fieldwork enquiry?

The children will be: Observing, measuring, recording and presenting their own fieldwork study of the local area. 

Science

Our topic this term is Animals including Humans. The children will learn about the cardiovascular system, the make-up and function of the heart, blood and lungs and the differences between drugs and medicines and their effect on the body. The children will also have the opportunity to dissect a heart!

Art

Sculpture and 3D: Making memories

This unit teaches pupils to create expressive sculptures and reflect on artistic decisions. Children learn to represent memories through art, using various materials and techniques, and develop skills in planning, creating, and evaluating 3D sculptures. 

DT

The children will be looking at 'Structures: playgrounds'. They will need to create five apparatus designs, applying the design criteria to their work. Make suitable changes to their work after peer evaluation. Make roughly three different structures from their plans using the materials available. Complete their structures, improving the quality of their rough versions and applying some cladding to a few areas. Secure their apparatus to a base. Make a range of landscape features using a variety of materials which will enhance their apparatus

PSHE

The children will be discussing citizenship and economic well-being. This will entail understanding the importance of caring for others and that we all have a responsibility to care for things and people around us. Alongside this, they will consider what prejudice and discrimination are and why and how they should be challenged and develop their understanding of the value of diversity in society, including significant individuals. 

The children will also be developing their emotional intelligence related to financial matters, applying coping strategies for managing financial emotions and assessing risks in both physical and digital financial environments.  Finally they will explore adapting to financial changes associated with transitioning to secondary school. 

RE

To extend their learning in PSHE the children will be looking at diversity across religions and within religions, exploring why and how Britain is so diverse. They will be looking in particular at the different forms of Christianity and the different forms of Islam. 

Music

The children will be exploring 'Beethoven's 5th Symphony'. The children will be listening and recalling, improvising and composing and finally playing and performing in ensemble contexts.

French

In French the children will be studying 'Le weekend', learning phrases to be able to ask and answer the question: 'Qu'est-ce que tu fais le week-end?' By now the children are increasingly able to extend their responses to create a dialogue with their partner, adding information to show their preferences and feelings towards certain activities. 

P.E.

In P.E. we have begun with tennis and cricket and will move on to athletics and rounders. In both tennis and cricket and later in rounders the children will be learning to improve their ball control and direction. Additionally, these sports will enable them to develop their team skills whilst in athletics they will look at form and technique and independent achievements and progress

Spring Term

English

In English we study 'Skellig' by David Almond. This is about a boy who discovers a creature living in a disused garage in his new home. Together with his neighbour Mina, the two take care of it nursing it back to health. But what is this creature and will it help his baby sister's illness? The children will link their writing to the story including inovating a chapter themselves and writing a balanced argument for and against home schooling. The children will also study 'Fantastic beasts and mythical creatures'. They will produce an explanation text of a beast of their own imagination. Guided reading will base around the books as well as independent pieces supporting inference, retrieval and explanation skills. Spelling will be following the Spelling Shed scheme of work.

Maths

Over this term the children will be focusing on mulriplying and dividing fractions and finding fractions of numbers. They will cover further topics of measurement, ratio and proportion and decimals and percentage. Arithmetic papers will be done weekly and homework set on Atom learning. Regular practise of times tables will take place using TTRockstars.

History

In history we will be investigating what life was like in Victorian times. Children carry out an enquiry using census and factory records following a family history over the time period and use inference skills to suggest reasons for the changes, linking them to national events. They will plan their own enquiry and research based on a local family.

Geography

We will be investigating why certain parts of the world are more populated than others; exploring birth and death rates; discussion social, economic and environmental push and pull factors and learning about the population in Britain and its impacts.

Science

Our topics this term areevolution and inheritance and humans and classification. Children will be given the opportunity to investigate and answer their own questions.

Art

In art the children will explore a selection of paintings through art appreciation activities. They will be collecting ideas in sketchbooks and planning a final piece after researching the life, techniques and artistic intentions of an artist that interests them.

DT

This term the children will be considering their design to create a waistcoat. They use a template to cut out then use running stitches to join fabric before attaching fastenings and decorative objects.

PSHE

Creating and maintaining positive and healthy friendships is at the centre of PSHE this term, with a focus on valuing differences and having constructive conversations to risolve disputes.

PE

6L and 6N have PE on Wednesdays and Friday. Please ensure all the PE kit is clearly named. The children will be participation in dance and movement thinking about interpreting emotions and feelings on the topic of prejudice and discrimination. They will also be doing gymnastics.

Music

Music will be continuing with our topic learning African drumming on Thursday afternoons. In Spring B the children will learn an American folk dance while also listening and composing American folk music.

French

This term, the children will be learning about different French speaking countries of the world and introduced to some characters to learn about.

Computing

The children will be learning about the history of computers and be introduced to basic programming using the language of Python.

Autumn Term

English

This term the children are reading the book 'Letters from the Lighthouse' by Emma Caroll. This is a story about a group of children who have been evacuated from London to Devon during the Blitz. A story of mystery and intrigue including secret codes and captured German pilots. The children will have the opportunity to step into the role of the main characters as they were being evacuated from the cinema during an air raid. Through hot seating and freeze framing, the children will be able to empathise with children from this era.

They will write a diary entry through the perspective of one of the characters using emotive and descriptive language and will apply the appropriate grammar and punctuation.

Maths

This term, the children will secure their knowledge of place value and the four operations. The children will be using visual and practical manipulatives before moving onto concrete methods to embed fluency. Within each lesson, we continue to stretch the children's understanding through applying and reasoning questions, as well as investigations and discussion. 

Each week, the children will also be completing times tables practice, starting with the 2's, 4's, 5's 8's and 10's.

Humanities

In history, Year 6 are exploring WW2. We  will begin the topic by investigating primary and secondary sources of historical information and asking questions about  how the artefact could help understand what life was like in the war and its reliability. The children will have the opportunity to take part in an evacuation drill where they will be asked to sit underneath the table to take cover during an air raid. We will analyse Hitler's rise to power, Chamberlain's appeasement strategy and debated as a class as to whether it was the right policy to follow.

They will investigate the government's evacuation policy and will discover first hand experiences of evacuees. The children will investigate whether the Battle of Britain was a turning point in the war. They have been encouraged to look into their own family's experiences of the war and have found out so many stories!  

In Geography the children study different types of energy sources. They learn the difference between renewable and non renewable including the benefits and drawbacks. They compare energy sources in Midland, Texas to Port of Blyth in England. They advise an urban planner on which source of energy to use to supply a new village that is being built and finish the topic with a field study of where the best location for solar panels would be at Brushwood, justifying their choice.

Science

This term, the children in Year 6 begin the year by learning about electricity and light. They will participate in a practical lesson where they will need to demonstrate collaboration and resilience to produce a circuit. They will use a range of equipment, such as, batteries, buzzers, lightbulbs, motors, wires and switches. All children participated and were success in creating a working circuit. They will work collaboratively to investigate the changing volume of buzzers and brightness of lightbulbs. 

Art

In art, the children will be learning the techniques using oil pastels and will compose a 'Blitz' scene from World War 2. The techniques they will learn are: scumbling and stippling. The children will also blend a variety of colours together to create a 'fire based' scene. The techniques they will have learnt will be explored further when they learn to sketch in the Autumn term.

Design and Technology

The topic this term has been 'Come dine with me'. Each group have had to design, prepare and a three course meal focusing on recipes that compliment, balance and enhance each other.

PSHE

The children will be discussing why we have rules and how we develop our value codes. We will have conversations surrounding legal, illegal and prescription drugs and medicines and the effect they may have on us. The children will act out various scenarios with a dilemma of peer pressure and will identify strategies on how to respond. 

PE

The children will be playing netball this term. They will be practising each different pass whilst building up the stamina to take part in matches. They will also be learning hockey skills and will be taking part in inter-year group matches. This will develop teamwork and sportsmanship whilst developing skills in hockey. 

Music

Year 6 have been very fortunate and have been given the opportunity to learn how to play the 'djembe drums'. Each week Year 6 take part in a whole class music lesson, taught by Bucks Music Trust. The children will learn how to play various tones on the drums as well as rhythms and songs too. 

Whilst learning how to play the drums, the children will also develop sight reading skills through reading pieces of music. They will identify: crotchets, quavers, minims, semibreve and a semi quaver. 

French

The children will explore World War 2 in French which links to their topic in History. They will really enjoy this topic as it was relevant to History and they were able to understand it from a different point of view. The children will learn some key vocabulary and will write some short sentences about facts they have learnt relating to World War 2. The children will be focussing on all four areas of learning a language: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Computing

This term, the children have been using the platform 'scratch' to create and implement codes into games. They have focussed on coding for this term and the other platforms which have been used are: code for life and 2code on purple mash. 

The children have created games - using the codes which they create - for their friends to play.