Year 6 Watson
Welcome to Year 6W!
What a wonderful start to year 6 we have had! I am so impressed with Class 6W’s enthusiasm to learn. They have shown consistent determination, interest and they have welcomed the challenges that they have been faced with at the beginning of year 6. I am so excited to get stuck into our work this year but for the time being, the following is what we have been learning and what we shall continue to build upon for the rest of this term:
English
Our class novel in Literacy is based upon Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist. The story is of the orphan Oliver Twist, who starts his life in a workhouse and is then sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London, where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin. As the original version is extremely challenging, we are going to use an adapted version for the children to study. However, we will be referring back to the original text to examine the archaic language which Dickens has used. This will help the children to develop and extend their own vocabulary when reading. Furthermore, these learned words can then be used in context to improve their own writing.
We will use this story as a basis for our writing throughout the term, reading sections, paragraphs and chapters at a time. This will then allow the children to explore different text types and styles of writing. For example, they will write precise summaries, plot predictions, diary entries, emotive letters, character and setting descriptions, alternative chapters and endings.
History and Geography
Oliver Twist also lends itself to our History topic as we will be exploring Urban Migration – people moving from the countryside where they worked in mills to factory work in the big cities. From here, the children will begin a study into different countries and their main cities, allowing them to find these on different maps using 4 and 6 digit grid references. Following on from this, in Geography we will be looking into National Parks as we have already visited The Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, on our residential trip.
Year 6 Peak District Residential - 13/09-15/09
Maths
This year, our year 6 children were lucky enough to start the year early with an extended transition period. During this time, we got stuck into developing basic maths skills in the way of number and place value. Not only have we built upon this but during our first week back, we spent a considerable amount of time consolidating the children’s understanding of time. For those children who were confident, these skills were then utilised to solve time problems. It is important that the children continue to practise telling the time, interchangeably between analogue and digital clocks, in everyday, real life contexts. Please continually question your child about the time on a daily basis in order to embed these learnt skills.
The following skills and facts will be practised and daily to secure the children’s mathematical understanding:
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Times tables up to 12 x 12;
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Counting forwards and backwards in positive/negative numbers as well as decimal numbers from any given starting point;
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Formal written methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division;
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Explaining and reasoning.
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Where possible, please encourage your children to practise these skills daily at home too. It is extremely important that your child knows their timetables and can recall them all within three seconds.
Science
Whilst in Derbyshire, we completed some Science work after learning about living things and their habitats in the classroom. The main focus for the children was: ‘How do fossils provide evidence that living things have changed over time?’ We will extend their understanding in science from living things onto animal adaptation and inheritance/evolution.
Art
Year 6 are fortunate enough to be working with the resident artist - Paul Pickford, during Autumn 1. He started focusing on observational drawings at the beginning of the term so that he was able to join us on our residential to complete more of this work in the great outdoors. The children drew fine, detailed sketches of various leaves that were collected from the hostel grounds. They then, whilst on a walk in the countryside, sketched a map with key landmarks, inspired by Wainwright.
Next, Paul will work with the children to complete some work for Black History month.
PE
As the children are now in year 6, they are allowed to come to school on a Friday in their PE kits, consisting of black shorts (they may wear tracksuit bottoms to come to school in), a whit t-shirt and pumps or trainers. They will be working with our sports coach during the Autumn term to improve their games skills. These skills will be tailored to meet the on going competition calendar. Your child may therefore be asked to represent the school in various competitions throughout the year, both within and after school time.
What can you do to help your child in Year 6?
- Purchase a watch for your child so that they can read the time throughout the day;
- Ensure your child reads every night. They do not need to read to an adult and they do not need to read for hours at a time! Ten minutes every night is fine as long as they are reading and they have understood what they have read. Your child will have a focus for their reading diary so they know what they have to write (we are beginning with summaries). It is their job to write in their diaries - not yours!
- Allow your child access to a dictionary so that they can check the meaning of words which they cannot work out themselves.
- Expose them to different experiences and different places to extend their understanding of the world.
- Homework will be set as and when required to assist the children in their learning. Encourage them to complete homework on time. If you child is struggling with anything, they should ask a teacher for help - that is what we are here for!
- Make sure they have plenty of sleep and early nights.
It is important that in year 6, we support and encourage your child to allow them to fulfill their potential. It is also paramount to prepare and develop them so that they are ready for their move to high school. To ease this transition, your child will move between the two year 6 classes for the teaching of various different aspects of the curriculum and they will be taught by different adults including Miss Watson, Mr Stenton, Mrs O’Hagan and Miss Downie, so that their learning is tailored to their ability.