Mock SATs

So that the children can get used to SAT expectations Mock SAT assessments were completed under SAT conditions in the hall. The results of the papers have been shared with the children and also will inform our learning for the remainder of Year 6 subject to ongoing review and assessment.

English

In English we have continued to study the novel Goodnight, Mister Tom. Many of the children have commented on how much they have enjoyed the novel and this is shown in the quality of their English work. The children have really been able to immerse themselves in the story and its characters. They have also enjoyed watching clips from the film as well as reading the book.

Year 6 have examined pieces of the text and annotated them to find key vocabulary and understand what they mean. They can then use what they have learnt in their own independent writing. We have studied the character of Mrs Beech (Williams mother) and created a role on the wall to illustrate the kind of person she was in the story. We have mapped William’s emotions throughout his journey using a graph. The children have really got to grips with character emotions and relate themselves to the characters in the story.

We have completed our Mock SAT papers for Reading, Spelling and Grammar and Punctuation.

Geography

Year 6 has begun a Geography enquiry which will continue next half term. How is climate Change affecting the world?’ We have been looking at the home and life of Elhaji in Banjul, Gambia, Africa and of Olivia in Australia and comparing these to our own lives in Burnley, United Kingdom. We have investigated how climate change might affect these people, their lives, and their homes. We have used our mapping skills to locate Starcross, a town near Exmouth, and speculated on what it might be like to live there, what sort of industries might be around and how people might travel to and from the town. We have used sources of information to analyse the impact of climate change on the different places and the reasons that climate change is happening.

Science

This half term we started to look at Living Things and Their Habitats. We have started with microorganisms or microbes for short which can only be seen through a microscope because they are so small. We are learning about bacteria, fungi and viruses and how they can be controlled using antibacterial products. We are currently experimenting with three slices of bread, one treated with soap, one treated with anti-bacterial had gel and one where every child in the class contaminated it with dirty hands (don’t worry we cleaned our hands afterwards)! Our investigation is to find out which product hand sanitiser or soap is most effective at killing the microorganisms on the bread.

PSHCE/Emotional Literacy

In PSHCE we have been Celebrating our Differences and in particular investigating how we can empathise with people who are different. We have discussed the meaning of “normal” and concluded that because all of us are so different in lots of different ways we are all “normal” in our own way and that is fine. We have investigated our own attitudes towards people who are different and where these attitudes have come from or developed. We have challenged attitudes positively and looked in particular at Robert Cowell and his life and transition to Roberta and how difficult this was for him in being born in London in 1918.

Maths

In Maths our focus on fractions has continued. We have revisited the methods used for adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying fractions. Converting fractions from improper to a mixed fraction, converting decimals to fractions and back again and simplifying fractions. We have focused again on arithmetic practice to further embed key skills. We have enjoyed bingo games to continue embedding our skills and as always, we are still developing our stamina and recall of times tables!

We have completed our first set of mock SAT papers, one for Arithmetic and two Reasoning papers.

PE

Year 6’s PE have been based around the tennis skills. Forearm, backhand shots and rallies are some of the skills and activities we have conducted. Rallies have been used so that children can apply these skills to a real-game situation. Additionally, sports characteristics like persistence, co-operation and teamwork have all been needed during this unit of learning.