Welcome to Class 6's page! Please check back here to see regular updates!

Welcome to Autumn term 2023, Class 6 have had a fantastic start to Year 2. 

This half term our topic is Enchanted Woodland, our Literacy learning began around the book 'Into the forest' by Anthony Browne. The class have enjoyed exploring this imaginative story in great detail. They have completed several pieces of learning including character profiles, fairy tales, both revisiting traditional stories and adapting/ creating their own stories. Class 6 especially enjoyed developing their talk for writing skills, acting out key parts of Goldilocks and The Three Bears  with expression. We have also looked closely at letter writing and used the features of the book to write a letter to Grandma. We worked on sequencing the events and using adventurous vocabulary for adding thoughts and feelings.

 Further literacy learning has involved poetry. As a class we have looked closely at a range of poems all about Autumn and used these to inspire writing our own poem. To support our learning  we worked outside and thought about what we could see, hear, feel and smell. We then shared our ideas and ordered key words and vocabulary to create fun and exciting poems. 

In Numeracy we have been learning all about place value. We have learnt how to recognise tens and ones in two digit numbers, how to partition numbers, first into tens and ones and then into different variations. We have looked at how to estimate, compare and order numbers. We have  also begun learning how to count in 2's, 5's, 10's and 3's.

As we go into the 2nd half of Autumn term our next unit of work is on addition and subtraction. Class 6 have started to practice recalling number bonds to 10 and 20. Alongside learning about fact families and related facts. We have just started to build on this learning and over the next few week will be applying our skills to add/subtract by making 10 using an efficient strategy. 

This term we even hosted a parents workshop where we invited parents and carers into school to share in some of our  learning. It was so lovely to see everyone and the children thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of building the tallest strongest tower with their parents/carers. We had fabulous time and look forward to next terms workshop!

This term Class 6 have also been introduced to daily Mastering Number lessons.  These short learning sessions support the children to develop good number sense and fluency in calculation. We have been learning how to use a rekenrek to make numbers and understand their composition. 

In Art we have been learning and comparing the  famous artist Elisabeth Frink with Sharon Regan. We have learnt about the types of sculptures they made and used their work to inspire our own learning. Throughout the term we have developed our sculpting skills by practising to roll, pinch and pull the clay as well as make a hollow hole We have also learnt how to slip and score to join two pieces of clay together. We had great fun learning these techniques and getting our hands all dirty! 

In science, we have been learning about the life cycles of animals. We talked about how they changed and grew during their lifetime. We have also looked at what counts as a living thing and how things that are living, dead or have never lived differ.

Class 6 have also been involved in an experiment that allowed us to monitor changes over time. We began by touching bread with dirty hands and then a separate slice with clean hands. 

Over a few weeks we then monitored how the slices of bread changed over time.

We discovered that the bread touched by the dirty hands began to grow mould. We continued to monitor the bread and came to the conclusion that the dirty hands had more germs on them and that was why the bread touch by the germs grew more mould yuck.

In DT (Design Technology) we have been learning how to create moving pictures. We learnt how to make a slider and a pivot mechanism that linked to our book 'Into the forest'. We then designed, created and evaluated our own moving pictures.

During Spring Term and our topic “Incredible authors ” the children have loved the opportunity to listen to, explore and write about the many different stories and characters from Roald Dahl.

In Literacy the children have invented their very own marvellous medicine, (which was rather messy but fun) and developed their skills in writing instructions. 

In addition to using their creative writing skills to write imaginative stories involving a preposterous potion to trick Mr. Hill. Class 6 have also worked on writing descriptively and developing adventurous vocabulary. Check out our character profiles for Mr and Mrs Twit and BFG diary writing. 

Throughout this term Class 6 have been extremely busy, working hard to challenge themselves, develop their learning skills and reflect on their progress through editing and improving their work.

Art

In art, Class 6 have been learning lots of interesting facts and comparing the artists Elisabeth Frink and Sharon Regan. Both of these artist are known for their sculptures and have inspired Class 6 to develop their own skills using clay. We have practiced mastering the art of sculpting using known techniques such as slip and using tools to add detail and texture. Take a look at at our art in action making The Enormous Crocodile.

Numeracy

This term in numeracy we have been learning about multiplication, division and fractions.

For multiplication we began with repeated addition and then moved on to arrays. We have been working on learning our 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables.

For division, we have learnt how to share equally into groups. We can also use a number line to jump in groups. 

Once we knew how to divide we used this to help us with fractions. We learnt that a fraction is part of a whole and practised finding fractions of objects and numbers. 

Science

In Science we completed lots of learning on how to keep ourselves healthy. We have looked at why it is important to exercise, keep clean and eat healthy. We have taken a deeper look at germs and being part of an experiment to see what happened to slices of bread when we touched them with dirty hands and then again after we had washed them. 

The results were amazing although the mould was a bit yucky. 

This term we even hosted a parents workshop where we invited parents and carers into school to share in some of our Roald Dahl learning. It was so lovely to see everyone and the children thoroughly enjoyed talking about their learning and completing the fun tasks with their parents/carers. We had fabulous time and look forward to next terms workshop!

Science

As Scientists we have now completed another experiment following on from how absorbent a material is to finding out how well materials retain heat. 

The children developed a test using different materials, hot water and a thermometer to see which material worked the best at retaining heat and keeping the water warm. 

Check in later to find out our results and how we will use this test to inform further learning. 

Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year from Class 6

Thank you for all your help and support this term.  Have a wonderful holiday and we look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday the 3rd of January.

Thank you so much for all of your support for the Christmas Fayre. The children thoroughly enjoyed designing, making and selling their Christmas products as part of their enterprise learning and it was so lovely to see you all. 

Science

This week in science we have been investigating how absorbent different materials can be. Through conducting a fair test we added a small amount of water to different materials to see which materials absorbed the most water. We made our predictions about each material and then recorded the correct answer after we had completed our tests. 

Design Technology
 

Following on from this learning we then used the results from this scientific test  to help us choose the best material for building a  boat. We tested the boats them to see if our tests had helped us find a good material for our purpose. As we predicted all our boats managed to float because they all used plastic hulls which had the correct features to allow the boats to float. 

Art

In Art we have been developing and learning new skills on how to draw using pen and ink. At first it was tricky to not smudge the ink and blob it on our work but after a bit of practise we soon got the hang of it. 

Rockpool Visitors

We have also enjoyed having some sea life experts from Aqualease come in to school to show the children a range of animals that live in UK rock pools. The children had lots of interesting questions about the different animals and were very excited to get chance to hold the crabs. We also found out how we can keep them safe and look after the environment to support their habitat.

This week we have enjoyed celebrating Anti-Bullying Week as part of our PSHE learning and during assemblies. The theme for this year was Reach Out.  In PSHE  we learnt about at the difference between joking, teasing and bullying. We also identified the people in school who we could reach out to if we saw bullying or unkind behaviour. We have been thinking about ways that we could reach out to make sure our school is a happy and safe place for everybody.

Check out the  Anti Bullying official website to see what it is, why we take part in it and the important impact it has on reducing bullying across schools.

https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/attachments/Anti-Bullying%20Week%20-%20what%20is%20it%20and%20what%20does%20it%20achieve%20document%20-%20FINAL%202022.pdf

On Monday we wore odd socks to celebrate being different and unique. We learnt that it was very important to treat everyone with respect and kindness no matter how different they may be to you.

Take a look at Andy and the Odd Socks official song ‘Calling Out’ for this year’s Odd Socks Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bhbVntG1WM

In Numeracy this week we have been learning how to add and subtract two 2 digit numbers. We have been working practically using dienes to support our learning and then moving onto different strategies such as using jottings. When adding we had to represent both numbers and then add the tens and then the ones. This got a little bit more tricky when the ones bridged over ten.

When subtracting we had to represent the first number and then take away the second number. As the week progressed our learning got harder especially when subtracting over a ten. we found that we had to exchange one of our existing tens to make sure we had enough ones. 

In Art this week we have been investigating line using different media. We have experimented drawing thick, thin, curved, dark and light lines using charcoal, chalk, pencil, pen and graphite crayons. we have been thinking about the different media and how you might use them for different purposes and to create different effects.

In music we have been learning about the difference between a rhythm and a beat. We know that 

the beat is the steady pulse that you feel in the tune, like a clock's tick. It's the beat you'd naturally clap along to, or tap your foot to. Where as the rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds as you move through the song.

During the lesson we have created our own rhythms on a grid and practised sounding them out considering how long each beat is. We clapped and tapped our rhythms and used instruments. 

Literacy

In Literacy this week we have been continuing with our non-fiction writing about sea creatures and we now have completed our very own book. We have had a fantastic time learning amazing facts about stingrays and turtles, whales and sharks. 

Try asking your child about what they know and can recall about the different sea creatures. I'm sure they will amaze you with a interesting fact.

As part of our writing we have been working hard to turn key words into full sentence that include all of our non-negotiable writing skills. We have also been trying to choose exciting vocabulary, add extra detail and use the correct conjunctions to allow us to join two facts together. 

Art

In art we have revisited our learning on the artist John Dyer and taken a closer look at how this artist uses colour in his work. 

We have been learning about shades and tone. John Dyer uses bright vibrant colours in his work and blends lots of different shades of blues and greens to represent the sea, sky and other features in his work. 

In our lesson we experimented with mixing colour starting with the lightest blue colour we could make and gradually making many different shades until we had created our darkest blue.

Numeracy

In numeracy we have been completing subtraction number sentences using a number line to help us. We have been subtracting one digit numbers from two digit numbers. We used our knowledge of partitioning to help us jump back to the ten and then subtract the amount that we have left. 
 

Looking at this example we can see that Tom made one jump back to get to the previous 10 and was then able to use his number bond knowledge to help him work out that 10 - 4 = 6.

Can you use the method above to solve these number sentences?

 14-8 =             12-9 =              11-4 =                    12-5 =

P.E

In PE we have been improving and developing our skills further in hockey. We have revisited and focused on the how to hold the hockey stick with two hands so that we can dribble and pass the ball accurately, working as a team passing the ball strategically and developing our control. 

Take a look at some of our class in action. 

Design & Technology

The children were set the challenge to design and make their own moving picture. Over the last few weeks the children have learnt about different mechanisms so it was their chance to 'show off' their learning in their very own design. It was lovely to see so many children challenging themselves by including more than one mechanism. Below are a few examples.

Literacy

This week the class have been busy learning facts and information all about pirates. Over the next few weeks they will be recalling, presenting and writing up the facts to create a non-fiction book. 

So far we have been learning about:

• What pirates eat and the clothes they wear 
• Different types of pirates
• The Pirate Code
• Pirate myths

Take a look at some children from Class 6 developing their presenting skills and recalling facts about the different types of pirates.

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In our writing we have been focusing on our sentence structure. By saying each sentence out loud before we write it and reading our work back afterwards  we are improving how our sentences flow. We are also ensuring we are remembering all non-negotiables (capital letters, finger spaces and full stops). Finally we are challenging ourselves to include sentences with different openers such as 'Would you believe........' and extending our facts using conjunctions such as when/but/because/and/so.

Numeracy

This week we are continuing our learning on place value looking more closely at numbers up to 100 and partitioning them into tens and ones for example:  52

There are 5 groups of 10 and 2 more.

There are 5 tens and  2  ones.                                                    

The number is 52

Then we moved onto understanding the value of number further by using part part whole models.

We are now looking at partitioning the number in other ways  for example

25 can be partitioned into 20 and 5

25 can be partitioned into 10 and 15

25 can be partitioned into 0 and 25

In P.E this term we are learning the skills we will need to play matball. This week we focused on chest passes, bounce passes and shoulder passes. When introducing a chest pass the children focused on making a ‘W’ with the hands on the back of the ball to make sure that they had good control of the ball as they threw it he ball to their partner. 

Our PE days are Monday and Thursday. Please ensure that your child has a PE kit in school (white t-shirt and dark shorts/leggings with names in please). This can stay on their peg in school and we will send it home each half term for washing. 

Please ensure that earrings are removed and long hair is tied back.

Thank you.

Book Bags

From next week, children will need a small bag in school every day for their reading diary and books. This can be one of the more traditional book bags or a small rucksack but nothing too large please.

Children will be bringing home a reading book linked to their phonics level which they will be able to read independently as well as a book from our reading corner that can be read to them. 

The children will be able to start earning stickers in their reading diary if they read x3 in a week from next week too. Once they earn 10 stickers they will receive a reading prize! They just need to hand their diary in to Mrs Kidder every Monday morning so that she can update their diaries!

Let's get earning stickers Class 6!!

Ahoy there! What a fantastic start to the term, Class 6 have settled in well and are already enjoying the land Ahoy topic. So far we started off the first week with a Pirate Hook Day. The Class thoroughly enjoyed learning to talk like a pirate, completing pirate challenges such as designing a treasure map and creating their very own pirate. Our literacy followed with the children using adventurous adjectives to describe their pirate.

In numeracy we have been busy recalling number bonds, learning about near bonds and looking at place value. During a series of lessons we have been working on representing and comparing numbers. We have also revisited the symbols greater than (>), less than (<) and equal to (=). To take our learning further, we have worked on applying our knowledge of place value and the symbols to solve complex number sentences. I wonder can you solve the questions below?

                                   17 ___ 19

                               6 + 7 ___ 12   

                               7 + 5 ___ 9 + 3  

                             12 + 6 ___ 19 - 3

Later in the week we completed some numeracy learning about shape. We looked at 2D shapes first and used them to create a picture. For every shape we used we had name the shape and then write at least one or two properties to confirm how we knew what shape it was. . For example “This is a square. I know a square has 4 sides and 4 corners.”

We have also spent some time revisiting 3D shapes and describing their properties. I wonder how many shapes can you spot at home? Can you name then and describe their properties?

In Design Technology we have been investigating and making moving pictures. We began by looking at books. Some books had parts which you could move. We have learnt that this is called a mechanism. We also found out that a moving picture uses mechanisms called sliders and levers. 

Take a look at these simple diagrams can you describe what the mechanisms are and how they work?

Take a look at how we got on making our own moving pictures!