Y6 News of the Week – 21.5.21

A jam-packed week of learning has taken place in Y6. With just one more week to go before we reach the end of this term, we haven't had a moment to spare! I am so proud of each and every one of you.

In Maths this week we have worked our way through our measurements unit. Using our conversion knowledge and stem sentences we have calculated different metric units. Knowing that powers of 10, 100 and 1000 are useful facts when working with metric units has helped us to convert with success. We have used this knowledge to play different games as a class too. We then moved our learning on to imperial measures. Different conversion tables helped us to work between imperial units. We also got to grips with a conversion graph. Our final thoughts were described in our reflection. Which do you prefer to convert Y6, metric or imperial? I think I can safely say that metric conversions were the overwhelming choice. We will move on to a new unit next week. We ended our week with a burst on TT Rock Stars and then completed a past arithmetic paper. Brilliant work Y6. We also congratulated ourselves as the highest performing class in our latest NSPCC TT Rock Stars Battle and we celebrated our ost valuable and most improved players.

In our fist lesson in English this week we edited our well-written persuasive pieces using our marking symbols. Splicing sentences is our focus in Y6 at the moment, and we are spotting our errors now with ease. On Tuesday, we began a new unit – Poetry. We have begun to learn my model poem, The Cave of Curiosity, using pictures and actions. We have collected different types of nouns and used these to produce a poem through a short burst write. Abstract nouns have been used to bring our poems alive. We have also focused on collective nouns. My favourite is definitely a shiver of sharks! We will continue with this unit next week. We have managed to complete a handwriting lesson using Y6 misconception words and a spelling lesson on silent letters too.

Our Book Club lessons have focused on comprehension skills this week. We have used different parts of a non-fiction book called DK Eyewitness World War 11. We began by matching different key vocabulary to their meanings and then went on to discuss the anchor question – How did the lives of children change during the war? Using different images to investigate our answers, we scanned and skimmed to look for clues. Our reading was put to the test as we crafted our answers to four different questions. We have also enjoyed listening to our class story, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.

In History this week we looked at different jobs and considered this question, who do you think did these jobs during WW2 and why? We began with an open discussion which included thinking about the types of jobs women did pre-war during the 1930's. WW2 meant new jobs for women, and we wondered how they were encouraged to do these jobs. We looked carefully at different propaganda posters and the wording used within them. To understand the changes in jobs for women, we were all hired during WW2 to work in the men's world of work. We received an envelope with a job offer and we were hired. Using iPads, we researched our positions finding out as much information on them as we could. We have even found an hour in our extremely busy week to complete a History page in our study work books.

Our Computing session this week enabled us to click on to our coding programme – Code Studio. We used our lesson this week to work with the Hour of Code units. Using blocks, we enjoyed different adventures. Our favourite one was the Minecraft activity. We solved algorithms to activate characters and complete missions.

Science was on our minds in RE this week as we discussed what the science says about creation. We used two video links to understand this complicated explanation and found out that cosmologists believe the world was created 13.7 billion years ago. We jotted down different facts about the Big Bang Theory and added it to our class mind map. We will discuss this further next week.

Our Science lesson this week focused on our circulatory system. We learnt that humans have a double circulatory system, which means that the heart pumps blood to the lungs and back to get rid of CO2 and to pick up O2 before pumping the oxygenated blood around the body. Alfie came up with a brilliant idea of seeing the circulatory system as a train track. We called in at all the stations to understand how blood is carried around the body and back to the heart and then out of the heart and into the lungs. The train called at different stations to drop off nutrients, water and oxygen. We then used an image of the circulatory system to create one of our own. This will be published in our study work books. Next week we will create a roll play scenario using lollipop people to understand the circulatory further.

We began our DT lesson this week by evaluating our skills from last week. How did we find our sewing and what were we hoping to improve on this week? We then continued to practise our chosen stitches. We can now use the threaders with confidence, and we have worked hard to master our challenge stitches. When ready, we moved on to our material swatches. This was much trickier as there were no pre-made holes to follow. I thoroughly enjoyed watching you support each other and seeing what a difference a week nmakes. I know some of you are hoping to practise at home too. We are now ready to begin making our 3d poppy.

We consolidated our understanding of yesterday, today and tomorrow in our French lesson this week. We used different dates and days of the week to support our learning. We are now ready to move onto our next unit.

Our tennis skills are coming along brilliantly in PE and this week we continued to practise our backhand. We are trying to remember the V grip and the starting position. We used our coned areas to concentrate on our rallies and we worked with our partners to trap the ball, bounce the ball, and strike our shots. Next week will be our final tennis lesson. I am hoping to run an after-school tennis club next half term for Y6.

Our PHSE lesson was taught by Miss Holland this week. It was titled Tying the Knot. This week in our HeartSmart lesson we discussed how marriage is a lifelong commitment of two people to each other. We created a list of what commitment means to us. Love, honesty, trust and dedication were just a few of our thoughts. We then played the 'Tie the Knot' game. In groups, we had to stand in a circle linking our arms with the person opposite and the aim was to untangle ourselves. We stuck with it – showing our commitment to the task – just as people intend to do when they marry

Next week will be a little different for Y6.
Monday – Our usual PE day, so PE kits as usual.
Tuesday – WW2 iMovie making, so please come dressed in your presenting clothes or own clothes if you are the film crew. Children know what they need and nothing needs to be purchased.
Wednesday – Our usual PE day, so PE kits as usual.
Thursday – own clothes day. I have booked Roberts Bakery to visit Y6, so if you have an apron, please bring one along. We will enjoy making bread in the morning.
Friday – Inset day.
Date for next term – Tuesday 15th June 2021 is our WW2 Y6 Theme Day. Details to follow shortly.

Please note that we are celebrating a high percentage of homework being completed in Y6 and therefore we are enjoying a homework free week. I am so proud of you all and how you regularly complete the homework I set. You are stars.
Have a fabulous weekend.
Your teacher.
Mrs. B.