Week ending 20th May 2022

Hello everyone,

We hope this finds you all well and looking forwards to the weekend! As per usual, the children have had another busy week and this week has seen a return to the usual routine/timetable that we have followed for so long.

In English we are reading 'My Secret War Diary' by Flossie Albright, and we are looking at writing diary entries in the style of the author, to fit the time period the book is based in (1939-1945). The children have shown great enthusiasm for this book so far and have really got learning about life in WW2.

In Maths we have begun a short unit on area, perimeter and volume. We have focused on finding the area of rectangles, rectilinear shapes and finding the area of triangles. We will continue with this unit next week.

In History we have looked at the questions, "Was the Treaty of Versailles Fair?" and "How did Hitler rise to Power in the 1930s?" As you can see, these questions this week will link the end of WW1 to the beginning of WW2 and the children have gained an insight to how they link. They particularly enjoyed learning about 'The Big Three', and how their decisions about repercussions on Germany led to the collapse of the state. They were asked to consider questions such as, 'was Germany solely responsible for the war?' and 'how did the repercussions affect the people living in Germany?'. As part of this history unit, the children have also gained an insight into how Europe has changed geographically/politically since the early 1900s. They are so keen to know more about this and were eager to take part in history this week, asking if we could do it all day! 

In Science the children have investigated the question, "What are organ systems, organs, tissues and cells?" The children learnt that a cell is the basic unit of an organism and cells work with other cells to do a job, forming a tissue, for example muscle tissue. They learnt that tissues work with other tissues to do a job forming organs e.g. the heart (muscle tissue and fat tissue). This then led onto organs and how they work with other organs to do a job forming organ systems e.g. the circulatory system. They then discovered that organ systems work together to form an organism.

In P.E the children have Mr Berry teaching them some more 'cricketing' skills, before using them in a match next week! It was lovely to see them all taking part and enjoy the fast paced atmosphere!

This week in French there was great excitement in the class, as the children learnt about the local primary school in Blangy le Chateau, in Normandy in France (who North Tawton is twinned with) and discovered they would be writing letters to the children there to make pen pals! They used the knowledge they had learnt about their birthdays, ages, names, pets and opinions to write a brief introductory letter that will be sent off in half term. As you can see from the photos, the children participated in this with confidence and eagerness! Well done Year Six!

On Tuesday the children experienced Forest school for the first time this term. This was a great afternoon of den building, team work, problem solving and resilience. All key skills to have. It's fair to say the children enjoyed it.

As you know Mrs Ware and I share the class and everything that goes with it. However, one thing we don't share, are our class story books (class novel). We are both really passionate about children developing a love of reading from an early age and try to immerse them in different types of texts, written by different authors. We both love reading! The story that we are sharing on my days is Wolf Hollow,  which focuses on a young girl; Annabelle and her relationship with a new girl Betty. When Betty goes missing suspicion falls on a man called Toby and Annabelle has to do everything in her power to stop the town turning against him. The children always listen so well during this time and we have great discussions about what has happened and what they think will happen!

Here are some photos so you can see some of the exciting things we have been doing this week! Have a lovely weekend, we will see you on Monday!
Miss Ruby and Mrs Ware

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