This year your teachers are:

Mr Walker – Class Teacher

Ms Payne - Teaching Assistant

Ms Fowles - Teaching Assistant

Miss Stairmand – Teaching Assistant

PE will take place every Thursday this half term, when you will complete handball and tag rugby lessons.

For PE sessions please bring the following:

- Black shorts, leggings or jogging bottoms

- White t-shirt or polo shirt

- Black pumps or trainers

It is usually best to leave your child's PE kit at school for the half-term so that it is always available to use.

It is important that your child brings their reading book into school each day as the days on which they will be able to read with an adult may change from time to time. It is also crucial that you listen to your child read each evening and ensure that you sign their reading record highlighting what they have read and how they performed.

Within this class children are given time every day where they can complete a quiz on accelerated reader and change their book.

Homework will be set on a Friday through our online learning platform, SeeSaw. This will be spellings and their English and Maths will be completed via the assessments within the educational game 'Prodigy' The links for which are placed below:

https://app.seesaw.me/#/login

https://sso.prodigygame.com 

All homework should be completed by the following Friday and will be checked by your teacher on this day. Please make sure that if you are having difficulties with the homework, that you contact your class teacher with plenty of time so that they can assist your child in its completion. In addition, the school also run a homework club which can really help support those children that struggle completing their tasks independently.

Year 6 - Spring 1

Mountains and Rivers

As mathematicians, we will:

• Represent and solve equations, including missing number problems, finding pairs of values, and systematically enumerating combinations involving two variables.
• Use place value knowledge up to three decimal places, including multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000, and rounding answers to specified degrees of accuracy.
• Solve multi-step problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, including calculations with decimals, selecting appropriate methods and explaining your reasoning.
• Use and apply efficient written methods for multiplication and division where answers include decimal places.
• Understand, compare and calculate with fractions, decimals and percentages, including simplifying fractions, finding equivalents, ordering values, and solving percentage problems in a range of contexts.

As writers, we will be able to:

• Distinguish between the language of speech and writing
• Recognise vocabulary and structures for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms
•  Use passive verbs
•  Use semi-colons to mark boundaries between   independent clauses
• Use language carefully to influence the reader’s opinion of a character, place or situation
• Use archaic language
• Use paragraphs to vary pace and emphasis
• Use dialogue to explain the plot, reveal new information, show character or relationships or to convey mood
• Give clues to the reader about when the story takes place - what characters are wearing, buildings, horse drawn carriage rather than cars etc

As a Literary Scholar we will be able to:

• Have a love of reading through exploring the adventures of our class text ‘Treasure Island’.
• Explore the text 'Where the river runs gold' in guided reading.
• Use text tracking techniques to retrieve direct quotes from a text.
• Explore chunking techniques to narrow down information when answering questions from an extended text.
• Infer a character’s thoughts and feelings as well as providing evidence from the text.
• Explain the impact of certain literature techniques on the reading.
• Make predictions about the next stage of the story using supporting evidence from the text.

As children who learn about the wider world we will answer the following questions:

• How can I connect with global issues? 
• What rights do people have, and who does not have their rights met?
• How can you identify cultural practices that go against British law and Universal Human Rights? 
• Why is it important to keep personal boundaries and respect the right to privacy?
• What is life like for people in other countries, and how are their values and customs different from ours?
• How can we work with others to make the world a better place?
• What does it mean to set up an enterprise, and how can we start developing enterprise skills?
• How does the media present information, and how can we critique it?

As geographers and world explorers we will:

• How do we get water on Earth?
• What waterways are in our local area?
• What is the name of our local river?
• In which direction is the local river from school?
• How are the waterways used?
• How can we Identify the rivers in the UK and across the world?
• What are the key features of a river?
• Where do Rivers Begin?
• Do rivers run in straight lines?
• Where do rivers end?
• Are mountains all the same shape?
• How can we Identify the mountain ranges in the UK and across the world.
• Does the climate change on a Mountain?
• What impact do mountains and rivers have on agriculture?
• What impact do mountains and rivers have on tourism?
• Why and how do you use 4 & 6 grid references?

As historians we will:

• What problem did Isambard Kingdom Brunel solve in his architecture of bridges?
• Where and when did the first civilisations begin?

As learners of RE we will be exploring the Big Question:

Why do Hindus want to be good?

We will answer the questions:

• Who or what is Brahman?
• What is Atman? What can be learnt about Atman through a Hindu story?
• What is samsara?
• Why is Atman important?
• What else is important?
• How might dharma affect the way someone lives their life?
• What is ahimsa, and how does it affect the lives of Hindu people?
• Why do Hindus try to be good?

As scientists, we will be able to:

• How are organisms classified using the Linnaeus system?
• How can you group and classify cold-blooded vertebrates based on their common characteristics?
• How can you group and classify warm-blooded vertebrates based on their common characteristics?
• How do we classify invertebrates?  
• How is the plant kingdom organised based on shared characteristics?
• What is the definition of a micro-organism, and how can they be classified based on their characteristics?

As linguists in Spanish, we will be able to:

• To interpret and translate opinions about household tasks.
• To find and categorise vocabulary from descriptions of different household jobs conducted by robots. 
• To describe a robot's purpose in a home using verbs and adverbs.
• To write a descriptive text in Spanish about an invented robot. 
• To describe the functions of a robot using a persuasive advert. 

As designers in Design Technology, we will:

• Think like engineers to explore how bridges are strengthened
• Investigate and test structural designs using practical experiments
• Apply our learning to design a scaled bridge prototype
• Use CAD software to refine and present our designs
• Evaluate our work and suggest improvements based on testing

As artists, we will explore the questions:

• What techniques and inspirations were used by the Japanese artists of the Edo period?
• How does Hokusai’s artwork: Great Wave of Kanawawa represent the Edo period?
• How can we design our very own monoprint artwork using layering techniques?

As musicians, we will:

• Engage in discussion about the sounds of an orchestral piece
• Have a selection of varied vocabulary in response to what they hear
• Change dynamics and pitch, differentiating between the two
• Take the role of conductor or follow a conductor
• Change texture within their group improvisation and talk about its effect
• Create a graphic score to represent sounds
• Follow the conductor to show changes in pitch, dynamics and texture

As computer scientists we will be able to:

• Tinker with Logo             
• Understand nested loops          
• Understand basic Python commands  
• Use loops when programming
• Understand the use of random numbers

As athletes we will be able to:

Handball 

• Get into a good ready position to move quickly and receive the ball
• Send a ball accurately in different ways 
• Move into space, signal to receive and catch consistently well 
• Pass and move into space
• I can turn my body sideways-on to receive a pass 
• Move the ball on quickly to catch out the opposition 
• Pass and move to support the ball carrier.
• Anticipate the play 
• Shoot with power and accuracy
• Pass out of the back of my hand
• Disguise passes and dummy pass 
• Think ahead and release the ball early when in possession 
• Display the School Games values 
• Apply a range of skills purposefully in a game 

Tag Rugby

• Pop pass and pocket pass
• Tag someone safely
• Pass well to my left and right 
• Send and receive a ball on the run and under pressure
• Pass a rugby ball backwards consistently
• Dummy a pass
• Pass accurately
• Pass missing out players in a line
• Attack in staggered lines 
• Organise my position so that I receive passes on the run
• Apply skills effectively 
• Develop game understanding and compete in a game of Tag Rugby