During the Autumn term, we will be learning about the causes, events and consequences of the First and Second World Wars, the influence of new inventions on warfare, how life in Great Britain was affected and the legacy of the wars in the post-war period.

Week 7 - W/C - 11/12/23

DT

This week we are taking part in our DT project – Make do and mend. As part of our War Topic we have been learning about how clothes were also rationed during WW2. The project has highlighted to the children how during the war people were given a certain amount of tokens to purchase clothes. As a result of this, make do and mend groups were created to repurpose clothes. The children have been learning the different types of stitching that are used to make and mend clothes, as well as having a go at repairing some clothes that have holes in. For the innovate challenge at the end of the topic, they were set a challenge to design and make something from old clothing.

Week 6 - W/C - 4/12/23

It has been a really busy week for Year 6. We have worked hard to get through an assessment week using past SAT papers. Here are a few of the questions from different test papers - have a go at what we are tested on!

Week 5 - W/C - 27/11/23

Maths

In our maths lessons this week we have been looking at different problem solving and reasoning questions around fractions. We have also been finding fractions of amounts and solving mixed questions with fractions. All the hard work that we have been putting in with our fractions unit is really starting to pay off with our arithmetic scores.

English

This week year 6 have been looking at narrative writing. We have continued to focus on the topic of the second world war and are using the Lion and the Unicorn by Shirley Hughes as inspiration. We will be looking at advance punctuation such as semi colons and further develop our use of dialogue to give an insight into characters’ personalities and to advance the action. We will end the unit by writing our own story based on the life of an evacuee.

Topic

In our topic lessons this week we have continued with our art topic of abstraction. We have been focussing this week on landscapes, creating our own abstract landscapes of varying scenes. We have also continued our topic of the second world war focussing on the weaponry used and the Battle of Britain.

Week 4 - W/C - 20/11/23

Maths

On Friday we completed our end of unit assessment based on fractions before starting our new unit - on fractions! This unit builds on what we have already learnt (equivalent fractions / comparison of fractions / addition and subtraction of fractions and mixed numbers). It focuses more in more detail on teaching how multiplication and division work with integers (whole numbers) or fractions.

Topic

In our topic lessons this week we have continued with our war topic, following on from our trip to Milestones Museum last week. We have been exploring how Britain prepared for war and the key events that led up to the start of the Second World War, placing these onto a timeline in chronological order.

English

In English this week we have been learning about what life was like for child evacuees during the Second World War. We have focussed on using subject specific vocabulary, conjunctions to show causes and effects and we will be using these to write our own explanations of evacuation during the second world war.

Week 3 - W/C - 13/11/23

Maths

In our maths lessons this week we have continued with our topic of fractions. We have been adding and subtracting all fractions, including mixed numbers and improper fractions. We have then moved onto completing some multi-step word problems, putting everything we have learnt so far about the topic into practice.

English

In our English lessons this week year 6 have been learning about the features of an explanation text. We will be looking at child evacuation during the Second World War in Great Britain as well as the Kindertransport Programme in Nazi occupied European countries. We will practise techniques such as control over formality and causal conjunctions.

Wider Curriculum

In our wider curriculum lessons this week we have continued with our Art topic of abstraction and distortion. We have focussed on the use of colour and line to create recognisable and unrecognisable forms.

Week 2 - W/C - 06/11/23

English

In our English lessons this week we have moved onto a new short unit of instructions. We have been looking at what makes a good set of instructions adding in time adverbials, and organisational features such as bullet points and sub headings.

Maths

In maths, we have looked at fractions. We initially revised fractions and their equivalents, calculating them using representations and ordering them on a number line. We then compared and order fractions using their denominator (the numbers are the bottom) or the numerators (the number at the top). Finally, to end the week, we looked at how to add and subtract simple fractions. 

Wider curriculum

We have now moved onto the World War Two, researching the causes that led to another conflict so soon after the First World War. We also used a world map to understand the countries involved, separating them into Allies and Axis. This learning will lead us nicely onto our trip next week to Milestones War Museum.

Week 7 - W/C - 16/10/23

Maths

This was our final week focused on the four operations. This week we looked at how to apply the formal methods we had learnt into different contexts, including word problems and multi-step calculations. As well, we debated the most efficient methods, as in some calculations, mental models are quicker than formal calculations. We also looked at the order of operations, shown through BIDMAS (Brackets, Indices, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction). To finish the week, we did an end of unit assessment to check our independent understanding.

English

In our English lessons this week we have been writing our own narratives based upon journeys to unfamiliar places. We have been putting in all of the aspects that we have been focusing on since starting year 6 this year, placing emphasis on detail description and creating maximum impact on our audience.

Topic

This week, we brought our geography to an end with some field work in the local area. We studied a local road and observed traffic behaviour, safety features and discussed the layout of road features in the context of road safety. We also used a set of complex road accident data to produce graphs on our Chromebooks for effective presentation and comparison.

Week 6 - W/C - 09/10/23 

Maths

This was our final week focused on the four operations. This week we looked at how to apply the formal methods we had learnt into different contexts, including word problems and multi-step calculations. As well, we debated the most efficient methods, as in some calculations, mental models are quicker than formal calculations. We also looked at the order of operations, shown through BIDMAS (Brackets, Indices, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction). 

English

In English lessons this week, Year 6 have continued developing narrative writing skills. We have looked at interesting ways to start sentences using detailed fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases. We have also developed our use of the passive voice with the aim of creating the maximum impact on our audience. Whilst we have been learning new skills, we have continued to use our previously taught skills and are looking forward to putting all these together when we create our own narratives next week.

Topic

In our topic lessons this week we have been continuing with our geography topic of our changing world. We have been looking at ordnance survey maps of the local area. We have been reading grid references and using the key to find certain features. 

Week 5 - W/C - 02/10/23

Maths

This week in maths, we have focused on methods for division. We have been using our times tables knowledge to solve problems using the short division method with and without remainders. We have also been getting to grips with the long division method for dividing four-digit numbers by two-digit numbers. There have also been plenty of opportunities for us to keep practising our arithmetic skills and times tables.

English

In Oak this week, we have looked at nonets. This is a type of poetry built around decreasing syllables. The first line has 9 syllables, the second line 8, etc. We looked at a range of nonets on different themes before researching vocabulary linked to a chosen topic within Britain at War.  This included trenches, the alliances between countries and the role of women. We drafted and revised them on chromebooks before writing them neatly into our English books. 

Geography Project

For our wider curriculum sessions, we have been working our way through our geography project of our changing world. We have been looking at the world through different maps looking at the different features on maps. We have explored times zones and completed different questions comparing time zones across the world. We have also explored co-ordinates and grid references as well as using longitude and latitude to locate certain countries and capital cities.  

Week 4 - W/C - 25/09/23

Maths

In our maths lessons this week we have been looking at multiplication. We have been exploring square and cubed numbers, getting the children to build upon their previous knowledge of this from year 5. We started multiplying 2 digits by 1 digit and have then built up to 4 digits by 2 digits. We have then used our knowledge of multiplication to answer different reasoning questions where we have had to pick out the key pieces of information.

English

This week in English we have continued to develop our descriptive writing skills. We have practised writing sentences of varying length and structures in order to create the biggest impact on the reader. Some of the specific features we have been working on include the use of fronted adverbial with prepositions, dialogue and personification. We will bring all thee features together with an independent piece of writing.

Art

In art this week, Year 6 have sketched and applied watercolour to a landscape scene. We are paying particular attention to the way we use tones, tints and shades. In our scenes, many of us have experimented with using perspective to create the illusion of depth. This has included drawing roads that have a vanishing point in the distance, and ensuring that objects such as trees decrease in size the further 'back' they are in the picture.

Week 3 - W/C - 18/09/23

English

In our English lessons this week we have started our new unit of The Journey. Our focus for the next two weeks will be using personification, dialogue and continuing to use metaphors within our writing. We are also having a heavy focus on sentence structure to maximise the impact on the reader, building atmosphere and tension.

Maths

We have begun a new block on covering the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division this week. We have revised formal written methods for addition and subtraction, as well identifying factors and multiples of a number.

Wider curriculum

In History, we chronologically ordered the events of the First WorldWar, discussing the important events that defined the four years.  We then evaluated the human impact of war on the everyday life of civilians, noting that the role of women massively changed due to the absence of men. Finally, we examined the causes that brought the end to the war and the consequences that then defined the next twenty years. 

Week 2 - W/C - 11/09/23

English

In our English lessons this week we have been continuing to base our writing around the book Hike. We have been particularly focussing on techniques to aid descriptions such as metaphors and onomatopoeia. We will continue to use these to write our own retell of the story.

Maths

In maths this week, we have continued to revise and further develop our knowledge around place value and the number system. We have focussed on rounding integers and ordering and comparing numbers up to 10,000,000. Next week we will develop our skills around common factors and multiples.

Topic

During topic lessons this week, we have explored trench warfare during the First World War. We have learnt about the day-to-day life of a soldier in the trenches and the hardships they faced. We have also explored advances in military technology and the devastating effect they had on the battlefield.

Week 1 - WC 04/09/2023

English

This week, we have been introduced to our new model text Hike by Pete Oswald. Over the next two weeks we are going to be using this wonderful picture book to inspire our writing. We will particularly be focusing on using a variety of sentence lengths and structures to create atmosphere and tension, and to encapsulate vivid description. The unit will also give us the opportunity to develop our use of metaphor and onomatopoeia.

Maths

In maths this week we have started our topic of place value. We have been comparing the values of different numbers through partitioning to highlight which digits fit into which column. We have used numbers up to 1 million and looked at multiplying and dividing different numbers by 10, 100 and 1000.

Wider Curriculum

In our topic lessons we have now started our new topic for the term of Britain at War. We have been looking at what is war and some of the key words and events that were associated with the first world war. The children were given the task to complete a piece of work looking at the causes of the first world war. In art, we have started with our Tones, Tints and Shades by revising colour theory and key skills of mixing tones, tints and shades. We have also begun our Light Theory science unit - this week we have learnt that light travels in straight lines and how it enters the eye.