Year 6 Curriculum Newsletter

YEAR 6 CURRICULUM NEWSLETTER

Dear Parent,

Welcome back! I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas break. We will be experiencing a very busy time this term in Year 6 and I thought you would appreciate an overview for the Spring Term.

Mrs Preece

Area of Example curriculum activities learning

Our main literacy unit for this term is ‘Extending Narratives’. This unit will provide the opportunity for a real in-depth study of literature of this genre. It will begin with a Literacy focused reading unit, ‘Fiction Genres’, studying different kinds of narratives and introducing children to a variety of authors. This part of the unit is planned to enhance (ICT) reading skills and promote enthusiasm for, and a love of reading. The main focus will then begin to shift from reading to writing whereby we will begin studying narrative writing. In addition to this we will also be following another unit of work on ‘Biographies and Autobiographies’ linked to our geography topic and our Religious Education theme. Meanwhile Mrs Goadby will be following a separate unit of work studying non-fiction reading and writing, making links with ICT (using spreadsheets and creating a multimedia presentation) and our geography topic, Africa (creating a travel brochure). During this term will be addressing many different writing genres on a weekly basis in order for a full assessment of your child’s writing skills to take place. Many of these writing experiences will be cross-curricular linking to other subjects including Religious Education, Geography, Design Technology and PSHE. Home learning will follow a more formal approach this term addressing grammar, sentence structure, use of verbs, tenses etc which will hopefully then be applied in all aspects of writing within the class.

Numeracy will follow a similar structure to the Autumn Term covering a wide range of mathematical skills and concepts. Opportunities will be created for children to use and Numeracy apply taught skills through a fun, exciting and creative approach. As before home learning will reflect work covered in class and will be used to consolidate these skills. Occasionally past SATs papers (whole or part) will be sent home as part of our programme for SATs preparation.

Our topic for this term is Africa. This topic is geography based but will provide the opportunities for many cross-curricular links including literacy, mathematics, design and Geography technology, ICT, RE, art, dance and music. Mrs Goadby will be leading the geographical aspects of this topic making links to literacy and ICT units of work. We are fortunate enough to have already made links with Esigondhlweni FP School in Malawi and endeavour to develop these further.

As always children will be taught science through fun, creative activities which will enhance their learning experience and link to other subjects like maths, literacy and Science Design Technology. I am a firm believer that learning is enhanced through focused practical tasks particularly in science. Although the science tests are no longer administered we still have an obligation to teacher assess your child’s attainment in this subject. However school may be chosen to administer sample testing for science. These results are not published and are only used as an indication on how science is progressing nationally. If we are one of the chosen schools, the children will sit the test in the official SATs week. With this in mind we will be following a full and varied programme of science themes starting with Life Processes (the human body, classifying, food chains, keys, interdependence, adaptation, micro- organisms etc) and then progressing to Physical Processes (revising aspects like Earth and Beyond, light, sound and electricity). There will be the opportunity for the children to partake in an off site visit this term to enhance the Life Processes element of our science curriculum.

Art will be very much linked to our topic on Africa. Initially we will be studying the style of the Tinga Tinga artists and then progressing to exploring a variety of other aspects Art like making pots, investigating the use of pattern, sketching and embroidery.

The main focus of this curriculum area will link with our topic on Africa however other links will be made within science and mathematics. During the first half term we will be Design exploring a project on African jewellery which will include the following aspects: Technology research, evaluating, making, designing and assessing. If you have any unwanted, discarded jewellery that might be useful in the delivery of this project (preferably costume jewellery, beads, wooden etc) I would be most grateful to receive them. Any other resources like buttons, ribbons, odd bits of wrapping paper, etc would also be much appreciated.

Some of our music syllabus will be covered through our topic on African but we will also be following a separate programme looking at cyclic patterns (exploring rhythm and Music pulse).

Our theme for this curriculum area is ‘Leadership and Influence’. Some of the work will be linked to our literacy unit on ‘Biographies and Autobiographies’. Religious Education

During the term we will be covering the following topics: Games: tennis and basketball Physical Gymnastics: developing shapes, balances and flight Education Aspects of dance will be covered through our geography topic

During this term preparation for the tests in May will begin in earnest. Some children may become a little anxious during this time but I can guarantee that by the time May SATs 14th arrives your child will be very well prepared and will hopefully take everything in their stride. Children need to be taught how to approach SATs papers and become familiar with how questions are presented to them. Therefore, throughout the term, your child will be given the opportunities to practice. Past SATs questions will be used in a supportive role within Literacy and Numeracy lessons (and sometimes for home learning) and on occasions your child will be asked to sit full SATs papers under timed conditions. Planned intervention, for children of all abilities, is already in place within the classroom. With such a low number of children in Year 6 we are in the fortunate position to organise our extra after school sessions in a different way than in previous years. Shortly you will be receiving further information inviting designated children to attend these sessions focusing on Reading and Numeracy.