6T Fab 5 and Pupil of the week 

This term we are learning about: 

Maths

Year 6 are getting back into the routine of tackling a different area of maths each day. Monday is number, Tuesday fractions, Thursday calculation and Friday measurement. We continue to use a challenge based system and work through the level of difficulty suited to each child. We then follow up with either a DIRT or MUD question the following week. On Wednesdays we go over CLICs, Learn Its and SAFE from Big Maths. Children will bring these home each week to practise any errors to improve the week after. 

Reading 

Skimming and scanning techniques to find the information quickly. How to infer meaning from the text that is not obvious and how to word answers to questions more effectively to get more marks. We are starting Year 6 by reading Who Let the Gods out by Maz Evans. We are sequencing events from different chapters and learning more about the main character Elliot. We have also been focusing on improving our vocabulary by analysing the words used in the text. 

We will also be revising grammar and spelling.  

Writing 

Our writing will be built up over 4 weeks and is also related to the book by Maz Evans which we are reading. We are revising writing codes, sequencing Elliot's day and looking at sentence openers before we retell the first two chapters in our own words.  We are also planning out ideas and how we can edit and improve these as authors do with their own work. This will be using our knowledge of all punctuation marks as well as using spellings from the Y5/6 spelling list where appropriate. Following this, we will be writing a set of instructions related to Greek mythology and the Minotaur. 

Science 

Our topic this half term is living things and their habitats. This includes looking at conditions for life, group organisms, classifying animals and plants, micro-organisms and Carl Linnaeus. 

Geography and History 

We are looking at teaching the foundation subjects in isolation this year, to focus more on the skills involved in each curriculum strand.

Our geography this half term is focusing on Touring the UK, so Year 6 are focusing on Belfast. We are learning about its human and physical features and what makes it a good port. We will also revise grid referencing using maps of Belfast. 

In history, we are looking at the ancient civilisation of the Greeks. Not only will we explore key events from this ancient time like the Olympics, but we will also look at how they created their own constitution which lay the groundwork for democracy that we see today.   

Spellings 

Spelling tests take place each week on a Friday. 

These spellings are words that have been on the previous Y6 SATS for the grammar paper. Please practise them carefully and look at the rules being revised as they will no doubt also come up on your SATS this year. 

                Year 6 members of staff 

Maths dictionary link

http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/dictionary.html