year6@allsaints-harwich.essex.sch.uk

Welcome to Year 6!

I hope you have all enjoyed the summer and I can't wait to find out what you have all been up to during your time off! The start of a new academic year is always exciting with so many new and exciting things coming up! The final year at All Saints' for the children so we have to make sure it's the best one yet!!

Here's some information about what we have lined up for you all in the Autumn term of Year 6! 

Maths

In Maths this term, we will be focusing on place value, making sure that everyone has a secure understanding of number before we move onto the four operations- addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will have lots of practice on written methods for these before moving on to fractions and measurements in the second part of the term.

English

In English, we will be basing our reading and writing on the story of 'Skellig'. It's a great story and I'm sure the children will enjoy using it as our stimulus for their own imaginative writing. We will cover a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, including recounts, narratives, character descriptions and information writing. We will end the year with some free verse poetry. We will continue to build on our reading skills by practising comprehension skills needed for understanding and inferring texts and developing our knowledge of vocabulary.

Science

Within Science, we will be finding out about the classification of living things and systems used to categories both animals and plants on our planet. In the second part of the term, we will then change our focus to electricity where the children will develop their knowledge of circuits even further.

RE

In RE, we will be focusing on the big question: Is believing in God reasonable?

 In our first unit, we will look at examples of beliefs as part of Christianity. We discuss how emotions and opinions of religion can be expressed in different ways and promote the importance of accepting other's choices within religion.

Geography

In Geography, we will be answering the following question: Why does population change? The children will explore changes in population from other countries and across time, finding out about the causes of increases and decreases in population due to changes in weather, development of industries and businesses, health threats, global warming... just to name a few.

History

In History, we will be answering the following question: What does the census tell us about our local area? This topic will be a continuation from our geography focus, exploring how we calculate population and looking deeper into the lives of people from the past that lived in our local area.

Art

During our Art lessons, we will be looking at combining art with technology, exploring photography as a way of capturing moments in time. We will apply an understanding of views, shape, pattern, perspective and texture to create photographs that the children can be proud of. 

D&T

In our D&T lessons, our unit is 'Structure'. The children will explore both simple and advanced structures in our environment such as in playgrounds. The children will investigate how the strength of structures are affected when adjusting angles, lengths and materials- a perfect introduction for those 'budding-engineers' in our class! I'm sure the children will enjoy investigating and exploring before designing their own.  

Computing

In our Computing sessions, we will learn about data systems and develop our own skills of collecting and representing data in spreadsheets. The children always impress me so much with their enthusiasm and subject knowledge of computing and I'm sure this topic will be no different! :-) 

Music

In Music, we have a very exciting opportunity!!!  The children will be taking part in 'Rock Band Music Lessons' which will be starting shortly into the Autumn Term. These will be held weekly and the children will get the chance to play a variety of instruments whilst having lots of fun! We may even find the next Rock Stars from our own class- in preparation for their future being world famous superstars!!

More information about this will follow early in the new term but it is definitely something that the children can look forward to!

Spanish

Within our Spanish lessons, we will be covering two units: El fin de semana y Yo en el mundo. We will learn how to tell the time accurately in Spanish and learn how to say what activities we do at the weekend. 

After half term, we will learn about the many countries in the world that speak Spanish and about different festivals around the world. 

PSHE

In our PSHE lessons, we will be starting the new year looking at what makes each child important and unique. I always think this is a great way to start a new year, building the confidence of being themselves and reminding them all of the importance of accepting differences within our community.   

PE and Forest School

PE and Forest School days will be every Wednesday and we ask that on this day, pupils come into school in their PE kit (burgundy shorts, white t-shirt of polo shirt and trainers). Long hair should be tied back and earrings should be removed. During colder days, children should wear a plain tracksuit.

For Forest School, we also ask that children bring a change of footwear and socks. It will be cold and wet outside as we come into winter so please make sure children have appropriate clothing and footwear with them. Wellies are ideal footwear for this, but any spare footwear will do. This will ensure that all the children can enjoy these sessions whatever the weather outside and have warm and dry footwear to change back into afterwards.

Homework

Mathletics and grammar activities are set on a Friday each week and should be completed for the following Friday. All children who complete this earn an extra break on a Friday afternoon. If it has not been completed, this time is instead used as an opportunity where we can support children in completing the work. 

As in previous years, we also ask that reading is completed at home throughout the week- at least 3 times for at least five minutes and that this is recorded in their reading records. Reading at home helps build a love of reading and also develops children's ability to concentrate on their reading for a longer period of time. The more children read, the better they are at it! Children may wish to read to themselves, but we ask that their reading records are still signed by an adult. They do not need to only read the book they are currently reading at school, but instead could choose to read anything that they are interested in.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions, queries, concerns and any information that you feel may help for me to know! Emails will be up and running as we start the new academic year and I will always get back to you as soon as I can. If not, feel free to catch me on the gate or call the school's office and I will help how ever I can.

Kind regards,

Miss Thorpe