Year Six Newsletter – Summer Term
Welcome back! I hope everyone has had a restful Easter break and are ready for the final term of year 6.
English: The books we will use this term from the Literacy Tree project will be: The Wind in the Wall by Sally Gardener, Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson. These books will give children the opportunity to develop their grammar and spelling skills along with producing posters, figurative writing, descriptions, retellings, diaries, letters, reports, poems and more.
Maths: We will continue to improve mental calculations along with recapping many mathematical areas including fractions, decimals & percentages, area, perimeter, volume, converting units, ratio, and algebra. We will also look at the four operations and begin to look at mathematics beyond KS2 – supporting the pupils in preparation for secondary school. It is essential children are fluent in their multiplication and can recall multiplication division facts up to the twelve’s times table.
Science:
Evolution & Inheritance – Recognise that living things have changes over time, that fossils provide information from millions of years ago, explore factors associated with inheritance and identify how plants and animals adapt to their environment. We will also be examining the theories of evolution constructed by Darwin and Wallace.
Electricity – The pupils will associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit, compare, and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches and use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.
Topic (History/Geography): To start the term off we will be looking at the country of Brazil and apply our understanding of human and physical geography. In History we will be studying the Battle of Britain to see a turning point in British History.
Languages: La France! – This term, we will be moving on to travel, learning how to order train tickets to travel within France and finding out about the geography of Paris and about the geography, culture and foods of other Francophone (French speaking) countries in the world.
Computing: We will be learning to code Micro:bits for our topic ‘We are Toy Makers’. The children will continue to grow their knowledge of being safe online and future opportunities in the Tech world.
Art and DT: In Art we will learn about great artists focusing on the work of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and their contribution to the Pop Art movement. In DT we will be focusing on mechanical systems and linking to our science topic of electricity.
Religious Education: This term we will be looking at Human/Social Science with the focus on the question – How do beliefs shape identity for Muslims?
P.E: Mr Snelling will be leading both of our PE sessions this term. PE will take place on a Tuesday afternoon and Friday mornings. As we have already been doing, children will come home in their kit on a Tuesday and will need to come to school in it on a Friday. Please remember deodorant needs to be stick/roll on – please no aerosols and all uniform and PE kits are clearly named, including footwear. Please can children make sure they have socks for PE, an alternative to their uniform ones.
PSHE: Our PSHE topics this term is healthy sleep, mindfulness, sex education, FGM and first aid. The children will continue their play leading and working with Reception but in a different capacity this term.
Music: We will listen and appraise music from different times and cultures and compose short pieces through the English Model Music Curriculum. We will get to use a variety of instruments, including our voices!
Homework: The children will be set Maths, English or Topic homework each week which should be completed in their Teams Account (unless otherwise stated) by the following Wednesday. On occasion the children may be set a project to complete over a set period which will run alongside regular homework. Children need to be reading regularly and please do discuss their book and reading choices and continue to listen to them reading aloud when possible; this enables them to read at a pace to allow spellings and grammatical structures to be absorbed more readily. Additional homework may be set on occasions to support specific areas of learning as required.
Water/Snacks
Children are actively encouraged to bring in a snack for break time each day. It is often a long time between breakfast and lunch and a snack is important to keep us all going. We ask that these are healthy, in line with our Healthy Schools ethos (fruit or vegetables in their natural forms). Children must have a water bottle in school every day.
Events for your Diary
Monday 20th April – Parent meeting for SATs/Bawdsey Manor Residential
11th – 14th May – KS2 SATs Week
Thursday 21st May – possible class trip – TBC
14th – 17th June – Residential
Monday 6th July – Tray Day
The team working alongside me this term to support the class is: Mrs Martin, Mrs Rudkin, Mr Snelling and Mrs Elliston.
Mobile Phones/End of day
Please remind your child if they bring their phone to school, it must be handed in switched off, first thing in the morning and that they cannot go on their phone until they have left school grounds. Also, if they are walking, they need to walk sensibly down the school path and be mindful of families leaving at the same time.
If you do have any quick questions, please do come a speak to me at the beginning or the end of the day, if a longer discussion is required, please phone/email the office to arrange an appointment.
Miss Morton
