Year 6 2024 - 2025

Hello and welcome to our Year 6 class page! This page will provide you with the information you need about what your child is currently learning in school. 

My name is Miss Moore, and I will be your child’s teacher this year; we will also have key adults in class and around school to help us along on our Year 6 journey.  

Topic

Our topics for Spring term are "Who were the Maya?" and  'What's it like in South America?'. We will be building our geographical skills, such as recognising the difference between physical and human geography as well as using Google Earth to explore Maya settlements and South American countries. We will also be enriching our curriculum with carefully planned experiences during Forest School. We are very much looking forward to exploring this topic together in a cross-curricular manner, including:

• listening to and dancing to South American music
• learning about the impact that South American islands have had on our understanding of evolution
• designing, making and evaluating Maya death masks

English

In English, we will be using three main texts to enhance the features of our writing, and they are: 'The Selfish Giant', 'Jemmy Button' and 'Island'. We will also use a variety of videos, pieces of music and images to enrich our writing and reading, particularly in the build-up to our SATs in May. 

The features of writing that we will mostly focus on are: 

• Using a variety of verb forms correctly and consistently, including the progressive (was/were running, am/are running) and the present perfect forms (has/have lived, has/have seen)
• Using organisational and presentational devices to structure text
• Using semi-colons and colons to mark boundaries between independent clauses
• Continue using a wider range of cohesive devices (fronted adverbials, correct punctuation, variety of fronted adverbials)

Maths

During Spring term, we will begin by revisiting our Autumn work on fractions before linking them with decimals and percentages.  Once we are secure with this skill, we will move on to develop our understanding of algebra and ratio. These topics require a solid knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, so continuing to work on TTRockstars at home will certainly help. The pace of working in Year 6 can be fast at times, but rest assured we will regularly check the understanding of each topic with assessments and give guidance and support to any child who is struggling with gaps in their knowledge.

Religious Education

In RE this term, we will start the term by 'Exploring the Mass' and using Jesus' miracles to aid our understanding of how much Jesus loves and cares for us, both physically and spiritually. We will then move onto the topic of 'Jesus, the Messiah', a topic that also covers the importance of Holy Week. Throughout these topics, we will learn the meaning of key words such as covenant, transubstantiation and transfiguration as well as taking part in cross-curricular activities like making hot cross buns and creating meaningful artwork inspired by Jesus' miracles. 

Homework

At home, there are many different ways in which you can support your child with their learning this year. Each week, we will use Atom Learning for our homework, just as the children used in Year 5. There are also the Spelling Shed and Times Table Rockstars apps that the children are warmly invited to use as regularly as possible.

Children should also continue to read every night and to have their reading logged in their reading record each time.  It is imperative that pupils read aloud regardless of their book band level.  From time to time, you may find a note in your child's planner from either myself or a member of support staff if there is a particular area of need where your child may require some more work. Planners will also note when your child has read in school with an adult.

All parents and carers are asked to sign page 4 in your child's planner which sets out our homework expectations for the year.

Children will have weekly spellings which are pertinent to their spelling needs and these will be written in their planners every Friday.  Children will have a week of learning their spellings in school and at home before a spelling assessment the following Friday.

PE Days

Thursday afternoon: Basketball

Friday morning: Yoga

Please make sure that your child comes to school with the correct equipment on these days.

Forest School

12th September - World War II focus

7th November - Remembrance Day focus

16th January - The Maya focus

6th March - World Book Day focus

22nd May - First Aid focus

Please ensure that your child comes to school on these days dressed accordingly to the weather forecast in old clothes which you don’t mind getting dirty.  During the winter months, it will be imperative that the children are wrapped up with multiple layers.

Open invitation

I am always open to discussions about how best to support and guide the children, and I welcome you to the door or to make an appointment to speak with me whenever you feel is necessary so that we can best help the wonderful children in our class.