Week ending Friday 24th February 2023

Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome back after the half term break. We hope you are all rested and well. Here is a round up of our week in Year 6!

​English/History
We have been using our English lessons this week to write an essay about the civil rights movement in America in the 1950s (our history topic from last half term).  We began with a debate on the question: “Civil disobedience was more important than legal decisions during the civil rights movement.” Do you agree? Quite a lofty and challenging essay title but the children have really risen to the challenge and have been really enthusiastic about writing their essays.

Maths
We have made a great start to our new unit focusing on decimals. This week the children have learnt how to  order and compare decimals within 1, order and compare decimals with integers (whole numbers), round decimals and add and subtract decimals. They have had a great week with this, using resources such as place value charts, counters and part whole models to support their workings. Their resilience is definitely improving and they are becoming more confident when solving problems. We have all been really impressed with their attitudes to maths this week. 

Geography
Our new unit this half term is 'Globalisation'. Within this topic we will be looking at the definition of globalisation, how globalisation has changed the way we communicate, how globalisation has affected trade, what globalisation has to do with fashion and food and where globalisation could lead us. This week, we began by discovering that globalisation is the increasing connections between places and people across the planet, established through trade, politics and cultural exchanges, and helped by technology and transport. The children really got into learning about when globalisation began (different views from historians, see if the children can tell you the three keys times in history this could have been), what it looks like now and identifying famous companies/logos that have had a huge impact on economy and trade. 

Computing
Our new unit of learning is about using Spreadsheets.  Our first lesson was an introduction to spreadsheets.  At school we use Google Sheets but this is very similar to Excel which some children said their parents use in their work.  If you do, why not show/explain to your child how it assists you in your work?

Science
We started a new unit of science which this half term is all about Energy.  We were very surprised to learn that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred.  We were able to see energy transformation when we transformed elastic potential energy in a rubber band to kinetic energy by launching rubber bands across the classroom.  We will be investigating this a little more next week.

Life Skills
We discussed a story about a child who wrote something in the steam on a bus window which kept coming back even when he rubbed it off.  We made a connection to how when something is posted on the internet it is there forever and cannot be removed again.  We also spoke about the exponential nature of the way posts on the internet can spread.

PE
Friday mornings will now be tag rugby. Please make sure the children come in with spare kit/uniform to change into if necessary as we will be playing on the field regardless of the weather and conditions underfoot!

French
This half term we will continue with our theme of food, but progressing to look at what we have for breakfast. Today we learnt and asked the question, "Qu-est-ce que tu manges au petit dejeuner? " ... see if the children can tell you what this means! We played games with the globe and ordering sentences as part of the lesson. 

A great start to the second half of the Spring term! Well done Sycamore class! Enjoy your weekend.
​Mrs Ware and Miss Ruby.