 Hello, we hope you have had a good week. We are back into full swing as if the Christmas holidays never really happened!
In English we have focused heavily on grammar, looking at active and passive voice, we have looked at using conjunctions and relative pronouns to create explanatory sentences and we have also been orally planning and presenting an explanation based on a previous science experiment. We were able to do this investigation again which added a bit more fun into our English Our spelling patterns have focused on the 'ough' letter string.In maths we have continued with fractions and have focused on addition and subtraction of them, but also using improper fractions and mixed numbers. This Thursday saw the start of our swimming lessons in Okehampton. This week's lesson focused on assessing the children to work out their swimming abilities to match them to an instructor and group. As of next week the children will be swimming in small groups of approximately 9 children and will use the end of the pool depending on their swimming ability. In other areas of the curriculum we began our history learning about Civil Rights in America. This will lead on nicely to remember Martin Luther King on Monday 17th January. We began looking at solids, liquids and gases in science and continued with our portraits inspired by Sandra Silberzweig in art. With Coach Edwards we played unihoc as a one off from gymnastics due to the hall being used for Flu immunisations. Homework This week, we discussed the pros and cons of homework and whilst there were many good points raised against homework we also identified these important points for homework: 1. Being prepared for secondary school where homework will be set daily 2. Consolidating what you have learnt at school 3. The opportunity to pursue your own interests and research 4. (and probably the most important) sharing learning with and spending quality time with parents/carers/grandparents etc at home. The details of this term's homework can be found in Google Classroom including a list of the revision pages set in the SATS revision guides. You will also find our science topic knowledge organiser for you to discuss with your children and ideas for a project on our History topic. These are the details: Create a project based on our history topic of the Civil rights Movement in America in the 1950s and 60s:
Additionally, we have asked to see children's reading records twice a week as we are concerned that some children are not reading regularly at home. We will check reading diaries on a Monday and Thursday, although these should be at school every day anyway. Homework folders and revision books need to be brought to school every Monday. We hope you all have a lovely weekend. Thank you, stay well, stay safe and take care. Mrs Ware and Miss Ruby  Happy New Year,
We trust this update finds you safe and well after a Christmas break. We have had an incredibly busy three days back in school and the children have focused very well considering. English We have begun a new text, ‘Stuff You Should Know, which is a fun, interesting and colourful explanation about the fascinating stories behind activities and machines that we take so often for gained such as what happens when you use a toaster, press a light switch, send a text on a mobile phone and post a letter! Maths We have focused our attention on a short unit of work on position, direction and movement. Within this the children have learnt about the four quadrants, translations and reflections. They have used vocabulary such as coordinates, plot, grid, and quadrant, positive, negative, x axis, y axis, translate, and reflect, vertex and vertices. All children have completed this well and have felt very proud of themselves because they have been able to talk with confidence about this new knowledge. Next week we will turn our focus back to fractions. Science Heat - In this unit children will learn about heat and particles, heat and expansion, thermal equilibrium and thermal insulators and conductors. History We have a very important and exciting unit of study this half term about the civil rights movement in America in the 1950s. This will form a topic based homework project this half term too. The unit will culminate in a challenging essay. This unit fits well with our PSHE unit which is all about valuing diversity and Martin Luther King Day on 17th January. RE In Religious Education we will be learning about Hinduism and why Hindus try to be good. The children will learn about Hindhu beliefs such as Dharma, Karma, Samsara and Moksha. Art The children will be learning about the contemporary artist Sandra Silberzweig. Contemporary means that she is still living and has been painting all her life. She is inspired by primitive figurative images, sacred powerful goddesses and animals, and both tribal and spiritual symbolism which form the basis of her subjects. We will begin this week by planning portraits before designing their own. DT In a few weeks time we will undertake a DT project based on creating a simple electronic circuit to create a game. Computing We will be evaluating what makes a good website and then creating our own webpage. PE This will be swimming and gymnastics. Homework As previously mentioned, the children will be asked to produce a project based on our History topic but they will also be set regular revision homework this term to prepare for the SATs tests in May. The homework will be set next week but in the meantime please encourage children to read every day and do some reading response from the menu in last terms topic web; practise timetables and review spellings they have been learning last term Thank you. Mrs Ware and Miss Ruby.  Merry Christmas Everyone Wow....we can't believe where the time has gone and we've just completed our first term together in Year Six. Our final week of 2021 in school, has consisted of writing Christmas adverts, Christmas maths activities, Christmas sing a longs, a beautiful Christingle Service (we hope you've watched the videos on Classdojo), short end of unit assessments in RE, Science and Geography, making Christmas cards in D.T, a Christmas lunch and a Christmas day of fun including a party. We have really seen progression in so many areas of the curriculum, but for us the loveliest thing is seeing the children develop in confidence, maturity and positivity. So many of our class have risen to the challenge and are embracing life in Year Six, by becoming good role models to their peers. Well done everyone. The New Year will bring a few changes to the curriculum, in terms of timetable (we will let you know details once they are finailised in the New Year) and we have a very exciting Spring term to look forwards to. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Stay well and safe and have the best time with your families. Both of us are hoping to enjoy a good break with our families so we are raring to go come January 5th. Thank you everyone, Merry Christmas! The children have all worked exceptionally hard this week after we have completed our school wide (DMAT wide) assessment week. As they are in Year 6, this has been in the form of past SATS papers, which we then mark to get an idea of how the children are progressing. Mrs Ware and I also undertake a detailed analysis of every single question, on every single paper to see where support or more teaching needs to happen. At this stage in the year, there are obviously a few things we haven't yet covered in our curriculum, and the children know this, however it is a useful aspect of school life now they are in Year 6. The SATS papers the children take are SPaG (Spelling, punctuation and grammar), 2 x Reading papers and 3 x maths papers (1 arithmetic and 2 reasoning), mirroring the traditional SATS week traditionally held in May (pre covid). We would both like to congratulate all the children on their positivity, resilience and maturity this week. They really stepped up to the mark. Well done.
We completed our Geography unit, by writing at length a detailed essay,' Explain how and why geographers do fieldwork?' The children all wowed themselves at how much information they had learnt, how clearly they could talk about this topic and how well they could put their ideas into writing. As this was the first time we had attempted a final piece of writing in Geography, in this way, we were all really pleased. Again, well done Sycamore. Next week is our final week of term with lots of lovely Christmas things to look forwards to. We will be completing our Science and RE next week with end of unit quizzes. We will also finish our writing- the story of the Christmas advert. We will also be learning about the significance of the Christingle and will then make our own. On Wednesday afternoon, we will take our Christingles to the Church (a Year 6 tradition that we want to try to keep as much as possible despite Covid) where we will have a small service with the children from Year 5. We will sing, say some readings and parade around the church with the candles lit. We're really sad that parents/carers aren't allowed to attend due to covid regulations, but we really wanted the children to experience this special service. It will be filmed and uploaded onto Class Dojo! This week we didn't do a Star of the Week for learning but we did choose a kindness award. This is a new award we are introducing in school and they are incredibly special. These special hearts, will be given sporadically throughout the school year to children who show exceptional kindness and care to their peers. If you receive one, you have done something wonderful. Well done to Harry, who received our first one today. Harry is always kind, sensitive and thoughtful to everyone in our class. Well done Harry. So...I think that's it! Lots of lovely things happening in school next week including the Big Sing Up, Christmas Lunch, Secret Santa, Christingle Service and a Christmas class treat! We will post photos and updates on Class Dojo to keep you informed. Have a wonderful weekend at this incredibly busy time of year! Stay well, stay safe and enjoy the festivities as they begin! Hello everyone,
Welcome to December, and after today I can truly say that the madness of Christmas seems to have hit! The children looked great in their 'Christmassy' outfits and accessories. They also enjoyed their 50 nugget treat, where they enjoyed an afternoon of Christmas crafts of their choice (mainly paper chains), hot chocolate, marsh mallows, cream and cookies! Congratulations on 50 nuggets Year 6. In Maths they have continued with their unit on fractions where they have compared and ordered fractions, looked at equivalent fractions and have started to add and subtract fractions. Fractions seems to be a unit where the children find the ‘abstract’ quite difficult. With lots of positive praise, modelling, concrete and visual representations they will get there. In English they have started a new unit of work looking at a Spanish Christmas advert! Please see the link here if you wish to watch it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOnrzULj-BE&t=37s), it’s the loveliest advert! They have delved into the meaning of it, created letters and freeze frames and have had a grammar focus on verb forms. The children have learnt about perfect, progressive and simple verb forms. The children undertook data collection in Geography investigating the question, “How busy is our street?” and collected data in different parts of the town. They also had the privilege of finding out how the clock tower worked and seeing it in action thanks to Mrs Jelley. P.E with Coach Edwards took place this morning. The children took part in team building games which they loved! Toxic River and bench ball were firm favourites. I will uploads some photos on Class Dojo once technology allows! Star of the week this week goes to Kit! Very well deserved. Kit has returned to school with a positive attitude. Focusing, developing resilience and being confident when talking in front of her peers. Next week we have our whole school assessment week. For Year 6, this means practise SATS in maths, reading and SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar). This means there will be an amended timetable next week so we can give the children plenty of breaks in between assessments. However, we do have lots of other lovely activities lined up too! There’s the Santa fun run on Monday, as well as Odd Socks day on Friday! Have a fantastic weekend whatever your plans are! Stay well, stay safe and we look forwards to seeing everybody next week. English and Maths
This week the children completed their chronological reports describing a mountain environment. They used expanded noun phrases to beautifully describe the environment and tried hard to create cohesion in their texts by using adverbials, repetition and synonyms throughout. They always choose great vocabulary and are very good creative writers; we now need to work on their punctuation and spelling by proof reading carefully so that their writing is clear for their reader. We have begun a new unit in maths this week - Fractions. We started by finding equivalent fractions. We were reminded that equivalent means equal to or of the same value rather than exactly the same. We used fraction bars to compare fractions but have also been using multiplication and division to find equivalent fractions. Science and Computing We are continuing to learn about sustainability and this week we compared the environmental impact of paper coffe cups compared to reusable plastic ones. We concluded that the plastic reusable ones are better for the environment as long as they are reused 20 to 100 times. The children used Tinkercad to make a 3d model of a pencil tidy. They had to use the programmed to combine 3d shapes and create holes to make cylinders look like tubes. RE and PSHE We began finding out about how people from different religions believe in God - we will continue with this next week and have a go at some role play in R.E. next week. In PSHE we began thinking about peer pressure and will be sharing strategies for dealing with unwanted peer pressure next week. The children have missed Miss Ruby this week but were still able to enjoy the lessons she planned with Miss Penny and Miss Keen at the helm. They had their normal PE session with Coach Edwards, Geography with Miss Penny and learnt about Pablo Picasso in art with Miss Keen on Friday. Ollie is our star of the week this week. Well deserved for his excellent writing and confident reasoning in maths this week. Have a great weekend everyone - As December approaches, we will start feeling a bit Christmassy next week!  Today the children were allowed to come to school dressed in their own clothes or in fancy dress for a donation of £1 to Children in Need. They donated another £1 each to do a fun run in their fancy dress. We had fun while playing running games!! You can also see us singing to the Children in Need song on Class Dojo. I hope you can watch tonight to see how your generous donations help children less fortunate than ours.  On Friday, Officer Young came to talk to us about road safety. He reminded the children of the importance of being road safe. Please teach your children the Green Cross Code, explain road safety rules, teach children to use crossings and obviously always set a good example when walking around with them beside roads. Please make sure children always wear helmets when cycling or scootering or skateboarding and that they continue to apply the rules they learnt this week in Bikeability.
Homework Update
The homework topic web for this half term can be downloaded from this page but children will bring home a copy this week too. Please support and encourage your child to complete at least three of these projects and encourage them to spend time to complete quality work. We have tried to include some diverse and interesting ideas but are happy for children to be creative and do any home learning that links to our topics this term that interests them. We feel it is more important than ever for children in year 6 to complete homework regularly as we are preparing them for the expectations of secondary school. Additionally research has shown that: "Homework encourages self-development and self-discipline. Students who complete regular homework don't just perform better at school and during exams, they learn broader life skills and associate hard work with long term rewards. Homework has also been found to improve parental relationships." (https://blog.teamsatchel.com/research-into-the-importance-of-homework) We hope you can spend some quality time with your children finding out about their learning at school through their homework projects. Science Our new science topic is all about sustainability - really relevant at the moment with the COP26 climate change conference happening. This would be a good opportunity to discuss some of the issues in the news and perhaps to take some action at home to reduce your families' impact on climate change! World Views and Religion In RE we are asking why some people believe in God and some don't by exploring different faiths and non faiths. In our first discussion the children agreed that it is important to learn about what other people believe so that we can respect them, their culture and beliefs. English We have started a new unit of writing and are basing chronological reports on a text about the Simpson Desert in Australia. This is a beautifully written text that uses powerful vocabulary to bring the desert alive. The children will be writing to similarly captivate, amaze and inform their readers! Maths This week we have focused on the skills needed and methods used in long division! It really has been a tough week with the children all feeling at some point 'stuck' in the learning pit. However, as the week has progressed and with practice, support and resilience progress has been made and we have begun to hear shouts of 'Yes, I did it!" and "Now I understand." This is the first time the children have been really tested in maths this year as it's a totally new concept. Well done to them all for not giving up and for really focusing and working together with this. Art This week we have had two 'one off lessons' totally different to each other. On Thursday we designed and created our FONTS Christmas cards and on Friday we began our Remembrance Day art for a big display. Once complete I shall post a photograph for you all to see. Computing The children were very excited about using the 3d computer modelling website, tinkercad, this week. They can explore this website for free at home either using their school account or by signing up for their own free account with your permission. Link to our class page: https://www.tinkercad.com/joinclass/GL6M16BYT2G9 Finally... Congratulations to Eva our Star of the Week! She has produced some fantastic writing this week and has been a really good partner, supporting her peers. She's been really focused and worked hard all this week. Christmas card replies due back on Monday 8th! Cross Country replies for half of the class due back. Watch this space for a different activity for the half in school! Have a fantastic weekend and if you are having or watching fireworks please stay safe! Thank you, Mrs Ware and Miss Ruby Wow, can you believe we have reached half term already? Six full weeks into the year has certainly flown by and I can’t quite believe the next time we write at the end of a half term it will be Christmas! We have had another incredibly busy week in Year 6, ending our incredibly busy half term.
In Maths we have continued with our unit, ‘Four Operations,’ focusing on division using different methods such as dividing with remainders, short division and division using factors. After half term we will focus on long division, factors, multiples, prime numbers and then a new unit on fractions! In English we have finished our core text, ‘Inside the Villains’ by creating our own Fairy tale book, which includes a story, all about me page, an introductory page and a pop up page. They really enjoyed creating these books! Hopefully there are some photos attached! After half term we will continue to work on improving handwriting and stamina for writing longer texts. History, Science and Computing- we wrapped up our units this week in preparation for starting new ones after half term. We completed some final assessments and the children have all shown improvements in their knowledge in these subject. P.E with Coach Edwards took place on this morning. The children took part in a mini tournament. After half term they will be learning tag rugby on the school field. We will focus on relationships in PSHE to help children resolve conflicts peacefully and to ensure that playtime issues don’t get in the way of children’s learning. Star of the week this week goes to Maya! Very well deserved. Maya has written the most fantastic story this week, using amazing vocabulary that really creates a picture, using humour that fits with our core text, and punctuation that creates cohesion and excitement. She always works hard, has persevered with complex maths problems and has succeeded with them. Well done Maya. Remember Bikeability 15th November! Have a great half term break, stay well and stay safe and we look forwards to seeing everyone in November! |
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January 2022
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