Year 6

Autumn 1 – Could a polar bear survive in the Sahara?

Welcome back! We are very excited to be back in school with you all are are looking forward to a fabulous year ahead.

The Year 6 Team

We have a fabulous team here in Year 6. Mrs Remington Davidson teaches in Violet Class whilst Mr Pullen teaches in Lilac Class. Mrs Cowdrith covers PPA for both classes. We also have Mrs Dennis and Mr Geen, our wonderful TAs who works across both classes.

Autumn 1: Evolution

This half-term, we will be asking ourselves “Could a polar bear survive in the Sahara?” as part of our topic: Evolution! This topic has a heavy focus on science and geography as we will be learning about Charles Darwin’s 1831 voyage on the HMS Beagle – particularly his time on the Galapagos Islands! As part of this, we will develop our understanding of his theory of evolution as the process of animals becomming bettwe adapted to their environments. We will visit the Museum of Zoology to see real specimens, including Darwin’s finches, and examine first-hand evidence of adaptations from across the animal kingdom!

English

We will be creating our own atmospheric narratives within our writing this half-term, focusing on making use of suspense and figurative language to hook our readers in. We will be exploring a non-fiction text, The Wonder Garden, using it as a starting point to write or own pieces about the diverse wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, using a various tools to make our writing engaging and informative. Later in the half-term, we will be writing a biography of Charles Darwin’s life, organising paragraphs carefully and aiming to strike an authoritative tone usign relative clauses and the passive voice.

We will continue to read widely across the curriculum throughout the half-term and encourage the children to be reading daily and regularly updating their personal reading records. In addition to this, our Guided Reading sessions will focus on continuing to build up our fluency, accuracy and comprehension (reading for meaning).

Maths 

To begin with, our Maths units will explore how to solve a range of calculations using our knowledge of mathematical structures and known facts, including drawing on our Key Instant Recall Facts from Year 5. We will then move on to dealing with numbers up to 100,000 before moving on to 1,000,000 and then 10,000,000. Throughout our Maths lessons, we will tackle a variety of different activities, including investigations and problem-solving, and we will be continuing to refine our Times Table and mathematical fluency knowledge within our daily Maths fluency sessions.

PE

This half-term, our PE sessions will be on Monday (Violet) and Tuesdays (Lilac) (Indoor) and Friday (Both classes, outdoor). On a Tuesday, children will need to bring in a PE kit to change in to and on Thursdays, they will need to come in wearing their PE kit and bring a change of clothes to change in to afterwards.

During our PE lessons, we will be completing a Dance unit in Indoor PE, focusing on developing skills of unison, mirroring, action/reaction and repetition through expressing the different stages of a football match. In Outdoor PE, we will be learning about the skills and tactics involved in Tag Rugby. They will have the opportunity to build on their knowledge of ball games from previous years to apply skills and techniques, such as passing and kicking, into both small and large game situations.

Homework

Homework will be set on a Friday afternoon in Year 6. Instructions will be posted on Google Classroom and tasks will often include a Maths and English task on SATs Companion as well as Spelling, Handwriting or Maths Fluency. In addition, we encourage children to be reading daily, sharing these experiences with those at home wherever possible.

Important Dates 

Wednesday 23rd October – Trip to the Museum of Zoology (packed lunch needed). PROVISIONAL

Saturday 31st October – Deadline for Secondary School Applications (apply on the county council website)

Monday 16th November – Young Shakespeare Company visit (into school)

Useful Links

Y6 Curriculum Descriptors Aut1 26

Year 6 Maths – End of Year Expectations

Year 6 Writing – End of Year Expectations

Year 6 Reading – End of Year Expectations