Welcome to Year 6
Presentations from the SATs and Carlton Lodge Meeting
Year 6 Curriculum Map
After a super first half term in Year 6, we will be continuing with certain topics in some subjects, but changing them in others. We will also be saying goodbye to Mr Gleeson which is of course really sad, but we are grateful for everything he has given the school in his time here and wish him all the best in the future.
Topic Book
Our focus in topic will be The Galapagos Islands- we have already learnt bits about Charles Darwin’s famous voyage there.
English
We will be continuing with our World War One topic, but will be writing a setting description, diary entry and a speech.
Please ensure your child is reading at the very least 3 times per week at home to support them, not just reading independently but also with an adult or sibling, allowing for discussions around what they have read. Children take home a planner and I ask that they fill in new words or phrases they have found 3 times a week. To be successful this year, it is imperative they develop a broad and in-depth knowledge of precise vocabulary and can infer meaning from what they have read. A parent or carer should then sign off what they have written. We will check the planners every week (each Monday).
Science
In science, our topic will be Electricity (which fits nicely with DT).
Maths
Our topics this half term are fractions and converting units.
RE
We will still be learning about the Jewish faith this half term. This will mean both looking at cornerstones of their faith and also customs for the people who follow that faith.
Computing
In computing, this half term, we will be creating our own webpages, which I know the children are really excited about!
PE
In PE, we will be continuing with gymnastics on Wednesdays and dodgeball on Thursdays. The children can be in PE kit both days but must remember to remove jewellery on those days please.
DT
Our topic will be ‘Electricity’ and the children will make a steady-hand game.
Thank you for taking the time to read this information and please do not hesitate to be in touch.
Kind regards,
Mr Smithson and Mr Gleeson.
Year 6 Class Blog
Let's Read!
Peter Dalrymple (PDalrymple) on: Year 6 Class Blog
What a wonderful week!
Exploring safety in the Blitz, analysing text about keeping safe in the Blitz, then understanding perpendicular height to work out the area of a triangle, then wrapping up the the Circulatory System with testing ourselves on how nutrients are transported around the body, and then mixing in World Book Day.
Thursday was World Book Day and it was amazing to see Year 6 reading with Reception and Year 1. Totally joyous!
Year 6 read Cloud Busting by Malorie Blackman - a story written in poems about a boy who reflects on his actions towards a classmate in the previous 6 months. So after discussing the theme of forgiveness in the text, we went out and did a little bit of cloud busting ourselves.
(children removed for permission reasons)
Homework
Books - due Wed 12 Mar
Children have been given the marking booklets, so they can mark in green (or another colour pen from what they write in). Any questions, bring the book in for me to look at; I still would like to see them on Wednesday.
- Grammar: p24 – Clauses; p26 – Relative Clauses; p28 - Mixed practice.
- Punctuation: p36 – Colons; p38 – 38
- Spellings: p29 – Words ending in 'er', 'ar' and 'or'; p30 - Words ending in 'ery', 'ary' and 'ory'.
We Are Flying
Peter Dalrymple (PDalrymple) on: Year 6 Class Blog
Wow! How quick has this week gone! Writing unit completed - check. Maths unit completed - check. New PE unit - check. New DT unit - check. We have been emersed in WW2 with learning about the Battle of Britain, the Blitz and D-Day whilst writing a balanced argument of whether our class book character (Joseph, a boy in London, 1940) should return to his grandma’s in the countryside. This will keep going as we learn about National Parks, which were set up after the war, later in the half term. Alongside all of this, we are still prepping for the SATs.
Talking of such, here is the homework for this week.
Spellings: the words below. Test is on Monday 03 March
|
Prefix un-, mis- and dis- unhappy untrained unable miscount misinform misfortune disable dishearten disinfect disown
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Common Exception Words rhyme disastrous nuisance profession pronunciation
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Books - due Wed 05 Mar
- Grammar: p20 – Sentences; p21 – Paragraphs; p22 - Phrases
- Punctuation: p20 – Mixed practice; p34 – Mixed practice (same title different content)
- Spellings: p11 – Prefixes – un and de; p12 - Prefixes – im, in, il and ir.
Half Way Through
Peter Dalrymple (PDalrymple) on: Year 6 Class Blog
It feels odd: I have only been at ASJ for six weeks and we are already half through the year. It also means about a dozen or so weeks until SATs and a half year until the current Year 6’s primary journey draws to a close.
On reflection, it creates rather mixed feelings, mainly centred on wishing I could have more time with Year 6. This half term’s theme was centred around hope: hoping that the children would be readier for SATs, but also becoming readier for secondary. And, we have seen this. The mock SATs results have been amazing, seeing improvement for everyone. Each day the children have been stretching their wings a little more and in response I have given them that little bit more responsibility. Of which they have taken on board.
When we return from half term we will be looking at new topics: reports on the Blitz and National Parks in Writing, , classifying living things in Science, Salvation in RE and much, much more across the curriculum.
Homework for half term:
Spellings: the words below -
| Short ‘u’ sound spelt ‘ou’ | Common Exception Words |
| youngest | amateur |
| countries | category |
| cousin | definite |
| touch | existence |
| enough | prejudice |
| doubles | |
| courageous | |
| roughest | |
| tough | |
| troubling |
Books - due Tues 25 Feb
- Grammar: p48 – Formal and informal writing; p38 – Subject and object; p39 – Active and Passive Voice
- Punctuation: p31 – single dashes and bullet points; p32 & p33 – Hyphens.
- Spellings: p19 words ening in ‘ance;, ‘ancy’, ‘ence’ and ‘ency’; p20 – Words ending in ‘ous’
Have a great half term!
A busy week!
Peter Dalrymple (PDalrymple) on: Year 6 Class Blog
As you can see it is a few weeks since my last blog. In this time, we have done 2 maths units and are on our third, done 2 units of Writing and are on our third, investigated our heartrate after exercise, questioned Genesis and Cosmology regarding the start of the universe and assessed the main reason for WW2 starting and how Britain prepared for it. Oh, and we started the term with the snow.
Did I forget anything?
Oh yes! We had mock SATs.
The children were all amazing this week. Their focus, resilience and motivation were superb; they showed such maturity is siting the SATs as if they were the actual ones. SATs are in spelling, punctuation and grammar, Reading and Maths. These were sat (pardon the pun) over 4 mornings, with the longest paper being an hour. Marking is currently underway.
In Writing, children wrote in a style of their choice. We chose the theme of ‘Journey to the Unknown’. Staying within the WW2 of the half term, we were writing about the Kindertransport on the late 1930s, the children who were evacuated in Britain at the start of the war and those sent to the concentration. A great deal of research went into their work and it was wonderful to see this come through in their writing. This was such an emotive and hard theme, but the children have created great poems, narratives, diaries, letters and accounts. They have really shown their authorial voice.
We are pushing on with Maths, having to make lots of links in our learning. We are looking at fractions, percentages and decimals; this requires us to make relationships between our place value knowledge, division and fraction knowledge. This came to a head today when we trying to prove that ¼ = 1 ÷ 4 = 0.25. Some really deep Maths!
From now on, I will put homework on the blog. Children have 3 books (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling) and spelling home (list of words following a spelling principle; these will be in their planner).
Homework for this week:
Spellings: words in planner; short ‘i’ spelt ‘y’ (e.g. myth, lyrics) + 5 common exception words. Test is Mon 10 Feb.
Books:
- Grammar: p46 – p48, Standard cs Non-Standard; Formal and informal writing – due Thurs 13 Feb
- Punctuation: p28-p31, Brackets for extra information; Dashes for extra information – due Thurs 13 Feb.
- Spelling: p17 & p18, Words ending in ‘cial’ and ‘tial’; words ending in ‘ent’ and ‘ant’ – due Thurs 13 Feb.
I would like to say thank you for your patience; the curriculum maps will be updated and there will be regular blogs. Saying this, your patience has let me settle in, to get to know my way in ASJ and get to know your wonderful children.
Have a great week!
A Warm Welcome to 2025
Peter Dalrymple (PDalrymple) on: Year 6 Class Blog
