Autumn 1 – Wellbeing
Class Topic – Togetherness/Poles Apart
Our whole-school topic in Autumn 1 was Well-Being and in Year 6 we focused on ‘Togetherness’ and how we can work effectively as a team. We carried out a range of activities linked to working together to improve our Well-being. These include:
- Outdoor learning
- Peer buddy training
- Year 6 walk
- Charity fundraiser quiz
- Year 6 picnic
- Yoga
- Mindfulness colouring
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| Forest School focusing on ‘Togetherness’ | Role play in Literacy | Outdoor Adventurous Activities in PE |
Autumn Term 2 – Communication
Class Topic – Shakespeare
Our whole-school topic this half-term was ‘Communication’. We carried out a range of activities to improve our Communication skills, including:
- Learning a poem and performing this to the school as part of a whole-school Poetry Festival
- Performing part of a Shakespeare play during our trip to Derby Theatre
- Learning to retell many Shakespeare plays off by heart
- Writing our own curriculum newsletter to parents/carers at the end of the half-term
- Learning about online communication and how to stay safe online
- Taking part on talking homework each week where a new ‘Talk Topic’ will be set to be discussed at home
We looked at the work of William Shakespeare this half-term, in particular ‘Hamlet’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. We story-boarded the plays so that we understand the plot/gist. We also went on a trip to Derby Theatre where we had the opportunity to perform a part of ‘Hamlet’ on stage with sound and lighting!
This half-term, the whole-school took part in a ‘Poetry Festival’. Year 6 learnt ‘The Highwayman’ to perform off by heart with actions!
We learnt about Online Safety this half-term. We followed the Ashbourne Primary scheme of work which can be found by going to the main website page and selecting ‘Information for Parents’ followed by ‘Online Safety’. We learnt about how to communicate safely online, how we can protect out private information and also how we can use the internet safety and responsibility. We also looked at and discussed age ratings for social media sites and online games and the reasons for these age ratings.
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| Performing Shakespeare on stage at Derby Theatre | Talking Homework | Whole-School Poetry Assembly |
Spring Term 1 – Diversity
Class Topic – World War II
Our whole-school topic in Spring 1 is ‘Diversity’. In Year 6 we will be learning about World War II from the perspective of many countries/cultures. We will be doing this across the curriculum, including in our History and Reading lessons. We are reading many books this half-term, including ‘Now or Never’ by Bali Rai, Anne Frank’s Diary and ‘Bombs and Blackberries’ by Julia Donaldson.
In our History lessons we will be looking at many factors of the war, including reasons why WW2 began, the countries that were involved and whether they were Axis or Allies, key events such as the Blitz and Pearl Harbour and women’s roles in the war.
We have the Ashbourne Primary School Dance Festival this half-term! Each class will be learning a dance from a different culture to perform to the rest of the school. In year 6 we are doing:
6M: Lindy Hop
6D: Irish Dancing
6S: Morris Dancing
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| Visiting the Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Derby | Map work as part of our WWII topic | The Lindy Hop dance |
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| Writing linked to our WWII topic | Our 15 week flute concert to family members |
Spring Term 2 – Diversity
We are continuing with the whole-school topic of ‘Diversity’.
In our RE lessons, we are focusing on the question, ‘Can religions help to build a fair world?’ This topic is all about how religions can help to build a fair world so, during the different lessons, we’ll be thinking about how and why religious organisations get involved in making the world fairer.
Our Indoor PE lessons this half-term are learning the rules and skills of Sitting Volleyball. We will be acquiring and developing the skills of this game before refining and using them in activities and games.
Literacy lessons will be based on the text ‘One Silver Bullet’. We will create a story mountain to map out the different events as well as picking out powerful vocabulary. We will then develop and use various writing skills and techniques in our own independent writing.
We will be producing some artwork to accompany our Literacy (we can’t give away what this will be yet as we haven’t read the whole story!)
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| Investigating Biodiversity in Outdoor Learning | Exploring whether religions can make a fair world in RE | Understanding the difference between inheritance and selective breeding in Science |
This year, in year 6, we will be learning to play the flute. We will learn to use hand signs to distinguish between notes and learn to body pitch. We will also sing and learn the terminology ‘tempo’, ‘unison’,’ round’, ‘crescendo’ and ‘diminuendo’. We will have two concerts: one at 15 weeks and one at the end of the school year.
Please read at home at least 5 times a week and sign reading records. Remember if you read five times you will be entered into our prize draw to win a BRAND NEW BOOK each week!
Please practise times tables at home regularly. Here are some useful links to help with times table practise:
KS2 Ultimate Times Tables Challenge
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/maths/timestable/interactive.htm