Friday 8 December 2017

Freezing fun!

Well, what a day! We just got back from our class trip to Bletchley and the children were fantastic! They represented the school so well and we learnt so much. Huge thank you to the parents that volunteered and supported us with the children today as well, very much appreciated. Us adults were blown away with the History of Bletchley and I know the children were impressed as well. We took part in a great workshop where we learnt to break codes too. We hope you enjoy some of the pictures below.

In English, we have been covering a variety of genres in our respective classes including poetry, speeches, spy stories and Christmas narratives. The children are working so hard with their grammar and punctuation skills and have been taught so much including: modal verbs, subjunctive form, active and passive voice, colons and semi-colons and trying to weave these into their writing as well as identify them in sentences.

In Maths, we have been focused on fractions for the last 4 (ish) weeks. We have learnt to order, compare, convert to decimals, add, subtract, divide and multiply them and the children have loved learning these skills and we have had a lot of moments where children have been so happy to finally crack some of those questions they have previously found difficult in their arithmetic papers. 

In Science, we have finished our 'Light' unit and the kids have LOVED it. They have been experimenting and investigating with prisms, colour wheels, motors, bulbs, learning about refraction (ask them about why a rainbow appears!) as well as understanding more about light and dark with shadows and what would happen if shadows didn't exist! The children will have the opportunity to plan and investigate their own line of enquiry next week and are really looking forward to it. 

If you want to support your child more at home I really recommend the CGP revision guides for SPaG and Maths and just let them work through what they know.

Next week is the Carol Concert, we are looking forward to seeing you there as the children have been practising and working hard; they've been loving the songs they have been learning.

Mrs Carter has also put together a book list for children as some ideas for Christmas presents or just if your child is a keen reader too (please see all the way below!)

Enjoy some photos below of Bletchley as well as Elm classes investigation in Science providing that light is white when all the colours of the spectrum merge.

Have lovely weekends together,

The Year 6 Team :-) 


















Book recommendations

Since our children are passionate about reading, we have been thinking about recommending books to one another.
There is also a whole host of wonderful suggestions on the website :  www.lovereading 4kids.co.uk
Here you can search by age group, you can also find best rated and those that are award winners.
There are books on both the 9+ and 11+ section that would still appeal to the children in our group. You can see which would be more challenging as it indicates if they also appear in the 13+ section.
The children’s current recommendations are below and we will add to them in class on an ongoing basis: they are not listed in any particular order and I cannot say I have read every one myself so always scan and check that you are happy that it is appropriate for your child!

1)      Malorie Blackman – A fabulous author who has been Children’s Laureate and often deals with issues that make the children think and elicit some interesting discussion.  Be aware that she does also writes for older children and her Noughts and Crosses series may be better for when the children are older. The children chose:
·         Thief
·         Antidote
·         Boys don’t cry
·         Hacker
·         Pig Heart Boy


2)      James Dashner – The Maze Runner (Science Fiction adventure)

3)      Erin Hunter – The Warrior Cats ( Adventure series)

4)      Ross Welford  - Time travelling with a hamster  - shortlisted for Costa children’s book award (time travel adventure)

5)      Trenton Lee Stewart – The Mysterious Benedict Society Series (Mystery)

6)      The London Eye mystery by Siobhan Dowd

7)      Michael Grant  - The Gone series (listed as 11+ and 13+ on Love reading)

8)      Terry Pratchet

·         I shall wear Midnight
·         Wintersmith

9)      Joan Aiken –A well- known Children’s writer of many books that could be considered modern classics. (fantasy)

·         Serial Garden
·         The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

10)   Emma Carroll
* The girl who walked on Air (Adventure)
* Letters from the Lighthouse (Nominated as Children’s book of the Year)

11)   S.K Sheridan – The top secret diary of Davina Dupree

12)   Libby Parker – Bertie the Blitz Dog


13)   Sandi  Toksvig – Hitler’s Canary

14)   Lemony Snicket – All the wrong questions series (Detective mystery)

15)   Veronica Roth – Divergent series (some of the children have read this but it is considered more of a 13+ read so do look carefully- action adventure)

16)   The Lady Grace mysteries by Grace Cavendish (Murder mysteries set in Tudor/Elizabethan period

17)   Wonder – R J Palacio – Carnegie shortlisted, very thought provoking

18)   Gary Paulsen – Hatchet (Survival adventure)

19)   Phillip Pullman  (winner of Carnegie medal)

Has a wide range of books that will appeal to differing reading levels and ages. Our group chose the following as favourites

·         Northern Lights – Part of Dark materials trilogy – The Golden Compass is the film version
·         Ruby and the Smoke (action, detective)
·         The book of dust

20)   Mike Wilks – Mirrorscape (fantasy adventure)

21)   Ali Sparks

*  Frozen in time ( A mystery adventure)
* Car jacked (Nominated for Children’s book of the Year 2017)

22)   Robin Stevens – Mistletoe and Murder (Nominated for several awards recognising crime genre for children)

23)   Maz Evans – Who Let the Gods Out? (I’m told it’s a super funny adventure and nominated for several awards.


24)   Kiran Milwood- Hargrave – The Island at the End of Everything (Nominated for many awards)

25)   Claire Fayers – Journey to the magical North (from 9+, Shortlisted for 2017 Children’s book of the Year) Includes Pirates, magic and adventure


26)   Suzanne Collins – The Hunger games (Many of the children have read this but please be aware that it is listed as a 13+/ young adult book so you may want a look yourself first)

27)   Anthony Horowitz 

·          Alex Rider series (teenage spy)
·         Diamond brothers (humour/detective)


28)   Rick Riordan (Mythical adventures) There are many to choose from

29)   Michael Morpurgo – There are many books by this author!

·         Eagle in the Snow
·         Listen to the Moon
·         Kensuke’s Kingdom
·         Lucky Button (Nominated as Children’s book of the Year)

30)   Some of the children are enjoying some classic stories such as
·         Arthur Ransome – Swallows and Amazons
·         Johanna Spyri - Heidi


Friday 10 November 2017

Busy and brilliant!

Year 6 have been busy, as always, these last few weeks! In English, we have been covering a variety of topics including spy stories, narrative and poetry. We have been continuing to use our grammar and punctuation skills to up-level our writing and make it engaging for the reader, as well as focusing on how to structure stories well.

In Maths, we have been working on fractions, switching from mixed numbers to improper, multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting them and really breaking down what we are being asked to do and why those methods we have learnt work. 

In Science, the children are loving our new 'Light' unit and have learnt that light travels in straight lines through a variety of investigations. We have then drawn up our findings with detailed diagrams. 

In Topic, we are beginning to finish our WW2 unit and have been speaking about how the war ended and how people celebrated. With remembrance day coming up tomorrow, we learnt how poppies were made and listened to a poem about why we should be thankful to our countries service men and women for the sacrifices they gave/give for our freedom. 

We are also loving our coding unit in Computing at the moment, do ask the children about what they have been learning and doing!

If you would like to support your child more at home, the CGP revision guides have some excellent resources to keep on top of the skills the children will need for their SATs.

Don't forget next week is parents consultations where we will be discussing your child's academic progress. Also, please ensure children are coming to school with a coat - it's getting chilly out there!

From the Year 6 team :-) 

Tuesday 17 October 2017

Almost half term!!

We have certainly had a busy half-term with a class assembly, which I'm sure you will agree, went really well, with the children amazing us again at their capacity to learn lines and present with confidence and determination. How good was that french poem? Wow!! We've attached some photos of the assembly below.

In maths over the last few weeks we have been helping the children to fully master calculation, in particular long multiplication and long division. They have done really well and shown great resilience in their playfulness with number.

In English the children have been researching and writing biographies of their choice, having studied in detail the biographies of Anne Frank and Roald Dahl. We have been focusing on the quality of their sentences and the use of complex sentences to really engage the reader. They have made some really interesting choices from Malala Yousafzai to Nelson Rolihlahla to Rosa Parks.

Please continue to support your child at home with their homework and reading. They should be doing up to 40 minutes of focused learning per piece (maths, English, spelling, comprehension or grammar), per week. If they struggle with the homework, it is important for their transition to secondary school that they begin to discuss this with their teacher and then support or guidance can be given at school. If possible, this should happen prior to the day the homework is due in (generally a Tuesday).

Have a great half-term break next week!!
The Year 6 Team :-)




Friday 29 September 2017

It's all go!

We're all up and running with Year 6 now and are really settling into our routines and expectations. 

In Maths, we have moved onto our Calculation unit where we are practising our skills within addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. At home, it would be great if you could work on these skills using the column method as well as practising mental strategies where you look at what column the number would fit in to and add mentally eg. 345,672 + 20,006. It would also be great to remind children about using decimals with the different operations (+ - x ÷) too.

In English, we are moving on to our Biography unit where children are using their writing skills to write about someone famous and discuss their lives. Test your children out: can they tell you what a relative clause is? Can they give you an example of active and passive voice? :-) 

In Science, we have been loving our Electricity unit and testing our circuits as well as conducting our own investigations: take a look at what we've done!

Please ask your children about their costumes for our assembly next week. We will be performing to you on Friday 6th September at 9am. 


Gautham & Ollie S – Suit/shirt and tie (smart)
George – shirt and tie (smart)
Girls – school pinafores/shorts & white t-shirt
Boys – white t-shirt, shorts/trousers & flat caps (old-fashioned - if you have them) & sweater vest jumper too, if you have it.

Family – dress like your character would (but remember we are in the past, not modern day)

We are asking for these in for TUESDAY 3rd OCTOBER please.

Don't forget to encourage the children with Times Tables Rockstars at home, it really is such an important skill to be practising regularly. 

Also, a huge congratulations to our House Captains and Head Girl and Boy.

Have a lovely weekend together,
Mrs Bath, Mrs Williams, Mrs Carter, Mrs Morris and Mrs Magadah :-D




Monday 18 September 2017

Welcome back!!

Sorry for the slight delay in the year 6 blog - technical issues I'm afraid!

We are delighted to welcome the children back to school and have been very pleased with their level of commitment and maturity towards the challenges in year 6. Keep it up everyone. :-)

We have started our very exciting topic of World War 2 and I mentioned a Netflix documentary the children may like to watch with an adult at home, called World War 2 in Colour, if you have access to Netflix. We watched a small clip about the Blitz at school and it helps to engage them in their work further.

Thank you to all the parents who have managed to send their child/children in with a fully stocked pencil case. Please check your child has everything they need regularly to prevent delays during our learning time.

We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow evening. However if you are unable to attend we will happily email you the power point and please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Looking forward to a wonderful run up to Christmas :-)

The Year 6 Team

Friday 21 July 2017

A final farewell and thank you

Wow - what a show last night!  The children simply blew us away with the enthusiasm, professionalism and sheer joy that they brought to their performance.  Well done to everyone.  Our final day was a day of assemblies with many goodbyes being said - to children and staff alike.  We have all been seen with a tear in our eyes over the last few days. 

All that remains for us to say is that we have absolutely loved teaching your children this year - they are an amazing group of talented young people who have been an absolute pleasure to know.  We wish them all the very best as they move onto pastures new and hope that they will stay in touch with an occasional visit or simply a wave on the high street!

Finally, we have also been amazed by all of the lovely gifts that we have received over the last few days.  We have been trying to say thank you to the children as the presents have been handed over but we also wanted to say a BIG thank you here.  Your generosity has overwhelmed us but thank you so very much.

Have a lovely summer break.

Miss Clements, Mrs Morris, Mrs Carter and Mrs Wellham

Sunday 9 July 2017

Another busy week in Year 6

This week has seen rehearsals for the Year 6 Leavers Show go into full swing!  The children are preparing well - most know their lines and we are now working on some songs to wow you with.

Although the end of term is fast approaching, quite a few other events also happened in school this week and kept the year 6 children very busy. 

On Tuesday we were lucky enough to host some students from Sir John Lawes School - they came in to teach our year 6 children some French vocabulary and games.  In the next few weeks, the year 6 children will use this knowledge to teach our year 4 classes themselves!  We have Madame Baikie to thank for organising such wonderful experiences for the children - they will be truly ready for language learning at their secondary schools.

The children were also involved in some more transition lessons this week.  They spent some time thinking about the more complex timetable that they will follow next year and the practicalities of organising their school bags.

Sports were also high on the agenda - a year 6 team attended the Rounders Tournament in Harpenden on Wednesday afternoon and did very well indeed.  Finally, the whole school ended the week with Sports Day.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the LeaveFest event!

The year 6 team

Friday 23 June 2017

Theme parks, evolution and more!

Since our return from the Isle of Wight, the children have been learning about the features of effective leaflets in preparation for writing their own next week. Keep an eye out for these on open evening!

In maths, the children have been working in pairs to design and work out the cost of a theme park. They are beginning to look at marketing budgets and prepare advertisements and the project should be completed next week. We certainly have some budding entrepreneurs in year 6!

In science, we have been finishing off our unit on evolution and inheritance. The children have produced some wonderful homework related to Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle and many examples are now displayed in the classroom.

Next week, we will be designing and making bean bag frogs as part of our rainforest topic. Thank you to those parents who have agreed to come in and help- there will be lots of needles to thread!

If you would like to support your child at home:

We will be beginning transition lessons in the next couple of weeks. It may be a good idea to talk to your child about how they are feeling about secondary school so that if they have any worries, these can be discussed in school. We have a worry box in each class where the children can let us know about concerns or write any questions they may have.

Thursday 8 June 2017

A great day to round off the trip!

Staff and pupils have thoroughly enjoyed their last day on the Isle of Wight- walking along the esplanade, eating ice creams, spending time at the Dinosaur Isle museum and fossil hunting on the beach. The day ended with a smashing disco and some wonderful singing and dancing from the children.