Year 6 - Snow Leopards and Jaguars

This week, we launched our new topic - A Child's War - with a fantastic 'Evacuee Experience' on The Poppy Line in North Norfolk. At the beginning of the day, the children were met by the billeting officer who escorted them on the train to Holt. The train took the children through the countryside from Sheringham to Holt, passing through Weybourne station. On arrival at Holt, the children took part in a range of activities including: Training to spot a variety of planes (German and British) with a member of staff from the Observation Corps Household chores in a 1940's house Making their own lunch from a variety of foods (some of which were rationed) and  A workshop giving lots of information about gas masks It was a great day, which the children thoroughly enjoyed and one which has given them a real insight into how it felt to be a 1940's child.  On Tuesday of next week, the children will be going swimming in the afternoon. Some of them will be attend...

Most mornings (and one afternoon) this week were taken up with practise SATS tests and the children have responded incredibly well. On Monday afternoon, they had a SPaG and spelling test and on Tuesday morning they had a reading test followed by Maths Paper 1. We gave them a rest on Wednesday and finished off on Thursday with Maths Papers 2 and 3.  On Tuesday afternoon, the children took part in a lovely science investigation based on Darwin's observations of the Galapagos finches. The children used a variety of implements (such as tweezers, tongs and pliers) to pick up a variety of seeds and observed which implements were most suited to the task. This investigation was linked to adaptation and the survival of the fittest.  In English, the children have been working hard at writing their stories, based on the novel 'Journey to the River Sea'. Whilst some of the children have finished their stories, some have chosen to finish these off at home over Easter. It's lov...

Good afternoon all Year 6 parents. It is our maths cafe tomorrow morning - Friday 29th March. We look forward to seeing you all from 9.00am to 10.30am.  We will be using the year 6 base for our cafe so come and find us by using the cookery room door. A forward look: Next Tuesday, Snow Leopards will be undertaking a science investigation that will require tweezers, pliers, kitchen tongs, chopsticks and such similar items. If you have any of these at home, please could your child bring them in for Tuesday. Thank you.

We've had a lovely week this week. On Wednesday, we drew detailed maps of the Galapagos Islands. Our maps included a scale so that, on Friday (tomorrow), we can do some cross-curricular maths work, calculating distances between the islands. Last week we carried out a science investigation in which we extracted the DNA from strawberries. The children really enjoyed this investigation and worked well, collaboratively. Since then, we have used ICT to type up our investigations. This was a nice way of practising our word processing skills. Below are some photographs of the children carrying out their investigation. In maths, we have been calculating perimeter, area and volume. In English we continue to read Journey to the River Sea and writing in role as the main character. In PE we have been developing movements which depict a variety of animals. We are doing this to The Carnival of the Animals. 

Our revision groups have been going very well since starting three weeks ago. The children have been applying their knowledge and skills in a range of different situations in order to secure their understanding. The children in Miss Savory's group particularly enjoy the ' Round the Room' activities, where they can work collaboratively to solve problems.

The children have worked so hard in their revision groups this week and we have been working on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions. The children finished off this unit by applying their understanding of fractions to solving word problems. In English, we have introduced our new book - Journey to the River Sea - and the children have been finding lots of facts about the Amazon river and the Brazilian rainforest to help them engage with this story and the characters within it. The red spelling words have been sent out for next half term so please look out for these in the children's bags. If you could display these at home and encourage your children to learn them, that would be really useful. We have begun looking at Hinduism in RE, which involved the children re-telling a Hindu story. As scientists, we collected specimens of flora and fauna from the common and made detailed scientific sketches based on Charles Darwin's work.

Well it's all change in Year 6 with our revision groups starting at the beginning of the week. The children are really enjoying these sessions and have adapted quickly to the changes. We are getting some lovely feedback from the, particularly about the maths booster groups. In English, we are in the final week of writing based on our book 'Holes' by Louis Sachar. The children are currently in the middle of composing a balanced argument based on a story line within this book and are producing some lovely pieces of writing. As our topic - Hola Mexico - draws to a close, we have been finishing off the science work about light. The children have been involved in plentyof practical investigations as part of this work and have shown that they have learned a great deal. Next week, we begin our new topic called 'Darwin's Delights' and will be basing our English work around the book 'Journey to the River Sea' by Eva Ibbotson.