Year 6 - Spring 1 - Week 5
Date: 28th Jan 2022 @ 3:56pm
We are over halfway through another half-term in Year 6…where is the time going?!
This week, the children have created some remarkable pieces of writing personifying the seasons of the year. Rightly, they are very proud of their pieces! To accompany their writing, the children also studied the abstract art of Peter Thorpe. Although he is more famous for artwork linked to the theme of space, the children took inspiration from his abstract style and chose colours that fit the theme of their chosen season to create their own abstract pieces. They really are impressive!
On Friday, the children entered class to the sound of some eerie music with candles lit all around. They thought carefully about what they could hear and the images that came to mind before thinking of expanded noun phrases would help describe their thoughts. Next week, we will be writing a descriptive piece on a spooky house…based on the children’s ideas on Friday, it is set to produce some of their best writing yet!
In Science this week, the children concluded their learning about electricity by learning about three types of variables; independent, dependent and control variables. They then designed their own investigations and chose what their independent and control variables were. They checked their predictions out by carrying out the investigation and noted the outcome of their dependent variable.
On Thursday, we had a PSHE lesson all about the impact of words on our mental health. To begin, we were introduced to two new members of class: Adam the Apple and Aaron the Apple. The children were told to be really kind to Adam and say nice things to him but were instructed to laugh at Aaron and tease him. Unfortunately, when we revealed how they looked on the inside afterwards, Aaron was rotten. The children understood the important message of this initial activity: words can hurt. We also thought about how some of us had joined in on the teasing because others had; we connected our thinking back to one of Hedi Argent’s stories last Friday about how a girl called Gurty had played with her when nobody else would. We discussed the word ‘legacy’ and thought about what kind of legacy we would like to leave when we finish our journey at Trinity St. Peter’s. Would everyone remember us for being kind? Would some disagree with that? If so, how could we use these two terms to change some opinions? Do we follow others’ path or do we create our own? Which is more important?
Our final activity was to anonymously write down some of our insecurities. We acknowledged that sometimes we can tease our friends in a playful manner - believing that everyone is enjoying the joke - but it may be the case that what we are teasing somebody about is actually their biggest insecurity, or an insecurity of somebody else in the group, which could make them feel sad or ashamed. Therefore, it was a chance to share the comments we would not like to be brought up about ourselves at this moment in time. When we shared everyone’s responses, the class was silent. Firstly, we were surprised to see so many of the same insecurities mentioned repeatedly by different pupils. This ended up being rather reassuring to learn that we are not alone in our worries. However, we were also surprised by some of insecurities listed and pointed out a few that we would never have assumed could hurt someone’s feelings. We then agreed that we wouldn’t use any of the words / examples mentioned as we could risk hurting someone’s feelings without realising. Overall, it was a very thoughtful lesson that gave the children lots to think about. A sense of togetherness was certainly cemented – so much so, we came up with our own class chant at the end of the lesson!
Children are aware of what their homework is for this week and next week’s spellings are on Google Classroom.
Have a great weekend, everyone!