Year 6
What we are learning this week:
Autumn 2, Week 5
Maths: This week, the children have continued with their learning about statistics and how to interpret data (line graphs and pie charts). The children had great fun getting creative with presenting their calculations onto their tables which increased their engagement! They also recapped on prior learning of how to read Roman Numerals.
At home: Ask the children to explore different examples of Roman Numerals in the real world e.g. in the credits of a television programme or on clocks! Alternatively, the children could create a pie chart of their own, asking people around them what their favourite flavour of crisps are.
English: The children have begun a new writing unit where they will be learning to write a newspaper report. In particular, they have been learning how to use direct and indirect speech and how to accurately punctuate speech.
At home: The children could practise their learning by planning a newspaper report of their own based on an event that happened at the weekend (fiction or non-fiction). The children could think about interviewing key witnesses and how they might present the speech.
Young Enterprise: In preparation for the forthcoming Balfour Christmas Fair, the children have planned some activities for a stall and each Year 6 class are in competition which each other to see which class can raise the most profit from £30. The stalls are being completely organised and run by the Year 6 children.
At home: Please support your child in this event where possible.
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables – suggested time 10 minutes daily. The children should continue to engage with daily reading to improve their vocabulary and fluency. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Previous Weeks' Learning
Autumn 2, Week 4
Maths: This week, the children have been learning how to calculate the mean of a set of data. They have been learning how to calculate the mean when all the parts are known and how to solve word problems when the one element is missing.
At home: Ask the children to tell you how to solve the following:
- 20 minutes is the mean time when 4 girls ran the Cross Country race. Elena ran in 17, Belinda ran in 16, Diane ran in 19. How long did it take Christine to run the race?
English: Following on from our immersion into Shakespeare’s Macbeth, this week the children have been writing an informal letter in role as, either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth to their respective spouse.
At home: The children could write a reply to their own letter from either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth thinking about using language that shows the writer’s character.
Science: This week the children have continued to look at classification and how taxonomists categorise living things and the children became the ‘owner of a zoo’ in which they were tasked with organising the zoo by order of classification.
At home: The children could create a poster of animal classification for their science books to demonstrate their learning.
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables – suggested time 10 minutes daily. The children should continue to engage with daily reading to improve their vocabulary and fluency. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Autumn 2, Week 3
Maths: This week, the children have been learning about order of operations and exploring what happens when we mix up our order. They have learnt how they can use the order of operations pyramid to support them.
At home: Ask the children to draw the pyramid at home to see what they can recall about their learning this week.
English: The children have continued reading William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and written the next part of the story where the witches meet with Macbeth and Banquo up on the heath. The children have used their figurative language to describe the scene.
At home: Next week, the children will be writing a letter from Macbeth to Lady Macbeth in which he shares his news of the prophecy. Can you share any letters with your children so that they can explore for themselves the key features of informal letters.
PSHE: As part of Anti-bullying week, the children have discussed as a class what bullying is and how they switch from a bystander to an upstander safely.
At home: The children could create an anti-bullying poster that we could display at school to remind children about being kind to each other.
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables – suggested time 10 minutes daily. The children should continue to engage with daily reading to improve their vocabulary and fluency. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Autumn 2, Week 2
Maths: This week, the children have been exploring multiples, factors, prime numbers and squared numbers. The children have learnt that they can multiply the prime factors of a number together in any order to create the original product.
At home: Ask the children to find as many different ways to create a prime factor tree from the same number.
English: The children have continued to explore William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. They have begun to use their new vocabulary to write a descriptive setting of the opening scene upon the heath. Next week they will return to these pieces to spend some time editing.
At home: Ask your child to use some figurative language to describe the current weather!
Geography: This week the children spent time investigating Ordnance Survey maps. They learnt about lots of common OS symbols before creating a map of their own.
At home: The children could create an OS map of their own local area and see what symbols they can remember to use.
Assembly: On Monday, the children attended an assembly held by the Dogs Trust. This was then followed by an interactive workshop in which the children learnt lots about understanding the behaviour and psychology of dogs including how to keep themselves safe.
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables – suggested time 10 minutes daily. The children should continue to engage with daily reading to improve their vocabulary and fluency. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support,
Autumn 2, Week 1
Maths: This week, the children have been learning long division and exploring how to use this method to solve dividing 3 and 4 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers. The children compared this method alongside short division investigated the similarities and differences.
At home: Where the opportunity arises, encourage the children to use long division to solve real world calculations e.g. during a shopping trip.
English: The children have had a busy week which began by creating some beautiful descriptive Windrush poetry as part of Black History Month. We have also begun our new English unit based on Macbeth. We started by finding
out who William Shakespeare was before attending a fantastic online workshop produced by the Young Shakespeare Company.
At home: Ask your child to tell you what they remember about the story of Macbeth. We will begin our writing around Macbeth next week.
Science: This week the children returned to their ‘mouldy bread’ experiment to consider their conclusions. We returned to our original predictions to explore whether the bacteria from their hands impacted on the time it took for each slice of bread to mould. We also spent some time learning about the different types of microbes and their properties; bacteria, virus and fungi.
At home: Ask the children to explain what they discovered!
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables and continue engaging with regular reading. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Autumn 1, Week 7
Maths: This week, the children have experienced their first practise SATs papers. This was a great opportunity for the children to see the papers for the first time in an attempt to overcome the fear factor. Alongside this, the children have continued to develop their maths skills by problem solving multi-step reasoning questions.
At home: Where the opportunity arises, please encourage your child to solve real life mathematical problems e.g. at the shops or when calculating how much materials or ingredients to purchase to enable them to view the relevance of maths in their world.
English: The children have continued their descriptive writing this week, pooling all their descriptive skills that they have been learning over the last week. They have been using similes, metaphors and personification to describe the island that they have created, using their imagination.
At home: Ask your child to describe three things from their island using figurative language.
Science: This week the children set up a fair test to observe over time how the bacteria on your hands may impact on the time it takes for bread to become mouldy. The children will be monitoring this daily and recording the results.
At home: Ask the children what they have learnt this week about bacteria around the home.
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables and continue engaging with regular reading. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Autumn 1, Week 6
Maths: This week, the children have been learning how to use the short division method to solve 6 digit by 2 digit numbers. The children have learnt that they first need to calculate the multiples of the divisor to help them solve the calculation.
At home: Please encourage the children to engage with the TT Rockstars at home as this will support their division calculations in class.
English: The children have begun to develop their descriptive writing skills by creating their own island and using rich vocabulary to describe the place, an animal and a plant. They have been challenging themselves to use a range of figurative language.
At home: Ask your child to describe the world around them by including similes, metaphors and personification.
RE: This week the children welcomed a visitor into class talk about the work that the Salvation Army do. Our visitor gave out objects, that the children had to work out their link to the Charity. For example, a birthday card represented the gifts that the Salvation Army distribute to families who don’t have enough money to buy presents at special times.
At home: Ask us about the other objects and what they represented.
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables and continue engaging with regular reading. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Autumn 1, Week 5
Maths: This week, the children have been building on their knowledge of multiplication by learning how to use long multiplication to solve 3 and 4 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers.
At home: Please encourage the children to engage with the TT Rockstars at home as this will support their multiplication calculations in class.
English: The children have been writing their own biographies based on a person of their choice. They began last week by researching someone of interest to them and put the information into a plan. Next week, they will begin to publish these ready for our families to come and see!
At home: Ask your child to tell you three facts about their chosen person that they have used in their biography.
Science: This week the children continued with their learning about the theory of evolution by exploring adaptation. They investigated how adaptation may have occurred by finding out how some animals were better equipped to reach food in certain places and those that perhaps were unable to thrive. To do this, they had to become either a wriggler, a kneeler, a tall walker or move on all fours!
At home: Can your child explain their findings by using scientific language?
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables and continue engaging with regular reading. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support,
The Year 6 Team
Autumn 1, Week 4
Maths: This week, the children have been consolidating their place value and addition & subtraction knowledge by applying these to a range of word problems. We have also been continuing to raise the profile of our Times Table Rockstars which will help build speed and fluency in their calculations.
At home: Please encourage the children to engage with the TT Rockstars at home so that their class can be Top of the Pops next week!
English: The children have started to plan the biography of a person of their choice. They have spent some time researching their chosen person and gathered all the information they need into a detailed writing plan of their own.
At home: Ask your child to tell you three facts about their chosen person that they intend to put into their writing.
Geography: This week the children were surprised to learn about the length of the transportation footprint of a mobile phone as we explored how materials come together across the world to make a product through import and export.
At home: Could your child investigate for themselves one household product from home to explore where all the different parts are made?
Homework: This week’s spellings have been sent via Weduc and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables and continue engaging with regular reading. There has also been some optional extra Maths & English homework sent out via Weduc.
Many thanks for your continued support,
Autumn 1, Week 3
Maths: This week, the children have revisited rounding and extended their understanding by exploring a larger range of numbers up to a million. They have explored rounding the same number to 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000.
- At home: Please ask the children to round a series of ‘real life’ numbers to enable them to rehearse this skill.
English: The children have begun writing their biography about Charles Darwin. They spent time researching his life and work before going on to creating a plan of their writing. In Year 6, we focus on building cohesive within and across paragraphs.
- At home: Take a look around to see if you can find any biographies of famous people that you could examine. What do they all have in common? What could you magpie for your own writing?
Geography: This week we have continued our topic about World Trade by exploring the trade links that exist between different countries across the world. We started to look at patterns that exist between the countries that export and import the most.
- At home: Look at the packaging from a range of products that you have at home to investigate the different countries that they are imported from.
Homework: This week’s spellings will be uploaded to Google Classroom and the children will be tested on these spellings next Wednesday. The words will be a combination of some spelling ‘rules’ and some statutory spellings. The children should also log on to TT Rockstars to practice their Times Tables and continue engaging with regular reading.
Some parents have requested extra work that they can use to support their child at home. From this week, we will send out additional consolidation of the week’s English and maths, so we will also send this out with the spellings. This is additional and not compulsory, so will not be marked by the class teacher, although we will give out additional house points as incentives for those children who do complete it.
Many thanks for your continued support,
The Year 6 Team
Autumn 1, Week 2
Maths: This week, we have been continuing our revision of formal methods for addition and subtraction, looking at word problems, extracting the key information and calculating.
- At home: Play TT Rockstars – we ALL need to work on our times table fluency!
English: We have been writing in role as Charles Darwin. Take a look at some of our fabulous diary entries. We have also linked our shared reading, retrieving information about the fascinating man so that we can write a biography about him.
- At home: Ask us what we have found out about Charles Darwin and help us to find out more interesting facts about him.
Science: This week we were lucky enough to attend an online Science Workshop hosted by the Natural History Museum in London. We took part in a range of activities to support out learning about Darwin and his theory of evolution.
- At home: Ask the children about their workshop and if they can explain these key words: Evolution and adaptation.
Autumn 1, Week 1
PSHE: Year 6 have had a positive start to the term by exploring what it means to have a growth mindset. We have discussed how we can alter our approach to new challenges by using the magical ‘yet’. The children have produced some wonderful growth mindset posters.
At home: The children continue to practise switching their mindset by using some of the following examples.
Rather than saying, “I really don’t know how to do this!”
Say, “I don’t know how to do this yet.”
Maths: This week, we have been revisiting column methods for addition – using bar models to interpret word problems with 3 addends – and also re-capped subtraction. We explained common misconceptions to each other: you cannot subtract from 0 and we need to line up in our correct place value columns.
At home: Play TT Rockstars – we ALL need to work on our times table fluency!
Science: We are learning about evolution and how animals adapt to survive. This topic links to our English, where we are learning about Charles Darwin.
At home: Ask the children to explain some of the ways humans have adapted.