Welcome to Year 6.
Our Teachers are Mrs Collins and Mrs Aitbenmoussa and our Teaching Assistants are Mrs Rimstad and Mrs Cheruvarthur.
Dec 062024
Percentages, Planning, Prepositions (and chocolate!)
We are really enjoying our new art project this term. We have chosen an animal, linked to South America and used a technique to upscale and make it bigger. We will back it onto cardboard, collage it and eventually hope to make it stand up!
We have had a successful week in maths, revisiting percentages and extending our knowledge to real life challenging problems. Next week we will focus on the property of shape in maths and finally write our stories about Day of the Dead.
The stand out lesson of the week had to be the topic lesson on chocolate. Mayans were the first people to discover the precious cacao beans and they believed they were a gift from the gods. They would dry, grind, and mix the beans with water and chilli to create a drink and even used them as currency to trade. The children had the opportunity to touch, smell and taste cocoa nibs, cocoa butter and then four different types of chocolate of varying from 90% dark chocolate to extra creamy and then a final chocolate where they had to identify the missing ingredient!
Homework:
Topic – Tribe Leader letter
Grammar Quiz
Maths – Percentages questions
Spelling – 10 sentences
Reading x 3
Have a lovely weekend.
The Year 6 Team
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Nov 292024
Description, Dialogue and Decimals
In English, we started the week practising the skill of ‘Show, don’t tell’ to describe the feelings of a character. We continued on with a focus on the variety of punctuation needed when writing speech and ended the week by writing an extract of a story with a balance of both dialogue and description. This will all come in handy when we write our stories in the coming weeks. Next week, we will begin to plan our stories by creating characters and settings.
In maths this week, we have worked on equivalence. Recognising the common fraction, decimal and percentage equivalents such as 1/2 , ¼, ¾ and practising methods for working out other more challenging amounts. Next week, we will revise percentages and multiplication.
We have managed to start work on a piece of work all about the biomes of South America. Linking with the fascinating research that the children presented for their homework, we have started looking at diverse range of biomes that span this incredible continent.
Homework:
Maths Quiz
Spelling – sentences x 10
Reading x 3
Enjoy the Christmas Fair and have a great weekend.
The Year 6 Team
Nov 222024
Fun with Fractions and Festivals
Firstly we would like to start by congratulating the children in both Year 6 classes for their fantastic sharing assemblies. Lovely loud voices, lots of lines learnt off by heart and some top notch acting. Well done!
In English this week, we read the book The Dead Family Diaz – a beautifully illustrated story based around the festival of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). We enjoying learning about this joyful celebration which honours the spirits of the deceased. We learned some of the Spanish words for the objects which form an integral part in preparation for writing a story in the coming weeks.
In maths, we have spent the week learning to add and subtract fractions using both the common denominator method as well as the butterfly method. We have extended our knowledge to add and subtract mixed numbers. We put all this to practise at the end of the week with an arithmetic quiz.
Thank you for the generous chocolate donations so far. Please keep them coming to raise money for the end of Year 6 celebrations.
Homework:
Topic – Slides about 2 South American countries (Due 27.11.24)
Maths – Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Spelling x 10 sentences
Reading x 3
Have a great weekend,
The Year 6 Team
Nov 152024
Poems, PSHE and Performing
This week in English we have been working hard on our Macavity inspired poems. The children have really enjoyed it this week and we have been overwhelmed with the number of children wanting to perform in the class. We have focused on using poetic devices such as: alliteration, onomatopoeia, repetition imagery, metaphors and similes and discussing the use of rhythm and rhyme.
We have spent lots of time on fractions this week in maths. Using our knowledge of multiples, we have found common denominators and ordered fractions from smallest to largest. Leading on from this, we have been looking at fraction / decimal equivalence and how to work it out. Next week, we will move on to addition and subtraction of fractions.
Our afternoons have been mostly spent script writing, prop making with some topic, PSHE and RE in the mix. Magenta will catch up next week when Amethyst rehearse for their performance on Friday 22nd November.
Homework:
Topic: South America Slides (Due 27.11.24)
Maths – Google classroom
Spelling – x 10 sentences
Reading x 3
Have a lovely weekend
The Year 6 Team
Nov 082024
Macavity, Maths & Mayans
It was lovely to see everyone back after the well-deserved break at half term. This week in English, we have thoroughly enjoyed reading the classic T.S Elliot poem: Macavity. This cunning feline, a notorious criminal, manages to evade the authorities whilst carrying out acts of treachery. Next week, we will be using Macavity to inspire our own poems in the style of T.S. Eliot.
In maths, we have started a 4-week unit on fractions. So far, we have looked at simplifying fractions and also finding a common denominator, both of which we will use regularly in our arithmetic practices.
Both classes have been working hard to prepare their Mayan sharing assemblies. Amethyst class have written their scripts and will begin rehearsing next week. Magenta are a week ahead and have made their props, learnt their lines and look forward to welcoming you on Friday 15th in the theatre.
Homework:
Maths – Google classroom
Spelling – x 10 sentences
Reading x 3
Have a lovely weekend
The Year 6 Team
Oct 252024
Cycling, SPAG & Scary Sums!
The children have had a lovely time out on the roads of St Albans as part of Bikeability week. Badges and certificates will be awarded after half term. Everyone else has taken part in a variety of maths and literacy tasks – carousel style. Lots of child-led learning!
The Halloween disco was a big success and we ended the week with a non-school uniform day and crazy hair! Time for a rest!
Have a great half term and remember there is an INSET day on Monday. See you all on Tuesday 5th November.
Homework
RE – Buddhism poster
Spellings – 10 sentences and learn for a test
Reading – Read x6
The Year 6 Team
Spellings:
accommodate
accompany
according
achieve
aggressive
amateur
ancient
apparent
appreciate
attached
available
average
awkward
bargain
bruise
category
cemetery
committee
communicate
community
Oct 182024
Potential Hazards & Prime Numbers
It’s been yet another busy week here in Year 6. We have completed our information leaflets about harmful substances – be prepared to be lectured about the potential hazards of those (well-deserved) glasses of wine! The leaflets are really creative in terms of layout and the children have included a variety of sentence structures and punctuation.
In maths, we have been revising mathematical vocabulary and different concepts such as prime numbers. We did notice that there is some confusion between factors and multiples and so we spent time looking at the those in different ways.
In Science, we have moved on from the circulatory system to the digestive system. We followed the journey of Amy the sweetcorn through the system and then discussed the key organs and their functions.
Lots of children are extremely excited about Bikeability next week. Please remember that children need to come into school in their uniforms, with a change of clothes for cycling.
Friday 24th October is non-uniform day and Crazy Hair Day – remember not to go too crazy if you need to put a helmet on!
Homework:
Maths mat – on paper
Spellings – x10 sentences
Reading – x3
Have a great weekend.
The Year 6 Team
Oct 112024
Hearts and Harmful Substances
Well we could write about all the work we have done in English this week. Writing sentences using modal verbs, a variety of subordinating conjunctions and some excellent synonyms, however what most people want to see is the science lesson!
In Science, following on from our work on the circulatory system, linking with our core text of Pig Heart Boy, we dissected lamb hearts. It was a fascinating lesson, with most children keen to explore and understand more about this incredible organ. The children followed instructions to dissect the heart and identify the different atria and ventricles and some even spotted the chordae tendineae – more commonly known as the heart strings. Please enjoy some of the photos below.
In maths this week, we have been practising some problem solving. Starting firstly with problems which involve starting at the end and working backwards, using the inverse to solve. Although a little tricky to start, we managed to get the hang of it. We also worked on sudoku and then tried applying some of the techniques to some SATs word problems.
In Music, we have been learning about the blues and from next week we will be starting to play Jonny be Good on the ukelele.
Homework:
Spelling x 10 sentences
Grammar quiz – Google classroom
Maths – Google classroom
Reading x 3
Have a great weekend
The Year 6 Team
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Oct 042024
All About Blood
As you’ve probably heard, we dipped our toe in the SATs pool this week, completing a set of past papers. We have started early in order to identify particular areas of focus for the coming months. We find that it is also a way to prepare the children for May so they have a good idea of what it will be like. Now that those are out of the way, we will be back to our usual lessons and are looking forward to starting our leaflets next week, which will focus on substances that can be harmful to the body.
In science, we looked at the different components of blood. By using different items to represent each component, the children ‘made’ blood. We used yellow water to represent the plasma, cheerios and red food colouring as the red blood cells; marshmallows for the white blood cells and cotton wool to represent platelets. The children also discussed the role that each component plays. Please see the photos below:
This week, we have only given the children a little bit of homework as a reward for this weeks tests.
Reading x 3
Spelling x 10 sentences
Times Table Rockstars – 30 minutes.
Have a great weekend
The Year 6 Team
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Sep 272024
Crucial Crew and Coding – with some Lego added in
What a busy week we’ve had in year 6!
We started the week in English by writing from Cameron’s parents’ perspectives and recapping some of the key parts of the book Pig Heart Boy. Lots of the children really got the hang of seeing something from another point of view and enjoyed writing in character.
In maths, we have focused on multiplication and division, going back over the formal written method and the lattice method, deciding which ones work best for individuals. Next week, we will be having our first go at some past SATs papers to identify areas of particular focus.
On Thursday, we all hopped on the coach to the fire station to take part in the Crucial Crew workshop. There were nine different scenarios set up around a variety of hazards and risky situations that children may face, as they become more independent. They had discussions and talked about making decisions around safety and responsibility as well as possible consequences of making the wrong decisions. All the children were engaged and actively participated as you can see from the images below.
We couldn’t think of a better way to end the week than with a Lego Coding workshop. Mr Bushell arranged for a session with Beyond Bricks – a company that runs creative sessions and clubs using LEGO bricks to inspire people to learn Programming, Engineering and Design. The sessions gave all the children the opportunity to build and programme robots as intruder alarms and earthquake detection technology. It was brilliant!
Homework:
Mayan masks are due on Wednesday 2nd October
Maths quiz
Spellings – 10 sentences and practice
Reading x 3
Have a great weekend.
The Year 6 Team
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