Year 6
Spring Term 2023
Year 6 – Frozen Kingdoms
The Wolf Wilder
We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that the New Year is a happy one for you and all your families. This term we are doing the topic ‘Frozen Kingdoms’ and will be reading the novel ‘Wolf Wilder’ by Katherine Rundell as part of our learning.
It all looks very exciting!
Maths
We will continue to use our maths curriculum called White Rose to support mathematical understanding. We will be spending roughly two weeks on each of the following units:
Ratio
Algebra
Decimals
Fractions, decimals and percentages
Area, perimeter and volume
Statistics
English
As mentioned above, we will be using our class novel, 'The Wolf Wilder' by Katherine Rundell as part of our curriculum. We will kick start January with more of ‘The Write Stuff’ genres including horror with ‘A Monster Calls’ and continuing our spooky theme with the ghost story, ‘Thornhill’, before moving onto a mystery in ‘The Graveyard Book’ and we will be finishing the term with some non-fiction writing using ‘Greta’ (Thunberg) for creating our own persuasive speeches.
Science
We will learn about how polar animals have adapted to life in the Arctic and Antarctic. We will be investigating thermal insulations and looking at the most efficient methods of keeping warm and retaining heat. Our main unit this term will be ‘Living things and their habitats’ with the investigations: How do animals stay warm? Can we slow cooling down?
PE
PE will feature Sports Hall Athletics/ Invasion games this first half term, followed by Gymnastics / Field Games running up to Easter.
Our sessions will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so it is important that you remember to come in your kit!
ICT
We will continue to use Purple Mash materials. This term will begin with lessons on spreadsheets (Unit 6.3) and then on blogging (Unit 6.4) and we will continue to impress upon the children the safe use of the internet and protocols for being online.
Art and Design
Our art project focuses on Trailblazers and will look at breaking barriers including undertaking some critical analysis and ‘Lessons In the style of …' various black artists. The companion project, Tints, Tones and Shades will look at the study of landscapes.
Spanish
The children will have the opportunity to practise, listen, comprehend, speak, read and write in Spanish. Our iLanguages scheme of work is interactive, fun and engaging. We will be able to learn names, age, numbers and will be including a traditional story. We will also be attempting some Spanish maths: addition and subtraction. We will be looking at the verb forms of Tengo (I have). Finally, we will be learning Spanish vocabulary associated with the Easter bunny and eggs
RE
We will be considering plenty of thought-provoking questions using our Understanding Christianity units. Our main theme for the first half term of 2022 is ‘Beliefs and Meaning’. The concept is Salvation. The Key Questions are: Is anything ever eternal? Should religious people be sad when someone dies? How well do funeral and mourning rituals tell you about what a religion believes and about what happens after death?
After half term, the new theme is ‘Easter’. Our main concept will be ‘Gospel’. Our Key Questions are: Is Christianity still a strong religion 2000 years after Jesus was on Earth? Do sacred texts have to be ‘true’ to help people understand their religion? Does participating in worship help people to feel closer to God or their faith community? Is religion the most important influence and inspiration in everyone’s life?
PSCHE
We will be looking initially at the responsibility involved with growing up, along with a new scheme called Jigsaw with some interesting characters and activities. Our first half term focuses on ‘Healthy Me’ and then during the second half term we move onto ‘Dreams and Goals’.
Geography
Our learning this term will include:
- Features of Earth
- Time Zones
- Using lines of longitude and latitude
- Using scale on a map
- Scale and distance
- Grid references, contours and symbols
- Climate Change
- Climate Change, extreme weather and people
- Trade around the world
- Natural resource management
History
We will create a Timeline of the Race to the Poles and will be looking at the significant individuals who risked their lives as Polar Explorers: Ranulph Fiennes, Scott of the Antarctic and Roald Amundsen. We will be looking at emigration and exploration in the early 1900s
Music
Using Charanga, our music scheme, we will start learning ‘A New Year Carol, and comparing this piece within several of the genres including classical and Urban Gospel! We will be looking at some of Benjamin Britten’s music.
●How pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, texture and structure work together to create a song or music
●How to keep the internal pulse
●Musical Leadership: creating musical ideas for the group to copy or respond to.
Ways to help your child:
- By talking about the topic and asking what they are learning about.
- By discussing maths tasks and encourage them to complete the maths homework (set weekly)
- By keeping a note of their passwords for the websites we use most often
- By supporting them with home learning – especially reading – there is an expectation that they read to an adult at home a minimum of 3 times a week – this needs to be recorded in their reading diary, please.
- By ensuring that they come to school ready to work hard and succeed.
- By encouraging them to attend the Booster Classes (once they start later in the term- more info to follow)