Year 6 Team: Mr M King (Class Teacher), Mrs L Martin Miss Osborne : Blog items
Date: 29th Apr 2022 @ 4:09pm
The sun is shining and our spirits are high in Year 6!
This week, we have been working hard on preparing for our SATs papers in two weeks. In Maths, we have continued to practise our arithmetic skills while also revising various topics including: multiplying and dividing decimals; Roman numerals, algebra and shape. We have done this through a variety of activities and games. For example, on Wednesday, Mr King’s group enjoyed taking part in a ‘whodunit?’ problem-solving investigation and on Thursday they became the teachers as they marked a fictitious child’s reasoning paper - which encouraged them to explain their understanding to others and also notice errors that children can make when sitting assessments!
In Reading, we have worked on a range of skills, such as how to decide on the author’s intention and purpose for writing a piece of text. We have also consolidated our understanding of what a question means when it begins, “What impression do you get…?” The children have been worked incredibly hard on enhancing their reading skills and we continue to be so impressed by their work ethic.
Wednesday’s swimming session was ‘a bit different’ to the usual session as it centred around survival techniques! The children were rather giddy as they walked onto poolside in their pyjamas / additional clothing but thoroughly enjoyed challenging themselves by treading water and trying to remove their wet clothing. They will continue to practise these skills next week as well, so should bring their extra clothing in again next Wednesday if possible.
The children are aware of what their homework is for this week. No additional tasks have been set on SATs Companion as there are still many set tasks to complete, including practice assessments. The children should take some time continue to work on their individual targets in the ‘Practice’ section or in their CGP books, doing as much as they feel they need to do / want to do.
We hope the sunshine continues over this long weekend and hope everyone has an enjoyable three days away from the classroom. See you all on Tuesday!
Date: 22nd Apr 2022 @ 3:37pm
A short, first week back…but still plenty to talk about!
On Tuesday, we welcomed the children back after the Easter break. The children enjoyed sharing their latest adventures and stories with one another!
In recognition of Earth Day 2022, this week the children enjoyed spending time with their Reception buddies over in Forest School. Together the children undertook a big class litter pick, teaching their buddies the importance of taking care of their environment. On Friday, we discussed in more detail why we have Earth Day and what its main purpose is before taking in the Blue Planet Live lesson.
In Maths, Mr King’s group have focused on geometry, particularly translation and reflection and how to use a mirror to support them with the latter. They also revisited ratio to learn about scale factors and how to solve problems involving these. Mrs Martin’s group also worked on data handling and reflection and translation.
Our swimming lessons resumed on Wednesday, which served as a welcome relief from the warm weather! Mr King’s group briefly recapped some key technique points for front crawl and backstroke, before moving into breaststroke, while the rest of the children focused on their backstroke technique. Hopefully all parents have received a message via School Spider regarding next week’s lesson: children will need pyjamas or spare clothes to do some life skill / survival practice.
Mr Brindley also returned this week. Having heard about how well the children had done in their tag rugby lessons last term, he wanted to see it for himself in preparation for secondary school! The children enjoyed revising their skills again, as well as playing a few, new warm-up games beforehand.
The children are aware of what their homework for this week is. Spellings have also been set on Google Classroom for next week. They also have additional tasks set on SATs Companion – as well as their CGP books – if they wish to do any further revision at home.
Love Reading have chosen their 'top book picks' for April and May. More, highly-rated children's reads, from a variety of authors for different age ranges, are shared with us all to enjoy.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 31st Mar 2022 @ 9:38am
The Easter break has arrived!
Several Easter events and activities took place throughout the week, including the Easter Service on Thursday morning at Holy Trinity Church; a visit from the Easter Bunny and an Easter-themed, active Maths lesson on Friday morning, where – once again – the teachers’ chicken costumes returned. It is hard to believe that it has already been a year since our last Easter Maths challenge!
Also in Maths this week, all the children revised their understanding of various calculations involving decimals (particularly multiplication calculations such as 4.32 x 5 and 0.2 x 0.03) and recalled which methods and strategies they would use to solve each problem. We then moved onto measurement and focused on converting between mm, cm, m and km before trying some tricky reasoning problems involving distance. The Year 6 Maths Knowledge sheet can be found in the virtual classroom on Google Classroom and has been attached to this blog. It would be really helpful for your child if they can recall all the mathematical facts on that sheet to support them in their reasoning challenges.
We have continued to read our class book, ‘The Lion Above the Door’ by Onjali Rauf. The children have enjoyed hearing the latest part of the novel, which has centred around Leo and his friends coming up with a scheme to obtain records about former RAF soldiers from a museum. A particular highlight this week has been the children adding their own ‘layers’ to each character by requesting particular voices for each one. Despite not being set in Liverpool, we now have a very scouse character named Olivia and have laughed hysterically at Bo’s girlfriend, Jules, who we are told is going through ‘hormones’ and so now has an incredibly deep voice!
Last week, we were lucky enough to receive a delivery of tree stumps, which have been placed in the small garden area behind the bike shed. The children enjoyed taking some time this week to use the space to read independently and a group of children also chose to use this area to practise mindfulness, while others took part in the ‘Mindful Mile’ on the field and others opted to do some mindfulness colouring.
Our final day of term brought plenty of laughter as it was April Fool's Day! Despite the children's best efforts - including spicy cupcakes and rearranging the classroom at break time - they were no match for the teachers! Firstly, the children were given false information about Google updating Maps and allowed to come up with their own 'Easter Egg' formation on the playground...to only wait for a considerable period of time! They were then given some rather underwhelming 'brownies' at break time and an unsolvable wordsearch. There were plenty of humorous groans of frustration heard throughout the morning!
The children are aware of their homework tasks. Extra tasks have been set on SATs Companion for over the Easter break, in addition to the assessments already set. Spelling lists have been attached to this blog once more, but can also be found in the ‘virtual classroom’ section on Google Classroom. We encourage the children to do as much as they are comfortable with, but please remember that mental health is the priority and SATs Week is not something to be worrying about – especially given the last couple of the years.
We hope you all have a lovely Easter break!
Date: 25th Mar 2022 @ 12:18pm
It is hard to believe that we only have one more week of another half-term in Year 6!
On Monday, we celebrated World Poetry Day! The children loved watching the legendary poet, Michael Rosen, give tips on how to perform poetry. After reading through an anthology of poems (ranging from Christina Rosetti to Ken Nesbitt), the children then chose a poem to perform to the class. It was a great celebration of our love of language and an afternoon which was enjoyed by all!
In Maths, Mr King’s group has focused on coordinates, in particular identifying coordinates across quadrants and finding missing coordinates of different shapes. In Mrs Martin’s group, the focus has been on algebra; the children then also revised coordinates towards the end of the week. Next week, both groups will be revising measurement. It would be helpful if the children could refer back to the KS2 Maths Knowledge Organiser (attached to the ‘virtual classroom’ on Google Classroom) over the weekend so that they already some knowledge of measurement facts before the lesson, e.g. number of millilitres in a litre; how many kilometres are equivalent to a mile.
In SPaG, we have continued to revise all the different terminology through a variety of activities. Games on Blooket and Gimkit have continued to both engage and excite the children…particularly those that involve sabotaging each other! ‘Trust No One’ also appears to be a firm favourite as it very similar to the popular game, ‘Among Us’. We have also worked through past papers, but in a more informal way where we have answered questions in small chunks and had opportunities to discuss and explain our answers to our peers.
The children’s stamina in swimming has continued to improve. The number of laps of the pool we are completing is continuing to increase and it has been great to see some children really challenging themselves with individual targets (e.g. completing a length of the pool without touching the side). The same can be said for our running warm-ups in PE; the children are continuing to push themselves each week and either improve their finishing time for two laps of the field, or ensuring that they do not stop for a break until a further point than the week before. Hopefully, through these activities, we are learning that sometimes the real competition is with ourselves more so than each other!
Having said that - while on the subject of competition - a special ‘well done’ to those children who competed in the tag rugby festival on Thursday afternoon and girls’ football tournament on Friday afternoon. Both teams put in a tremendous effort and – as always – continued to make us extremely proud.
Homework and spellings for this week can be found in the usual places. We hope you all have a lovely weekend - particularly Mother’s Day on Sunday – and enjoy the cards which the children made for you in class this week. A special ‘thank you’ to Team TSP too for setting up the present room once again and giving the children the opportunity to purchase presents for loved ones while in school.
See you all on Monday!
Date: 17th Mar 2022 @ 8:44pm
The sun has been shining and our spirits have been high in Year 6 this week!
Wednesday’s Collective Worship was led by Anne and it was all about St. Patrick…no surprise there! She provided the children with a brief overview of Patrick’s life and explained how he came to be the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Our worship then finished with the children singing, ‘Lord the Light of Your Love (Shine, Jesus, Shine)’, which was rather appropriate given the recent change in weather!
This week it has also been British Science Week and this year’s theme has been ‘growth’. To celebrate this, Year 6 enjoyed two afternoons creating their own slime to see who could make their slime stretch the furthest. On Thursday – since it was St. Patrick’s Day - there was a design brief to make the slime Irish-themed. The children enjoyed following the instructions to make their slime, using green food colouring and a variety of glitter for their Irish ‘twist’…also immersing themselves in traditional Irish culture by listening to music by such artists as B*Witched, Westlife and Boyzone!
Unfortunately, Thursday’s attempt at making slime did not go to plan. The slime mixture just didn’t seem to solidify as much as the children had hoped! This was unusual as many children in the class had made slime before and they had followed the instructions carefully, therefore they needed to experiment with the different variables to see if they could fix their problem. Although some improvements were made, it still wasn’t what the children had in mine and so they had to use their iPads to research alternative methods and identify what factors could be affecting the creation of their slime. Several ideas were given, including: the use of more water; the use of different ingredients such as shaving gel; substituting the contact lens solution used for one containing boric acid. The next day, after providing the requested resources, the children attempt to make their slime again…and it was a huge success! The children loved how well it worked and were able to explain how the role of the boric acid affected their results. This was a great opportunity to once again highlight the benefits of making mistakes / encountering problems as you definitely learn more!
From one challenge to another, this week, the children also accepted the challenge of trying to break free from the SPAG 'Escape Room' challenge. Working together in pairs, the children worked their way out of ten different rooms which all had their own code to crack including: active and passive voice, spelling rules, synonyms, homophones and suffixes. It was not an easy task but the children demonstrated exceptional perseverance until they cracked the 10-digit code.
In Maths this week, all the children have continued to focus on measurement and shapes. They have revised how to find the area and perimeter of compound shapes, as well as how to find the volume of 3D shapes. Next week, Mr King’s group will move onto identifying different shapes, as well coordinates. Mrs Martin's group will also be focusing on coordinates before moving to algebra.
Our swimming sessions resumed this week as well. Both groups focused on backstroke, continuing to work on their kicking technique while also thinking about their arm movements – in particular, how their arms should extend out of the water and then how their hands should re-enter the water.
The class have also been supported by Miss Cameron, Miss Presset and Miss Mordaunt this week, who have been on a one-week placement from Liverpool Hope. They have been a great addition to Team 'Year 6' and we thank them for all their help!
The children are aware of what their homework for this week is. Spellings have also been set on Google Classroom for next week.
A reminder that the SATs briefing for parents will be taking place on Monday after school. Please ensure you have confirmed your attendance with Mr King and Mrs Martin via the Y6 account so that resources are prepared for you. The first round of parent-teacher meetings will also commence on Wednesday too.
Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing many of you next week!
Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 7:27pm
Another fun-filled week in Year 6…this time, with a special focus on careers!
Once again, we have celebrated National Careers Week in school and our Year 6 pupils have covered a range of jobs as part of this. Through our Maths and Writing lessons, we started to understand the role of a teacher more. As writers, we were tasked with writing a class blog. The children analysed previous entries from this year, identifying the range of punctuation used, as well as technical vocabulary. They then decided on a few subjects / class events that have taken place this year to create their own entry. Although these are not yet finished, we hope that the children can be as ‘picky’ about editing their own work as they have been about their teacher’s!
In Maths, we were given the task of marking arithmetic papers, working in pairs to decide on a particular pupil’s final grade. In order to do this well, they needed to explain their reasoning to their partner and apply their knowledge of calculations to decide on whether each answer was correct or incorrect. The children actually enjoyed this task – so much so, we may be grading some more papers in the future!
In addition this, both Mr King’s group and Mrs Martin’s group have focused on measurement this week, particularly finding the area and perimeter of shapes. Mrs Martin’s group also recapped on volume, which Mr King’s group will be revising at the start of next week. The children’s arithmetic skills have continued to be refined as well through the use of some new games. The children are always huge fans of competitive activities to test their knowledge, such as ‘Shoot Out!’ and Kahoot, so they were incredibly excited to try some new websites – Blooket and Gimkit - on their iPads this week, which offered a range of new and exciting competitions.
As it has been National Careers Week, we have also welcomed visitors into school to discuss their professions. On Thursday, we welcomed Matt Taylor into class, who talked about his career journey from a professional footballer to a personal trainer. He discussed how he was able to turn his passion for football at school into a full-time profession before explaining how he moved into the world of CrossFit and what he likes about the sport. To conclude his presentation, he then took the children into the hall for a free PT session! How lucky are we?!
To round off another excellent week, we welcomed Mrs Harris (or ‘Miss McMahon’ as she is known in work!) to talk about her career as a neurosurgeon. This was very appropriate as we had also celebrated International Women’s Day on Tuesday and one particular pupil had chosen to deliver a presentation about his mother, a neurosurgeon…who happened to be Miss McMahon! The children were fascinated to learn about Miss McMahon’s career in Science and about the work she does. We were treated to a fantastic presentation, which provided many fantastic learning opportunities around the academic qualifications needed for such a career; how others can inspire you and the importance of maintaing hobbies and interests outside of work as well. The topic of helmet safety also came up and this is something we will be discussing in class again in the future. This was definitely a memorable experience for the children, particularly those who were able to dress as surgeons and perform brain surgery on watermelons. Thank you, Miss McMahon!
Thank you to both of our visitors for coming into class this week to share their career journeys. Another ‘thank you’ to two ex-pupils who have been with us all week on work experience too. There are many children who will be grateful for the support they have received from the boys this week, especially our football squad who received two very well-organised training sessions!
A special ‘well done’ as well to our boys’ football team who faced Our Lady of Compassion this week as part of the Echo Cup. They continued to make us incredibly proud with their positive attitude and teamwork.
The children are aware of what their homework for this week is. Spellings have also been set on Google Classroom for next week.
Please ensure you have received our message / email sent on Thursday via School Spider regarding a SATs briefing for parents. If you are able to attend, please email Mr King and Mrs Martin via the Y6 account.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 4th Mar 2022 @ 10:26am
Another fun week of learning has passed!
In Maths, we have continued to learn new topics while also revising concepts we have been taught earlier in the year. Mr King’s group have focused on angles this week, identifying missing angles in various shapes and also reminding themselves how to use a protractor. Next week, they will be moving onto area, perimeter and volume. Mrs Martin’s group have mastered BIDMAS this week before moving onto finding the perimeter of shapes next week.
In PE, we have continued with our swimming sessions and also resumed our tag rugby lessons. After a half-term break, the children have shown an excellent recall of how to handle and pass a rugby ball, particularly when moving in a line down the field. Some of our children have even been able to apply these skills to a tag rugby match! Once again, there has also been a high demand for the return of the game, ‘Wolves’ as the children have enjoyed practising their dodging skills to escape the ‘wolves’ in the middle of the field.
The children were very excited for World Book Day on Thursday and this was certainly reflected in their book costumes! Well done to all the pupils and their parents for a fantastic effort. Throughout the day, our Year 6 pupils took part in a range of activities: from word searches to Kahoot quizzes and even a book ‘scavenger hunt’ around school! As always, the children enjoyed the opportunity to visit their Reception buddies as well and were able to read their buddy’s favourite book with them in the afternoon. As the Year 6 staff had dressed as characters from the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood, their English lesson involved them reading, ‘The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs’ by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith and learning how The Big Bad Wolf felt that he was the real victim in this tale. The children were then asked to become lawyers in Fairytale Court and to write up a defence statement for The Big Bad Wolf against Little Red Riding Hood and then present it to the rest of the class. There were some very creative ideas from the class…as well as some rather theatrical performances from a few lawyers in particular!
A special ‘well done’ once again to those children who competed in the athletics tournament at Greenbank High School on Tuesday evening. Having won the tournament for small schools on Friday, our pupils competed against the larger schools in Formby and Southport…and they finished 3rd place overall! What an achievement!
The children are aware of their homework for this week and their weekly spellings have been set on Google Classroom as usual. Please do also encourage your child to also work through the practice assessments set on SATs Companion, as well as their new CGP books.
Please recall that next week there has been a change to the PE timetable and that children should come into school in their PE clothes on Wednedsay (swimming) and Thursday next week.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 25th Feb 2022 @ 11:26am
Our first week back after a half-term break and we are already fully in the swing of things again!
In Maths, we have revisited fractions, decimals and percentages and ensured that we are able to make clear connections between the three. We have worked on various problems which have required us to apply our knowledge and understanding in these areas and are now feeling even more confident than we were before half-term. Well done, Year 6! On Tuesday, following requests from some children, we also learned about the mean and how to find the average of a group of numbers. The children showed great focus here and most were able to master the method in just one lesson!
In Reading, we have focused on particular skills: scanning and inferring. The children’s understanding of different styles of comprehension questions is improving daily and it has been wonderful to see them reflecting on the progress they have made since September.
In SPaG, we have focused on the tenses: simple, progressive and perfect. On Thursday, the children enjoyed listening to songs about each tense and also learning how to make zines to record their notes. Many children said they would like to create more zines in the future for other topics in different subjects!
As artists, we have continued to practise our sketching techniques. Linked to our PSHE lessons arounds self-love and body image last-half term, the focus for Tuesday’s Art lesson was to draw a self-portrait. The children learned about the symmetry of a face and how to sketch different facial features, while also considering tone and proportions. To ensure that we remember to celebrate our unique features, we will be continuing to refine our self-portraits next week and also moving into different styles of sketching, including caricatures of ourselves.
The children were very excited to start their swimming lessons on Wednesday. Although the first session was more of a re-introduction into the sessions with some initial assessments taking place, we were grateful that we were able to have these opportunities again following Covid-related restrictions and are already looking forward to next week’s session!
In terms of sports, a special ‘well done’ to those boys who took part in the football match against English Martyrs on Thursday and the boys and girls who participated in the indoor athletics competition at Greenbank High School on Friday. You continue to make us all proud at Trinity St. Peter’s.
Please ensure you have read the letter regarding SATs that was sent out to parents this evening (Friday) and have checked that your child has come home with their CGP books for additional support. Homework tasks have been set for this week, but as always, there is the option of further learning through SATs Companion, my Virtual Classroom and now these additional revision books.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 9th Feb 2022 @ 10:13am
Another fantastic week in Year 6 – this time to include our first half-term in 2022!
Following the conclusion of our Shang Dynasty topic in History last week – and with Chinese New Year still fresh in our mind – we focused on Chinese calligraphy in Art this week. The children had explored Asian calligraphy in Year 5 when learning about Japan, so this was a great opportunity for them to connect their learning and note the similarities and differences between the two styles. Once again, plenty of precision was required, but the children did very well to identify particular traits of Chinese calligraphy and appreciate it how it is a form of art.
Once again, it has been fantastic to see so many of the children looking forward to our tag rugby sessions each week - with a significant number of the class admitting that initially they did not think they would like the sport! We have continued to revise our passing technique, from simply passing a rugby ball to each other to now passing while moving quickly in a line and trying to avoid being tagged. Our tagging skills have also improved through a variety of exercises, which the children have enjoyed...although found slightly tiring at times!
Building on from our class discussion a few weeks ago on insecurities, we have continued to welcome visitors to speak to the class about their own insecurities in school and what they have gone on to achieve as a result of their insecurities. On Tuesday, we were joined by Danny, who is Area Commander for HM Coastguard and a Royal Navy Reserve. Danny has only just returned from Bahrain with the Royal Navy last week and came into class to talk about his important roles within HM Coastguard and The Royal Navy. Immediately, the children learned how skilled Danny has to be to perform his duties well and had plenty of questions to ask him…and not just why he had a picture with the cast of Coronation Street and had flown in a helicopter with members of the Royal Family! Danny then shared his experiences of school: including how he has struggled with dyslexia since being diagnosed when he was in Year 5; the challenge of sitting assessments and his ongoing struggle to still learn his 7 times tables! However, from this, Danny was able to share lots of excellent advice on coping strategies; the importance of accepting your struggles and continuing to challenge yourself; realising that we may just not have found our real strengths and passions yet and understanding that we are all better / worse than each other in different areas. Danny even shared some of his insecurities around body image when he was in secondary school and reminded the children that they will all grow at different rates. It really was a fantastic discussion and if that wasn’t enough…the class then helped Danny learn his 7 times tables through a song!
On Friday, the children also had a Zoom session with Suzy, who has a real passion for fashion design. The main message of Suzy’s discussion was clear: have the courage to be yourself. Suzy showed the class lots of examples of her fashion designs, which many would consider to be quite “loud” and “out there!”. Suzy informed the class that she only wears her own clothes now and although some people will stare, just as many will come up to her on the street and praise her style and her courage to wear the clothes she does. Suzy told the class that bravery is infectious, and she has realised that one of the best ways to encourage others to be themselves is to set the example yourself. Also, to remember that not everyone will always understand you, but that is okay too!
As if two visitors weren’t enough, we were also treated to a visit by author, Luke Temple. He delivered a brief introduction to his three books before calling children up to do some drama exercises. It was a very enjoyable afternoon, which resulted in several members of the class purchasing copies of his book and getting them signed by Luke Temple the following day.
Practice assessments have also taken up most of our Maths, Writing and Reading sessions this week. Once again, the children have tried their hardest and shown plenty of resilience when approaching tricky questions. They should feel very proud of themselves!
Homework has been set for the children as per usual. With SATs approaching in May, an abundance of practice assessments have now been set on SATs Companion for the children to work through if they wish to do any revision at home. Children do not need to complete every assessment. They also do not need to complete the tasks in any set order, e.g. they may want to focus primarily on the arithmetic papers while at home, or just the reading assessments. All tests will be available to access until the end of the year.
Attached to this blog is also this month's Virtual Classroom - once again with links to various websites that can further support home learning - as well as the statutory spellings children are expected to know by the end of LKS2 and UKS2. The children will have seen these spelling lists in Year 5 when practising for their 'Spelling Bee' competition; we would encourage the children to continue to refer back to these sheets and re-learn any words they find tricky.
Love Reading have launched their 'top book picks' for this month. More, highly-rated children's reads, from a variety of authors for different age ranges, are shared with us all to enjoy.
All in all, it has been a fantastic half-term. It was fantastic to see so many of the class laughing and dancing away at the disco on Wednesday - it was a great symbol for the fun and friendships that have continued to flourish this year!
We hope you all have a fantastic half-term break and we look forward to seeing you all soon!
Date: 3rd Feb 2022 @ 9:43pm
It is hard to believe we have already completed the penultimate week of this half-term!
In Writing, we had already immersed ourself in the horror genre last Friday when we entered our candle-lit classroom with eerie music playing on arrival. This week, we officially started our writing journey, focusing on our attention to detail when describing a setting and aiming to include particular punctuation and grammar objectives such as semicolons and the subjunctive form. The majority of our pupils started to finish their pieces by the end of the week…and they are fantastic! At one point, Mrs Pringle visited the classroom and told us she was leaving “with chills” after reading a few extracts!
In Maths, the children in Mr King’s group developed their understanding of how to interpret pie charts before moving onto shapes and angles – having expressed a desire to revise these latter topics following some revision tasks last week. Mrs Martin’s group have been working hard to perfect their calculations involving fractions.
Next week, the children will be sitting some practice assessments, just like they did in Autumn term. We are confident that the children will give their best and will hopefully be able to see how far they have come since November!
In PE this week, the children loved starting our tag rugby sessions. We worked on our ball control and our dodging skills…but most importantly, we learned how to put a belt and tags on! It was a lot harder than we initially thought! After the first session, many of the children expressed their enjoyment of the sport and said that they liked it a lot more than they thought they would – which was fantastic to hear!
A special ‘well done’ as well to the two pupils in our class, who took part in the Sefton Cross Country event this week. What a great effort!
Our learning around the Shang Dynasty concluded this week. Throughout the half-term, the children have gained plenty of new knowledge on this period, including how the Shang Dynasty was founded and what life was like for a citizen at this time. Our pupils also had to consider different sources and question how accurate some information about the dynasty was. We hope the pupils enjoyed this History topic…we know Mr Hughes certainly did! He has always been happy to share his knowledge about China today at the end of our lessons - having taught in Shanghai for several years before joining the TSP family. Thank you, Mr Hughes!
It was very appropriate to be learning about Ancient China as well this half-term as on Tuesday we celebrated Chinese New Year. We were very fortunate to have a Zoom call with a secondary teacher in Fuzhou named Horrace, who told us all about the most common beliefs and customs practised in China on New Year’s Day. The children enjoyed hearing about these from Horrace with his first-hand knowledge…and were particularly interested to learn more about the ‘lucky money’ that students in China receive!
On the topic of Zoom, the children were also very fortunate to be able to chat with Mr King’s friends, Jess and Charley, who very recently broke a world record for the fastest female pair to row across the Atlanic Ocean. Following on from our PSHE lesson last week around insecurities, it really was a fantastic conversation about being positive and challenging yourself, so much so that we had to start writing down some of the life lessons Jess and Charley had learned from the experience. Such precepts included:
- Don’t overthink things as it may stop you from doing something great;
- Little steps making big mountains;
- Food is key;
- You get back what you put out;
- Being weird is wonderful;
- ‘Hashtag’ no filter;
- Be yourselves!
Perhaps our favourite story from the whole conversation was that Jess and Charley had been told by somebody prior to the trip to not be themselves as it could be perceived that they weren’t taking the challenge seriously. They then informed us that they had ignored this advice, had the best time and set a world record! (Additional note: that person then admitted they were wrong afterwards!)
To conclude our week, following our second tag rugby session of the week, the children returned to class for an ‘afternoon tea’ in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee on Sunday. We had tea and scones together and listened to some British anthems. Once again, it has been a very busy – but very enjoyable – week!
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!
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!
Date: 21st Jan 2022 @ 4:23pm
In Writing, we have continued to read Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’ as our focus text. Towards the end of the week, we discussed how Wilde writes about the weather and seasons as proper nouns and noted how he uses personification for a more powerful effect. We connected our thinking to other examples of where we have seen this in the media, including Marvel characters (e.g. Thor, Storm) and Disney Films. The children are now currently working on creating a short piece of text that personifies a season or weather type(s) of their choice.
As mathematicians, we have continued to cover key objectives on the Y6 curriculum. Mr King’s group has been learning about ratio and proportion, while Mrs Martin’s group have worked on fractions. Next week both groups will be continuing with these topics, moving into more reasoning based / word problems.
We had a classroom full of scientists this week in our Science lesson as the children carried out and planned their own investigations linked to electric circuits. After learning how electrons flowed through the wires using the energy taken from the battery, some children investigated if the length of wires in the circuit made a difference to how the bulb lit. Other groups investigated how adding a motor to the circuit affected the bulb being lit and discussed and investigated changes they could make to ensure the bulb lit. The children worked brilliantly well together carrying out their investigations and seeing if their predictions matched their findings.
In PE, we returned to the world of athletics, taking part in a variety of events including: chest push, javelin, speed bounce and sprints. Having practised these in Autumn term, the children were given time to refine their skills and decide on their optimum technique for achieving the best results in each event. The children are aware that there is an Athletics tournament coming up this half-term and so were able to use these lessons as an opportunity to try out for this year’s athletics team; we will be continuing with these sessions next week too and taking part in a few more athletics events before moving onto tag rugby.
To conclude our week, we had an incredible opportunity to ‘Zoom’ with Holocaust survivor, Hedi Argent. Having learned all about the treatment of the Jewish race during WW2 in our Writing and History topics last term – and with it also being Holocaust Memorial Day next week – the children were very excited about the prospect of speaking to somebody who lived during this time and they already had plenty of questions they wanted to ask before the session even started! Hedi was so fantastic in sharing her story, including how life was for her as a Jew in an Austrian school in the 1930s and how her family sought refuge in the UK after Kristallnacht. She also shared life lessons she had learned around inclusion and kindness, which still stand today.
Children are aware of what their homework is for this week and next week’s spellings are on Google Classroom.
This month's top book picks from 'Love Reading' have also been released today. It shares exciting new story books from a variety of authors for different age ranges.
Please ensure you have read the letter sent via School Spider regarding swimming lessons next half-term. You should have also received Zoom details for next week’s parent-teacher meetings.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 12th Jan 2022 @ 3:08pm
Our first full week back and it’s like we’ve never been away!
In Writing, we have started reading our text focus for this half-term, “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde. The first half of the week saw us making predictions and inferences about the text as we were slowly given more and more detail: from the front cover to the blurb and finally the first few pages of the story. We then focused on the page that described the Giant’s garden and discussed how we immediately knew it was a special place from the author’s use of language. For the latter part of the week, we created our own poems about the garden - using formal language and expanded noun phrases – before committing them to our author books as the first entry for 2022!
Our Reading sessions have followed a similar style of story as well this week with Mr King’s group focusing on another Oscar Wilde tale, The Happy Prince, while Mrs Martin’s group explored “A World Full of Animal Stories” by Angela McAllister. We have also started our new class novel, ‘The Lion Above the Door’ by Onjali Rauf; the children have enjoyed hearing the first few pages and have already realised that racism and buried identities may be key themes in the book.
Maths this week has been recapping many of our Autumn term’s objectives and arithmetic skills. Next week, Mr King’s group will be learning about ratio and proportion; Mrs Martin’s group will be continuing to develop their knowledge of fractions.
In PE, we have continued with our gymnastics unit. This week, the children were not only given the task of performing particular balances and movements, but they were also given levels of challenge to attempt for each. On Tuesday, we focused on inverted balances such a ‘bridge’ and shoulder stands, while on Thursday we practised headstands on cartwheels. By the end of each lesson, some children were so determined to meet each challenge that they did so with time to spare and were able to create their own challenges to then share with the rest of the class – superb! To conclude our unit, we then created our own routines in small groups, incorporating many of the balances and movements we have learned during previous lessons...and they were fantastic! It was also equally pleasing to see some children, who usually shy away from demonstrations, wanting to perform for their peers by the end of this unit. It was a very proud moment!
Finally, this week also saw the commencement of our new Science topic, 'Electifying'. With a quick recap on the knowldge learnt in Year 4, the children learnt about some of the incredible discoveries made within electricity dating back as far as Ancient Egypt through to Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison! The children were able to draw circuits using an array of symbols, which will support them in their upcoming lessons. At the request of one of our pupils, we finished the lesson by listening to the song 'Electricity' from the musical Billy Elliott, which then led into an interesting discussion about stereotypes - we are always making connections in Year 6!
Spellings for next week can be found on Google Classroom; homework for Maths and English have also been set for the children and they are aware of what they need to do.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 6th Jan 2022 @ 4:41pm
Happy New Year! We hope you have all had a lovely Christmas break and are ready for 2022!
It may have only been a short week in school, but we certainly packed a lot of learning in! To begin our new term – as you may have predicted – we spent some time catching up and talking about our Christmas holidays. Whilst we enjoyed hearing everyone’s festive news, we also reflected on who or what made our time so enjoyable and made sure we wrote an early entry into our gratitude journals to list all that we had to be thankful for. We also compared our experience with our previous Christmas holiday - where government restrictions had been tougher - and made sure we acknowledged how grateful we were to be able to see more family members and to celebrate in larger groups this time around…it isn’t all just about the presents!
Following on from our previous Science topic all about the human body, we acknowledged how currently we may be hearing adults and older siblings discussing ‘January diets’ and weight they have gained after some over-indulging on food and beverages! We recalled how these aren’t topics we should be concerned with at this age and revised what it means to have a healthy diet - including how we can best support our mental and physical health as we start to become young adults and go through various changes linked to puberty. In line with the Year 6 Science curriculum, we also learned more about drugs and alcohol and addressed some misconceptions we may hear / could hear when they go to secondary school.
In RE, we learned about the significance of the Eucharist in the Christian faith. This followed on well from our Autumn 1 topic of ‘Life as a Journey’, where we learned about the seven Catholic sacraments, as well as our visit to St. Peter’s Church to attend a Eucharist service last half-term. We recalled how the Eucharist links to the Last Supper and how this is evident through practices observed during a Church service; we also learned how the Eucharist is connected to the Passover and the Old Testament story of Exodus. We realised that not all Christian denominations practise the Eucharist in the same way (and that some denominations do not celebrate it at all!) and were able to identify many themes and values, including acceptance, belonging, friendship, and sacrifice.
We began our new History topic on the Shang Dynasty on Wednesday. Although set during a different period, the children were able to draw on some prior knowledge of Ancient China from watching films such as Disney's Mulan. In our first lesson, we learned some of the key facts about the Shang Dynasty, including when it was in power, who founded it and where the leaders resided. We also reflected on how historians know this information and the reliability of it.
Friday welcomed another Computing Day, this time exploring the world of virtual reality! Using the iOs application, CoSpaces, the children were able to follow various algorithms to design their own virtual reality enviornment, using their skills and knowledge to ensure their environment was: aesthetically pleasing; reflected their creativity and evidenced attention to detail. We saw some very creative virtual worlds - well done, Year 6!
In PE, we were able to resume our gymnastic unit, having had to postpone some lessons last half-term due to Christmas performances taking place in the hall. During this lesson, the children worked in pairs / small groups on counter balances and counter tension. We saw some very creative thinking going on as the children performed a sequence balances at the end of the lesson for the rest of their peers!
Overall, a very busy three days…but most enjoyable! It has been lovely to welcome the majority of pupils back and we are confident it is going to be another fantastic term. For more information on what we will be learning about this term, please click here.
New spellings can be found on Google Classroom. Homework will resume from next week.
Enjoy your weekend!
Date: 3rd Sep 2021 @ 8:06am
What a brilliant start we have had to Year 6!
It really has been fantastic to see all the children return to school with such excitement and enthusiasm. They have all settled in so quickly and the 'Year 6 team spirit' is evident already!
The majority of our first three days back has been taken up by our first PSHE topic - which focuses on the Disney film, Cool Runnings. The film has helped us to recall our school’s vision and values while also allowing us to reflect on our school motto, ‘Choose Wisely’. Throughout the week, the children have participated in various discussions around the themes of the film, as well as individual characters. Using our thinking hats and maps, we have been able to expand on our ideas and consider others’ viewpoints as we have tried to understand what different characters are feeling, the adversities they are facing and how they are choosing to overcome these challenges. This week has also been a great opportunity to connect our learning with our school’s 4C Thinking Curve and reflect on how - throughout the year - we should welcome challenges, as challenges can lead to better outcomes.
Linked to our ‘Cool Runnings’ topic, the children thoroughly enjoyed their first PE lesson on Thursday afternoon. Given the context of the film, it seemed only right that the lesson should be ‘Winter Olympic’ themed, thus the children were divided into different nations and took part in various winter events, including a team version of an alpine skiing event. This activity proved to be more difficult than originally thought, as the children needed to complete various courses while staying linked together throughout. Several conversations on strategy were required as the teams decided their order and calculated how fast they could go without breaking the chain! Eventually, each team was timed on the final ski course to determine an overall winner, but it was teamwork aspect of the challenge that really shone during this time! Although differing in times slightly, every team completed the final course without incurring any penalties – well done, Year 6! We are already looking forward to seeing how the ‘bobsled’ event plays out next Tuesday!
This week also brought us our first Music lesson with Mr Fogg. He led our first lesson without any instruments – instead playing various games that focused on rhythm, beat and tempo! We are very fortunate that he will now be teaching us how to play our brass instrument every Wednesday afternoon this term. Although we are at Robinwood next week, Mr Fogg will still be in to check and clean all the instruments, so please ensure that any instruments which were taken home at the end of Year 5 are returned to school before Wednesday.
We know that many children are excited for our school residential to Robinwood in Wrexham next week. Please ensure you have visited their website and read all the information given, including in their brochure and on their FAQ page. Attached to this blog is also a PowerPoint presentation, which will provide you with information that is specific to Year 6’s trip next week. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch via the class account (y6@tsp.sefton.school).
Please note that weekly homework (including spellings) would usually commence on Friday 10th September, however as the children are in Robinwood next week, this will now commence on Friday 17th September.
In terms of Year 6 reading, the children will have daily opportunities to read, either independently, in a group or as a whole class. Those children who receive their ‘home reading books’ from school will also still be listened to individually every week by an adult. However, it is really important that the children are encouraged to read daily at home and with an adult if possible. If you are struggling with book choices, please refer to the recommendations listed on our ‘Learning at Home’ page, or let us know and we will be able to offer suggestions.
Thank you to everyone for making the start to this academic year so wonderful. We hope you all have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you all next week. We are certain it is going to be action-packed!