Hello and welcome to Year 6!

Class Teacher: Mrs Try
Class Support: Mrs Jackson
 

Welcome back!
Welcome back to school and to the New Year - I hope you are ready for lots of hard work!
This term we will be using the book Kensuke's Kingdom to focus our studies in English and geography. This will include investigating rivers and oceans, developing our knowledge of Japan and will involve finding out about some famous Japanese people. 
We will also be doing some work relating to World book Day in March. For this, the children have been asked to find out about an author. They will need to present their work to the class just after the half term holiday. This project can take any form - a PowerPoint, a speech, a scrap-book or a poster, for example. I look forward to seeing what they come up with. 

There will be an increased focus on SAT's preparation this term so that the children are ready to 'show off' when the time comes. Revision book will be on sale shortly - keep an eye on the newsletter for further details in the coming weeks. These books will be for home use, though I am happy to explain things if need be.

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Notices...
Just a reminder to ensure your child STILL reads at least three times a week! If they are highly competent, they don't need to read to you each time, but must discuss what they are reading to ensure understanding. Please encourage them to read a range of books, not just the 'easy' ones, so that they become more familiar with a range of text types. We have expanded our home reading range to include a lot more variety, so there will be something for everyone.

Please note that PE has changed to a Thursday afternoon as we have Kidderminster Harrier's in to deliver their Healthy Kick Start program. Our Outdoor Learning session remains every other Thursday morning with Miss Bassett.
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Homework.
Homework will be set each week on a Tuesday and needs to be returned into school the following Monday.
A list of spellings will also be sent home each week. These words need to be written out at least a further 2 times and also placed into a sentence that is correctly punctuated. Please be aware we will also be using the weekly spellings in class, so that the children become very familiar with them. This enables us to learn 'harder' spellings which will improve our writing.

 Useful revision links:
Math Antics - an american video that explains percentages really nicely. He does other areas of maths too!
www.mathplayground.com/ From the home page, select the area you'd like to practice and play the game!
​uk.ixl.com_/ Select the area you'd like to work on - limited access on a daily basis 
The Grammarsaurus Blog - this is a facebook page unfortunately, but has some very good information about grammar! He also has some great videos that explain different concepts, such as subordinating conjunctions. These can be found on You Tube
SPAG practice site - this site requires registration, but just sign up for the free trial! Great practice for the SPAG paper.
TopMarks - a site with lots of maths games - just pick an area for practice and play!
BBC Bitesize - lots of help with many different areas

Homework

Homework is an important part of school life and helps children build their confidence in key skills. In year 6 homework will consist of combinations of the following ideas:

Reading independently and to others (approx. 15 - 20 minutes per night)
Weekly spellings
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG) activities
Consolidation of number bonds and multiplication facts
Research tasks

Last year we made some 'How to' videos to help others with their addition, and hope to do some more this year too:

  Mrs Try

Photos

Class 6 Trips and Visits

 

Flip Learning 

This year we will be exploring teaching and learning in different ways. One of the methods we will be using is called 'flip learning'. This involves the children learning something at home using the internet and then applying this back in school. The main benefit of this style of learning is that we can spend more time deepening knowledge and correcting misconceptions. Plus we get to 'do' more in class, rather than just sitting and being passive learners! You will all understand the idea more, the more we do it. This short video will help explain it.

Problem Solving 1 - using simpler numbers

Problem Solving 2 - using a table

Pie Charts 1

Pie Charts 2

Practice your maths:

Have a look at these interactive numeracy games - some are great!!

Yet more practice! Choose your skill and have a go!

Practice your rounding skills here!
Practice ordering numbers here!

 

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