September 2015
Dear Parents and Children,
Welcome to a Year 6! I am very much looking forward to teaching this class again, and, as I know the children so well already, we are in a perfect position to launch straight into the new curriculum and get a head start.
Year 6 is a little different to every other year in primary school. We will be working towards the SATs in May so there will be a little more of an emphasis on English (reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar) and Maths. We will, of course, still be continuing our topic work, science, music, PE and French etc. lessons throughout the year.
Our English lessons this term will be centered around two very different texts. We will be starting with ‘There’s A Boy In The Girl’s Bathroom’ by Louis Sachar which should hopefully inspire lots of writing from the point of view of a very confused fifth-grader called Bradley Chalkers. After that, we will link together our Topic work with our English and make a study of a narrative version of the longest epic poem written in Old English, ‘Beowulf’. The version we will study is by Michael Morpurgo with excellent illustrations by Michael Foreman.
To complement Y6’s text studies we will be working hard on revising and learning new punctuation, grammar and spelling rules and conventions. These are a prominent part of the New Curriculum and it is essential that we spend the time getting to grips with these!
Topic and English will be intertwined over the course of this term; our trip to Lindisfarne, the site of the first Viking raid on our country in 793, should provide a real incentive to write both fiction and non-fiction.
Other aspects of Viking life we will look at will be where they came from and where they raided and settled. We will also look closely at the struggle for power in England between the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons and the eventual unification of our country. In DT we will endeavor to look closely at the design on a Viking longship, evaluate it for its effectiveness and try to make our own!
PE will be taken by an external coach on Monday afternoons and by Mrs. Arthur on Friday afternoons – she is well known for her fast-paced, dynamic, competitive PE lessons so this should prove to be fun for all!
Science this term will be focused on the circulatory system i.e. the function of the heart, lungs, veins, arteries and capillaries and on keeping healthy by looking at the effects of alcohol, drugs and lack of exercise on the body.
Weekly homework will be sent home every Wednesday – this could be English, Maths or a combination of both. Children will receive a homework book which should be used to record all homework and should be treated just like an exercise book in school i.e. neat handwriting in blue pen, dated and underlined etc. Homework books should be returned every Monday. Spelling books will also be sent home on Wednesdays to be completed and returned by the following Monday. All children should have a reading book at all times – this book should be a book that interests and challenges you / your child. It is entirely the children’s responsibility to change these as needed. Reading diaries should be written in regularly by both the children themselves and parents.
The door to Y6 will be opened every morning at 8.30, children are very welcome to come in to our classroom at that time to get themselves sorted for the day and to make an early start on work.
All children should have a water bottle, clearly named, in school at all times which should be taken home regularly to wash!
If you need any further information or have any questions or concerns at any time, the Y6 door will be open from 8.30 every morning and at 3.15 every evening – feel free to catch me then,
Thank you
Mrs. M Todd
