Mrs Vitellaro
6 Falcon
Welcome to Life at KPS for Year 6
Mrs Nanda and Mrs Vitellaro warmly welcome you to Year 6.
The aim of this page is to highlight some of the fantastic learning that has been happening in Year 6, this page will be updated monthly, with photographs and information about the learning we have completed during the month.
We hope you enjoy looking through these updates and do discuss your child’s learning with them to celebrate their success. We look forward to any suggestions you may have to make your child’s learning a pleasant experience.
Mrs Nanda
6 Hawk
November 2020
Arts
We finished our final pieces based on the work of Yinka Shonibare; a modern contemporary artist. We looked at how the journey and representations and meaning are sometimes more important than the final piece – what does the art represent culturally and emotionally?
We chose to reflect on our own identities and think about the things in life that we find important – some of us chose to think about our natural world; others thought about the importance of technology in our lives. This means that we have a huge variety of completely individual pieces which have elements of flowers, trees and planets but also computer characters, games consoles and graffiti.
DT
In design technology this term we are learning how to bake different breads from around Europe!
We have been extremely lucky to be the first year group to try out the new food technology room and it is amazing! With six cooking stations and a teacher station consisting of an induction hob, oven and work surface space, there is more than enough room for all of us to be cooking at the same time.
To start us off, we made a delicious garlic and rosemary focaccia. First, we looked at different recipes at the similarities and differences, then we worked out the ingredients that we needed to purchase and made sure we knew the method.
We learned the words knead and prove in the context of baking and learned how yeast aerates the dough.
We worked together in teams, distributing the jobs (including the cleaning up!) and created the most delicious bread – we can’t wait to make more this term!
English
In English this half term we are learning to persuade the reader.
We have looked at texts which persuade the reader to go on holiday and identified the ingredients: talking directly to the reader, using emotive language, using opinions as facts and exaggeration to name a few!
We chose a country to focus on and conducted research as to why a tourist may want to visit that part of the world.
Next, we will be making food from our chosen countries in our new food tech room to get a better understanding of the local cuisine.
We have learned some new Alan Peat sentences in Year 6:
Tell: show 3 examples; and Imagine three sentences. These sentence types have helped us to persuade the reader by using imagery and allowing the reader to imagine they are already there!
Geography
Our topic this half term is ‘Our Changing World’. So far, we have learned about the three types of weathering: physical, chemical and biological. We dropped vinegar onto bicarbonate of soda to see the effects of acid rain on limestone (chemical weathering). We looked at the damage to paths, walls and stairs caused by roots of trees, lichen and humans (biological weathering) and we froze water to watch it expand, like rain can do in the cracks of rocks (physical weathering).
We have also looked at erosion and the changes to the coast that it causes. We can name coastal features such as headlands, bays, arches and stumps and describe how these form due to erosion. We looked at the positive (eg tourism) and negative (eg loss of land) effects that coastal erosion has.
Maths
We have been deepening our understanding of the four operations and the formal written methods; we have practised column method for addition and subtraction and learned the long-written methods of multiplication and division.
Practising these skills has allowed us to think like mathematicians and select the most efficient method when calculating; for example, whether to use short division, long division or division using factors.
Once we were secure in these methods we used our knowledge to reason and problem solve and solved some really tricky questions that required a combination of trial and error and knowledge.
Physical Education (PE)
In PE, we have been focusing on getting our fitness back with lots of exercise! We have been working hard on improving our stamina by running, speed walking and skipping!
We have been taking part in the daily mile walk as well as participating in shuttle runs which have been designed to increase in difficulty from week to week. Skipping has fast become a very popular hobby at our school and for the last few weeks we have been trying to learn the Double Dutch.
PSHE
In PSHE, we have been learning about how important it is to be part of a team and the benefits to self-esteem. We watched videos of children with different disabilities like cerebral palsy and visual impairments and discussed how they might be treated. We looked at how their lives are similar and different and considered whether people with disabilities should be treated differently.
We imagined what it would be like to have a visual impairment and tried to complete some tasks whilst being blindfolded which we found really difficult.
We discussed different learning differences and medical conditions with the aim to encourage understanding and inclusion, both in school and in the wider world.
Science
In science this month, we started our new topic of evolution and inheritance. We conducted an experiment which attempted to answer the question ‘does the size of an asteroid affect the impact on the Earth?’ using our own asteroids and trays of flour!
Next, we carefully excavated fossils from our sand trays, took rubbings of them, considered what they could have been and then conducted some research.
Our next experiment looked at whether the pattern of a moth’s wings affects its survival; we learned about the peppered moth and how it adapted to its environment – the moths with darker wings were more likely to survive in soot covered towns during the industrial revolution. We split into groups and shaded different moths, placed them outside – attempting to camouflage them – and the other group had to try and spot them. This was lots of fun but we also saw that there was a pattern – the wing pattern and shade did affect their chances of being spotted by a predator!
Sikh Studies
This month we have been learning about Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi and how it helped the poor people during the national lockdown in India. It was thanks to Bangla Sahib that so many of the hungry got fed who were unable to work or get food in India’s lockdown.
Children looked at news reports of what Bangla Sahib did during lockdown and then did a role play of how Bangla Sahib helped those poor people of Delhi. Then to understand about compassion and Seva, children wrote down how the different people in their role play were feeling, from those making the Langar to those receiving it.