Year 6
Twitter: @Newhall Juniors
Meet the Year 6 Team
This year, our Year 6 team is made up of Mr Lander, Mr Wibberley, Miss Rushton, Miss Smith and Miss Morgan. We will be supported by Mrs Watson, Mrs Cooper, Mrs Wates and Miss Summers. We look forward to helping your child fulfil their potential this year and we are always happy to help, should you have any questions.
Summer One
We hope you had a great Easter break and that you and your children had a peaceful break together. We are now into the penultimate half term of the year and we are looking forward to the children making continued progress.
SATs
As we are drawing closer to the SATs assessments in May, we would like to remind parents and carers of the exact dates. The SATS will begin on Monday 13th May and finish on Thursday 16th May. Holidays and appointments should not be booked during this week, if it all possible. We will be offering a free breakfast club for all Year 6 pupils during SATs week.
Curriculum
This half term, we will be thinking about Our World In The Future (Geography) and asking ‘How did Jesus create a new covenant and what does that mean to Christians today?’ in RE. During Science lessons, we will be learning how to classify Living Things and we will be Making Memories in our Art:3D and sculpture unit. We will be learning how to programme using micro bits in Computing, whilst we will focus on ‘Relationships’ in PSHE sessions. During Maths and Reading sessions, we will be continuing to prepare for SATs. In Writing, we will be writing a balanced argument based on technology usage for children.
Spring Two
Welcome back! This half term, we will be reflecting on whether World War One or World War Two had a bigger impact on our local area in History. We will be considering ‘Is Christianity still a strong religion 2,000 years after Jesus was on earth?’’ (RE) and how to ‘Navigate the digital world’ (DT). We will be learning how to use a ‘green screen’ in Computing in producing a report on a history topic from earlier in the year. Additionally, we will focus on what a ‘Healthy Me’ looks like in PSHE sessions, whilst also discussing the children’s transition to secondary school. During Maths sessions, we will be studying angles, ratio and statistics. In Writing, we will be looking at the features of a biography and producing our own based on an iconic British figure.
History
Our history unit this half term is about the impact of war. We began on our first day back by having lots of fun learning about key events and facts of World War 1 and World War 2. The children particularly enjoyed playing this board game.
Spring One
Welcome back! We hope you had a fabulous Christmas break and that the children feel well rested .This half term, we will be studying Global Warming and Climate Change (Geography), ‘Our Bodies’ (Science) and contemplating ‘Is Anything Ever Eternal?’ (RE). The children will be focusing on programming in Computing, in learning how to create a maze using Scratch, whilst we will be considering our ‘Dreams and Goals’ in PSHE. In Art, we will be focusing on our drawing and sketching skills. In Maths sessions, we will be working on ratio, algebra and decimals. During Writing lessons, we will be writing a newspaper report based on a famous children’s tale and a setting description based on one of the most famous alleys ever! In Reading lessons, we will be continuing to study both fiction and non-fiction texts. We will continue with the Mini Police programme on Friday afternoons, learning about a range of issues in our community and further afield.
Art
Take a look at some of the amazing artwork that we have been producing this half term. Our unit is ‘Make My Voice Heard’ and we are taking inspiration from the Ancient Maya civilisation to design symbols, play with light and shadow and the experiment with different materials.
Geography
This half term in geography, we are learning about the environment and how we can act as a positive force of change to protect the future of our planet. We will research the Living Planet Report 2022 to discover the main threats to the environment, we will learn about renewable and non-renewable energy sources and will think about changes that we can make as a school to become more sustainable.
Here are some of the children’s ideas to make our school more sustainable.
To complete this unit of work, the children have worked in groups to create their own campaign materials for an environmental issue that they care about. They worked hard to research their chosen issue, create persuasive materials and then presented them to their class. Take a look at some of the work that they produced below.
Mini Police
This half term we began by thinking about what crimes are and how they can be investigated. We have had a visit from a forensic officer, who showed us how to take fingerprints and we even made our own souvenir bookmark with our fingerprint on. In another session, we investigated a crime scene to try to discover who had stolen the money and jewels. You’ll never guess who it was!
Science
This half term in science, we are learning about “our bodies”. In particular, we are looking at the circulatory system and what we can do to stay healthy. To show what they have learnt, the children all produced an information leaflet containing some important health advice.
Fire safety
We were visited by a fire safety officer to teach us about the dangers of fire. We learnt about “test it Tuesday” - the fire service’s initiative to encourage people to test their smoke alarms every Tuesday, how to stay safe in case of a fire and we also learnt about the main causes of fire. We even competed to complete a jigsaw showing some of these hazards in the home.
Autumn Two
This half term, we will be studying The Maya Civilisation (History), ‘Light And Sight (Science) and considering ‘Do Christmas celebrations and traditions help Christians understand who Jesus is and why He was born?’ (RE). The children will also be creating their own website, which will be based on their prior learning of the Amazon, in Computing, whilst we will be ‘Celebrating Difference’ in PSHE. In DT, we will be designing, assembling and decorating our own waistcoat. In Maths sessions, we will be working on fractions, percentages and decimals. During Writing lessons, we will be writing a persuasive letter to Mr Scrooge and a narrative based on our previous class book ’The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day. In Reading lessons, we will be continuing to study both fiction and non-fiction texts.
Class Book - Oh Maya Gods!
The world's worst-behaved immortals are at it again - introducing the brand-new Gods Squad taking them on! Meet Vesper, the bossy, football-mad daughter of Elliot Hooper, the original hero of Who Let the Gods Out?, and Aster, the super-bright son of Constellation, Virgo.
Together, they must recapture some villainous wrong'uns before the world ends next Thursday. Off they head to the Maya underworld, where Kizin and his Lords and Ladies of Death are messing with astronomy, chocolate and human sacrifice ...
Mini Police
We have some very exciting plans for our Mini Police sessions this half term, including learning about hate crimes, a visit from the fire service, showing acts of kindness to members of the wider community and of course our Mini Police Christmas party.
The visit from the fire service was a particular highlight, as you can see from the photos below:
Reading
We have been thinking our our reading journeys in one of our reading lessons. The children reminisced about some of their favourite books from when they were younger as well as books that they have enjoyed more recently. They then created these beautiful reading rivers to show the journey they have been on so far with books. We will add to these as we progress through the year.
Science
As part of the ‘Borrow the Moon’ project, we have been having great fun investigating the properties of different materials and comparing them to some samples of moon soil. We have also been lucky enough to examine and investigate some real meteorites, using hand lenses and magnifying glasses to take a closer look.
RE
Our enquiry question this half term is “Do Christmas celebrations and traditions help Christians to understand who Jesus was and why He was born?” As part of this unit the children designed these creative surveys to find out how their family and friends like to celebrate Christmas, and whether these celebrations link to the Christian festival and the story in the bible.
Design and Technology
We are having lots of fun designing and making miniature waistcoats this half term. The children will take inspiration from some famous designers before designing their own waistcoat. They will then make the pattern, cut out the fabric (using recycled materials), before sewing it together and adding some final decoration. Take a look at these photos of their progress:
History
We are learning about the Maya Civilisation in history this half term. We have learnt about lots of different aspects of Maya life and culture. We even attempted to recreate some Maya drinking chocolate or “xocolatl” - as you can see from the photos this received mixed reviews!
Welcome to Year 6!
Autumn One
This half term (Autumn 1) in Maths, we shall be exploring place-value and the four operations. In Writing, we shall be producing a horror narrative based on the gothic novel 'Thornhill'. In Reading, we shall be exploring a variety of poems, fiction and non-fiction texts. In Learning Journey, we shall be learning about South America: The Amazon and in Science we shall be exploring Evolution and Inheritance. In Art, we shall be developing our skills in our 'Photo Opportunity' unit. We will be exploring Internet Safety in our Computing lessons, whilst we will examine 'What is the best way for a Muslim to show commitment to God?' in RE.
Class Book
Our class book this half term is 'The Infinite Lives Of Maisie Day' by Christopher Edge.
How do you know you really exist?
It's Maisie's birthday and she can't wait to open her presents. She's hoping for the things she needs to build her own nuclear reactor. But she wakes to an empty house and outside the front door is nothing but a terrifying, all-consuming blackness. Trapped in an ever-shifting reality, Maisie knows that she will have to use the laws of the universe and the love of her family to survive. And even that might not be enough...
A mind-bending mystery for anyone who's ever asked questions.
Mini Police
This year we are taking part in a new scheme led by Derbyshire Constabulary. The children will have weekly sessions with our local PCSOs as well as visiting guests, where we will learn all about what the police do and how we can take a more active role in our local community.
Curriculum
Come and take a look at all the amazing work we've been doing this half term!
Geography
To begin our geography unit on The Amazon, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Dave, who has visited the Amazon and South America many, many times. Dave brought along some friends with him (both dead and alive!), as well as his collection of rare artefacts. Many of the children (and adults!) conquered their fears and held a collection of fascinating invertebrates. We also learnt about the threats to the Amazon and the indigenous tribes that call it home. Furthermore, we learned about deforestation and what passionate people are doing to protect the rainforest. We had an unforgettable day!
Science
Space Week 2023
For Space Week, we are thinking about the question: is there anyone out there? We have been finding out about Mars and investigating the possibility of life on Mars. Take a look at some of the exciting activities we have been taking part in this week.
This half term, we have been learning about evolution and inheritance. For one of our lessons we thought about the adaptations that a small animal or insect would need to survive in our classroom. The children then designed their own imaginary creatures with adaptations such as big eyes to see in the dark, to enable it to hide away from danger in the dark corners.
Writing
To begin Year 6, we are studying a beautiful picture book called Thornhill. We shall be writing our own horror narrative and we began our learning by thinking about which horror books, magazines or films we may know. We discussed our first impressions of Ella and Thornhill, using the pictures and description in the book to help.
We wrote some cool raps about what would happen if we brought our pets to school!
Art and design
We are learning about photography and different uses of photographs in artwork this half term. We began the unit by looking at the work of Chris Plowman, who created a famous piece of art uses cheese graters to imitate a city skyline. The children then created their own city scape using photographs of everyday objects to represent the buildings. In the next lesson we learnt about macro photography, and the children practised using the different filters on the iPads to desaturate the photos and create monochrome images.
Computing
The half term, our computing unit is all about e-safety. We have been learning about keeping our data safe online, being kind online and identifying fake information. Take a look at these posters that were created about how to “be brave online”.
Useful Information