Y6 News of the Week – 17.3.23

Busy, busy, busy! We have covered so many areas of learning and you have smashed them all. Well done Year 6. Your dedication is impressive.

In Maths this week we completed our measures unit by tackling volume. We know how to calculate unknown values and which formula can help us. We completed an end of unit assessment and then began our algebra unit. Understanding how variables change and which constants remain the same has taken our full focus and we are now getting there. We have used algebraic equations to work out the values of letters and thought about keeping the equations balanced. We will continue with this area next week. We have enjoyed our Daily 10 arithmetic and time on TT Rock Stars. We finished our week off by challenging ourselves to complete an end of term arithmetic paper. I am so proud of you all and the determination you show.

We completed our shared write this week in English and ensured we edited it in full. We then thought about our hot write biographies. We used facts about Mo Farrah to apply our class targets and followed my model text on Usain Bolt. I am so pleased with all your writing and how well you take on all my teaching points. Brill job Year 6.

In Book Club this week we have begun to consider the setting and characters in the book called Explorer. We have considered rich vocabulary and used our inference skills to answer our anchor questions. I am so impressed with your detailed answers.

Science Week has been upon us this week and we have challenged ourselves in a way we haven't experienced before. High Impact created a memorable workshop to further our learning of the heart. We had the chance to explore this organ in a hands on workshop, working with a lambs heart. We located all arteries and veins before opening the heart to find the valves. We located different chambers and looked at the heart walls. We presented our workshop to the rest of school and some of us have entered the Science Week competition. What a session! I am so proud of all of my Year 6 children as you persevered, even when you found it tricky.

In Geography this week we thought about minerals and if they will last forever. We began by playing a game called: animal, vegetable or mineral. We then went on to watch a short video to get us thinking about minerals. We located different countries in our atlases and then went on to use a world map to see which country produces the most minerals. We were surprised by Africa as they produce a lot of minerals, but have some of the poorest countries in the world. We will continue with this unit next week.

We continued our world religion focus this week in RE as we learnt more about the Hindu faith. We thought about the words: reincarnation, resurrection, soul, moksha, karma and came up with our own definitions. We then went on to watch a video extract from My Life My Religion, 'The cycle of life and death'. We identified what Hindus believe about an afterlife and then created a short life cycle to explain our findings.

We have enjoyed two PE lessons.

Well, we had a surprise in our music lesson this week! We are going to learn how to beat box. This is such a skill. Having watched the Beat Box Collective, we realised how amazing beat boxing can be. We followed the call and response method and loved it! We started off saying the words – boots and cats. Our pace increased to create sounds. Lastly, we tried to recreate the sounds used in the Beat Boxing video of getting ready in the morning. We chose an alarm clock, a yawn, a dripping tap and turning the gas on a cooker on.

How do you say? This was the next part of our French unit. We had a set of words written in French, and we used a French Dictionary to translate these words to English.

We enjoyed our second structures lesson in DT this week. We began by evaluating our art straw joins from last week. Were they effective and were they strong. We then went on to look at all the DT equipment we would be using and discussed our safety rules and we all stuck to them. We practised sawing lengths of wood with a partner. We needed to measure to ensure we had four lengths which we used to construct a square frame. We then thought about methods for joining sections of our wood and then how triangles of card could be used to create gussets to reinforce them. We will visit our next lesson soon.

Our PSHE lesson encouraged us to think about being a good listener to each other. We played a round robin game to think of all the things a good listener does. Wow what a list Year 6. The wise listen to others. Proverbs 12:15

It seems strange to be talking about our next visit when we haven't yet been to Edale. I just wanted to be sure to secure our booking and not lose out, so I have now booked GoApe for our end of year treat. I know Mrs Lawlor has sent out some details and has also set up ParentPay. I will be in touch with further details in due course.

We ended our week by taking part in Comic Relief. Our class photo is another one for the album.

My children are getting very excited by the upcoming residential to Edale and so am I. Just a few more sleeps and we will be there. I am going to get my sleeping in now just in case!! Have a wonderful weekend.

Your teacher.
Mrs B.