Bienvenidos al año seis

• It’s OK not to know

• An exciting year

• Greater responsibility for their learning

• Please ask questions

• Plenty for the children to get involved in

• New curriculum with subjects arranged around themes

New curriculum

• Brand new to us all

• A mix of new things and old things in terms of topics

• Clustered around themes

• Greater emphasis on spelling, grammar and punctuation, written mathematical methods, times tables and more complicated work on fractions

• Lot more links between curriculum areas

• Spanish across school!

Themes

SUPERHEROESCould the X-Men really exist?• evolution in science, • people in action in Art,• superhero video game

creation in ICT

Who was the most heroic king or queen?• monarchy in history• biographies in English

Themes

• IT’S ALIVE• electricity and the

importance of raw materials in science and geography

• electrical DT• Easter story in RE

• horror theme in English and developing through dance and computing

• working in parallel and series in gym

Themes

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND• history from wars to the

stars• Earth and beyond in

science• Coding – the language

of the future in computing and maths

• Life, death and creation in RE

• OS maps and landscapes in geography and art

• transition to secondary school

Y6 Curriculum

Science• Classification of

living things• Evolution and

inheritance• Electricity• Earth and Space• Changes in

humans

• Trialling new ideas to keep the children excited, stimulated and to give a sense of awe and wonder

• Mix practical with factual and ability to write up experiments and conclusions

• Look for ways to link their learning to what you see around you e.g baking, woodland walks, driving

Y6 Curriculum

History• The Monarchy

from 1066• The Modern

World including WWII

• Promote empathy and understanding

• Not just dull facts• Visit to Eden Camp later in the

year. • Look at progress over the past

seventy years• Such recent history is great for

family discussion

Y6 Curriculum

Geography• Climate zones• Importance of

raw materials• OS maps

• Visit to Coniston – 29th June to 3rd July

• Examine different maps together, plan routes on road atlases, look at Google Earth, talk about where countries are in the world with them

Y6 Curriculum

Music• Film Scores• Great composers

and musicians• Music in ICT• Music through the

decades• Performing

Together

• We’ll look at how music is used to create emotions in film

• The X Factor competition is hard work, but great fun and instils a lot of confidence

• Talk about your favourite music with your children and why

• Encourage your child to show their musical talent in school

Y6 Curriculum

PE• Hockey• Frisbee • Volleyball

hopefully• Dance• Gym• Striking and

fielding games• Athletics

• PE is Tuesday and Thursday • Please ensure FULL kit is in school

through the week• PE kit is white T-shirt, dark shorts,

socks and pumps or trainers. No part of the school uniform should be worn as part of the PE kit, as this is unhygienic

• A tracksuit and a water bottle is very advisable

• Jewellery should not be worn. Please don’t get ears pierced in the school year

Y6 Curriculum

Computing• Scratch• Video editing• Coding• E-Safety

• Kids are such whizzes on the computer, the Y6 curriculum is being updated as we go along!

• Scratch can be downloaded and experimented with at home. Much of the coding can be exerimented on at home too

• Any old digital cameras that are going spare will be welcome

• Wikispaces is a free secure site• Sites available to learn about e-safety as

a child and as a parenthttp://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

Y6 Curriculum

Art• People In Action• Portraits• TBC• Landscapes

• Taught by Mrs. Lockwood on a Wednesday

• However good or bad an artist you are you can always give your children tips on how to draw, be it copying, or using circles and sticks to get proportions

Y6 Curriculum

DT• Shelters• Electrical DT• Clothes making

• Taught by Mrs. Lockwood on a Wednesday

• There may need to be a little outlay on your behalf when it comes to batteries and fabrics for the later projects

Y6 Curriculum

RE• Justice and

Freedom• Christmas Words

and Images• Religious Places• Hope (Easter)• Stories and Songs• Journey of Life

• Taught by Mrs. Lockwood on a Wednesday

• A chance to learn about a range of religions, and also a lot about their own beliefs

• Discuss their RE lessons and promote a sense of openness , respect and understanding of other faiths

Y6 Curriculum

Spanish • We’ll learn as much as possible about a range of topics, in the one year we will have!

• Ask your children to teach you! Why not adopt some phrases to use around the house?

• Download Duolingo app – helps you pick up the language very easily

Y6 Curriculum

PHSCE • Whole class will learn about how to resolve disputes and mediate them as we try to foster an attitude which finds solutions rather than use punishments

• We’ll learn primarily about alcohol, smoking and solvents, and combating peer encouragement.

• Sex Education will take place in the summer term as part of science curriculum There will be a meeting in summer term for Y5/6 parents wanting to know more

English and Maths

• Don’t do it in Y6 • I’m sure they know enough already...

English and Maths

• Not true – plenty to do • SATs will be Monday 11 May 2015 for whole week

• A new grammar, spelling, punctuation test was introduced two years ago

• There aren’t any last minute changes that we know of this year...yet!

Reading

• Dedicated guided reading session every week teaching separate groups, and related work through the week

• Focus on understanding and comprehension, opinions, finding evidence and analysing why the writer has written in a certain way

Reading

• Important that they read

• Then, important that they are being challenged in what they read

• Then, important they are reading a range

• Book Fair - end of October (21st-24th)

• We encourage a range of reading and keep an eye on the reading choices they are making.

• Please talk to your child about the books they are reading

Writing• Groupings varied from lesson to

lesson at times to deal with specific targets and issues in an individual child’s writing

• Important for them to know the purpose of their writing, and who they are writing to

• Important for them to know how to add extra detail

• We opt for the try a better word first, rather than fret about spelling too much

• Spellings tested weekly, which they’ll work on in class, but should also bring home. They receive them on Friday then tested on the following Friday

• Different genres of stories• Different types of text• Parts of speech• Vigilant with punctuation• Encourage them to write at home• Link to reading (e.g if they don’t

read or do recipes they will struggle to write them independently)

• Spellings done as activity then tested in dictation. Encourage them to use the spellings they are learning…otherwise there is no point learning them!

Big Write

• Target based• Talk for Writing

homework• Levels fluctuate but

feedback is immediate, worked on during a week/fortnight and get better

• Key areas that they fall down on are:

• Spelling, punctuation , connectives, sentence openers and quality of vocabulary (VCOP)

Maths• Initial emphasis on securing four

rules of number• Times Table Challenge• Big emphasis on applying

calculation skills• Differentiated groups; lots of

independent and collaborative working; challenges and games; teacher guided work; stripping ideas right back before building them up to the highest level quickly

• highest achievers working on KS3 curriculum

• It’s no good being able to calculate if you can’t use it – look for those who can to experience maths in a variety of different ways

• It’s no good trying to use it, if you can’t calculate it – strip it right back for those who struggle

• We’ll look to provide maths support ideas on the VLE in time

Targets

• Writing targets related to Big Write

• Reading targets related to AFs put in their guided reading books

• Maths targets will endeavour to be ones they can work on despite the many changes in topic through the term

• Targets will change constantly as they need to. Your child will be asked to pick their own based on feedback on their work.

• Please ask for explanation of how to help your child achieve specific targets

Homework

• Reading every day – with or without you

• Ordinarily, differentiated Maths and English will be given out on Friday to be handed in by Tuesday at the latest

• Talk for Writing homework

• Practice quick-fire times tables, but also the application of this (e.g if 3x7 is 21 what is 30 x 7 or 0.3 x 7)

• Feel free to help your child, and also please write in their work to say how you think they got on

• Please take a look at the standard of work they are handing in – if anything it is the biggest wind-up of my week!- and any comments that they may receive

Homework

• Please write in their homework book, regarding how they have managed, particularly if too easy or too hard

• A lot of the time what they have managed in class is sometimes ‘too difficult’ once they get home

• Some homework will be revising; some will be preparing

• Before you ask, yes Y6 children are always like that when it comes to homework.

• Please encourage them to complete it as early as possible

• Please encourage them to ask if they need help, and as early as possible with that too!

• They will be asked to stay in to do incomplete homework

Home-school communication• Come and see me – Mondays

and Fridays are best straight after school

• Make an appointment – other days are possible

• E-mail me at school - even if it is just to give me your e-mail so I can contact you philip.martinez@york.gov.uk

• Phone school 552910 and I’ll get back to you when I’m free

• Talk to Mrs Lockwood if I’m not around

• Look on the website in the Y6 section for what the children are up to

• We need to keep in touch before concerns become problems. This worked really well with parents last year.

• Parents Evening 7th and 8th October and possibly also in February

Finally, he’s stopped talking...

• What else would you like to know?

• Please do ask questions, as it is an important skill that we encourage in your children!

• And keep asking questions of me during the year