It is the final half-term for Year 6, and we have been continuing with some wonderful work we began before half-term titled ‘Looking Back’. The children have been very reflective over their time at Roebuck and have created some fantastic analogies to describe what their Primary School experience has been like. In Geography this half-term we have started to research about South America — using the Atlases to locate South America and the countries that it consists of. In maths, we have started to look at co-ordinates and how we can reflect and translate shapes. For computing this half-term, Year 6 have been tasked with the challenge of making a quiz for the Year 2 classes. We have started to conduct some research into the types of questions we can create using Purple Mash and thinking about research questions to ask the Year 2s over a virtual meeting next week. 

In Year 6 this half-term we have started our unit on the Mayas. We have learnt about who discovered them, and used the atlases to locate Central America where their civilisation was found. In art this half-term our unit is titled ‘Make my voice heard’. So far, we have created our own graffiti art using oil pastels and discussed the fact that some people believe graffiti is a form of vandalism, while others believe it is a form of art and a way to express themselves. We have also made our own Kathe Kollwitz inspired expression piece using graphite sticks and some basic shading with very pleasing outcomes. This week, we began our new literacy unit based on David Wisniewski’s book Rain Player. This story tells us about a game of Pok-a-Tok which finds a player challenging a God to a game in order to release rain to his village.  

We have been hard at work these last few weeks and have had lots of hands-on activities. For our end of topic unit Coastal Crumble, we linked our theme of coasts to our writing which has featured boats (Kensuke's Kingdom and Floodland) to take on a boat challenge. the children were tasked to design and make a boat that would fulfil set criteria: the boat must float;  hold four people and survive a storm. This proved successful for some but not all; however, the end results looked the part. In literacy the children have created a fantastic piece of writing titled 'How to survive on a hostile island'. As part of their independent writing, the children learnt how to make their own tepee style fire and even had a go with a flint and steel to create a spark to light it.

In addition, in Science we created Blood Smoothies, learnt how the circulatory system worked and, as part of Science Day, created a paper insect without using glue (only cutting and folding methods were allowed).

Let's not forget our Superhero day. Children dressed up for Comic Relief as a superhero, showing that everyone can be a superhero, and Year 6 have definitely shown that this term!

What a great half term in Year 6. Despite the challenges we have managed some great collaborative work between those at home and those in school and have continually been impressed with their maturity towards their learning. We have been learning about Greta Thunberg in Literacy and have been composing a persuasive speech about climate change. The children have then created their own persuasive speeches based on a theme of their choice. We have also been doing lots of art this half term and have been creating a range of still life compositions using different media: sketching pencils, charcoal, oil pastels and even rubbers to create a negative impression. During topic we have learnt about the process of erosion and have created our own animations to show the impact on the coastline. Our RE focus this half term was around how Muslims show their commitment to their God. This has resulted in some great in-depth discussions around what commitment looks like and the 5 pillars of Islam.

Well done all to another fantastic half term.

This week Year 6 have begun our new literacy unit based on Rose Blanche, a young girl growing up in Germany during the start of World War 2. Using our existing knowledge of the war, the children have produced some fantastic writing describing the cobbled alleyways, flowing fountains, and simpler times of life before the war in Germany. This has linked with our topic 'Children of war' where we have been learning about another young girl during WW2, Anne Frank. We learnt about her life, her story, and her premature death. We looked at how her life changed when war was declared and discussed how she would have lived whilst in hiding. The children then had a chance to create a butterfly inspired by the poem by Pavel Friedmann, a Jewish Czechoslovak poet, about seeing the last butterfly whilst in Auschwitz concentration camp. Year 6 created their butterflies to remember the 1.5 million Jewish children that died in the Holocaust, including Anne Frank, known as The Butterfly Project.  

Year 6 have been busy doing lots of fun practical activities over the last week: we have learnt how to draw a phoenix to link with our story Journey by Aaron Becker, we have conducted a science investigation to see how natural selection works using a variety of seed types and beaks, and we have begun cutting wood and cams for our automata toy designs. In addition to this we have been working hard to learn a poem to perform for you titled Refugees. Watch this space!