Year 6 Newsletter
Terms 1 + 2
2019/20
Mr Shipley and Mrs Stewart are excited to welcome the children back to school to start their final year at Weldon in Year 6. We hope you have all had a wonderful summer and that the children are ready for a fun and hardworking year; one which I am sure will be productive, successful and full of good memories. We will be off to an adventurous start with our first theme ‘Jurassic Park’ Our first term will be filled with engaging lessons with excellent chances to learn and work on becoming independent students ready for the future.
Our vision is to…
Below is an outline of what your child will be learning in Terms 1 & 2 (until Christmas) and any other information that will help you support your child.
TOPIC - this term will have a focus on Jurassic park, this entails learning about fossils, dinosaurs, evolution, inheritance and adaptation. Year 6 will be learning all about how the dinosaurs came and went as well as what evidence they left behind, along with this how they humans have evolved from the beginning of time and what impact that has on them.
SCIENCE – our science heavily links to our topic, the children this year will get hands on opportunities in class to see what it is like to be a paelontologist. We shall also be conducting a range of fair tests and investigations.
ENGLISH - This year we will continue using ‘Talk for Writing’ (T4W) throughout our lessons. This is based on the thinking and creative processes involved in ‘being a writer’, including knowing how to generate and develop ideas; drawing on a breadth of reading and understanding how to draft, refine and improve writing. Your child will be learning about a different range of genres, however our first focus is on warning tales. This will be based around the text the caravan; we will draw on wider reading to support our learning of this text. Later in the term we will be looking at reports as a non-fiction text
MATHS – We will be working hard this term to ensure that we are have a strong understanding of the maths curriculum. Children will be expected to develop their learning from previous years in ks2; our first focus will be to secure and develop place value knowledge and the four main operations. During this time, the children will be encouraged to use maths equipment, draw pictures and use abstract approaches to help them solve maths challenges and demonstrate their understanding in greater depth. It goes without saying that ALL pupils should be fluent in their times tables up to 12 x 12, in random order, by the end of Year 4. With that in mind, I urge you to encourage your son/daughter to practise them every night for a few minutes.
COMPUTING – This term we will focus on e safety and making sure that your children know how to keep safe when online. Computers will also be used regularly to support our topic work; being used for research and creating fact files using word processor and ppt.
RE – This term we will focus on Humanism, the main beliefs and influential figures within the religion.
PSHE/MINDFULNESS – We will be following Unit 1 of the Jigsaw PSHE programme. We will also be exploring how mindfulness can help us relax and focus on the ‘here and now’. We will learn some breathing strategies to help us unwind when we may be feeling anxious or overwhelmed and it is hoped that these lessons will become part of your child’s every day coping mechanism.
P.E. – will take place on Wednesdays afternoons and Friday mornings. Each week we will have an indoor and outdoor session. Outdoor we will be undertaking multi skills lessons working on a range of skills that can benefit all team sports. Indoor lessons will focus on fitness, different fitness games and exercises to encourage sporting participation, personal best and hopefully promoting a love of sport and healthy lifestyle.
Please remember to take your child’s earrings out on PE days if they are unable to remove their own earrings otherwise they will be excluded from PE for health and safety reasons. Any long hair/long fringes need to be tied up with hair bands. Remember to include a pair of socks if your child wears tights. PE kits will be sent home every term for washing.
Please ensure all clothing, such as sweatshirts, cardigans, PE kits and footwear are clearly labelled.
HOMEWORK - Homework is given out on Thursday and to be returned no later than the following Tuesday. Please encourage your children to aim for high levels of presentation, as with any other schoolwork. For example, Maths should be completed in pencil and include written methods where indicated and English books should be completed in black pen with joined handwriting and complete sentences where applicable.
As part of your children’s homework your child should be reading at home for at least 10 minutes every day. This will also help to encourage their love of reading. It is also important that you listen to your child read out loud 3 times a week; helping them with punctuation, expression, fluency and developing inference skills. We encourage you to write down how your children is getting on with their reading at home when you listen to them in their reading records.
ASSEMBLY - Celebration assembly will continue to be held on Thursday afternoons. Please refer to the assembly schedule on our school website for any further information. Our class assembly will be our Leaver’s Assembly on the children’s last day at our school.
WATER BOTTLES
We welcome your children having water bottles in school however, due to limited time and water machines we have asked Year 6 children to take their bottles home every night and fill them up before coming to school the following morning. This allows your child to then access teaching and learning promptly in the morning.
HEALTHY SNACK
May we please remind families that children are welcome to bring a 'healthy snack' to school to eat during their break. As an Enhanced Healthy School, we encourage all children to eat either a piece of fresh/dried fruit or vegetable, when children bring biscuits or crisps they will be asked to save them to eat at lunchtime. Thank you for supporting our school with being healthy!
PARENT’S EVENINGS
We would like the opportunity to meet with you and discuss your child’s needs and progress. Two evenings are to be held on the 16th and 17th October. However, if you wish to discuss your child’s learning before this, or at any other time, you are welcome to make an appointment. If you need to speak with either teacher before school please ask at the school office first, thank you.
Best Wishes
Mr Shipley
Year 6 Teacher