Year 6 Summer 2 Curriculum Information

In the second half of the summer term, the Year Six children will continue reading their class novel, ‘Ways to be Me’ by Libby Scott. The children have already loved listening to the diary entries written by a 12-year- old girl who has not long been given an autism diagnosis.  It has really helped the children to see that it is O.K to feel and be different from other children.  The children will then complete year 6 by reading the contemporary book called ‘The Boy who harnessed the Wind’ by William Kamkwamba. The Boy who harnessed the Wind tells the story of a young man who lives in the central of Malawi.  The story shows how the man improvises a windmill out of bicycle and other scrap yard part to produce electricity for his father’s home. The children will love listening to this story as it shows how the power of determination and ingenuity helps overcome adversity. A really good message for the children to think about as they head into Secondary school.   

We will also spend time reading the everyone’s welcome book – ‘And Tango makes Three’ by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell which focuses on the theme of relationships.  This picture book tells the heartening true story of Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at Central Park Zoo, who fell in love in 1998 and started a family, raising little Tango – the first and only baby girl with two daddies. This will be a powerful book to help challenge the children’s stereotypes and will also link in with our behaviour day where we look at how we can be kind when we are out and about.

For the rest of the half-term, the children will continue to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of subjects.  In science, they will learn about the reproduction in animals and plants and explore the different growth stages.  From their learning, the children will then try and answer our science Big Question: How do flowers and animals reproduce?  In science, they will also learn about Evolution and will have the wonderful opportunity to handle real-life fossils.  They will also have the wonderful opportunity to learn about the real -life scientists Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace. From their learning, the children will then try and answer our science Big Question: Have we always looked like this?  In PSHE, the children will build on their knowledge and understanding from their science lessons and will learn about how humans reproduce – including learning about body image, puberty and feelings.

In geography, the children will learn about British Geographical Issues, such as air pollution, waste and climate change.  They will have the opportunity to use a a variety of non-fiction and fiction books to develop their knowledge about this area including reading the picture book ‘The Story of Climate Change’ by Catherine Barr. Throughout their learning on this topic, the children will then answer our Big Question, ‘How do humans negatively impact the Earth?’ In history, the children will continue to learn about World War II and will focus on learning about the key events that took place during this time including: ‘The Battle of Britain,’ ‘The Blitz’, ‘The Holocaust’ and ‘The Home Front.’  Linking in with our history work, the children will have the opportunity to write a narrative based on the perspective of a young girl called Rose, as she gets caught up in the horrors of one of the concentration camps.

The children will also have many exciting opportunities to participate in their last half-term at the Grove Primary School.  They will be designing and making their very own meal to eat as part of our design and technology lessons, ‘Come Dine with me.’ They will also take part in many sporting activities including sports day, the colour dash, cricket at Belvoir castle and being coached by a professional cricketer in PE lessons. In RE, their thinking will also be challenged as we explore the religion of Islam and discuss philosophical questions such as, ’Should religious people be sad when someone dies?’ In amongst all these activities, the year sixes will also be preparing for their Leavers assembly, their end of year performance based on Macbeth with a twist and taking part in their transition days to Secondary School.  What a busy and exciting end to the year!   

Year 6 Summer 1 Curriculum Information

In the first half of the summer term, year 6 will be continuing to read the well renowned Year Six World War Two story ‘When The Sky Falls’, which they have loved listening to so far. We are still waiting to find out, whether or not the silver-back gorilla Adonis will survive and what will happen to Joseph.  We will then be reading the novel ‘Ways to be me’ by Libby Scott. This is a book which focuses on a ten-year-old girl called Tally through her autism diagnosis in her final year of primary school.  The Year 6 children will love listening to this story, as it includes identifiable characters and deals with topics such as the transition to secondary school as well as coping with change and how different people can cope in different situations. The book will also raise important themes such as celebrating difference and the importance of empathy. 

We will also spend time reading the wonderful picture book Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood. This picture book tells the inspiring true story of a group of children in a poor, landfill-surrounded community in Paraguay who learn to play music on instruments on recycled rubbish. This is a great book which shows that if you put your mind to it anything is possible. We will also be reading ‘My Princess Boy’ by Cheryl Kilodavs which celebrates a young boy who expresses himself through ‘girly’ interests like pink, sparkly things and dresses.  The book promotes acceptance and understanding of diverse expressions.  

The children will spend the first couple of weeks of the summer term preparing for the year six Sat’s – where they will continue to develop their arithmetic and reasoning skills in maths, their retrieval and inference skills in reading and develop their knowledge and understanding of different grammatical terms and spelling patterns in preparation for the grammar and punctuation test. 

For the rest of the half-term, the children will continue to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of subjects.  In science, they will learn about the reproduction in animals and plants and explore the different growth stages.  From their learning, the children will then try and answer our science Big Question: How do flowers and animals reproduce?  In history, the children will learn about who Adolf Hitler was and what he is remembered for. In English, the children will develop their debating skills as they will debate whether mobile phones should be banned in schools?

Although it is an extremely short half-term, we have many exciting opportunities for the children to participate in. These include:  a trip to Beaumanor Hall, which will ignite the children’s interest in their next history topic as they learn about The Home Front and the Codebreakers at Bletchley Park; a museum session about evacuees from the creative learning services and the opportunity to participate in an interactive assembly based on VE Day.  We will also have teachers coming in from our local Secondary Schools to support the children with their move into Year 7.

Year 6 Spring 2 Curriculum Information

Welcome back Year 6.  I hope that you have had a restful half-term and are raring to go! 

In the second part of the Spring Term, year 6 will be reading the well renowned Year Six World War Two story ‘When The Sky Falls’. As the Second World War escalates and bombs start to fall, Joseph is charged with protecting Adonis the gorilla in this tense thriller based on a true story. The story is set in 1940 and will allow the children to begin to gain an idea of what life was like in Britain during World War II. We will also be reading our ‘Everyone’s Welcome’ book which is called, ‘How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham. This story looks at how a young boy, named Will, looks after a bird who has been injured. This is a  fantastic book to discuss values such as empathy, kindness and our personal responsibilities to each other.  

In science, the children will continue to learn about electricity and what the difference is between simple and parallel circuits.  They will have the opportunity to design and create a circuit for a toy of their choice for example a motor for a toy car or a flashing badge for a greeting card.  Linking in with electricity, the children will learn about the scientific area of light including understanding how light travels, how we see and how shadows are formed.

During our PSHE lessons, the children will learn about how to keep themselves healthy and in particular will learn how to manage stress, which is particularly important in the run up to the Sats.  With the festival of Easter fast approaching, the children will learn what Christians mean when they say that Jesus’ death was a sacrifice and will then try and answer our big question ‘Is Christianity still a strong religion 2000 years after Jesus was on Earth?

We have many more wonderful things planned this term including continuing with our  clarinet lessons, developing our hockey and football skills in PE and celebrating World Book Day – which will involve children learning about comic books and creating their very own comic strips.  The children will also have a wonderful opportunity to visit Loughborough University where they will be able to learn about what wonderful job opportunities that are available to them when they are older.

Please keep up with your revision for SATs.  We have not got long to go. 😊

Year 6 Spring 1 Curriculum Information

In the Spring Term, year 6 will have the wonderful opportunity to read and explore the story ‘Macbeth’ which was written by the well renowned English poet, playwright and actor William Shakespeare.  This well -known play was the sixteenth century equivalent of a modern horror movie with its three witches, a ghost and a phantom dagger. 

The children will absolutely love learning about the characters within this book - especially the power - hungry couple Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth who will kill their friends and family to fulfil their ambition of becoming royalty. Throughout the term, we will use this book to explore important values such as relationships and to discuss themes such as good versus evil, loyalty and guilt and the dangers of ambition.  As with many Shakespeare plays - anger and conflict are two themes which also run throughout Macbeth.  This will provide a wonderful opportunity to discuss with the children, during our Social and Emotional lessons, what strategies that they have to manage their feelings and manage their anger.  What types of things make them angry?  Why do they think they get angry?  Is it a good emotion ever? In their writing lessons, the children will have the wonderful opportunity to develop their ability to write setting descriptions, a narrative based on a scene from Macbeth and creating their own set of instructions to write a witches’ potion.

The children will also listen to the Everyone’s Welcome Book, ‘The Silence Seeker’ by Ben Morley and Carl Pearce.  This is a simple yet moving story which is the perfect way to gently open discussion around the refugee crisis. 

Throughout this half-term, the children will continue to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of subjects.

 In history, we will be learning about ‘The History of Human Rights and Equality in Britain.’  We will learn about what are human rights, racial equality and the freedom of thought, belief and religion.  Alongside learning about this theme in history, the children will be given the wonderful opportunity to explore and read the picture book ‘Every Human has Rights’ which is written by Mary Robinson.  From our in-depth study, the children will then answer the Big Question: How has the history of Human Rights and Equality in Britain changed over time? 

In geography, the children will learn about the continent of Africa, past civilisations and empires including the ‘Mansa Musa’ and the Sahara Desert and desertification.  From their learning, the children will then try and answer our geography Big Question: Why is desertification a major issue faced by some African countries? 

During the Spring Term – the children will continue to develop their scientific skills.  They will build on their prior learning and remind themselves about different types of electrical circuits including simple and parallel circuits.  They will learn about switches and carry out an investigation which will involve designing and building a circuit for a purpose.  In science, we will be asking ourselves: How can you make an intruder alarm sound? 

We have many more things planned this term: including carrying out a creative writing session with the library services; participating in an interactive Shakespeare Assembly exploring Melton Mowbray as part of our ‘local history’ study; celebrating World Religion Day and celebrating Internet Safety Day.  In Year 6, the children will also be fortunate enough to continue to develop their skills in learning how to play the clarinet from the guidance of a music teacher from the Leicestershire Music Hub.  What a wonderful half – term of learning!

Year 6 Autumn 2 Curriculum Information

In the second half of the Autumn Term, year 6 will have the fantastic opportunity to listen to the class novel of Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed. The story centres around a boy named Omar Rising, who was very poor.  However, one day, he got accepted to a prestigious school called Ghalib with a scholarship.  This is an exciting story which looks at student activism, believing in yourself and fighting for justice.  The content within this book will also allow the children to ponder vital topics including access to education, inequality and class disparities. We will also be reading our everyone’s welcome book, ‘Where the poppies grow’ by Hilary Robinson which is set during the First World War and explores the themes of friendship, innocence of war and then peace.  

Throughout the half-term, the children will continue to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of subjects.  We will continue to develop our writing skills, focusing on using a wide variety of punctuation and different sentence structures. The children will be given the opportunity to write an adventure story based on Kensuke’s kingdom, a letter in role as a solider based on the book ‘The best Christmas in the world,’ and to be able to write a recount based on their trip to the ’Warning Zone.’

In history, we will be learning about World War 1.  We will learn about what life was like on land, sea and in the air, the Home Front and the consequences of War.  Alongside learning about this period of history, the children will read the picture book ‘The Best Christmas in the World’ From our in – depth study the children will then answer our Big Question : Why was World War 1 different to any previous war? In geography, the children will learn about the countries, rivers cities and environmental regions of South America.  From their learning, the children will then try and answer our geography Big Question: What would you see in South America?

During the Autumn Term – the children will continue to develop their scientific skills.  They will build on their prior learning and remind themselves about what classification is and who Carl Linnaeus was.    They will learn about classifying organisms including vertebrates and invertebrates and also develop their knowledge about plant and animal cells. In science, we will be asking ourselves: How are plants and animals the same and how are they different

As Christmas is fast approaching, the children will explore the religion of Christianity and how Christmas celebrations and traditions help Christians understand who Jesus was and why he was born.  In PSHE, we will also look at the theme of celebrating difference and develop our understanding of inclusion, disability and challenge our perceptions of what ‘normal’ is.

We have many more things planned for this half- term: including a museum session which focuses on Remembrance and WW1, a military resilience training day, an art session which includes the children creating a piece of art work based on Richard the III and an interactive assembly learning about how Christmas was celebrated in 1891.  The children will also continue with their swimming lessons up and will also have the opportunity to develop their dodge ball skills in PE. During this half-term, we also be working on our community pledge to develop our relationships with the residents at the Amwell centre. If this wasn’t enough - the year sixes will also have the wonderful opportunity to take part in an interactive session with the award-winning and bestselling children’s author Joseph Coelho to celebrate his new book Relic Hamilton – Genie Hunter. What a busy but interesting half-term.  Let the learning commence!

Year 6 Autumn Term 1 Curriculum Information

Well, welcome back to your final year at primary school! I can’t wait to be your teacher again and create even more amazing memories. 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’s 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 Poetry Day. The children will also have a wonderful opportunity to take part in a ‘bonanza workshop’ where they will learn about the dangers of carbon monoxide (C0), understanding what it is and how they can keep themselves safe.