Monday 11th March 2024
Dear Year 6 parents and carers,
We are now well into the second half of the Spring Term, which is an important term for our pupils as they prepare for their SATs. Our learning journey topic this term is entitled: ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ which will focus on Japan. Below we have outlined what we will be covering in class:
Curriculum:
| English | Reading | Maths | Geography | SPaG | R.E. |
| Poetry: The Dreadful Menace Japanese Myths: The Goblin of Adachigahara Non-fiction: Japan travel guides | Short Stories: The phone Goes Dead Freedom Poetry: A Change is Gonna Come, I Too, and the Caged Bird Sings | Fractions, Decimals, Percentages, Position & Direction, Ratio & Proportion, Algebra, Perimeter, Area & Volume | Identifying the human and physical features of London and Tokyo and making comparisons between the two cities. Using Digi maps to identify countries and key landmarks in Asia and Europe | Relative clauses, tenses: progressive tense, perfect tense, pronouns, colons & semi-colons | Buddhism |
| Science | Art | ||||
| Light Light sources; how light travels; reflection and refraction; Investigating shadows; how do we see colour? | Sumi-e ink painting – exploring the Japanese style of art. Learning new blending and layering techniques using a new medium, ink. Manga and Anime focus – learning how to draw manga characters and create their own Creating Manga art in the style of Manga and comic book artist Peach Momoko | ||||
| P.E. Lessons Topic this half term: Handball. P.E. lessons will continue to be on a Thursday with Mr. Gibbs and alternate Wednesdays as part of PPA. As they have been doing, children are to come to school on Thursday and alternate Wednesdays in their P.E. kit. This consists of their red Kelvin Grove school jumper or cardigan, a plain white t-shirt (round neck or polo), grey or black tracksuit bottoms and trainers. | |||||
| Homework Reading: As previously stated, reading with your child and discussing what has been read each day is essential to helping them make progress in all areas of the curriculum. The expectation is that your child reads every day and records what they’ve read in their Year 6 planners. Please support your child by encouraging them to read a range of texts (fiction and non-fiction) by different authors and by asking them questions about what they have read. Maths & SPaG (spelling and grammar): As before, Maths and SPaG homework is handed out each Friday. These need to be returned completed by the Wednesday of the following week. Alongside maths homework books, we strongly encourage children to be engaging with Mathletics to consolidate the learning that they have been doing in class. There are always tasks or quests for children to do using Mathletics and they can focus on areas most beneficial to them. If your child has no tasks to access on Mathletics, please ask them to speak to their math teacher. Each child has been given a unique login to access the Mathletics websites from home. If they have lost these details, please ask them to speak to their Maths teacher. Spellings are taught in class and consolidated with practise across a number of sessions. Children will be encouraged to write the spelling pattern they are practising each week in their Year 6 planners. You can support your child by discussing their spellings, ensuring they understand what each word means and asking them to explore patterns between words. | |||||
Working towards SATs:
The Spring term, leading up to the Easter holidays is a crucial time for Year 6 as they prepare for their SATs. We will be working hard to ensure that each child is ready, prepared and most importantly confident about these tests in May.
Parents often ask the question: ‘What extra things should we be doing with our child to prepare them for their SATs?’ There is not an expectation at Kelvin Grove that children need to or should spend many additional hours doing preparation outside of school as long as they are reading daily and engaging with home learning. Everything that they need to succeed is provided for them within the school day and through the home learning activities that we set. If your child attends school every day that they are able and on time (important early work is set from 8:45am every day) and has the right attitude to learning in class, they will be successful. We have high expectations of their learning behaviours and we appreciate the support and encouragement you give your child to do their best.
Behaviour and uniform
A reminder that all children should be in full school uniform which includes black footwear every day and in their school P.E. kit on a Wednesdays. The only jewellery that is permitted (other than those of religious significance) are small stud earrings. This for your child’s safety in lessons but particularly on the playground and during active lessons like P.E.
We continue to have high expectations of children’s behaviour and conduct. A particular focus this term is showing kindness, empathy and respect to their peers and to adults. Should any difficulties arise that are of significance, we will inform you. We also ask that if your child has a mobile phone or other device, you monitor their usage closely and ensure that they are only accessing age-appropriate content online.
Thank you for your continued support, and as always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Year 6 Team
Miss West, Miss Horgan, Miss Hudson, Mrs Bolingbroke, Mrs Kemp and Miss Gibbs
