Year 6 Autumn 1 Curriculum Information

Well, welcome back to your final year at primary school! I cannot wait to be your teacher and create some amazing memories with you. This year we have so many great experiences planned.

Our first class read will be ‘The Final Year’ by Matt Goodfellow. This book centres around a boy called Tate, who is ten years old.  The children will love listening to this incredibly powerful novel, which is written entirely in free verse. Nate’s innermost thoughts burst from the pages, which will allow the children to really connect with his intense feelings of pain, anger and love. This heart-wrenching book is a perfect vehicle to explore the values of friendship, resilience and empathy.

During our class novel time, the children will also experience listening to some classics which will be read to them by Mrs Cheeseman.  These classics include: ‘The Railway Children,’ written by Edith Nesbit, ‘Black Beauty’ by Anna Sewell and ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ by Jules Verne. They will also listen to the Everyone’s welcome book ‘King of the Sky’ by Nicola Davies which looks at starting a new, which links in brilliantly with our PSHE topic of identifying goals and new beginnings.

For Maths we will be continuing to develop our Times-Tables knowledge. However, our main strand of maths is an important part to learn which is ‘Place Value’ that is  why we are beginning our maths looking at numbers up to ten million.

In history, we will be exploring the suffragette movement and women’s rights alongside the picture book ‘Suffragettes: The Battle for Equality; by David Roberts, linked to our school value: respect. From our in depth-study the children will then answer our Big Question – How would British culture be different without the work of the suffragette movement? This fascinating change

in women’s rights will expand and develop our knowledge of what it sometimes takes to change policy even in democratic societies like Great Britain. A very relevant topic even in today's world.

In geography, the children will develop their map reading skills and learn about longitude and latitude, time zones around the world and the Arctic and Antarctic Circles.  From their learning, the children will then try and answer our geography Big Question: What can we learn from studying maps?

During the Autumn term - the children will continue to develop their scientific skills.  They will learn about the heart, the circulation of blood, the function of blood vessels and blood pressure.  The children will also develop their investigative skills and have the opportunity to carry out an investigation linked to what happens to your heart when resting and after exercise.  In science, we will be asking ourselves: ‘Why is our circulatory system important?

The children will also have the wonderful opportunity to develop their creative skills and will study and re-create pieces of art in the style of artists: such as Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin.  They will also be learning about music and technology in their music lessons and learning to sing songs such as ‘Sunshine on a Rainy Day’ and ‘It’s all about love.’  Our computing lessons will have a focus on E-safety a very important part of our curriculum. We will delve deeply into how to stay safe online. Something we believe at school is an important part of our curriculum.

Please keep a look out on Class Dojo for photos of our learning, information, and updates. We have lots more exciting experiences planned for this half-term – including celebrating Roald Dahl day and European Language Day.  The children will also have a wonderful opportunity to take part in swimming lessons this half term. Let the learning commence!