Woodland View Primary School

Year 6 NEWSLETTER: Autumn 1 / Issue 1

WELCOME TO Year 6!

Oak and Maple classes have made a great start to the new school year and we have really enjoyed working with them. They have worked hard and shown a great attitude to school- well done to them all, especially given the pandemic situation at present.

The Year 6 team currently includes Mrs Fiddimore and Mr Carter in Oak Class, Ms Baxter in Maple Class and Mr Clayton who works with small groups in the Year 6 bubble. All Year 6 teachers work together to plan all the work done by Year 6. We work closely together to ensure continuity for the children. We are looking forward to an exciting year in Year 6.

English

Our English lessons this half term largely centre around the book ‘Pig-heart Boy’ by Malorie Blackman. It will form part of our reading and writing topic, as we explore emotions and ethics that are key areas of the story. Linking the story with our science, we will be exploring the heart and circulation. We will continue to develop skills in grammar, spelling, punctuation and reading comprehension, as well as writing. These will also be used and applied within each writing task. In spelling we will be working on Y5/Y6 spellings, developing strategies to learn them and to recognise particular spelling patterns.

We want to encourage the children to read for enjoyment as much as possible. I would like them to read at least 3 times a week for pleasure (every day would be ideal). Each class has a reward system for children who regularly read at home.  They can read any books they wish- they don’t have to be school books and can be fiction or non-fiction.

Mathematics

In Maths, we are currently working on a recovery curriculum combining Year 5 maths from the summer term with Y6 maths from this term. This week our focus is on column addition and subtraction and word problems involving estimation. Then we will work on:

• Number: Order of operations. In this we will work on calculation, 2-step problems, order of operations and solving calculations in the correct order.
• Number: Multiplication and division. We will focus on the common factors of given numbers, common multiples and prime numbers.
• Geometry: 2D shape. We will investigate different types of triangles, their properties and angles. In addition, we will explore properties of quadrilaterals and their angles. We will calculate missing angles in triangles and quadrilaterals on a line and at a point.
• Number: addition and subtraction. In this we will also spend some time working on rounding numbers.
• Number: multiplication and division. We will use a range of numbers to multiply and divide and will develop understanding of long multiplication and division using the bus stop method.

Science

Our Science topic this half term focuses on the heart and circulation. At the beginning of the year, we explored metacognition and the brain and we are moving quickly on to learning about the heart. The topic continues through developing understanding about how the heart works, how the blood circulates, how we get oxygen into our body, how we breathe and how our hearts are pumps. We will be working with children to develop their questioning and thinking skills- which are obviously an important part of learning.

PSHE

Our topic work is driven by PSHE this year- we will explore mental health, keeping ourselves healthy and keeping ourselves safe online.

PE

PE is on a Thursday afternoon- as long as the weather is fine. We may have to move it to another time if it rains and will fit in an additional lesson when the timetable allows. This half term we are working on cooperative and team games.

The Creative Curriculum

This half term, our history and geography, music, art and drama will be taught through the creative curriculum and linked to our overarching topic based on ‘Pig-heart Boy’. We will also be looking into the history of the NHS.

Praise and Reward

In Year 6, we use a credit system to reward hard work, great thinking, excellent questioning and sociable, kind behaviour. Children are also able to nominate who they think has shown good learning behaviour and/or the school’s core values.

Phones

Unfortunately, we are unable to allow the children to bring their phones as we would normally do. Given the risks of personal belongings coming together in one place we are unable to look after the children’s phones in the office. There is no lockable space in the classrooms for phones and teachers cannot take responsibility for their safety. In addition, we are unable to allow children to hold on to their own phones for safeguarding reasons.

Homework

This term, homework is presented as a choice of different activities for your children. Homework is sent home as a separate paper with your children. Please return homework to school by Thursday October 15^th. Year 6 children will be able to show their work in our Y6 homework exhibition and there will be a small prize for the winners of a competition voted for by the children. Homework will then be displayed.

Best wishes for a great start to the new school year,

Evie Baxter, Adam Carter, John Clayton and Natalie Fiddimore.