Year 6

On Monday 26^th February, Year 6 were visited by Dr Amanda Hartley from the Little Story Telling Company. The session linked to our current science learning on evolution and inheritance. The workshop started by blasting off in to space to study a planet of aliens. The aliens have different adaptations to help them survive on the planet. The session taught the children about evolution, natural selection and inheritance in a fun and interactive way. We ended the workshop with a question and answer session where the children could share knowledge that they had along with opportunities to ask Dr Hartley questions.

Year six have been learning about World War 2 as part of our history and English curriculums. We started our topic by learning about the events that led up to the war, and have spent the first half term learning about how life changed for ordinary people during the war period, especially during The Blitz. We have been reading Carrie’s War which has helped in our understanding of evacuation and rationing. We were able to use our knowledge of the war to do some amazing writing in English. We imagined ourselves as soldiers in the Normandy Landings, writing a letter home to loved ones, describing the feelings and experiences of being there; we used a short film called “Beyond the Lines” to support our understanding. We also wrote some instructions on how to survive in an air-raid, using a formal style of language.

In RE we learnt about Judaism, and the suffering of the Jewish population of Europe during the Holocaust. We thought about how different people turn to God in various ways during times of suffering, using texts from the Old Testament and reading the writing of Anne Frank and Simon Winston – two Jews who lived through the Holocaust. Simon Winston survived but Anne Frank sadly, did not.

In science we learnt about animals, including humans. We have been able to understand how the circulatory and digestive systems work, and did an investigation into how exercise affects our heart rate and general well- being. We also learnt about how to maintain a healthy life style.

In PE we have been doing Real PE and basket- ball and in music we have been learning some soul songs and adding a musical accompaniment.

On Tuesday 6^th June year 6 were treated to “A World War II mystery “. Dr Amanda Hartley planned an interactive lecture style workshop based on solving a DNA identity case, just as it would be solved in a DNA testing laboratory. She told the story of two children whose Granny was moving in with them. She married during the war but her husband died in battle. She never spoke about him and his identity has remained a mystery in the family. When moving Granny’s things, the children discovered a shoe box full of love letters, a locket and photos. They traced their grandfather’s family who gave them some of his old things. She spoke to the children about how we would obtain DNA from the items given to them (a ration book, army uniform and gas mask) and prove that the man in the photographs really is their grandfather. This was a very interactive and visual session with children finding out additional information about RAF pilots in World War II, and how we can use science to answer questions about the past.

This half term, as part of our design and technology learning, we cooked a vegetarian cottage pie. We used a variety of skills including: cutting, dicing, peeling, mashing and weighing and measuring accurately. We worked in groups to weigh our ingredients and followed the recipe closely. Once the mixture was prepared, we layered the mashed potatoes on top and sprinkled with cheese. When the cheese was bubbling and golden we knew it was ready! We left the pies to cool and then evaluated our food by taste testing. We really enjoyed them!

Some of the children in year 6 have been doing some extra challenging work in their learning on fractions and decimals. We looked at this problem from NRICH and spent some time working on solving it. We then had to write our answers in fractions and decimals.

Erin in GG6 went home and continued to work on the problem and found the solution!

Some of the Year 6 children were given a challenge to make a board game to play with some younger children. They worked together to make the game, rules and playing pieces. In the afternoon they took these to share with the Year 2 children. The children joined in enthusiastically with the board games and it was an excellent opportunity for some peer working in different year groups. The children all worked well together and particularly enjoyed working with the year 6 children. the Year 6 children demonstrated excellent leadership and also careful explanations and patience towards the Year 2, as well as being very encouraging and supportive.