We are rapidly approaching the business end of the year which is especially impactful in Year Six. As you well know, your children have recently found out where they will be attending secondary schools and it has become very real for us all in school as I am sure it has at home. You can take comfort in the fact your children are handling everything in school with a great deal of maturity and the staff will be behind them every step of the way to ensure their readiness for secondary school.
The Curriculum
English
We are following the trials and tribulations of Stanley Yelnats as he attempts to survive at Camp Green Lake in our text: ‘Holes’. Our reading and writing lessons have been based around the book as we attempt to understand the different perspectives of the characters, understand the authors language choice, and write for a range of purposes. Alongside this, we will of course be preparing your children for SATs week to ensure they enter that week full of confidence and without a worry.
Maths
We have based a lot of our Maths around fractions and how we can manipulate them. This of course has leant itself to problems involving mixed-number and improper factions, as well as their relationship to decimals and percentages. We have a problem-solving focus this term in the lead up to SATs week and will spend plenty of time analysing problems with your children.
Science
In Science, we are learning how light travels, how we see, and how different materials affect light. We will of course challenge our scientific thinking by exploring shadows and will investigate how different size shadows are formed, and how we can manipulate light via the angle of incidence and reflection.
Geography
Linking to our English topic, we have been studying Texas and its similarities and differences to where we live. By using Google Maps, Google Earth, and Atlases, we have been able to garner an understanding of Texas and its many differing climates and environments.
History
We have spent a lot of time this year studying some of the conflicts that took place throughout the 20th Century and the ones that continue to this day. We also studied the role of horses and their importance in World War One – were the heroes or were they victims?
Religious Education
Having finished a unit on ‘Peace’ and what it means to be at peace in both a religious and non-religious context, we have started to look at the idea of ‘Resurrection’ and what it means to different groups of people, including those with no religious beliefs. This has been introduced to the children through Aslan’s resurrection in ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’.
Music
We are spending the spring term studying the rhythmic patterns of Calypso music. Thus far, we have studied the origins, listened to many examples, and even had a go at playing some of our own.
Art
We have spent the early part of the term completing our collages in the style of Lobo, a Brazilian pop-artist. We focused on the bold, vibrant colours, and the silhouetted landmarks which are trademarks of his.
Computing
Having recently completed our ‘Film Making’ topic, whereby the children filmed an interview in the desert, we will start to look at varying procedures and coding within online games over the next few weeks.
Spanish
In Spanish, we are continuing to study the clothes that we wear and how we can move from individual words into coherent sentences. Over the next few weeks, we will begin adding description to our item choices, using our ever-growing Spanish vocabulary.
Physical Education
This half-term, we are studying tennis in our outdoor sessions and are introducing the children to Kurling in our indoor PE slot. Both of these sports come with their own scoring system and set of skills that the children will become familiar with.
