Welcome to Year 6 - Sharks' Class.
This page will give you an overview of all of key information and homework for Year 6 this year.
The class teacher is Mr Farmer.
We also have fabulous support from Mrs Watson, Mrs Robertson, Mr Fuller and Miss Trego during the week.
We have PE on Mondays and Fridays this term and we are learning indoor athletics and playground games.
Responsibilities in School
Within school we encourage Year 6 to take on greater responsibilities. The children have many opportunities to take a supporting role on how the school is run. The children can have roles ranging from the School Council; Sports Council; house captains; play leaders and Eco Council amongst others.
Homework
For homework this year, the children will be completing grammar, reading and maths activities, along with other tasks. These will be set on a Monday and the hand in of work will be Thursday. This should allow the children to choose when to complete their work.
We actively encourage the children to keep active and enjoy sports clubs out of school. We love hearing about your successes and reading reports about your events.
We would like you to continue to use your TT Rockstars account at least twice a week, and we'd like you to read. We encourage the children to take a class book home or to read books they have at home. We'll talk to you about how much you are reading in school.
Term 2 Learning
In Writing this term, Sharks will study the life of Malala Yousafzai then they will write a biography about her. Following this, the class will read Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. They will write narrative with dialogue which moves the story forwards and write a balanced argument stating whether a fourteen-year-old boy should become a spy. In reading, our class continue to read five times a week using independent reading, comprehension activities in a pre-read, group read and discussion, comprehension questions and post read cycle. For spellings, we are following the ELAN spelling curriculum and learning to add and then use prefixes and suffixes to year 3 and 4 and year 5 and 6 spelling words.
In Maths, we will continue to follow the White Rose Maths curriculum and we will study fractions such as adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing them and units measure. In science this term, we will make electrical circuits, learning about electrical components and investigate electrical conductors and insulators.
In Opening Worlds we will learn about the emperors of the Roman Empire such as Augustus and Claudius; in geography we will study population and cities such as London and Cardiff and in R.E we will learn about the story of the Nativity.
In Art and D.T, we will design and make sets for theatre performances and learn about activism in art. In P.E we will learn hockey skills such as the Indian dribble, perform roll outs and put these individual skills into game situations. In PSHE, we are celebrating differences and explaining empathy, differences and bullying through discussion, drama scenarios and observations.
Term One Learning
In term one, Year Six will study the books The Shark Caller and Malala's Magic Pencil. The children will write vivid setting descriptions about Papua New Guinea; write a non-chronological report all about sharks and then write a biographical text about Malala Yousafzai. In mathematics, the class will develop their place value and mental addition, subtraction, multiplication and division methods as well as practising their times tables and other arithmetic. For science, the class will study animals of the Pacific Ocean and then light especially how light travels and creates shadows. In Opening Worlds, Year Six will explore topics including: the Roman Republic, the Family of Jesus and the River Rhine and the Mediterranean Sea. For spellings, Sharks will learn about silent letter words, words ending in -cial and -tial and spell words ending in -cious and -tious. In P.E, the class will develop their fitness through Gym Run, achieve athletic personal bests and set their own physical targets, such as balancing or skipping, to better themselves.
Geography Field Trip
In October, Sharks' class had a geography field trip around our village, Banwell. The aim of the trip was to explore where rivers begin, how the landscape affects the source of a river and we studied the flow and depth of the river Banwell examining if recent heavy rainfall would affect the flow and depth of the river. In the afternoon, we labelled images of the river Banwell and compared our local river with the river Rhine which we studied in our Opening Worlds lessons.
Year 6's Bikeability Sessions
At the start of Term 1, Year 6 children undertook a two day course called Bikeability. This course developed the children's understanding of checking their bikes before they ride; improving their control on their bikes; understanding road signs and how to cycle safely on the roads.
Under the Sea Project
To commence Year Six, the children undertook a new learning project called Under the Sea.
In this project, the children studied poetry by James Reeves; wrote poems based on his work and developed their word class knowledge.
In the second week and third week, the class explored the adventure book. The Shark Caller by Zillah Bethell, which is set in Papua New Guinea. The children wrote or typed vivid setting descriptions; painted fantastic landscapes and learnt about the geography and animals of the Pacific Ocean.
Reading is so important!
We encourage you to listen to your child read and discuss the text at least three times a week. Sometimes it is hard to know what to ask them so below is some ideas of the type of questions that you could be asking your child whilst they are reading with you.
Times Tables
Being able to recall the times tables is a huge skill and will have benefits across all areas of the Maths curriculum. In Year 6, the expectation is that all children can recall their times table up to 12 x 12 and often beyond. Make sure that your child is practising their times tables regularly at home both verbally and written.
