Year 6
Welcome to Year 6
What are Year 6 learning about this half term?
Summer 2
In our final term at Ferney Lee Year 6 will be very busy. Our history key enquiry question will be 'How has Crime and Punishment changed over time in Britain?' where we will be looking into the changing shape of crimes that were committed and what the fitting punishments were at different times in history. We will be ending this topic by visiting Blackpool Dungeons.
In art we will be focusing on sculpture. We will look at a range of artists who have made realistic-looking sculptures of food and trying to recreate these by making a delicious donut display. Let's see if they look good enough to eat.
In RE we will be concentrating on forgiveness and asking the question 'Should we forgive others?'. We will be thinking about how religion impacts the way peoples beliefs help them to forgive. We will also be concentrating on who might benefit from forgiveness. In PSHE we will be on our coping with change topic we will be identifying changes that will take place in bodies during puberty, and exploring ways to manage the emotional effects of life changes, including transition to secondary school.
In Maths we will be concentrating on our final units in Power Maths. In English we will be basing our writing around the narrative poem 'The Highwayman' and we will also look at 2 films Alma and Francis.
This half terms science will be our animals including humans topic, we will be investigating the human heart and the circulatory system looking at ways to keep ourselves healthy and our heart happy.
In PE we will be completing athletics skills in our Friday lessons in preparation for Sports Day at the end of the term. On a Wednesday we will be competing in World Sports, including Kabaddi, volleyball and Danish longball.
Our Previous Learning this year
Autumn 1
This half term our English lessons focused on the basics and learning all about the place value of punctuation and grammar. This included nouns, verbs, subjects, single clause sentences and constructing more detailed sentences. Our class text was Survivors by David Long and Dream Snatcher by Abi Elphinstone.
In Maths we followed Power Maths learning, our first topics were place value and four operations.
Our Science learning this half term was based around Electricity, we created circuits, problem solved when circuits were not working, before planning and carrying out our own investigations. In computing we looked at computer programming, creating nested loops using logo and python before moving on to code mondrian.
In PE we focused on basic skills and perfecting these, as well as preparing for the cross country inter-schools event-which was unfortunately cancelled. We are awaiting the new dates for this event. We also took on orienteering getting outside and completing a range of activities to support this, to further enhance our outdoor and adventurous learning Year 6 were also working in the school grounds developing their gardening skills.
Our Geography topic this half term focused on imports and exports when looking at the economy of the UK, learned about sustainability in many different areas such as water supply, energy production and agriculture. We looked at a range of data, listened to case studies and thought about the relevance of the issues we found in our own locality.
In art we worked monochromatically and learned how to use a range of pencils to shade and applied this when learning about the proportions of facial features when drawing a portrait.
In RE we thought about our own values and looked at similarities between Sikhism and the values in other faiths. PSHE we learned about healthy friendships and relationships and discussed how these might change as we transition to secondary school.
Autumn 2
This half term our topic learning focus was History, we started our learning all about World War Two and what events led to this significant event starting. We were using a range of secondary sources to find out about the key people and the impact of their actions.
In English we looked at constructing longer pieces of writing, using the text Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman. We used this text to help inspire us when writing recount letters and setting descriptions. We also wrote poetry in honour of Remembrance Day.
In Maths we will followed Power Maths, our focus this half term was on fractions - simplifying, ordering, placing on a number line, adding, subtracting and multiplying them.
In Science we investigated the Theory of Evolution, during this work we looked at the adaptation of plants and animals and how we inherit traits from our parents. We also used the text Moth by Isabel Thomas to look at natural selection and how during the industrial revolution this was seen happening.
Computing was centred around the codebreakers of Bletchley Park, we tried to crack codes both on paper and using coding. We also set codes for each other to try and crack.
In PE we were learning the rules of handball and how to work as an effective member of a team. We will also focused on balance, sequencing and movement during our gymnastic lessons. In DT this half term we designed and made CAMS to make our automated toys move, we followed health and safety rules as we were using tools during the woodwork element of these lessons.
In RE we completed our learning of the Sikh religion and their beliefs. We then moved on to learning about Nativity and the people present at this event, hearing about the significance of each of them. PSHE this half term saw us focus on similarities and differences, where we reminded ourselves about being respectful and kind even when online, we learnt how to keep ourselves safe and how to support others when people are using negative stereotypes against them.
Spring 1
Our History learning this half term was a continuation of our World War 2 Topic where we answered the enquiry question: What role did Britain play in World War 2 and how did this impact the outcome of the war? We held our class assembly this half term and invited parents in to our classroom to complete some topic related work.
Our English was also linked to our History learning and we will read the text 'Letters from the Lighthouse' by Emma Carroll and completed writing about this including: diary entry, survival guide, instructions, and using speech to convey character.
In Science we focused on Light, investigating how light travels, what a good reflector is, how the eye works and finally answering the question can you change the colour of a shadow?
In PE we learned how to dance and pieced together collaborative routines, wel also be tried out hockey, learning how to accurately pass, how to receive and how to stick to our roles in a team to achieve success. Our outdoor learning saw us taking part in Forest School.
In Art we used colour looking at art that is used to spread a positive message. We looked at examples when this has happened and then finally designed our own t-shirt which was inspired by protecting our planet.
In RE our key equiry question was 'What is the significance of Easter, Ascension and Pentecost?' focusing on Christianity and their beliefs around this time of year. In PSHE our key question was 'How can we show more responsibility as we get older?' Exploring why we are special and how we care for and keep one another safe. Thinking about our increasing responsibilities towards ourselves and others as we get older, including the role we can play and the difference we can make within our communities.
Meet the staff...
Miss McDaid (Class Teacher)
Mrs A Morrison (Support Assistant)
Miss Ruby (Support Assistant)
Ferney Lee Road, Todmorden,
Lancs, OL14 5NR
01706 254848
admin@ferneylee.calderdale.sch.uk