Y6 New of the Week – 10.3.23

A jam-packed week of learning has taken place in Y6, 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 used practical activities to learn all about the area of different shapes and how to calculate it accurately. Using paper shapes really helped us to understand this concept before taking on any written problems. We used squares, rectangles, parallelograms and triangles when solving area problems. We began by investigating each shape independently and then compared them to the area of a rectangle which we know is length x width. We then used this knowledge to find the formulae for different shapes. We were also introduced to the term perpendicular line and perpendicular height. This helped us to find the base of a triangle and the height of a triangle. We also used right angles to help when calculating the area of some triangles. We ended our week by completing our first SATs arithmetic paper and enjoyed our Friday time on TT Rock Stars and Daily 10. Well done Y6 you are all stars.

In English this week we began by performing my model text in a dance battle. Great fun. We then went on to box up my model text and create a useful toolkit. We continued by finding out facts about Charles Darwin. We were helped by our knowledge from our Steps to Read lessons. We combined these facts into paragraphs and then went on to think about suitable headings. We finished our week off by beginning the first two paragraphs of our shared write. We will continue with this next week.

I have spent this week in Book Club listening to all my Y6 children read their Big Cat reading books. Great job. I am asking children to read aloud as often as possible as this skill supports their comprehension and development of their English.

In Spellings this week we have completed our first focus on the "sh" sound. Our sessions have used ti and ci as the spelling pattern to support our learning.

We have visited the My Happy Minds website continuing to think about relationships.

Our afternoons have been filled with many different subject areas. I can't believe how much learning we are able to pack in. You are amazing Y6.

In Science this week we moved our learning onto understanding the heart. What does it look like and what makes up the heart. We began by putting a jigsaw together to see the heart as a whole. After watching a short video we labelled all the key parts. We know about arteries, veins, chambers and valves. We used pictures of a real heart to create our own playdough model. We then thought about what makes a healthy heart and how we can look after it. We are now ready for our dissection lesson on Monday during Science Week.

Our Geography lesson focused on our planet and how it is changing. We were introduced to different events of 2019 by David Attenborough and compared them to our previous notes from 2009. We then visited WWF to find out the causes and effects of global warming. We will continue with our investigation next week.

Our new unit in RE began this week as we were introduced to our big question "How does a belief in reincarnation affect a Hindu's life?" We then discussed the important events of our life and what we thought a human timeline would contain. We recorded the key events and will continue with our discussions next week.

We have taken part in two PE lessons this week.

Our music lesson was amazing this week! Not only were we loads better when playing the March of the Golden Guards on our glockenspiels, we completed and played our own composition pieces straight after. We used notes C, D and E to create our own masterpieces! Well done to all of you Year 6!

We began a new DT unit this week on construction involving structures. We considered two questions about stability and strength. We then looked at Iron Bridge and thought about its strength. We found out that it was the first bridge made from iron in the world and it still stands today. We ventured out of the classroom to look at structures and how they had been strengthened. With this knowledge, we created prototypes using art straws. Our challenge was to think about all the ways we could join two art straws together. We even tried to avoid using glue and tape. We will continue with our project next week.

Our PSHE lesson focused on similarities and differences. We thought about all the ways were could categorise ourselves and how we could celebrate our differences. Our bible quote this week is, "Even more than all this, clothe yourself in love. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14

Our daily mile track time was shared with our buddies and we then ended our week with Jacob's song choice. We have all chosen a song that makes us feel great. Yours Jacob definitely made us fabulous..

Have a wonderful weekend.

Your teacher.
Mrs B.