Year 6
Homework will be sent out on a Thursday, to be handed in on the following Tuesday.
Please support in ensuring your child reads at least 5x a week, in encouraging them to use Doodle regularly at home.
Autumn 1
Fight, Flight or Freeze?
This half term, our project (which was inspired by the story 'Varjak Paw' by S. F. Said) will explore the importance of having an identity (Article 8, UNCRC), dealing with conflict and belonging as part of a team, as the children settled in to their Year 6 classes.
Throughout the project, we will explore the key characters in the story, discussing our responses as to how Varjak is treated in his own family home, where he struggles desperately to fit in for being 'different'. As principled Manor Field learners, we will debate whether or not Varjak should risk leaving his family home for the outside world, whilst considering how the story related to our own behaviours and relationships...
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Autumn 2
Ambassadors for Change!
Throughout our project, we used David Attenborough’s film “A life on our planet” as an initial stimulus to inform us of the impact that human choices have on our environment; this inspired us when writing our own persuasive speeches for a better world. As geographers, we explored some of the different biomes around the world, in order to evaluate how they are struggling and changing over time, and to discuss which type of biome would be best to live in.
Spring 1
A Matter of Curiosity...?
For the first part of the half term, we will be studying the powerful, award-winning and timely book 'The Island' by Armin Greder. Throughout the book study, we will discuss the themes of belonging, community and prejudice, responding in a variety of ways, before working in teams to produce 'The Island Law'.
During our science week, we will use 'Until I met Dudley' as a stimulus for writing explanation texts linked to Mr Cushing's teaching about how water rockets work, including the forces that and on a rocket before, during and after flight.
Finally, we will use 'His Dark Materials' and 'The Northern Lights' by Philip Pullman, in order to explore how authors use and manipulate language to convey setting and character through their narratives. Linked to our central idea, we will look at how Pullman uses multi-faceted characters to engage, but also educate, his audience. We will then write our own adventure narratives in the writer's style.
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Spring 2
Tales of Times Forgotten!
This half term, we were historians! We explored what life was like for the Maya, who lived in Central America thousands of years ago - some of whom still follow Mayan traditions today. Through our history sessions, we researched and presented our understanding about what life was like, focusing particularly on their successes, and also considering the range of theories about the mysterious disappearance and decline of the civilisation. We questioned: Were the Maya really civilised or were they actually barbarians? We explored the many different interpretations of the Maya through time (including questions that still remain unanswered today). Through our English sessions will presented persuasive pitches linked to Mayan weaponry, as well as writing a narrative extract inspired by 'The Curse of the Maya'. Finally, the children created their own Mayan cities in the form of a non-chronological text, which they shared with each other.
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Year 6 Spring 2
Summer 1
What's the 'Real' Truth?
During the first part of the summer term, we were once again historians! This time, we explored, and evaluated, the impact of World War 2 (1939-1945) on our local area, considering how children and their rights were affected during the time. Analysing a range of primary and secondary sources, we considered why the war began and which countries were involved, as well as what life was like for local civilians. As well as this, we looked at how Basingstoke differed Geographically in the 1940s compared to today. To gain an insight into what WWII was like across the world, we used the powerful book 'Rose Blanche', by Roberto Innocenti, in our English lessons. We took on a variety of characters' viewpoints to produce a range of powerful pieces of writing.
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Summer 2