English
This half term and next half term we are reading Suffragette: The Battle for Equality. The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history of women and what life was like pre-suffragette. We have been improving our note taking skills using bullet points, mind maps or ‘a claw diagram.’ This has really improved our reading skills as well and being effective in our skimming and scanning of information. We have created some fantastic pieces of writing, including an explanation, a speech and a letter. As we fast approaching the end of year 6, the children are starting to use collaborative feedback to edit and improve their writing to ensure it is at its best before we publish it into our presentation books.
Maths
We have been developing skills in our understanding of algebra as well as further embedding our arithemtic skills. We have been identifying patterns and realising that we have been doing algebra throughout school, its just got a ‘fancy name now!’ The children are continuing to practise their times tables especially the speed in which they can recall key questions.
History
In History our enquiry has been ‘How have Medical Breakthroughs of the past 250 years affected the lives of people in Britain?’ We have learnt about the horrible disease Small Pox and how this affected thousands of people in the 1800’s and onwards. This disease was spread by touch or through coughing or sneezing and was highly infectious. Symptoms of the diseases would be sores on the skin, fever, fatigue, abdominal pain, coughing and death. Hundreds of thousand of people in the UK (and other countries) died. Edward Jenna discovered a link between smallpox and cowpox and having experimented upon a gardeners son he developed a vaccine which was the start of eradicating this disease eventually.
In Art Year 6 have been looking at the famous artist David Hackney and in particular his painting of “My Parents”. They have identified the different shades and colours used in his painting and how these are expressing the meaning of “Life is colourful”. Each of the colours in his painting has a meaning for instance the green in the painting represents “calmness”. The children have also discovered that items within the painting also have a meaning such as the mirror which represents “introspection – thinking about ones self”. We have then created our own versions of David Hackney’s art and here are some photographs to show you, our work.
Science
Year 6 have been investigating Animals Including Humans. They have studied the heart and how this functions, the different parts of the heart and what they do. How blood circulates oxygen and waste materials around the body through the Veins and Arteries. For British Science Week they completed an experiment on “How To Make Water Wetter”, this involved 100ml of water in a beaker, they sprinkled the surface with a little glitter, then put a single drop of washing up liquid into the top. The reaction was amazing, all the glitter moved swiftly to the side of the beaker! Why did this happen? How does this make water wetter. Please ask your children to see if they remember!
Music
The BFG’s have been appraising music this half term vis the music website Charanga. Each session we listened to a piece of music and then described the key features in the music. We listened to the tempo, metre, instrumentation and melody.
We listened to hear whether the tempo was fast, slow or moderate. We picked out any instruments we could hear to try and name them. We have been trying to identify whether the time signature is 4/4, or ¾ plus identified the tonality whether it was major or minor.
We have looked at which style the music was -classical, pop, jazz or blues.
RE
Theme: Easter
Religion: Christianity
Concept: Salvation
Key question for this enquiry: Is Christianity still a strong religion 2000 years after Jesus was on earth?
Learning Objectives: We are learning to examine the influences Christianity still has in the world and to evaluate whether it is still a strong religion.
The BFG’s began this R.E. topic by having a class discussion about influential people in our lives and famous influential people throughout history. We then researched Christian festivals and looked at what symbols/objects we associate with each festival.
Then we looked at Christian charities, asking the question ‘Is it doing this work in response to Jesus’ teaching to ‘Love your neighbour’? (Mark 12:28-31)
We looked at where in British society do you see the influence of Christianity and Christian buildings- how some are no longer used as a church.
This all led to us planning and having a class debate/ a balanced argument based on our enquiry question
Spanish
This half term the BFG’s have looked at the story Little Red Riding Hood in Spanish. Through the Language Angels website we have learnt how to say the parts of the body in Spanish and enjoyed singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Spanish too.
Trout Release
On Tuesday the 28th of March we released our baby trout into the river at Townley Park. The children have done really well looking after them and making sure that the tank is clean and that they are fed. We estimate that we released more than 60 brown trout back into the river. The children spent the whole day investigating the river, studying the health and cleanliness of the river, and completing a trail around the woods.
Residential to Dobroyd Castle
Just before the February half term holiday, Year 6 went on their weekend residential to Robinwood at Dobroyd Castle. It was an incredible weekend that the children thoroughly enjoyed and the confidence and self-esteem of the children sky-rocketed! We took part in 14 activities over the weekend including Piranha Pool, Canoeing, Ziplining, Caving and so much more! Check out our Facebook page for hundreds of photos captured over the weekend.