Year 6
Year 6 are taught by Miss McGowan and Miss Ringwood.
Planning - Year 6 curriculum 2021-22
Our planning overview for the term can be found here.
Year 6 residential - July 2022
In July 2022 we are going on an incredible residential to PGL Bawdsey Manor! The initial information letter can be found here.
Information about the COVID cancellation insurance and policy can be found here.
Escape Room Games
This half term our year 6 class have been working hard to develop their understanding and knowledge of coding. We used Scratch as the main platform to code the games which we had designed. However, we demonstrated that we were able to combine software to create our own background for each room.
Can you escape??
Hansel and Gretel - The Trial
TEASER TRAILER - 5th February
On Thursday 10th February we welcomed Rob from Past Productions to year 6! He led a fantastic day to teach us more about the historical journey of Crime and Punishment. We started back in Roman times, learnt about honour in Viking times, picked up some ideas about Medieval torture and met a real-life Executioner (not really!)
RE
Our Spring term focus in RE is whether Religion brings Peace, Conflict or Both. Reverend Lynn kindly came to work with the class on Tuesday 25th January to talk about Christian beliefs. The children really enjoyed the session!
Reading
This year we are going to celebrate reading for pleasure in year 6 using Padlet. Click here to add information about the book you are reading!
After looking at The Three Little Pigs, we read Hansel and Gretel. We identified the main characters and decided to go take Hansel and Gretel to court to decide whether they killed the witch on purpose, or in self-defence. On Friday 28th January, we held our trial. We filmed it, and will be editing the video next week to release to the wider school community - who will act as our jury and decide, once and for all, whether Hansel and Gretel were in the right, or in the wrong!
We kick-started January by using The Three Little Pigs as a stimulus... but not as you know it! No huffing or puffing here! On Thursday 13th January, we looked at a selection of images from 'the crime' and had to decide who the victims were, who the suspects were, and what the crime could be! We worked incredibly well in pairs and had great fun!
It's late in Autumn term and we are studying Beowulf, the epic poem.
On 19th November, we wrote news reports about the events that unfolded between Beowulf, Grendel and/or the Sea-Hag. Mia decided to create a stop motion animation to help summarise the story.
On 11th November, we wrote character profiles of Beowulf. We had some fantastic designs, including this piece from Ethan, which also includes Grendel - Beowulf's first target.
On Monday 1st November, we read the beginning and learned about King Hrothgar and his mead-hall. We wrote formal invitations to the noble Thanes, asking them to join us for celebrations. On Tuesday 2nd November, we looked at what the text told us about Grendel the monster - how he moves, his appearance, his effect on others and his personality. This then led on to us developing character descriptions of him, which included the settings and atmosphere too.
W/C 20th September has seen us focussing on A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. We are reading the stunning illustrated version, and have been interpreting the story so far to make our own predictions of what we think will happen next. This story is definitely making us consider whether everything is as it seems... 'should we believe everything we read or see?' Our writing has seen us trying to create atmosphere, as well as experimenting with various sentence structures.
We kickstarted our writing this year by reading The Mediterranean by Armin Greder. This book contains only one sentence! But it is incredibly powerful and is illustrated beautifully. Have a look at some of this incredible writing...
Maths
Please see our coverage here for Maths for the Autumn Term in Explorer class.
Any of the topics which we have covered can be practiced on Maths Shed (just remember to look for the correct topic area before you begin!) You need to select 'Stage 6', Maths Shed have placed the shape work into section in 'Summer Term Block 1', and our number work in 'Autumn Block 2'.
Exploring Geometry
This half term in maths we have been focusing on shape. As part of this, we have been building our conceptual understanding of prisms by creating our own using playdough. We experimented to see which types of shapes would be of equal shape and size when cut at a cross section. We found that a sphere couldn't be a prism as when we cut it, all of the pieces were different sizes. We also tested to see if it made a difference to the shape depending on the direction of the cross section which we cut. Through this, we were able to explore the terms area, volume, parallel, Edges, vertices, faces, 3D and 2D.
Let there be light!
This half term Explorers have been learning all about light, and how it travels. We set up experiments to prove how light travels, we looked at silhouettes and shadows and created our own periscope, linked to our learning about the Myth of Pericles and Medusa. We were also challenging our perceptions against the question "Should we believe everything we see?" by exploring optical illusions.
After our initial prints, which taught us a lot, we came up with some new designs. The brief was '3 designs to tell a story' and the story was based on twisting traditional fairytales. This time we really wanted to experiment - printing on fabric, tissue, tissue paper, cartridge paper, black card... We then made mini art galleries to keep our designs together and display them!
We have moved on in our printmaking unit to the practical! We started by creating a simple design and cutting it into polystyrene printing sheets, which we then printed using inks and rollers. It was really interesting to see our outcomes - which lines and patterns had worked well, and which were not so successful.
On Monday 10th January we began our printmaking unit by looking at the life and works of Fritz Eichenberg. We researched his techniques (he was an illustrator and created art using woodcuts) and responded to some of his images.
During October, we studied surrealism and focused on Salvador Dali and his mythology series. We responded using collage, as well as experimenting with inks and pen.
Cooking
On Friday 28th January year 6 put their chef skills to the test! Earlier in the week, we watched a LYFTA video about a family from Finland who were originally from Somalia. During the video, the mother shared a recipe for a traditional meat stew and we decided to make some! We did all the preparation, cooking and serving, and enjoyed it as part of our lunch.
DT
On Tuesday 11th January, we kickstarted our DT unit for the term. We began by learning about linkages and levers.
We are experimenting with mechanisms to begin with, so that we have a good understanding of the different types (linkages, levers, pulleys...). Later in the term, we will then be responding to a brief using these mechanisms.
Photography
On Monday 8th December, we visited East Norfolk Sixth Form College and took part in a photography workshop. We used a long exposure to draw with light, we used a camera obscura to create our own distinguished portraits, and we used the dark room to develop our own photographs. It was a fantastic day... have a look at some of our creations below.
Woodland visits
Explorers have had a blast extending their learning in our outside woodland space this Autumn Term.
We've learned about fire safety, eaten toasted marshmallows, used saws and tools to cut wood, played the harp, mixed natural and man-made pigments with water and mud to paint the tree stump seating... even played djembes!
