This term we will be learning about WWII and specifically the Battle of Britain. We will visit the Wings Museum, build our own shelters and go on a walk around Lindfield where we will look at how our own village was affected by the events of the global event.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg to all the learning we undertake throughout the term.
Maths
In our maths lessons we use the school’s concrete/pictorial/abstract approach to work through a variety of different fluency, reasoning and problem solving tasks on place value, the four functions including the order of operations and fractions. The PSP sets us problems to start every lesson and we love doing our Flashback 4 every morning alongside lots of Fluency Time.
Reading
We read a vast array of different texts in our whole class reading lessons, many of them linked with our Battle of Britain topic. These include Run Rabbit Run, Letters from the Lighthouse, Carrie’s War and Anne Frank’s diary. We also use videos such as The Few to look for key inferences. We use our VIPERS (Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve, Summarise) skills when looking at texts to really unpick what is happening
Writing
We, once again, use our Battle of Britain theme to influence some of our writing in the Autumn Term. Starting with newspaper reports about the declaration of World War II, continuing with letters home from evacuees, war poetry and narratives set in the 1940s Germany. We also look at non-fiction reports related to many elements of this conflict.
Science
During the Autumn Term we look at the human body including key systems within in. We look at circulatory system in depth – we even do a dance to explain how it works. We also look at the digestive system – we have great fun finding out what happens to different foods as they pass through the body! It can get a bit icky! We also look at living things and how they are classified.
P.E.
We love indoor athletics in Year 6. We practice hard in events such as speed bounce, vertical jump, broad jump and netball push so we are ready for both intra and inter school competitions. We supplement this with invasion games lessons with a variety of transferable skills. We are also all about Personal Bests in Year 6 – we love competing with ourselves to try and get the best scores we can. We also love to have fun dancing around in our PE lesson and we all love some Jumpstart Johnny every now and then!
History
As you have probably worked out by now, we study the Battle of Britain in Year 6. In our history lessons we look at rationing and how this affected people in the UK in the 1940, how Operation Sea Lion was thwarted in the Battle of Britain, how the war affected different parts of Europe and the world and it shaped Britain and Europe today. We also visit Wings Museum or Newhaven Fort to experience artefacts from the conflict up close.
Design Technology
In our DT lessons we look at structures and how to make a strong one and use this knowledge to make our own Anderson shelters similar to those they used in cities in the UK to protect themselves during The Blitz.
Art
We look at a variety of different artists and techniques in our art sessions, one of our favourites in Picasso and we love using his ideas to create unique self-portraits of ourselves.
Computing
We look at coding a lot in the Autumn Term, using spheroes to create programs. We also look creating blogs alongside important lessons on how to stay safe online.
R.E./PSHE
We look at a number of religions in our RE lessons including how Muslims show commitment towards God and how the Christmas story is important for Christians. In our PSHE lessons we follow the Jigsaw problem looking at setting goals for ourselves and looking out for other people. We have also been looking at a number of areas related to anti-bullying week and how we are all different and unique.
MFL
We continue to improve our listening, writing, speaking and reading in French in Year 6, building on knowledge from previous years.
The children will spend this term developing their skills to ‘read like writers’ and ‘write like readers’ and emulate the writing style of a range of authors including J K Rowling. We plan to visit the Warner Bros. Studio to inspire children’s writing and develop a greater understanding of how text becomes film. Transition mentors from local secondary schools will work with the children to prepare them for secondary school. We will also spend time preparing for the annual residential on the Isle of Wight.
This term the children will complete SAT tests, take part in the Isle of Wight Residential, participate in Sports Days and perform in our end of year production! Our focus this term is on a lasting legacy and moving on to secondary school. We will be learning about coasts, geology and evolution within science. The children will attend an induction day at their chosen secondary school. Together with other transitional sessions the school is required to deliver a programme of sex education by the end of Year 6. This is normally done in the summer term prior to the children moving on to secondary school. This will be spread across a number of PSHE sessions throughout the term.
